PERSONAL BRANDING - HAVE YOU STARTED YET?

Have You ‘Branded’ Your Self?

I do not mean donning or consuming branded stuff; I mean packaging and presenting yourself as the best brand of whatever your clients (employers) are looking for.

We know what brands are, don’t we? Samsung, Gucci, Toyota, Ford, KFC, McDonald’s…. We all know that these have been synonymous with business development however recently Branding has become an ‘it’ word in Recruitment, Job Hunt and Career Development and it has been introduced as ‘Personal Branding’.

                          

It is time for us to learn from the big business brands, this lesson is vital for anybody who is interested to succeed in the ever-evolving job market. You have your resume, cover letters and education certificates, which are very important, but you need to do more.

Employers will Google you before they invite you for an interview, they will try to find out how you interact with people both online and in real life and what they gather will be a key reference point on whether they will select you or not.

Regardless of your age, career stage or specialization, personal branding is crucial especially in the current times swamped with social media. You must be in control of your personal brand online and offline because your clients are always watching.

Brand ‘you’ has to be documented and clearly marketed online. Social Media has made this so easy for us so all we have to do is put it into good use.

Facebook: Put a photo that reflects what you want ‘brand you’ to do for you. Whatever you choose to write should not be a nail in you brand’s coffin and watch what is written on your wall. Your profile should highlight the parts of your life that will work for you. Very few people have actually maximized Facebook for personal branding yet it has such a large audience.

Twitter: Choose your photo wisely, tweet regularly and actively take part in relevant forums. Twitter allows you to connect with your Facebook Profile and post a link to your website or blog; make use of those.

Have a blog or website, and use it to market yourself.

LinkedIn has provided a forum for professional networking where you can put out your resume, get references, take part in forum discussions and apply for jobs. Keep your profile here updated and honest. You can connect to your website or blog too.

Major Highlights of your brand:

1.       Have a ‘brand statement’, a clear summary of what you stand for and what you can offer and this should be highlighted on all your online profiles

2.       Show your ‘clients’ what you have done, what you are doing and what you plan to do.

3.       Unify your online brand agents, make sure there is consistency of information in all your online profiles and try to create a link from each of them to the others.

4.       Market your brand.

Finally, there is a lot of information out there, mine is just a wake up call, you have to dig deeper and get the juicy morsel then get to work!