Personal Branding Online

“Punch Above Your Weight”: Personal Branding with Social Media
MANG3052
May 2010

Objective
This session will demonstrate how you can develop your digital presence and stand out from the crowd, by using the skills you have developed in blogging and social networking through the module to build your own online profile for career/personal development purposes

How many of these activities are you developing…?

Rationale
Entrepreneurial activity increasingly involves understanding how today’s networks work and how to deploy them effectively, both online and offline.
Building and maintaining a personal brand in this way is becoming a critical aspect of career development
It is essential to make sure that the nature of the information an individual displays online is going to encourage rather than discourage potential employers, customers, business partners etc.
This work draws upon the results of an ongoing research project which is investigating the use of new technologies by entrepreneurs to build their personal brands.

From the Wall Street Journal...
“Landing a job of the future takes a two-track mind. Career experts say positions in growing fields will require an in-demand degree coupled with skills in emerging trends.”
Job seekers will need to branch out and pick up secondary skills or combine hard science study with softer skills, career experts say. For example, techies will need to keep up with the latest in web marketing, user-experience design and other web-related skills.
More than two million new technology-related jobs are expected to be created in the US by 2018, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.
As companies turn to sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote their brands, capture new customers and post job vacancies, they will need to hire people skilled in harnessing these tools.
Large companies such as Coca-Cola are creating entire teams devoted exclusively to social media.

“Change we can believe in”
$28m average raised per month in online donations during 2008
92m views of display ads per month
2.2m site visitors per month
9.8m video views on YouTube
5,455,665 supporters of the Obama Facebook Group
285,467 followers on Twitter

Facebook F8 conference announcements (April 2010)
Analysis of Fan page content has been searchable for some time, but...
FB’s new graph API allows public data to be searched and stored (eg wall posts, status updates)
Analytics companies such as Sysomos have already integrated this feature for their customers
See for example www.techcrunch.comwww.endgadget.com
Your content will increasingly be available to others...best solution is turn this situation into opportunity (or delete your FB account!)

Linchpin

“Linchpin” by Seth Godin
It's now more essential than ever to become indispensable - to become a linchpin.
Linchpins are essential building blocks: they invent, lead (regardless of title), connect others, make things happen, and create order out of chaos.
If you have you ever found a shortcut that others missed, seen a new way to resolve a conflict, or made a connection with someone others couldn't reach, then you have what it takes to become indispensable.
It's time to stop complying with the system and draw your own map (from Amazon review)

Beyond the CV
"If you don't have a résumé, what do you have? How about three extraordinary letters of recommendation from people the employer knows or respects? Or a sophisticated project an employer can see or touch? Or a reputation that precedes you? Or a blog that is so compelling and insightful that they have no choice but to follow up?
Some say, `Well, that's fine, but I don't have those.' Yeah, that's my point. If you don't have these things, what leads you to believe that you are remarkable, amazing, or just plain spectacular? It sounds to me like if you don't have more than a résumé, you've been brainwashed into compliance. Great jobs, world-class jobs, jobs people kill for - those jobs don't get filled by people e-mailing in résumés." (Linchpin, p73)

Digital Wisdom
The generational distinction (digital immigrants/natives) is a myth – Prensky (2009) now refers instead to ‘digital wisdom’:
“Digital wisdom arises from the combination of the mind and digital tools; what the unenhanced mind loses by outsourcing mundane tasks will be more than made up for by the wisdom gained”
“While the need for wise people to discuss, define, compare, and evaluate perspectives is not changing, the means by which they do so and the quality of their efforts are growing more sophisticated because of digital technology”
Some argue that digital enhancements make our natural minds lazier and less able (Carr 2008a). This attitude is not new. In Plato's The Phaedrus, Socrates objects to writing on the basis that it undermines the memory…

“Digital presence” is about branding...
According to Olins (2003), a brand is “a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service”.
Chris Brogan (www.chrisbrogan.com) notes that a strong personal brand is a mix of reputation, trust, attention, and execution:
“A personal brand gives you the ability to stand out in a sea of similar products. In essence, you’re marketing yourself as something different than the rest of the pack.”

Online Reputation Management
Syracuse University has purchased six-month subscriptions to Brand-Yourself.com’s online reputation management platform for all 4,100 of its graduating students. The platform will help students monitor and shape their online presence during the job search process.
According to a recent study by Cross-Tab Marketing services:
75% of HR departments worldwide are required to screen job candidates online
70% of recruiters claim they have rejected potential employees based on information surfaced online
50% say that a strong online reputation influences their hiring decisions to a “great extent.”
The director of the department, Mike Cahill, explained: “Brand-Yourself helps prepare our students for success in today’s digital environment.”

Personal Branding 101
Dan Schawbel is a 26 year old who has carved out his niche as a personal branding expert. Read his introductory guide here: http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/
To receive regular updates, you may wish to join him on Facebook, Twitter or another of his many networks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qqZbU8rc6A (Dan, 10 mins)
http://socialmediatoday.com/SMC/195021 (Dan’s tips for using Twitter to build PB)

For a comprehensive set of resources on personal branding:http://www.personalbrandingblog.com

How social media has helped my work
Developing new contacts (joint article in progress with BCU, guest speakers)
Sourcing newly published articles, calls for papers and relevant events to attend
Tracking and commenting on the blogposts of key contributors to the field
Keeping in touch, real time, with project participants and other key contacts

Crush It

Gary Vaynerchuk
http://www.slideshare.net/hein2006/crushitebook-091020184311-phpapp01
“Crush it” reached top 200 on Amazon.com
Gary’s advice - choose your medium based on your DNA:
Introverted? Start with writing
Extraverted? Try podcasts
Animated? Utilise video

Your online portfolio
A blog. Plenty of good advice here: http://www.slideshare.net/demler1/developing-your-personal-brand-through-blogging
Twitter guides can be linked from: http://www.twitip.com/personal-brand-how-to-build-yours-in-twitter
www.teachertrainingvideos.comuseful beginner guides (by @russell1955)
LinkedIn http://www.thewebpitch.com/social-networking/are-you-linking-in/
Slideshare – for presentations (and now video aswell...)
Be creative! See Ed Hamilton’s CV on Google Maps (45,401 views to date) http://tinyurl.com/ycvcfcx and Jay Foreman’s video history of London’s tube stationshttp://tinyurl.com/36rkt7k

Personal Branding with Twitter
Provide feedback. Become known as a reliable and informative source of help to your network
Get Feedback. Ask for advice and you’ll receive ‘collective intelligence’ from your network
Direct traffic. Include links in a tweet to direct traffic to your blog or to the recommended posts of others.
Read News. subscribe to feeds for specific websites/conferences, or from content providers such as the BBC.
Make New Friends. Twitter allows you to befriend and track the messages of other users.
Network for benefits. Interact with other like-minded people, or experts in your field. Develop relationships for future mutual benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users.
Provide Live coverage. For example to provide real time coverage of conference keynotes
Set Up Meetings. An informal and casual way of arranging adhoc meetings.

‘Givers gain’
Ask not what the community can do for you, but what you can do for the community…
The best long term way to build brand influence is to be seen as a ‘giver’ of good quality practical information and advice.
An authentic personal brand therefore delivers both a track record and a promise of the ongoing delivery of value.
How exactly will *you* deliver value??

LinkedIn
30 million members worldwide
How does it work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT3JVUGUzM
Recent addition of partner applications such as Slideshare and Wordpress add significant value, see www.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris
http://grads.linkedin.com/ (see video)

LinkedIn
Recent timely increase in functionality through partnerships with companies offering Web 2.0 based services:
Work collaboratively by sharing files with your network through private workspaces (Huddle)
Share information and keep up to date – eg what you are reading through the Amazon application and where you are travelling through TripIt.
the Google Docs application allows presentations to be embedded on a profile
SlideShare allows sharing and commenting on presentations within a network
WordPress allows a blog to be showcased.
Company Buzz allows conversations about a prospective employer to be monitored.
By actively updating a LinkedIn profile, the likelihood that people will see that profile displayed when they are searching for someone to hire is increased (Google Juice)
In order to progress job applications to interview stage, a ‘complete’ LinkedIn profile is now a prerequisite for many recruiters, meaning:
a minimum of three testimonials from past employers,
full employment details, affiliations and educational background.

Measuring Success
How can you tell whether your brand building efforts are paying off? Check out these measurement tools:
Google alerts
Twitter alerts
Comment alerts
http://www.davidrisley.com/2009/02/16/3-powerful-tools-for-monitoring-your-brand/

Personal branding challenges
Ongoing time and effort is required to develop and maintain online profiles, learn new tools and ascertain when best to integrate them into the mix.
F2F brand building elements should not be forgotten – Harris and Rae (2009) show that it is not a zero sum game, because good online networkers also tend to be effective communicators offline.
As with most things in life, you get out what you put in, and persistence pays off.
It is critical to be authentic. If personal branding is developed at only a superficial level, for example by basing it simply on ego, spin or piggybacking off the work of others, then it will not be enduring.

Summary: value add
Agility
Foresight
High velocity
Peripheral sensing
Identification of (and proactive response to) trends
Rapid prototyping of new possibilities
Become active outside of existing sphere of influence

Action Plan
So what exactly are *you* going to go away and do to develop your personal brand ??????????????http://socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/ (Eric Qualmann update, 4 mins)
Thank you for participating – I look forward to keeping on touch with you online 

References
Harris, L. and Rae, A. (2010) “Building a personal brand through social networking” Journal of Business Strategy
Carr, N. 2008a. Is Google making us stupid? What the internet is doing to our brains. The Atlantic 301 (6): 56-63. Archived at http://www.webcitation.org/5eBJxMMM3
Prensky, M. 2009. H. sapiens digital: From digital immigrants and digital natives to digital wisdom. 5 (3). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=705
Schawbel, D. (2009) Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success
Vaynerchuk, G. (2009) Crush It!: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion
Godin, S. (2010) Linchpin: Are you indispensable? How to drive your career and make a remarkable future
Brogan, C. and Smith. J. (2009)Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
http://www.slideshare.net/demler1/developing-your-personal-brand-through-blogging

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Personal Branding Online

by lisa harris on May 06, 2010

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Personal Branding Online — Presentation Transcript