Here in Ohio the forsythia is about to bloom, trees are budding, and daffodils are everywhere.

Spring has sprung, which means it’s time to start the annual spring cleaning.

It happens every year.

And, in between washing walls and windows, putting away sweaters and mittens, and hauling out the flipflops, you can take a few minutes to spring clean your digital presence.

Like traditional cleaning, you need to do it and it isn’t always fun, but the results are well worth the effort you invest.

You can break your digital spring cleaning up into groups of tasks and do a little bit at a time, or pull a marathon and go through it all in the same day.

Five Steps to Digital Spring Cleaning

1. Review

Your digital presence is defined in large part by the your website, your blog, and your social networking profiles. Take the time to go back and review each of them. Does your website accurately reflect your business? Is it time to give it an updated look and feel? What about your blog? (My personal blog is waaay out of date and I have neglected it sadly for many, many months. It’s at the top of my to-do list.)

How about your social networking profiles? Take the time to review things like your “friends” and old notes or page “likes.” Look at your Facebook Timeline image, your Google+ banner, and your Twitter background. Reread your LinkedIn profile. Review your Twitter lists. How about the people you are following or those who you’ve accepted as friends, are they still important?

In today’s fast-paced digital world, things are always changing. It’s important to review your digital channels on a regular basis to make sure each one is doing its part to help build an effective digital presence for you.

2. Remove

Is it time to get rid of old content that no longer serves its purpose? What about some of those pictures you’ve been tagged in on Facebook? You know, the ones that don’t really show you at your best or could be misinterpreted. How about the Twitter followers you don’t really connect with or those who are spamming the network? Remove people you follow that you don’t really know, care for or connect with, remove the “friends” who aren’t really friends, the content that’s outdated or potentially problematic, and anything that just doesn’t fit today.

3. Reorganize

Now you can reorganize. Go through your Google Analytics and see what visitors to your site are paying attention to. You may find content you’d forgotten or decide to move content around to make it easier to find. You might even rediscover a topic you’d overlooked, something you can dust off and reuse. Go through your Flickr channel or the albums you’ve uploaded to Google+. Think through how you are using online tools to update your social media channels. Do you need to revise or reorganize that process?

4. Renew

Renew your focus and interest in your online activity. In the same way that having a sparkling clean house or apartment makes you feel reenergized, having your digital spring cleaning done and provides a sense of relief and makes it easy–and even fun–to get back in the game with renewed energy and drive.

5. Relax

Now you can relax. It’s been a bit of work, but well worth doing, and you can kick back and relax, knowing your digital presence is what you want and need it to be.

For now.

Have you gone through the digital spring cleaning process yet this year? What tips would you offer? Got any tools to suggest to make things easier?

He is a dedicated storyteller and passionate advocate of social CRM and the Jugnoo slate of tools, designed to drive customer acquisition and retention for brands and organizations. Jugnoo, a cloud-based social media technology still in beta, increases online visibility and commerce while building loyalty and advocacy.

Jugnoo recognizes that businesses need a strong social media solution to compete and be successful. The company’s vision is to help marketers and business owners understand and successfully grow their business on social media and give them to tools to do so. Recent additions to the company’s platform include Social Monitoring, Social Hub, Google Analytics, social analytics for Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, and the integration of BufferApp for optimized sharing of content and social posts.

Sound useful? Then join us on Friday, October 26^th at 11 AM PST (2PM EST). Post any questions you have for Danny in the comments of the The Friday Hangout blog. If you’re interested in trying Jugnoo, let us know. You may be able to wangle a trial of Jugnoo out of Danny–if you ask nicely.

What’s The Friday Hangout? You haven’t heard? The Friday Hangout is pretty much what it sounds like. A practical use of the Google Plus Hangout to gather some of the movers and shakers in online marketing and hear their thoughts (and pick their brains) on some of the latest trends in digital marketing.

Our panelists include Janet Fouts, Paul Chaney, Steve Farnsworth, Allen Mireles, Adam Helweh, Shelly Kramer and Neal Schaffer. We’re always adding new panelists and the lie up changes from week to week, depending on schedules and commitments. We’re also always thinking about guests and topics, so please shoot us your thoughts and ideas on future speakers and topics of interest.

The Friday Hangout , brainchild of social media coach, author and speaker, Janet Fouts, takes place on Google Plus (and on Youtube) on Friday afternoons at 2:00 PM EST (11:00 AM PST). Join us and tweet or post your questions for the panel.

See you then!

Recently, no fewer than five Olympic athletes have demonstrated poor judgement in their online communications, several of which resulted in harsh penalties.

British cyclist, Bradley Wiggins, showed poor judgment in tweeting about his partying after winning his fourth gold medal.

Australian swimmer, Stephanie Rice, was criticized for tweeting a photo of herself wearing a revealing bathing suit.

American track and field athlete, Lolo Jones shared a controversial tweet about the U.S. men’s archery team, which is still being discussed online.

Greek track and field athlete, Voula Papchristou, was removed from the games after a racist tweet about the athletes from Africa.

And  Swiss football player, Michel Morganella, was kicked off the team aftertweeting a threat against the South Koreans.

A reputation can be enhanced or destroyed online in a matter of days. Reputation management tactics, while valuable and effective, can only go so far.

People talk. And today, people share.

Information is available within seconds and goes around the world in the blink of an eye. What you say you stand for and the actions you take online are easily discovered, whether you are a brand spokesman or officer, a celebrity, an Olympic athlete, or an individual.

For anyone who is not experienced in communicating with the media, training can be extremely valuable and can make the difference between making a strong positive impression and coming across as an idiot–or worse. For some of the athletes in the glare of world attention, training in what is considered appropriate use of online media could have helped save a spot on the Olympic team.

Media training can include information about how to dress appropriately for an interview, how to pause before answering a journalist’s questions, how to stay focused on a particular message, or even how to sit or stand to portray the right impression in television or video interviews.

Much of the advice is simply practical. Some of the training includes rehearsal of approved talking points, and stopping to think before responding.

According to the IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines for Participants and Other Accredited Persons at the London 2012 Olympic Games,

Postings, blogs, and tweets should at all times conform to the Olympic spirit and fundamental principles of Olympism as contained in the Olympic Charter, be dignified and in good taste, and not contain vulgar or obscene words or images.

Unfortunately, these five athletes overlooked what to them may have seemed like unimportant fine print. Guidelines serve an important function but training and rehearsal help people take ideas from concept to solid understanding.

In today’s uber-connected online world, knowing how to use social networks and digital tools effectively is imperative. For anyone who may be thrust into the glare of world wide publicity, like an Olympic athlete, there are basic things one does and does not do using social media.

Knowing what those are can make all the difference in the world.

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This post was first published on Spin Sucks, August 15, 2012

Lolo Jone image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Reputation management is something that none of us, individuals, brands and organizations, can take for granted in today’s 24/7 online world. According to Gini Dietrich, “You can no longer pretend you won’t be affected by upset stakeholders. You are no longer in control. Your customers control everything, from your brand to who buys from you.”

Word.

Wait! What? The Friday Hangout?

Oh… you hadn’t heard yet. The Friday Hangout is pretty much what it sounds like. A practical use of the Google Plus Hangout to gather some of the movers and shakers in online marketing and hear their thoughts (and pick their brains) on some of the latest trends in digital marketing.

The Friday Hangout takes place on Google Plus (and on Youtube) on Friday afternoons at 2:00 PM EST (11:00 AM PST). Join us and tweet or post your questions for the panel.

See you then!