Stop Running - Embrace Your Personal Brand!
Posted by Jeff Machado
This is a guest post by Kristin Dziadul, Marketing Analyst for Backupify. She blogs on her own site as a new generation marketer, discussing new inbound marketing techniques and Generation Y studies and observations. She can be found on Twitter @KristinEDziadul.
The heavy reliance on the Internet today means that not only should brands be present online, but people too. Some may ask, why would I want to be considered a brand? The answer is that it is one of the best things a person can do today to distinguish themselves in the market place and gain a large social and professional following.
There are many outlets a person can use to showcase and demonstrate their personal brand, from Twitter to Facebook, LinkedIn to FriendFeed, YouTube to Ustream and many more. Whatever combination you choose to create your personal brand, make sure the message you give on each is consistent and professional.
For example, upon graduation from college I developed my personal brand as an up-and-coming marketing professional and chose Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Brazen Careerist to showcase my brand. Everything I post or talk about on each of these sites is marketing and technology related since that is what I specialize in and want to be known for.
For those who have not yet started developing a personal brand, it may seem like an odd idea, however it can help not only you understand what you stand for and what you excel in, but employers and peers will see that as well. Soon you will realize that people will start to come to you for particular issues or topics because they see you as an expert or resource. I have found that many companies now come to me to review their latest iPhone app or marketing idea just because they know that that is what I am good at and love to do.
High level executives to college students alike should be developing a personal brand. Although you may be a part of a larger company or college community, you need to distinguish yourself. For example, a CEO may want to be seen not only as a CEO, but as an expert in a particular field or topic of interest and let customers and clients know this. This also helps people see the CEO not only as the head of the company but a true expert and real person. Once consumers and clients see a high level person as a real person and not just the head honcho of a company, they will be more willing to do business with them, especially online.
This is such a great opportunity for college students to start distinguishing themselves in the tough economy today as I did. A resume can only go so far, and then you must start demonstrating your talents. Yes, I had a good resume, good interviewing skills and many awards and accolades in the marketing field, but how could I really SHOW potential employers this?
I did this by demonstrating my knowledge and ideas on my blog, tweeting about topics of importance to me on Twitter, sharing valuable and relevant information on Facebook, and creating videos on YouTube that ranged from a video resume to my predictions of Googles’ future. If you integrate all of your social sites together (I have all my links to each of my social sites on each site so visitors can see my entire brand) people will get a well-rounded view of who you are and what your brand stands for.
I strongly encourage every person to begin developing their personal brand. This is not something that can be done all at once, but it is a steady process of making contacts, interacting with people, sharing information, developing content and much more! I truly enjoyed discovering my true talents and developing my brand around that to show others, and in turn I landed a job because of it. The possibilities are endless and your brand can be used for so many ways to help advance your career.