You and Your Personal Brand
When it comes to networking or seeking new opportunities, making sure you create a favorable first impression---with a positive "personal brand" online---is critical! Each of us has a personal brand made up of various elements---how we represent ourselves in the public domain.
How each of these elements is displayed to the public, will in large measure, have a significant impact in how you are perceived in projecting your personal brand---good or bad !
These personal brand elements include:
- Your personal style - standard of dress and grooming
- Your education and professional development
- Your employment background
- Your unique skills and capabilities
- Your personality and work behaviours
- Your 60 second intro - elevator pitch
- Your manner of speech and business/social interaction
- Your telephone and voicemail greetings
- Your email address and signature
- Your online brand – Facebook, Linked In, Twitter etc
- Your resume
- Your volunteer and community involvement
- Your memberships and associations
- Your personal interests
Think about how you present yourself to others online right now. Are you presenting the best possible image of yourself? Are there areas that you can / should improve upon?
Example: Is the email address you used as a student (hotstuff123579@hotmail.com) still the one you use today? Does it really project the professional image you want /need?
Do you have an email signature that you include on all emails? Does it include a telephone number should someone wish to call you on impulse?
Think about taking steps to project the professional image you want to capitalize on opportunities!
Quick Factoids
Google - 88% of all employers will Google your name. What will they find? Google yourself and find out !
422.6 million non-unique visits to Google each day
Linked In is the single best business research tool used to source key decision makers in corporations and organizations and connect with them. This is an incredible time saving tool you cannot afford to overlook. Grow your professional network effectively on Linked In!
85 million users on Linked In
Twitter is a powerful tool to follow people and / or organizations and have quality information pushed to your Twitter homepage ! In turn, you can then share select information with your personal network on Twitter and Linked In simultaneously. Read that---value add!
190 million users on Twitter
Facebook is a social media phenomenon that continues to grow exponentially, connecting friends and family, but also connecting individuals to organizations (Fan pages and Business Pages) Many major organizations are well represented on Facebook.
500 million + users on Facebook
YouTube has many instructional, motivational, as well as corporate videos on a broad range of subject matter.
Over 2 Billion videos are viewed daily on YouTube
*NOTE* All of the above tools are available to you free !
Don't Get Left Behind!
Far too frequently, we hear people make summary judgments like, "Oh, Social Media's not for me. I don't need to do that. I can find a new job on my own no problem."
Frankly, only after you've taken adequate time to examine, play with and learn about these various social media tools and their derivative benefits, will you have sufficient information from which you can make an educated decision as to whether they're right for you !
As evidenced by the chart below, we should take the lead from younger generations who have adopted Social Media in greater numbers...
Keeping up with changing technology is an essential ingredient to success, no matter what your role is. If you choose NOT to keep up with new tools and resources (yes, it's a conscious choice you make), you may well be viewed as someone who cannot (or will not) learn new things or adapt to change. When that happens, decision making transfers from your hands to that of others. Probably not the image you want to portray !
Don't let this happen to you!
Take charge of your personal learning and development and make a commitment to explore and learn how Social Media tools can benefit you and your career !
To begin this process, I invite you to view an array of short, good quality "how to" videos on Getting Connected to Social Media to learn the value of Linked In, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Take a few minutes and a look through these great videos. You'll be glad you did !
So go ahead. Wade into Social Media and get your feet wet. C'mon in, the water's fine !
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Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything. --- George Lois
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Social media is becoming more and more important. There is no better way for you to appear behind the times than to not be a part of the technological landscape. But, as Richard points out, beware of the digital footprint that you are leaving behind for others to find...forever!
ReplyDeleteLeslie, I couldn't agree more. It's imperative that people take the time to explore the myriad of tools and educate themselves both on the benefits of Social Media, and conversely, about the downside of not engaging and missing out on the opportunity having a voice in the conversation !
ReplyDelete