Your brand goes a long way to define who you are, even before you get into the same room with someone. It is your virtual business card, your forerunner in different situations and the impression that people will form, and keep, of you. To stand out from the crowd in any setting, here are some nuggets on improving your personal brand.
1 Spell Out your Brand
Jeff Bezos of Amazon will say that “your personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” Because of that, you should choose keywords that pertain to you, and you would like people to associate with you when you are out of the room.
Your keywords could pronounce traits such as ‘goal-driven personality,’ characters such as ‘honesty,’ and skills such as ‘people and project management.’
These would form the basis of the next tip.
2 Write a Short Bio
Writing a bio is like writing a description of a new product. You will want to put the good features forward. Remember how you have chosen keywords in #1? Make sure they are the highlights of your bio.
You will want your bio to highlight your skills, experience, and certifications. It will also show how you are more of a person than a robot with a lot of skills to back them up. Put your heart into it.
Tip: Everything you need to know before you write a killer elevator pitch
3 Start Blogging
Blogging is a way to get yourself, and your voice out there to many more people. Write your blog about yourself, your thought process, your communication and leadership skills… in short, let it be about everything concerning the kind of brand you’re building.
Many people know that blogging is a commitment, so keeping up with it sending the right signals to the public and possible recruiters. Likewise, they get to see the things that go on in your everyday life and how you handle it. That is more like providing them insightful information that doesn’t show up on your resume.
4 Go Social
Social media is where you meet people and interact with, mostly, strangers. How you handle yourself on social media can have a lot to say about you.
Follow relevant people in your industry, jump on trending topics and engage people online. Be free with all, but be guarded in your dealings too, because you never know who might be checking you out.
Although not a social media platform per se, building a good LinkedIn profile is also on the table. It allows you to showcase your resume in a concise form while keeping you updated with happenings in your industry too.
You Might Also Like: The importance of Business Networking – and how to do it right
5 Google Yourself
When people want to know more about you, they are very likely to Google you. Trying that for yourself allows you see what everyone sees first. That is usually a right place to start determining what to build upon, what images of yourself to erase from people’s minds and how else to go on improving your personal brand.
All of the above steps are not things you do once and leave. We expect that you continuously revisit every single point and make adjustment as needed. No one ever said improving your personal brand was going to be a walk in the park, but it surely is going to be rewarding.