Best Practices for Creating Your Personal Brand – Leveraging The Social World

Presentation by: Dean A. Jones

Senior Delivery Manager

Microsoft Corp.

What does your Personal Brand Look Like?

Who am I?

Social media advocate, author, trainer, speaker, and practitioner

Big Sports lover

Small business consultant

Daily user of LinkedIn & Facebook

Marketing pro and Tech enthusiast

Dean Jones - IT Professional, Innovator and Entrepreneur.

Creating Your Personal Brand.

Know my brand?

Know my brand?

John Thompson

Know my brand?

Nelson Mandela

Personal Branding

What is personal branding?

Powerful, clear, positive idea that comes to mind when people think of you.

It’s what you stand for – values, abilities, and actions.

A broadcast message about your character and performance.

Tells your audience 3 things: Who you are. What you do. What makes you different; or how you create value for others.

Why it’s important.

More of the right kind of clients.

Increased earning potential.

Consistent flow of business.

Draws beneficial people.

“Top-of-Mind” status

Increased credibility

Leadership role

Enhanced prestige

Added perceived value

Greater recognition

Association with a trend

How do you use it?

To introduce yourself verbally, visually, and in writing.

To create an aura about what you do and how you do it.

To demonstrate to others about your beliefs, values, and abilities.

To change/clarify/create perceptions.

To influence.

3-30-3-30

Creating it

3 Simple Strategies

1. Know why Why do you do what you do? Why you do it the way you do it? Why do you get up in the morning?

2. Own the differences; unique selling proposition (USP)

3. Find your people

Brand Statements

1-2 sentencesValue + Audience + Unique Selling Point (USP)Memorable, punchy, solution orientedIt’s not: Job titlePersonal mission statementCareer objectives Life purpose

Examples

“I help businesses and individuals build and promote lasting brands.” Ryan Rancatore

“I help people to clear their head trash and find their mojo. Once they find their mojo, I help them to set it on fire!” Alexia Leachman

“I am a social media trainer and consultant, specializing in LinkedIn, branding, and recruitment.” Jorgen Sundberg

Our Brand Statement

We create social and digital marketing opportunities to help business owners increase their ROI, brand exposure, and more so they are free to pursue what they love.

Activity 1

Additional Personal Brand Aspects

Tagline

Think of it like a signature.

It should be sticky, meaning stating it unexpectedly so it’s memorable.

Marketing pro with an eye for design.

– Becky Livingston

I help people to clear their head trash and find their mojo. And, once they’ve found their mojo I help them to set it on fire! – Alexia Leachman

I help people to transform their businesses, their careers, and their lives. – John Purkiss

“I’m Robin Fisher Roffer… I reinvent brands and reignite professionals.”

Taglines – Where to place them.

Website homepage

All social media profiles

Business cards

Giveaways

Email signatures

Newsletters / Collateral

This lets the target audience know what you can do for them without taking the 30-second ride up the proverbial elevator.

Think outside the bun. ~ Taco Bell

Your dog’s #2 is our #1. ~ Pooper scooper business

Personality

A business with a personality is more personal because people have relationships with personalities not objects.

Start by describing your personality as someone else would describe you.

It’s like your brand’s flavor.

Adjectives!

What’s your brand personality?

M&M is a registered trademark of Mars, Inc.

Imagery / Logo

Words – Business name and tag line

Icon – picture, symbol, or image

Color – the primary and secondary color Tip: Colors have meaning. Choose them

carefully. Tip: Search “psychology of color” before

making your final color choice to ensure thecolors align with the feeling you want to create.

Color Meaning

Red = power, passion, excitement, energy, courage

Green = money, envy, environment, earth, youthfulness

Blue = trust, integrity, communication, serene, calming

Purple = luxury, decadence, whimsy

Black = luxury, glamour, sophistication, death, emptiness

Yellow = fun, friendly, happiness

Orange = fun, playful, social, physical comfort, warmth

Pink = feminine, love, nurturing, caring, sweet

Brown = warmth, safety, reliability, dependability, earth

Activity 2

The How

Be Consistent

Determine who you are as a professional with core strengths, skills, and experience.

Your audience should know exactly what you bring to the table and what they’re getting by working with you.

Know Your Value

What is your worth based on your accomplishments, experience, expertise…

Know what others in your industry are getting paid.

Recognize Your Niche

Sphere of influence

Target audience

How do they communicate

Communication

Select the appropriate mediums

Doing everything everywhere = little return

How does your audience get its information?

Online/offline

The Power of Social Media for Talent Acquisition

The Best Social Sites for Job Search

How Recruiters Are Using Social Media

Using Social Media - Facebook

Keep personal and professional content separate

Timeline cover photo

Current employer / or what you’re working on

Your websites

Status updates

Consider a company page versus a personal page

Using Social Media - Blog

Build credibility with potential clients & customers

Demonstrates expertise/knowledge

Prompts conversations, especially at networking events

Gives your brand a “face”

Using Social Media - LinkedIn

Photo

Post the branding statement front and center in the summary.

Add skills and move that section to the top of the page

Join groups and post in them.

Respond to comments and like content.

Post updates to your status bar several times a week.

Using Social Media - Video

Add your custom URL to the description area

Add overlays to all of your videos

Prevent ads from showing on our video

Check “always take subscribed users to the feed tab”

Compelling profile

Create “How To” videos

Develop a unique, recognizable name, and tag line

Social Media - Newsletters

Set goals

Determine your audience

Decide on frequency

Choose a program

Advertise to your target audience

Develop content

Gather content

Send and listen to feedback

Personalized Newspaper Tools• Paperli• Freeli• MyTweetMag• Kweeper

The Social Resume

1 in 6 job seekers credit social media with landing their current job.

A social resume = your online presence

Growing in popularity In 2011, 89% of employers used social media for recruiting In 2012, 92% . 89% of recruiters have hired through LinkedIn; 25% via Facebook, and 15% via

Twitter.

Source: OnlineColleges.com

Source: OnlineColleges.com

Source: OnlineColleges.com

Job Screening With Social Networks

Insights into the Recruiters Usage of Social Media

Activity 3

In Closing

Brand Checklist

Mission

Elevator Pitch

Niche Market

Competition

Profiles (social and other)

Content Strategy

Graphics

Brand Personality

Tagline

Parting Words

Branding is about you.

A strong personal brand is not about how long you’ve been building it, but how well you’ve been doing it.

Like a great pair of shoes, it must:

Make you feel powerful and happy

Fit

Feel good

Tell a story

Resources

Your Personal Branding Strategy http://www.mattiasgronborg.com/your-personal-branding-strategy/Building A Successful Personal Brand http://passivepanda.com/personal-brand9 Basic Steps to Create a Personal Brand http://theultralinx.com/2012/05/9-basic-steps-create-personal-branding-strategy.htmlWhy Your Personal Branding Strategy Demands That You Publish http://www.mojo40.com/why-your-best-personal-branding-strategy-

demands-that-you-publish/Personal Brand Strategy – 4 Steps for Professionals http://careersdonewrite.com/blog/personal-brand-strategy-4-steps-for-

professionals.htmlPersonal Branding Statements – Examples http://www.business2community.com/branding/personal-brand-statement-examples-and-

templates-0126003How to Write Your Personal Brand Statement http://jorgensundberg.net/how-write-your-personal-brand-statement/ 50 Personal Brand Statement Examples http://jorgensundberg.net/personal-brand-statement-examples-and-templates/Personal Brand 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/Personal Branding Toolkit http://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/aaker/pages/documents/PersonalBrandingToolkit.pdfThe Brand Called You: http://www.petermontoya.com/pdfs/tbcy-chapter1.pdf Facebook Timeline covers: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/creative-facebook-timeline-covers/

Best Practices for Job Seeking In the Social World – Creating Your Personal Brand

Presentation by: Dean A. Jones

Senior Delivery Manager

Microsoft Corp.