For all the talk about Twitter and Facebook you’d think everyone is America is tweeting and updating their status. But the reality is nearly two thirds of American adults have never created an online profile and joined a social network.

If you’re part of this silent majority, it’s time to start managing your online identity. Here are three simple steps you should take to claim your virtual territory and protect your personal brand.

1. Investigate

• Go to Google and search your name. Can you find yourself? Who’s listed before you? What line of work are they in? If someone is searching for you, who might they mistakenly find?
• Go to Facebook and search for your name. How many matches are there? Do the same on  Twitter .

Now that you have an idea of how competitive the online space is for your name you’re ready for the next step.

2. Build

Stake a claim to your online territory by setting up accounts in the top digital properties.

• Whenever possible use the same profile name. I typically use “DaveHaan1″ (e.g. www.Twitter.com/DaveHaan1) because someone beat me to the punch and starting using “DaveHaan” before me. Admittedly this variation isn’t as good as my regular name but it’s close and consistently used.
• Enter enough information into your profile so people can find you. Uploading a picture of yourself and sharing your city, where you work and the name of your alma mater is a good place to start.
• Set up a profile in each of the top social categories. The names will change as new players enter the game but today the top sites are:
  • Networking with friends = Facebook
  • Microblogging = Twitter
  • Professionals = LinkedIn
  • Video = Youtube
  • Photos = Flickr
  • Social bookmarking = Delicious
  • News = Digg
  • Blog = WordPress or Blogger (setup takes less than five minutes)
  • Email = Gmail and Yahoo
  • Domain name = Go Daddy (register your name for $10 or less)

After setting up your accounts, use them! Find people with similar interests. Listen to their conversations and join the discussion.

3. Monitor

 Just because you’ve established your online identity doesn’t mean the job is done! Now is the time to start listening for comments, feedback, anything that mentions your name.

• Set a Google Alert for your name and profile name. An email will be sent each time your name shows up in a blog post, news story, web page, etc.
• Social Mention is another free service that will listen for your name. It will even say if the mentions are positive, negative or neutral.
• Tip: learn more about social media monitoring from Week 3 of the Lawrence & Schiller Social Media Boot Camp webinar series.

According to Pew Internet research, nearly half of us have searched online for information about ourselves. Unfortunately only 3% do it on a regular basis! Once you’ve established your online identity you won’t be able to manage it unless you monitor on a regular basis.

See More Of The Story
Click on the play button below to watch “Claiming Your Virtual Territory“ from KELOLAND-TV.