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Career advice, insights & tips for HR professionals

Create the right personal impact through social and digital media. Time to reflect your brand? 05/10/2009

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When it comes to our personal and professional impact (the result of building our personal brands), social and digital media are rather hot potatoes. We know we should be doing it, however, we are afraid, and rightfully so. We are urged to Twitter, blog and run pages on Facebook and LinkedIn. And yet, this is the experimental stage of an evolving digital world and many feel uneasy about how much information one should publish and the tone and frequency.

Create the right personal impact through social and digital media. Time to reflect your brand?

Click to jump to section

  1. Do you google people?
  2. We all have a personal brand
  3. Building your personal brand
  4. Defining your target markets or audience
  5. Beyond 360
  6. What makes you compelling to others?
  7. How to make your personal brand known
  8. On and offline personal brand
  9. Consistently deliver value
  10. Win one year's affiliate membership to PIPBA

Do you google people?

Do you google people? Most would say yes. Why? Is it because you want to know whether they are worthy of doing business with - or hiring, or perhaps you are looking for ammunition when considering firing them? 

And what about people you meet socially? Do you check them out online? These are the very questions that I asked last week when presenting to 100 solicitors at the Law Society’s International Weekend and the response was very much in unison – a resounding yes. What we have learned in recent years is: ‘what goes online, stays online’ – forever.

We all have a personal brand

What I do know is that this is not going to go away, and we need to get involved. As I always say in my workshops and or when addressing audiences - we all have a personal brand. We brand each other constantly by way of introduction, in describing one another, and by articulating opinions about each other in person or the media. This is no different to the way things have been for time immemorial. We all have a brand whether it’s positive, neutral or negative. And all of this is happening whether we are managing the process or not.

Building your personal brand

So why not develop and manage your brand? More importantly, why not control the output, or the impact, in all its manifestations – online, offline and in person? As with all sustainable strategies, we need to start at the very beginning and focus on the first of the four core principles in building a powerful personal brand. That of discovering what it is that makes us compelling to our target markets or audience.

Defining your target markets or audience

Our target markets or audience are the group of people that have an effect today, and may affect our ability to be successful going forward. So if you are a private banker, these markets may include those you report to, your colleagues, your clients, people who introduce you to prospective clients, any associations who may recommend you and the media who may promote you.

Beyond 360

This is what I think of as 360 and beyond. The first step is to ask yourself what each of these groups is ideally looking for from someone like you. In other words, remove yourself from the equation and ask yourself what these people want from someone in your position. The next step is to ask them how they perceive you in a business context. Unlike 360, this will give you an open forum, which will lead you to pinpointing exactly what it is that they find compelling about you – and will reveal those areas that you need to develop.

What makes you compelling to others?

Once you have a clear idea of what it is that makes you compelling to your markets or audience, you will have a self-awareness and confidence in yourself that you will never lose. The wonderful thing about human nature is that when we know what it is that people want more of, which ultimately allows us to be more successful, we tend to keep delivering.

The second core principle of a powerful personal brand is that of authenticity, and if we adhere to the steps above then we can be sure that this box is ticked, which allows us to deliver the third vital element, that of consistency. If our compelling idea is not authentic, we will not be able to deliver consistently - consistency equals trust. We need to build trust with our markets or audience in order to be more successful.

Last but certainly not least, we need to be well known for what we do and how we do it better than others. A powerful personal brand should bring what you want to you, rather than you having to constantly search for each new opportunity. We all know people at school or university or in our work environments who seem to get lucky all the time. If you observe them closely, you will see that they seem to attract the plum new role, promotion, deal or business opportunity seemingly without a great deal of effort. 

How to make your personal brand known

Very simply, building your personal brand and having the impact you desire is all about cause and effect. If you know what is compelling about you and you deliver it consistently using the right platforms, you will get the Results you are looking for – the right stuff will find you.

So let's go back to the art of making your brand well known – online, offline and in person.  If you are already in the public eye, big bold statements about how fabulous you are may well be appropriate. However, for most of us, they are entirely inappropriate and we need to be subtle and target those who will elevate our success in smart ways.

 
Deliver consistent value to others. This is all about delivering value to others rather than blatant self-promotion, which never goes down well. In a large corporate environment, invite a speaker in to educate and inspire others, regularly share information that will benefit your colleagues and set up a focus group or initiative in an area that you want to be well known in. You will be regarded as the expert in this area by association, and if you are consistent in your efforts and deliver value to others, you will raise your profile and visibility.

The key is specialisation. I should mention too that one of the vital elements of a powerful personal brand is that of specialisation. Generalists are very rarely sought after. We can’t be all things to all people - we need to understand our strengths and values and to lead with these elements in order to build our reputations in our area of choice.

On and offline personal brand

When it comes to making our brands known offline, think of traditional print media as the conduit. Write an article or a letter to the editor for publications that are focused on your industry or area of specialisation. Once you get onto the media’s radar, they will call you for your commentary on subjects that are related and will value your insights and expertise.

And so we come full circle to digital and social media and I have purposely left this for last. If we adhere to all of the principles described here, rolling out your personal brand online should be no different to your efforts in person and offline. It’s all about delivering value in your area of expertise. So set up a blog and write regularly about your subject, create a Facebook page, and Twitter to your heart's content. If you are smart about all of this, you will write something of value to others and then replicate this across all of these channels and platforms.

Consistently deliver value

Once again, consistency is key – so set up an RSS feed to news articles that are related to what you do and want to be well known for and regularly comment on others’ articles online. Submit your own articles to online publications in your field. You will soon become known for your area of expertise and people will seek you out for new opportunities. In other words, you will start to get lucky and the good stuff will find you.


A word of warning – do not attempt to sell yourself online, it’s a complete turnoff, and please don’t Twitter about what you had for lunch or share inane details about your personal life.  Consistently deliver value to others and within a few short months you will start to see the Results.

Win one year's affiliate membership to PIPBA

Do you want to become certified to deliver personal branding services? If you are in a role where you are advising, coaching or training others to be more successful, do join PIPBA, the first global association for the impact and personal branding industry, and become certified to deliver these vital services to others. We welcome your involvement, so do get in touch.

We would love to hear of your experience in building your own personal brand and having the impact you desire online, offline and in person so do share your story with us here within the comments field. PIPBA’s Advisory Board will vote on the best story on how you built your brand and changed your professional impact and resulting success. 

The winner will be awarded PIPBA Affiliate Membership worth £120, which is valid for one calendar year, and we will publish your story on our blog and in our eLetter, which goes to 5,000 people in October 2009. All entries must be in by the end of October 2009. Post your story now within the comments field.

PIPBA

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Louise Mowbray, director, PIPBA

Louise Mowbray, director, PIPBA

Louise Mowbray, Founder of PIPBA is also the Founder of Mowbray by Design, the Leadership, Impact and Personal Branding Consultancy. She is regularly featured in the media including the FT, the Times, Telegraph and Independent.