5 Strategies for Building a Strong Personal Brand Online

iStockPhoto.comPersonal brand has become the latest buzz word for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and company executives, due to the rise in the number of social media profiles, blogs, and online personas. In today’s business world, it’s more important than ever to establish and maintain a strong personal brand. The following five strategies will help you to successfully brand yourself online so  that you maintain a professional reputation and continue to experience success in business.

1. Complete Your LinkedIn Profile:  LinkedIn is THE social network for business networking. As a result, it’s very important that you not only have a presence there, but also that your LinkedIn profile is complete with a compelling introduction, employment history, current professional headshot, and professional accomplishments. To further maximize your exposure on LinkedIn, join and participate in career related groups, ask for positive references from colleagues, and develop a list of skills so that other connections can endorse you.
2. Develop and Maintain a Professional Voice:  Everything that gets posted online is pretty much there to stay. As such, it’s critical that you maintain a consistent and professional voice in all of your status updates and comments, regardless of which network to which you’re posting. You can bet any future employers or potential customers will do their due diligence prior to making a hiring decision or financial investment. Part of that due diligence process is to research your presence on social media - including the more personal networks like Facebook. Don’t say anything there that you’re not prepared to answer for during an interview or while meeting with a prospective customer or client.
3. Share Valuable Information: Social media provides the perfect opportunity to share information. When posting to your various online profiles, make sure you are sharing information of value to your followers and connections. Whether it be tips specific to your industry or resources for personal development, by posting information of value, you’ll be remembered as a resource instead of just another “friend” sharing updates about daily activities.
4. Secure Your Name: Since so many people are now actively online, it’s imperative that you secure your name on as many social networking and business directory websites as possible to ensure consistency across the web. If you have a common name that’s already in use, consider including a middle initial or nickname rather than adding a random number to your user profile name, which is not as memorable.
5. Monitor Your Name Mentions: Depending on the nature of your business and the intensity of your competition, it’s possible that there are negative links and reviews out there related to your name - even if they are not intended for you and are for someone with the same name. As such, it’s important to set up a Google alert for your name, so that you will be automatically notified via email anytime anything for your name pops up online. That way you can be prepared to defend or embrace whatever content is out there about you, in real time.

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