Professionals in every field are acknowledging that a strong online presence is more necessary than ever. However, when can this presence actually hurt your cause?
Clinical therapist Lisa Brooks Kift has wrestled with this concept repeatedly on the World of Psychology blog. "Some of us [therapists] have websites (with pictures...), some of us list ourselves in directories (again, with pictures), some of us use social networking platforms and some of us are writing and blogging." Professionals in this field - one that only a generation ago would have considered it unforgivably gauche to advertise, let alone advertise with photos - are starting to see that online visibility and presence can further their professional aims. "However," asserts Kift, "the change in landscape has not occurred without controversy around issues of personal disclosure, therapist-client boundaries and the 'digital footprint' left online, which cannot easily be removed."
Even in fields more straightforward than clinical psychology, professionals struggle to have a lucid digital strategy that aligns with the way people actually use the modern social media-oriented Internet. News organization Reuters, in the new edition of their reporter handbook, delineates strong restrictions upon their reporters' usage of social media, going as far as to prohibit any sort of indications of personal bias. On the other hand, news organizations like the BBC are mandating that their reporters must have a social media presence, and encourage "collaborative work" on their stories. Part of the BBC writers' "assignment" now includes "aggregating and curating content with attribution" - effectively making personal social media presence an extension of the news bureau itself. Both approaches have come under fire - but which strategy is advantageous?
The considerations for online presence management are less straightforward than ever before - and many companies with solid content are failing to get the expected returns on their digital strategy budget, or in the case of the aforementioned therapists accidentally going against their own best interests. This is precisely why our research, such as our our latest white paper Comparing User Engagement across Seven Interactive and Social-Media Ad Types, is critical for companies and professionals looking to align their online engagement with human nature. Psychster's innovative and groundbreaking research offerings are changing the way many companies approach social media strategy - and companies that want to stay on top of the game are taking notice.
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