Branding is often associated with the world of marketing, but you'll find you
can borrow its core principles and techniques to polish your CV and make
your job application stand out.
Building a personal brand involves creating a recognizable professional
profile which you can grow both online and offline in order to market yourself
to prospective employers. By thinking of yourself as a marketable brand, you can
develop a signature image and a unique voice which you can present and share on
a variety of different platforms.
Here's how to go about creating it.
Before you get started, think about your key strengths and unique skills and decide on where you
want to take your career.
Think about what you're most passionate about and choose an area which will
allow you to share your knowledge and insight.
The best place to promote your personal brand is online
so having your own online publishing platform is essential. Whether you build a
personal website full of industry insights or use your LinkedIn profile to
share examples of your best work,
think about which platform is most applicable to your field and get writing.
Building a website can give you considerably more control over how your
name appears on google results so avoid telling your life story and simply use
it as a platform to showcase your best work and any insightful thoughts and
philosophies related to your field. The more active you are online,
the more seriously you're taken, so try and join in with discussions and
trending debates as much as you can. Remember to consider your audience when
writing content, so build a list of 10 to 20 brands and people who work in your
field and build content around the topics they write about or engage with most.
For more and more job roles, social media platforms are essential personal
branding tools to make sure your active on them and ensure your profiles are
polished and professional. LinkedIn and Twitter are likely to be your key
professional networks, but also keep your more personal platforms like Instagram
and Facebook presentable to potential future employers. All social media
profiles have privacy settings and it's always useful to review yours.
Remember to keep basic information visible but try to avoid being too
restrictive as employers will be put off if you're completely anonymous.
Facebook's privacy settings are easy to use,
just ensure you turn of tagging settings for both photos and pictures so you have
full control of the posts on your Facebook wall.
Your brand is not just defined by what you have to say, but who you say to you.
Get connected and get sharing!
It's vitally important to share content which is relevant to your industry and
reflects your areas of expertise.
These can be articles which present your take on an industry announcement or even
insightful advice which reveals the unique methods you use to tackle work.
Whatever you write about ensure it is timely, provides value and is tailored to
your audience.
Understanding the most used social hashtags in your field will also help
you join the conversation, as well as relevant group memberships on LinkedIn
and involvement within trending Twitter debates.
You can also try submitting exclusive pre written articles guest posts to well
respected online magazines.
Don't be afraid to pitch your content to online editors as this can be a great
way to enhance your online reputation and raise the profile of your website in
the process.
LinkedIn Pulse is a great place to start and we'll provide you with an accessible
platform to publish articles and share them with your followers.
Your ability to network is also a key component of the personal branding
process. Whether it's reconnecting with old colleagues on LinkedIn, approaching
influential figures at networking events or even speaking at an industry show.
Ensure you take every opportunity to connect with professionals in your field
and share your ideas with them.
Finally, our top tips for building an effective personal brand would be to
remain a student of your industry.
It takes time to build your professional profile so always remember to keep up
with important changes and trends and keep your content as relevant and
topical as possible.