Guidelines for creating content

In the next step, you’re going to start to create your own content to build a positive online profile that you have control over.

Using other people’s content

• if you include any content of other people’s in your own posts, make sure that it is appropriately acknowledged. You could for example, use a reference to show this. There are many different ways of referencingwhich you can find online.
• be careful about the images you use: just because an image is freely available online doesn’t mean that it’s okay to use it.
• Creative Commons (CC) licences allow you to reuse others’ work as long as you credit the copyright holder. You can use sites like Compfight,Pixabay and Unsplash to find free CC images you can use to illustrate your message.

Promoting your content

• Using multiple social media tools will help you to build your online presence. Link between your accounts where possible and appropriate, to help connect with people in different ways. For example, if your Twitter account is connected with your accounts on Slideshare and Youtube, you can draw attention to your work and connect with potential followers.
• Always share widely after creating any new content. Tweet, link to them and embed on your website or blog if you have them.
• When starting out on a new site, make sure you have a complete profile that gives other users an idea of what you’re about and a reason to connect with you. If you’re trying to build a following across a number of sites, it might be helpful to use the same profile photo on all your accounts so that your connections will recognise you more easily.