Personal Brand

A Personal brand is your image, your reputation. Your brand is your promise of excellence, your distinctive characteristics that set you apart from other workers and job-seekers. Your brand is the essence of who you are, what you can do for an employer, and your potential for the future.

Your brand includes your education, technical expertise, key accomplishments, skills, strengths, family, friends and values

While your brand is just a collection of words that describe you, keep in mind that your actions must match those words. Otherwise, your brand is just an empty promise that will have devastating effects on your reputation. Your brand is a combination of what you say about yourself and what others say about you. The good news is that you have complete control over the first and a fair amount of control over the second. The bad news is that a significant amount of information may be floating out there about you (true or not) that was published before you started caring about your brand.

It is time to start caring. Take the time to complete Social Media Training and Awareness courses. When you are ready to create your brand, know that it has already been created – you are just going to add to it. Search the Internet using your full name (with variations, nicknames, if necessary). If you are on Facebook, Google+, and other social networking sites, look at your profile(s) — including pictures and friends’ comments and postings.

If you are on LinkedIn or other professional networking sites, review your profile from an outsider’s perspective. Check forums or other places in which you have posted comments. If you have a Website or blog, examine how you are portraying yourself.

Now its time to enhance your brand, create a personal website, create social networking accounts, and manage them professionally. Remember everyone has access to your personal brand – guard it with life! Focus and don’t waste your time or time of others. Online social engagement doesn’t sleep, you must prioritize your brand, as it is a reflection of you.

Personal-Brand-Jeff-Bezos

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