Adding visual content is a great way to repair an online reputation

If a damaged online reputation needs to be repaired or protected, creating good visual content should be a top priority, especially today.

This “secret” should come as no surprise, really, considering the recent developments made by search engines such as Google in response to user’s visually-oriented content. Adding and sharing photos is huge, and many sites are making adjustments to emphasize or expand the use of images.

For example, two of the fastest growing social media sites, Pinterest and Tumblr (purchased by Yahoo), are image oriented.  YouTube, owned by Google, is the third most visited site online and Facebook’s Instagram recently added video to the already explosively popular service.  Google + and Facebook have given over more screen real estate to user’s photos.

Here are some tips on how to use visual content to help an online reputation.

Types of Visual Content to Add

• Photographs
• Video
• Presentations
• Memes
• Infographics
• Slideshows

Photographs

• Take photographs of events, products or of yourself frequently (remember: professional-oriented images only).
• If you don’t already have one, have a good headshot of yourself created for web profiles, such as LinkedIn.
• Take or create photographs of your business exterior or office and add them online to social media sites.  This gives potential clients more confidence that you are legitimate, and, importantly, shows a more personal, individual side to you and your business.
• Post these online.  Be sure to include proper meta tag information to be found by search engines.

Video

• Create a brief video of yourself talking about one aspect of your business.  Keep it short, or about one minute long, and try to be professional and business-like.
• Post it to YouTube.
• Add others frequently or monthly, again focusing on a single topic.

Presentations

• Create a presentation focused on one aspect of your business, or a field that you are an expert in.
• It could be on a service you offer or a presentation you already gave.  Remember to remove any personal or proprietary information.
• Post online to blogs or sites geared toward presentations.

Memes

• Memes are extremely popular.  If you don’t know, a meme takes an iconic or well-known image and combines it with a brief phrase, both known in popular culture.
• Create and post on visually oriented sites.

Infographics

• Infographics translates a complex idea, data or concept into an easily understood visual graphic, and have become extremely popular as well.
• These can be complex to construct but there are online tools to help, such as Visual.ly.
• Create and post online to various sites.

Slideshows

• Slide shows either as a presentation or converted to a video can be extremely helpful.
• Create and post online to YouTube or sites that specialize in presentations.

The Bottom Line

Writing blogs are extremely helpful to repair, manage or improve your online reputation, but instead, go visual.  It may be harder to craft or create but the benefits for your online reputation pack a big return.