“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” -Oscar Wilde
Looking for yet another staggering social era statistic? Try this from personal branding tools provider, Brand Yourself :
Google processes more than 80 million “people” searches each day. Yep. 80 million. Chances are someone will be searching for you soon. So ask yourself this — if someone “Googled” your name right now, would the results do you justice?
Brand Positioning: It’s All About The “C” Words
As a marketing and communications professional, I’ve spent years persuading business organizations to mind their messaging, so the world will understand their brand promise. I preach the “5 C’s” of brand positioning: Clarity, Completeness, Cohesion, Credibility and Consistency. And now, after a week of “brand you” discussions with the TalentCulture community , I see how those very same concepts can be an equally powerful force in our professional lives.
Turns out, I’m not the only one who likes “C” words! Earlier this year, after #TChat conversations about how professional recommendations influence personal brands, our very own Kevin W. Grossman offered some handy “C” advice of his own on the Reach-West blog:
“…Ensure your online profiles are as consistent and accurate as possible across all social points of presence. In other words, whomever you say you are, and whatever you say you’re doing (and have done) is close (if not the same) on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, G+ and the many other industry and association niche networks and communities where you’re visible.
Consistency and accuracy are critical keys, because those searching for you and reviewing your profiles will be looking for anomalies that don’t add up — and you want everything to add up. You want to stand out, but you want to add up — and for goodness sake you want to be accurate and truthful about everything. That includes your recommendations and endorsements. Never over-spin, or allow others to go there. Not only that, but at the very least once a quarter review and update your online profiles, and kill those you no longer want to maintain, even if you’re not looking for work.
Why? Because you never know when that great new opportunity will be looking for you to add up. It’s your personal employment brand. Take care of it.”
DIY Brand Makeover
Learn more about “Reinventing You”5 C’s of Brand Positioning
Hmm. I guess I’d better spend the dog days of summer cleaning my personal brand “house.” How about you? From what I saw on the #TChat stream yesterday, few of us would disagree with the importance of proactively managing an online persona. But for some people, focusing on themselves is almost as enjoyable as flossing their teeth.
That’s why we asked a fearless brand management expert to lead the way this week — Dorie Clark , author of Reinventing You. Dorie clearly understands the issues that hold people back from “owning” their brand identity, and she offers practical tools to make it work.
Below, we’ve captured the week’s highlights — including a tweet-by-tweet Storify slideshow from #TChat Twitte r, and other resource links.
We hope this sparks a desire to start your own brand makeover. Let us know about your progress…here or on the stream. The TalentCulture community , is always open and ready to offer ideas and support. Rock that brand!
#TChat Week in Review: Reinventing Your Personal Brand
SAT 7/13
Watch the G+ Hangout with Dorie Clark
#TChat Preview: Our Community Manager, Tim McDonald , outlined the week’s topic in a post that features a great “sneak peek” G+ Hangout with Dorie . See “You 2.0: Reinventing a Personal Brand.”
SUN 7/14
Forbes.com Post: TalentCulture CEO, Meghan M. Biro, offered 5 ways to tap into your true professional identity. Read “Rethink Brand You: Find Your Authentic Self.”
TUE 7/16
Related Post: For people who need clarification to redefine themselves, Dorie explained how to gather actionable input from a full-circle brand review. Read “Considering a Career Change? Take a 360 Snapshot.”
WED 7/17
Listen to the #TChat Radio show
#TChat Radio: To kick-off this week’s #TChat double-header, Dorie spoke with Meghan M. Biro and Kevin W. Grossman about the power of proactively managing your brand. Even if you’re not in the market for a new position, you’ll hear ideas you can use. Listen now to the recording .
#TChat Twitter: As the radio show concluded, we fired-up the Twitter chat engines for a dynamic, community conversation about the role of personal branding in our professional lives. As always, the crowdsourcing energy was breathtaking. Thanks to everyone who contributed! To review highlights, see the slideshow below:
#TChat Twitter Highlights: “Reinventing a Personal Brand”
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Closing Notes & What’s Ahead
GRATITUDE: Thanks again to Dorie Clark for helping our community think more intelligently about the “why” and “how” of personal brand management. You inspire us to reach higher!
NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Did this week’s events prompt you to write about work/life integration issues? We’d love to share your thoughts. Post a link on Twitter (include #TChat or @TalentCulture ), or insert a comment below, and we’ll pass it along.
WHAT’S AHEAD: Next week at #TChat events , we’ll continue our summer “professional restart” series with a special crowdsourcing forum. Check for details in a preview post this weekend.
In the meantime, the World of Work conversation continues each day. So join us on the #TChat Twitter stream, or on our new LinkedIn discussion group. And feel free to explore other areas of our redesigned website. The gears are always turning at TalentCulture, and your ideas and opinions are always welcome.
See you on the stream!
Image Credit: Stock.xchng
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