Social Media Can "Help" Build & Promote Your Personal Brand - Part 1
05/05/2011
Social media can amplify your personal brand, but the presence itself cannot be a substitute for a personal brand. ~ Rajesh Setty
Personal branding is a sizzling hot topic. However, some say personal branding is little more than a Kimbaya campfire "feel good" song. Other people, like my pal Geoff Livingston, take an even strong position and believe personal branding is contrived and fake.
However, in a world where information about you and how you present yourself is as easy to find as a mouse click, your online presence is an important aspect of your "resume."
Whether you call it your digital footprint, online identity or personal brand, the fact remains potential and current employers, clients, colleauges and co-workers have more pieces of the puzzle to base their perceptions about you personally and your professional capabilities.
As we in marketing well know .. perceptions impact purchase and loyalty (job offers, promotions, project opportunities, relationships).
A few weeks ago I had the honor to speak at Possible Woman, a conference created by an innovative and creative women who has a strong personal brand herself -- Linda Wind. My topic was using social media to put your best foot forward.
To prep for the talk, I reached out to a few women, who hold corporate jobs and are using social media to build and promote their personal brands. Their responses were so rich with tips and information that it makes sense to turn this into a series.
Meet the women who graciously shared their insights about personal branding in the corporate word.
Amanda Coogle - Sales Consultant for PulteGroup which is a large, nationwide homebuilder. I am currently responsible for the marketing and sales efforts at a Centex branded community in the Coastal Carolinas Division. Before my move to Charleston a little over a year ago, I spent the past 5 years in Atlanta, GA working in sales and marketing in the apartment industry. Facebook Linkedin Twitter Foursquare
Em Hall - Communicator who specializes in digital strategy, social media, and online marketing. She helped strategize and implement award-winning marketing campaigns at two of America’s most trusted nonprofits and currently works in the transportation industry.” FacebookBlog Linkedin Twitter Portfolio
Laura Bennett - CEO and Co-Founder of Embrace Pet Insurance. I am an actuary, entrepreneur, mother, and world citizen. I left the corporate world to get out of insurance and to get my MBA, but my odd combination of actuarial skills and entrepreneurial leaning led me to the underserved and underpenetrated world of pet insurance. Facebook Blog Linkedin Twitter
Nancy Schburt - Global Brand Professional for IBM who has worked for IBM full-time for 13 years on a contract basis. Blog Linkedin Twitter
Nazanin Weck - Marketing professional who draws from 15 years of industry knowledge and professional skills, I develop concepts for and design creative marketing and communications material for the parks and recreation industry. I have gained my experience by holding management positions with 2 large corporations and a local government agency. Linkedin Twitter
Diva Marketing/Toby: How do you define “personal branding?”
Amanda Coogle: To me, personal branding is what you represent to your peers. I do, however, think that one person can have more than one brand.
Em Hall: For me, personal branding is creating a consistent persona across online and offline channels. Personal branding also affords me the ability to build relationships and create new opportunities that exist outside of my full time work. My personal brand is heavily tied to my social media presence, and fosters an environment of interactive and instantaneous communication, which is absolutely essential for a 21st century marketer.
Laura Bennett: The impression a person has about me, whether it be from information they find about me online, from meeting me in person, or through hearing about me through others.
Nancy Schubert: It’s how you present yourself to the world – usually, professionally. I think of it as product marketing with me as the product. To be effective, it should follow the same rules of branding that marketers use. It should be accurate, consistent and geared for your target market.
Nazanin Weck: To me, personal branding is an extension of our personality. It is what others visualize when they hear your name. Our brand is a representation of what we stand for and what we practice on a daily basis. This is what sets us apart from the crowd.
Diva Marketing/Toby: As a women working in a corporate environment, why is it important to develop what Tom Peters termed “The Brand Called You”?
Amanda Coogle: In today’s competitive job market, it is extremely important for women working in a corporate environment to develop a professional brand for themselves. The candidates in today’s job market have really upped the ante for everyone – they are more educated, connected, and experienced than before so it is extremely important and almost necessary to differentiate yourself from your peers.
Em Hall: I decided several years back to adopt “EmilyHaHa” as my online persona, or brand. I performed improv comedy for many years, and like to think that my sense of humor is a defining personality trait.
While I definitely have lots of fun at work, and all of my jobs have had offices where a good sense of humor was a key element to a successful team, my personal brand allows me to extend that even further. I love nothing more than being the first person among my networks to share cool, quirky ideas or places or things, and EmilyHaHa is able to do that without constraint.
Laura Bennett:
Whether you like it or not, you have a brand so I believe it’s important to know what that is and stick with it. Being a woman is a part of my brand in the male-dominated world I work in (insurance and venture capital funded company) just as much as my British accent, my ultra-short hair, and my personal connection I like to have with the people around me is. I leave the impression I want to leave with my “audience” and it’s consistent in everything I do.
Nazanin Weck: As a woman, we face many challenges in the corporate world, and as I’ve noticed even more in government. Developing “your brand” is extremely important in setting yourself apart from everyone else. Without this “brand”, one is just a job title and limited by the expectations of such job. Being “branded”, opens more doors and allows for better career opportunities.
More to come!
