Whether or not you have bought into the idea of personal branding, it is here. Job recruiters and potential clients are using social media and online research to look you up before they interview or hire you. These components are essential to establishing credibility and proving your value.
If you aren’t doing these things, you will be invisible to a large segment of your target audience. Building your online presence enables you to position your unique ROI and best-fit qualities directly in front of the recruiters and decision-makers you need to impress. Personal branding is not just for job seekers. If you are in sales, marketing, or leadership roles, building your online brand and credibility helps you stay top of mind with those you are trying to work with. Seven of the best ways to build your personal brand online:
1) Get Busy Blogging
Blogging is great because it will put your name in the search engines and associates you with relevant and consistently updated information. Blogging is done through commenting on other blogs, starting your own blog, or guest blogging. Blogging is probably the best and easiest way to share your expertise and can help establish you as a thought leader in your industry.
Remember to offer useful information, avoid self-promoting and negative or derogatory remarks. When guest blogging, make sure you set up your profile on that blog that matches your brand’s theme.
2) Twitter
Don’t just use Twitter for idle chit chat; make sure that you also leverage it professionally. Twitter posts reach a vast audience allowing you to have visibility around your unique talents that potential employers will find of value. People follow you because they are interested in what you have to say. They could be your next employer or client, so make sure that your posts are relevant and clean.
3) LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the first stop for recruiters and potential people looking to do business with you or the company you represent. Make sure your profile is updated regularly, including the photo, and that grammar and spelling are perfect. The picture needs to be professional in appearance and not one you would post on Facebook. LinkedIn is unequivocally the most important social network for job search and career management.
If recruiters and decision-makers cannot find you on LinkedIn, they may never find you. It is as important as in-real-life networking to your career. Don’t become known as someone who is inept or disinterested in social media, and it is not acceptable in today’s digital world.
4) Self-Googling
This should be your first step when you are starting and should be done at a minimum of once per month after that. You need to make sure that the information that comes up in the search engines shows you in a positive light. If there are any negative results, employers won’t want to hire you, and potential customers won’t want to do business with you.
The best way to overcome the negative, or ensure it doesn’t get there to begin with, is for you to put as much positive stuff out there as possible. Using any of these key elements will help you to have positive search results.
An automated approach to self-Googling is to set up a Google Alert for your name. When Google detects your name in a new search result, you will receive an email with that information.
5) Claim Your Name Online
Serious die-hard personal branders have their own online name such as jasoncortel.com. They aren’t that expensive and go a long way in helping you with your online branding. It isn’t enough to grab the name; you need to activate it with a website or blog and include an about you and resume page. It will allow recruiters and potential clients to have easy access to everything they would need to know about you.
6) Online Book Reviews
This is another super simple way to get your name out there. Doing online book reviews (really any reviews) on sites like Amazon and others will show up in search results. Make sure the reviews are of products that are relevant to your field of expertise. It also shows that you stay current with the information that is published around your field.
7) Professional Associations
There are countless professional associations out there, choose those that have a strong online presence and are being watched by your target audience. Participate in the discussion boards, comment on their blog posts, and sign-up to be a guest blogger. Get involved as much as you can to help your name get out there.
These are seven of the best and easiest ways to get started building your personal brand. For the most part, they are inexpensive and don’t require a lot of time. More than likely, your name is already out there. Doing these things will help ensure that what people find are the things that will encourage them to do business with you. As with anything, consistency will rule, so don’t let your blog or social networks go dark. Do you have any other quick and easy personal branding methods to add? Use the comments below.
Last updated on October 17th, 2019 at 05:58 am
