The document discusses how students can create an online brand to represent themselves positively to colleges and universities. It recommends students create accounts on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, Facebook, and ItsMyURLs to showcase academic and extracurricular activities. Maintaining a positive online presence on social media is important as colleges may research applicants online. The goal is to present a well-rounded image beyond just grades and test scores to improve chances of admission.

2. Branding You

3. Students Online Brand
As students in urban areas we have to utilize all possible avenues to be
competitive when applying for Universities. We have to tackle
admission to Universities and Colleges as adults tackle employment
opportunities.
Colleges and Universities are looking for more than just good grades
and great SAT score. They are looking for a well-rounded student that
will be an effective and positive representation of their college or
University.
One of the ways that you can represent yourself as such, is by using
Social Media, which could allow potential Universities and Colleges to
see you beyond how you present yourself on a sheet of paper.

4. Negative Social Media can reflect very poorly and can
sometimes eliminate your chance of entering into the
college of your choice or even having your admission
withdrawn AFTER YOU’VE BEEN ADMITTED. So it is
very important to present yourself in a positive
manner at all times.
I am going to teach you how to create YOUR
BRAND; this will allow you to demonstrate your best
possible image to those that need to see it. So you
will be BRANDING YOU. This will allow you to paint
yourself as a very well rounded person that any
College or University would be proud to have as a
part of their student body.

5. Create a Gmail & Yahoo account
I will need you to create a Gmail Account
and Yahoo account. This will only be used
to promote YOUR BRAND. Use your
name or something that sounds
professional to create your accounts.
You’ll want to stay away from nicknames,
like BooBear@Gmail.com for instance.
My name is Anise Smith so I would use
AniseSmith@Gmail.com or something
similar.

6. www.Gmail.com www.Yahoo.com

7. Create a Google Profile
http://www.google.com/profiles

8. Create a FREE GOOGLE Profile, this
allows you to display information about
yourself that presents YOUR BRAND in a
favorable way. The Google profile allows
you to create an online presence about
yourself that people or Universities would
have access to when they Google you.
Notice that I said WHEN and not IF, most
people use Google as a research tool to
find information about people. This is one
of the reasons that I am teaching you all
this.

9. Create a YouTube Channel
http://www.YouTube.com

10. YouTube is the second most utilized search
engine after Google, and is in fact owned by
Google. The goal here is to create a channel
with videos of yourself involved in school
activities, playing instruments, at the library,
studying with your friends or similar
education based activity. If you do not have a
video camera see if any of your friends have
one and if they are willing to create a short 2
minute video of you. You can return the favor.
Also add education-based videos to your
channel. Search YouTube for videos of
Colleges, SAT Preparation, Advanced Studies
or any other education related videos.

11. Create a Flickr Account
http://www.Flickr.com

12. Flicker is a Yahoo company so you can create
the Flickr account using the Yahoo email
address/account that you created earlier. Flickr
is the largest Photo Sharing website on the
Internet. Take some pictures of yourself at
school sporting events, playing sports if you
participate, at any volunteer events, take some
pictures with you hanging out with friends at
the library, recreation center, and involved in
additional extracurricular activities. This is a
way to display yourself as more than just words
on a college application but to display what you
like, who you are and things that you enjoy
doing. This presents a very well rounded image
to Universities. Also, people really LOVE to
look at pictures.

13. Create a Blogger Account
http://www.Blogger.com

14. Create a very easy Blog/Website using
Blogger, which is also a Google company so
you will be able to create this using the Gmail
account that you created earlier. The
Blogger account will allow you to write some
things about yourself, things you like to do,
where you want to go to college, how you
are doing in school, what sports teams you
play on in school and things about who you
are personally. Share information about your
family, talk about family outings and having fun
with your friends. What’s really great about
Blogger is that you can write as often as you
want by creating different posts for different
events. It’s like a journal, except that it is in an
online format. Another thing, you can add
videos from the YouTube Channel you
created, and images from the Flickr account
to your Blog as well.

15. Your Facebook Page
http://www.Facebook.com

16. Create a Facebook Page
http://www.Facebook.com/pages/create

17. Facebook, is very important in the creation of
YOUR BRAND. If you have a personal
Facebook account make sure that everything
on your Facebook account is something that
you use to make a positive impression. I will
leave you with a step-by-step guide to help
you set your privacy preferences on your
Facebook personal page to ensure that you
are only displaying the most positive
information possible. Also create a
Facebook Page/Community page, discuss
your school life, your extra curricular
activities and your favorite subjects. Invite
your friends that have educational similarities
to LIKE your page.

18. Create an It’sMyURL’s Account
http://www.ItsMyUrls.com

19. ItsMyURLS.com is a website that
allows you to integrate ALL of your
social media avenues and allows you to
use one URL. So you can create one
Url to be used on your college
applications to display your entire
online presence easily. So after you
create these accounts create a
ItsMyUrls.com account and add all of
these accounts to it.

20. All of these things when place
together online allow you to present
a positive picture to Colleges and
Universities. This may increase your
chances of competing to get into the
college of your choice.

21. Resources
http://www.AniseSmithUrbanPrep.blogspot.com
http://www.ItsYourURLs.com
http://www.Google.com/Profiles
http://www.Flickr.com
http://www.Gmail.com
http://www.Yahoo.com
http://www.Facebook.com
http://www.YouTube.com
Facebook Privacy eBook: http://goo.gl/LILNb