How Do You Build Your Personal Brand?

[Colan Nielsen]

In this day and age, regardless of whether or not you currently work for a company, you need to be constantly building your personal brand. I found this post and video to be very insightful (Guy Kawasaki is pretty darn cool) -

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/personal-branding-interview-guy-kawasaki/144312/

What do you focus on when building your brand? I will go first. Some of the top things I focus on are:
1. Creating unique content/blog posts
2. Sharing uniqie content on Twitter, LinkedIn...etc
3. Working to create a solid network VIA LinkedIn
4. Currently designing a personal website
5. Working on a PodCast that I am hoping to go live with in a few months
6. Get out to local events to speak

Here are some key takeaways from the video:

Personal branding is as (if not more) important when you work for a company compared to if you’re a solo entrepreneur or business owner.

Previous generations typically worked at 1–2 different companies in their lives, usually the one they got hired into out of college. These days, over the course of your working life, you may work for 5–10 different companies.

Not losing sight of your personal branding will help you in the long run after leaving one company and looking to get hired into the next.

Millennials and younger generations need to realized that LinkedIn is the equivalent of Snapchat and Tinder for careers. Recruiters make quick decisions about whether or not they want to interview someone after landing on their LinkedIn profile.

Business cards are still important, even in today’s digital world. Today’s technology makes it easier to keep track of business cards, which is why you should ensure yours is well designed.

The test of a good business card, Guy says, is if you can scan it using Evernote and the app is able to pick up on all the details. If it can’t, go back to the drawing board and re-do your card

If your company would like to keep everyone’s personal branding looking the same across all social networks, Guy recommends the newly launched enterprise edition of Canva.

 

[JoyHawkins]

For me personally, I started mainly in forums. Once I got a great reputation there, I got my first invitation to speak at SMX. That lead to more speaking invitations at SMX which lead to me becoming a columnist at Search Engine Land. One of the editors at Moz heard me speak and that lead me to me writing for them. I also met one of the organizers of DFWSEM at SMX so that lead to a speaking opportunity there next month.

Also I wouldn't count out Twitter. I got a late start on Twitter but it's a wonderful way to get your name in front of other experts if you start communicating with them.

 

[Linda Buquet]

"How Do You Build Your Personal Brand?"

I say watch Joy Hawkins! That girl is on FIRE!

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Thanks Joy! I meant to mention forums as well. I can't begin to express how this forum helped me establish my expertise in the beginning and continues to do so.

Thanks Linda!