Personal Branding: Stepping Out of Your Shell

Your personal branding efforts may be paying off, but there is always room for improvement, especially in the ever-changing landscape provided by the Internet.

Approaching Your Peers

Given the scope of modern media, you don’t always have to wait to be spoken to before opening your mouth. With social media sites like Twitter, you have every opportunity to engage with your audience (and beyond).

• Approach your audience on the personal level to which they are accustomed.
• Don’t treat every interaction as a conversion exercise – the conversation itself can be just as valuable as a sale or newsletter sign-up.
• Don’t be a know-it-all, but rather be seen as a collaborator with the public.
• Do some searches for keywords relevant to your industry and look for discussions which you could join and add value to.
  

Covering More Ground

Social media optimisation might be proving effective at your current online hangouts, but social networking sites are popping up overnight and you don’t want to get left behind when the newer sites become popular.

Creating profiles on the various social networking sites (even if you don’t plan on using them immediately) can not only increase your search engine visibility, but also increase the impact of your personal branding efforts.

Remember that content creation is one of the most important aspects to establishing and strengthening your online presence – personal or corporate. But if you don’t syndicate your content correctly, little good will come of it.

Don’t Be Afraid

Although it’s important to keep a standard sense of identity and interaction, never be afraid to crack a joke, approach an information-seeking stranger or even go as far as acknowledge or challenge your competitors.

As a personal branding enthusiast, you should be naturally wary of seeming out of character or creating a negative image. Always think your interactions and comments through before publishing - if you’re not sure of a statement or public positioning, save a draft and read through it a bit later, just to be sure.

Comments

[Ola Rynge]

I have to say that I disagree with your point on register yourself on the networking sites you do not intend to use. Instead of building a strong brand this will dilute your brand. I would rather say that focusing on the networks of your interests and industry would make your brand stronger in these areas and people will have a greater trust to that brand than a wide spread brand without focus.

[Michy]

I agree to a certain extent, but I think it's worth investigating the potential of all new social networking sites before you commit to the few you want to focus on. Profiles are easy to delete and you just never know what potential one presents over another until you've explored it.

[Udi Drezner]

I think that you should choose the amount of exposure that suits you best. Creating profiles on many social networking sites can generate more leads but can be more time consuming and less focused. However, I don't think that it can hurt your branding efforts.