Personal Branding

Personal Branding Using Social Media

View more documents from brian.hollowaty.

branding-logo

A strong personal brand, with an online component is CRITICAL to your success in these challenging times

Whether you’re a corporate executive, a performing artist, or an entrepreneur, it’s critically important to establish your personal brand. We are now facing incredibly competitive times, so it’s even more important to stand apart from your peers. A strong personal brand is the only job security in this day and age!

5 Tips for Building and Managing Your Personal Brand

1. Create a personal brand statement

  • What is your unique value proposition, and how can you become an expert in your industry or focus area? Your brand statement must be clear and consistent.
  • You need to be able to clearly articulate this to anyone you communicate with across many different platforms both online and in person.

2. Develop online profiles and actively update them

  • LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, Zoominfo
  • Be sure to use a high quality photograph (I recommend a professionally taken one) for posting on your profiles.
  • Make sure your message (your personal brand statement) is consistent on each profile.

3. Contribute, Contribute, Contribute

  • Create a blog about your industry or focus area.
  • Contribute to other blogs about your industry or focus area.
  • Join industry related communities in discussion forums, on social media (such as LinkedIn Groups), and in newsgroups.
  • Add value to others by sharing links and resources that you know people will enjoy.
  • Offer to contribute to journalists in your particular area of expertise.
  • Speak at industry events and conferences.

4. Register your own domain name www.yourname.com

  • At a minimal cost, this is a valuable piece of real estate that can be used to build and manage your personal brand. Create a site that can feature your accomplishments and experience, as well as host your blog. This email address can be maintained throughout your career, and it reinforces your brand every time you send an email.

5. Setup a Google alert (www.google.com/alerts)

  • Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS. You can monitor a news story, keep current with your industry and competitors, and see who is writing about you, all at the same time.

*Content summarized from Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, by William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson

Globally Competitive is a resource center and platform that helps individuals and companies adapt and succeed in today’s global economy. Founder, Brian Hollowaty is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for branding. His companies have been featured in the New York Times, LA Business Journal, and Crain’s Detroit Business. Brian is a consultant with UCLA Anderson School of Management in the area of business development and social marketing.