Do you have a personal brand online? Are you able to make a career out of it?
Personal brand online I found an article I thought was worth sharing and commenting on. It suggests 16 ways to create your own personal brand online and make a career out of it! by Randi Sherman.
What is a personal brand?
Personal branding is all about creating a reputation — aka, a brand — that represents the sum total of your career and professional persona. It’s about who you are, what it is that you do, how you work, and where you are headed. Like a consumer brand, a personal brand not only tells your story, it sets the stage for growth and will advance you towards your future career success. A personal brand goes beyond the basic resume to deliver a more complete picture of who you are professionally.
– Randi Sherman
What can you do with it?
Employers Search Online to Investigate Their Candidates
There are scads of examples out there of qualified candidates applying for jobs and getting turned down simply because they ignored their online image. Almost 80% of employers “Google” job seekers before even inviting them into an interview. This is #1 reason why a personal brand is so important. Employers do, and will, search for you online.
– Randi Sherman
People get all worked up about writing a CV and responding to ads … to look for a job or find a new one.
But just think that companies or head-hunters start with LinkedIn to look for people, or in any case if they hear about someone or have CVs in their database they check the updated situation using Google. Have you ever tried typing your name into Google to see what happens? It’s worth trying!
Develop a Clear Vision
A personal brand helps you discover who you are and what you’re all about. Employers can learn about your passions, see what excites you, and even envision where you would like to be in the future.
– Randi Sherman
Creating your own personal brand and managing it is far from simple. I assure you!
But it’s an invaluable exercise because it forces you to reflect on yourself and on what you can do.
It is so far from being straightforward that GoodGoing! provides its expertise to help you identify tangible elements to create your brand in a professional manner.
I have chosen a few of the points I considered to be most important from Randi Sherman’s list.
Define Your Audience
Do you know who you are selling to? Do you know how old they are, what they do in their spare time, what they value most? Having a clearly defined audience ensures that your marketing efforts will be directed appropriately. It will hone your efforts and make them count, both from a time-spent standpoint and from a financial one.
– Randi Sherman
You won’t be able to appeal to everyone and say things which everyone finds interesting. As I always say, beige might look like a colour that goes well with everything, but in reality it doesn’t suit anything. In the same way, your message has to be targeted. And to have a target you first need to identify it!
That means you have to choose!!!
If even this step seems too difficult because it’s a bit like chopping your arm off, you can always ask for help from a professional - your business coach!
Develop a Strong, Professional Social Media Presence
Choose platforms that are appropriate to your line of business. LinkedIn and Twitter are the best ones to get started with, but having a Facebook business page and Instagram may also important. Instagram is actually a great platform if your work can be represented in a visual way. Best of all, social media is free, until you get into paid advertising, but first things first – that’s not necessary right away.
– Randi Sherman
Social media for work? LinkedIN.
It’s a shame that your personal branding derives from your entire presence on the web, starting from Google …
Curate Content to Share Across Your Various Platforms
Content curation is a way to encourage interest in your brand on social media. You can’t just be selling all the time because people will just switch off. Choose a few influential and/or entertaining sites that you like (hopefully related to your niche) and choose some of their posts to rebroadcast to your audience. Mention influencers in your posts, and reach out to them for link-backs and cross-posts. Connect with your audience and they will keep coming back for more.
– Randi Sherman
I’ll never get tired of saying that people should be careful about what they publish on the various social media sites, especially if you’re looking for work and are in the spotlight with a number of employers. In reality you are Always being examined by people who give you work: your current employers, potential future employers, customers or potential customers …
Yes, you can say whatever you want, but don’t forget that whatever you write remains on the web even if you press delete or cancel and there have been many cases which demonstrate that this information will not be restricted to recipients you may have chosen …
Register a Domain Name & Get a Professional Email Address
Get a professional domain name and create an email account for yourself. For example, JohnSmith.com. If the .com version is taken, register the .me version. Create a professional email with your new domain name like john@johnsmith.com – this way you won’t be tied down to your ISP, or a free email service like Yahoo or Gmail. Using a domain name email gives you a more professional image right off the bat.
– Randi Sherman
I’ll never get tired of saying that people should be careful about what they publish on the various social media sites, especially if you’re looking for work and are in the spotlight with a number of employers. In reality you are Always being examined by people who give you work: your current employers, potential future employers, customers or potential customers …
Yes, you can say whatever you want, but don’t forget that whatever you write remains on the web even if you press delete or cancel and there have been many cases which demonstrate that this information will not be restricted to recipients you may have chosen …
Make Sure Your Information is Up To Date
Make sure every little thing you have posted online – listings, reviews, articles, guest posts, resumes, CVs – all of these should be up to date, current, and accurate with the appropriate links back to your home website and/or social accounts.
– Randi Sherman
This is always the case, whether you have your own website or simply have a LinkedIn profile. What’s the point in not having updated information. If you’re there, you need to be there today, otherwise you might as well just press delete. It might seem harsh but that’s the way it is.
