Tom McCollum is a visibility & personal brand thought leader and highly regarded auto industry innovator and CEO. Tom recently co-founded SCORESTRONG™, a new First Impression Resource™ and Personal Brand platform.

What You Don’t Know WILL Hurt You!Published by Tom McCollum 2013

How many people have peeked at your profile, made a snap judgment and simply moved on? With search engine functionality being so effective and more and more people using these powerful tools to find candidates for everything from social events to jobs to advisory board opportunities, ask yourself this question: Are you positioned to make a quality first impression––it may be the one and only chance you get! Given the ubiquitous media platforms, social and otherwise, continually pushing data our way combined with limited time availability, we are all relegated to triage our media consumption (read: self-inflicted attention deficit disorder) if we want to survive but still participate in the various platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Drudge, ESPN, YouTube, text, email, and so forth and so on––there's just too damn many to name. We all have our favorites and with each new platform we choose to participate in means that we must divide our available time into yet another and even smaller slice of cursory glances and snap judgment interpretations.

Given that "consumption triage" is simply a survival technique while drinking from the proverbial media fire hose, one should be very cognizant of the requirements for making their own profile stand out versus blend in––being noticeable at a minimum. Whether its your product or your personal profile, social or professional resume, a little stickiness is required or you will find yourself just another zero or one

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Tom McCollum is a visibility & personal brand thought leader and highly regarded auto industry innovator and CEO. Tom recently co-founded SCORESTRONG™, a new First Impression Resource™ and Personal Brand platform.in the vast sea of digital sameness that adds a high level of invisibility

to most people. So the bigger question is how do you position yourself online so you don't get skimmed over or ignored all together?

Start with a quality professional photo of yourself––its worth whatever you invest and can be used across multiple platforms. No selfies. No glamour shots. Just a good old-fashioned headshot by a professional photographer. Next, get your resume right––both social and professional, including your ever expanding list of online profiles. If you cannot write a quality summary, bio and related background information, hire someone that can, period. Given the shift that's taking place toward online interactions versus person-to-person contact, the online version of yourself should be the dressed up version of yourself. Your online image should be the equivalent of the same effort you make when trying to look your best for those meaningful special occasions where its important for you to make a quality impression. Most all of us do the same thing in those circumstances: we put our best foot forward, both dress and behavior––its just common sense. Your online image requires the very same effort. More often now than ever, your online profile is your first impression opportunity and the question you must ask yourself is this: How many people see your profile and simply move on? If you haven't made the effort to bridge the gap between your offline persona and your online image, the good news is this... you'll likely never know that someone found you online, wasn't impressed and moved on. Consumption triage is the same for everyone––we all do it. That means you must stick out rather than blend in or you'll never be seen!

Don't be unimpressive.

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