So you heard that you need to have a personal brand but you don’t have branding experience and the idea of promoting bragging about yourself brings up bad memories of trying to do that when creating a cover letter.
Ok don’t think about it as building a brand, think about it as if you need to establish a digital reputation. Wait haven’t you spent countless years building up your reputation with friends, previous employers, colleagues and clients, why do you need a digital one now?
Ok so lets not call it a brand or a reputation, lets develop your story that will be come your digital first impression that will empower you and allow you to…
- Share your life journey
- Be the director of your story
- Determine what the cover of your book looks like (For those that judge a book by its cover)
- Highlight the accomplishments in your life that you’re proud of..
- Give your personal elevator pitch
- Provide the background and contact information you wish you could fit on a business card.
- Know what and if others are talking about you
You’ll notice not on that list is anything about technology or social media and we aren’t using any fancy marketing terms or cover letters or even asking you to create a new resume. Too often we think of our personal brand as something we must “build” or an”online person” we must create.
Your Personal Brand is who YOU are, YOU must define it, tell YOUR story and share YOUR passions!
Everyone has a Story
So before you jump into the slide deck I’ve created below we must first establish your story and what you want others to know and/or not know about yourself. Knowing what your story is or how you want to share it is often overwhelming so I recommend starting with these questions:
- What are 4 things you wish every person you were meeting for the first time either in business or personally knew about you?
- What 4 accomplishments in your life are you most proud of?
- What 4 leaders, mentors, authors or people in your life do you look up to or trust the most?
- What 4 secrets or pieces of data do you hope are never able to be found online?
- What is your favorite quote?
- What is your tagline or motto?
- What are your favorite two pictures of yourself?
- What did you do or say to create the authentic relationships with your friends today?
- When you vent or share your ideas do you write them down? do you call a friend? do you skype or use video?
Now that you’ve answered these questions you have the framework for the story that your digital impression is going to tell others. Combine these answers with your resume and cover letter into a story format and you’ll be ready to jump into Personal Branding 201!
Next post in the series is “Personal Branding 201: What’s your current digital story? Where and how to change that story?”
This Slideshare is the guide to “Owning” your personal brand which is only possible if you first complete the tasks in this post as they will be the framework for creating the strategy that your digital first impression will be built on.
17 #PersonalBranding tips to OWN your Digital 1st Impression from Brian Fanzo
Brian Fanzo is a partner and Chief Digital Strategist at Broadsuite Media Group (BMG). His focus is on helping companies utilize new technology like mobile, analytics, and cloud computing to be more productive. He is also an expert at working with audiences and brands who want to learn more about using social media and content marketing (including rich media content), to more effectively reach, inform, educate, and connect with their audiences and prospect bases. Brian is also an expert on the topic of Millennials. He speaks on this topic and works with organizations helping them understand the Millennial mindset, what motivates them, how to prepare your organization for the future workforce, and a myriad of other topics related to a new generation of leaders.
Brian is passionate about teaching change and he focuses on doing this in his work with brands as both an influencer and advisor, and he’s also a sought-after speaker and multi-media creator. In addition to contributing regularly to MillennialCEO, Brian co-hosts two weekly Twitter chats, #SbizHour and #CloudTalk, as well as co-hosting a a weekly podcast called SMACtalk. You can find Brian on Twitter@isocialfanz, or on LinkedIn or Google+.
