Everyone knows what a brand is… most
people associate it with a product or a company like Cheetos® or Nike®. We have been talking about Corporate Brand in
the recruiting industry for quite awhile and now Personal Brand has become just
as popular. You hear it on everything
from the Wall Street Journal to America’s Next Top Model. What exactly does Personal Brand mean and do
you really need one?
I teach a workshop on personal
branding so I read a lot of articles on this subject. Today I read an article by Jasmine Sandler
about How to Create a Visible and Engaging
LinkedIn Profile
that also explains personal branding extremely well. I would like to take it outside of LinkedIn
and apply it to your career goals and personal life.
What
is it? Your Personal Brand is basically what people
think about you. How they see you at
work, in real life and more and more importantly these days, online. Going one step further, what they will say
about you to their friends, associates and colleagues.
Why
do you need one? Even if you don’t think you need one, you
have one. It might not be what you would expect. People are forming opinions about you based
on their interactions with you, word of mouth (what they see and hear about you)
and how you present yourself. You need
to take control of how people view you and show yourself in the best light. Good lighting is crucial for a great picture
and you are creating a picture of yourself for the world to see. If you are a job-seeker you need a strong, positive
personal brand to attract prospective employers, present who you are and get
interviews. As an employee you need a
good brand at work to make the best possible impression, define how you can
contribute to the organization and advance your career.
How
do you do it right?
You should start by knowing yourself,
your capabilities, and the direction you want to go and then start building
your brand. A key place to start is building
a powerful online brand. This will be
the cornerstone of your personal brand. The
article I reference earlier is a great example of building out your LinkedIn
profile which is the most important professional social network at this
time. You should also create profiles on
Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and maybe even Pinterest to share your perspective
and establish credibility. Show your
personality and let people see your thinking, world view and sense of
humor. (Remember to constantly manage
and adjust privacy settings to only show professional pictures and
interactions.)
Start
Building Credibility…
when you develop your online profile, make sure people can find you when
searching by using key words that are the most relevant and make sure your
profile reflects those key words. Be
sure and publish your recommendations and accomplishments. Highlight your
successes… share the conferences you are attending, articles you have published
and accolades received. Stay informed…
subscribe to publications like Forbes, Bloomberg, Tech Crunch and follow your favorite
companies and people. Join groups related to your industry and comment on the articles
that interest you or that especially touched or informed you. Engage in conversations, share your
expertise! Be consistent, select a unified
theme for all social media so people will easily recognize you everywhere.
Become
a Subject Matter Expert…
decide what you want to be known for and make sure people know you for
that. Share your opinions, educate and
inform others. You can start by creating
a blog. It doesn't have to be super high
tech, many sites like Blogger are very easy to use and set up. Create engaging content about whatever you
are passionate about and share your passion with the world. Finally network and make connections… you
never know where that next speaking engagement invitation or job offer will
come from.
Remember
the three fundamentals…
Be Seen, Be Heard and Be Respected. See you online!
