personal branding tips Archives - Page 4 of 4

Personal Branding Tip: Stand Out with Visual Content

Visual content gets some of the highest engagement on social media (see research from Social Bakers via eMarketer here). So if you want to stand out, you’ll need a plan for using photos, graphics and videos in your personal branding strategy.

While I recommend using professionals for company photos, logo design, and promotional materials, there are many ways you can use tools available for more “casual” visual content that helps your personal brand stand out in the crowd.

Here are a few tips, ideas, and tools to get you started:

1. Use Free photo editors to easily create graphics

PicMonkey and Canva are two of my favorites. Personally, I feel like PicMonkey has a shorter learning curve, so if you are not that comfortable with graphic design (like me!), then you may want to start with this one.

Canva does offer some great tutorials on using the tool and graphic design, though, so I recommend checking it out as well when you have a little more time.

2. Use Instagram to show a more personal side of you as a business owner

Put keywords and phrases in your bio that attract your target audience, as well as a summary of what you’ll be sharing.

Connect your Instagram account to your Facebook Page to easily share some of your photos that fit well with your personal brand.

For more tips on using Instagram, read my post on the LCS company blog here.

3. Optimize photos of yourself for Google Search

Do a Google search on your name and take note of what photos show up. If you don’t see any, or you don’t like the ones that appear, then there are a few things you can do to improve those results.

Use Google+ to upload photos into albums that document your business history, highlight important milestones, or illustrate your personal brand to get the photos you want to show up in Google Search out there.

Create a page on your website with images that document your history, client testimonials, etc. to impact the photo search results.

I read a great post recently about making sure that the photos showing up in a Google search are the ones you’d want the public to see – you can click here to read it.

4. Include videos in your branding strategy

I’ll admit that I haven’t made the time necessary to get my video marketing up and running; but it’s at the top of my to-do list right now!

Many people feel like creating videos requires a professional studio (and again, I do recommend using professionals for specific promotional videos), but with the Apps and tools available today, we can all start using video more.

Instagram (15 seconds maximum) and Vine (6 seconds maximum) are two easy-to-use Apps to start creating quick videos. The short length of these types of videos can make it much easier to find a way to incorporate their use into your schedule.

There are also Apps that allow you to create short videos of photos – I like Flipagram – so you can use photos you have already taken.

Want to create a short video of your desktop screen? Screenr is a free tool that gives you a maximum of 5 minutes to record whatever you’re doing on your desktop, and then save or share.

And don’t forget to set up a YouTube account if you haven’t already, to create a site for your instructional, inspirational or creative videos.

So there are a few quick tips and tools to help you put a plan in place for using visual content. If we take the focus off of ourselves (worrying about what we’ll look like on video), and start thinking instead, of how a quick video (of tips or inspiration) can help our target audience, then it makes a lot of sense to start using visual content in a personal branding strategy today!

Photo Credit (derived from): Instant Vantage via Compfight cc

Personal Branding Tip: Choose a Username Wisely

When you are creating social media profiles, take into account your personal brand (you), and how professional your username will appear to others. I could easily use the name TLcrazycatlady on my social media profiles, and my family would know where to find me. But, while it may accurately describe me (according to my family), it’s not the best username for personal branding.

Be consistent across social media profiles

I recommend that if you are new to social media, you start out with a consistent branding approach when choosing usernames. For example, I purchased the TerryLeague.com domain before I started blogging; then I set up my Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook Page, and Google+ accounts with the same username (TerryLeague). That way, when someone tries to find me on social media, I’ve made it easier for them – and given myself a better chance of showing up in search results.

If you’ve already created accounts with a variety of usernames, you may want to consider changing them all to one, consistent name. But note that with Facebook Pages you may have to go through a review process to prove you are who you say you are.

Also keep in mind that you’ll have to update any links on existing profiles and sites/directories when making a username change.

Do some research

You may want to do a Google Search on your name (or the username you want to use) just to see what comes up in the results. If you share your name or username with a public figure or celebrity, consider customizing the username so you don’t have to share the spotlight.

I usually have to share the spotlight with John Terry, captain of the Chelsea football (soccer) team and member of the UEFA Champions League, when doing a simple search on my name. One area I personally need to improve upon is images – I need to post a few more of myself for better search results.

If you look at the image search results for Terry League, you’ll find a whole bunch of John Terry, with one of me popping up in the mix (see below for a screenshot I took from Google Search)…it’s a good thing I like soccer, and don’t mind sharing results with John Terry 😉

But images are definitely an important part of personal branding, so make sure you keep them in mind as well when setting up your username and profiles.

Brand your visual content

Speaking of images, when you create visual content for your personal brand (Image quotes for example), brand them as well by putting your username on them.

For example, if I create an Image quote like the one below and put @TerryLeague on it, I’ve made it easy for people to find my account on Twitter or Instagram, since TerryLeague is my username on both accounts, and the @ sign is a way for others to tag me or Tweet me.

So there are a few things to keep in mind when setting up or editing your social media profiles when it comes to usernames. Even if your business has separate profiles with its name prominently featured, you’ll want to make sure any of your personal accounts are identified with the best username for both yours’ and the business’ appearance.

Top Photo Credit (derived from): Kuba Bozanowski via Compfight cc

6 Steps for Using Social Media to Build Your Personal Brand

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There are a number of reasons you want to build a positive Personal Brand online: you are looking for a job, starting a business, trying to grow a business…and it’s very common for potential employers, recruiters or potential customers to do a Google Search to learn more about you.

Have you ever done a Google Search for your own name? Do you know which social media profiles (or photos) rank the highest? The results may not always produce an ideal first impression when colleagues, potential employers or clients do a search on your name.

Your online personal brand is important, no matter what your current career status. So make sure you monitor your search results and corresponding social media profiles. Here are 6 steps for using social media to build your personal brand.

Step 1. Check Your Google Results (and then Make a Plan)

When you Google your name, take note of which sites show up on the first page. Then make sure those are the sites that you focus on when “cleaning up” your online image. Also take note of any images that show up in Google Search – you may need to adjust the privacy settings on Facebook and other sites if you are not happy with the images that appear.

If you discover some unfavorable results, develop a plan to get more positive material online: start a blog (in your name), set up profiles on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter that usually have high search results. If you don’t have a Google Plus personal site, you may want to set one up and start “blogging” there: you can create longer posts in Google Plus and your Google Plus profile shows up high in search results.

Step 2. Set Up a System to Monitor Your Personal Brand on a Regular Basis

You can take several quick steps that will let you know how others are talking about you online.

Set up Google Alerts for your name – alerts are delivered to your email on a schedule that you set up.
Do periodic searches on Google – make it a part of your personal branding/social media strategy to routinely check the search results for your name on Google.
Save a Twitter Search for your name – you can save any Search in Twitter (or on a dashboard like Hootesuite) to monitor your personal brand there too.

Step 3. Claim a Domain Name (if you have any plans for blogging or a website)

If you can get the domain for your name as it appears on all other social sites, I recommend you grab it! (For example, I purchased TerryLeague.com long before I started my personal blog since that was how I planned on setting up all of my social media profiles.) If you can’t get it exactly as you want, then get a domain as close to your name as possible and make sure you place your full name on pages and in tags on the site.

I recommend using WordPress.org to set up a self-hosted blog on your domain.

Step 4. Make Sure Your Social Media Profiles Are Complete

Choose several social media sites that match your goals and then make sure you complete your profiles. Don’t leave a profile half-finished…this profile is your first impression online and you want to present the right one!

Also make sure to delete any profiles on social media sites where you are no longer engaged…if you are like me, it may take a little while to find all the profiles you set up a few years ago on every new social media site that popped up. But it’s worth it because empty, abandoned profiles don’t impress anyone.

Step 5. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles

Every social media site gives you space to create a “bio” or “about me”. Although some of these fields can be small (160 characters on Twitter), it is important to use keywords so your profile will show up in other users’ searches.

Your keywords should focus on your career interests, specialties and skills, as well as topics in your industry that you are blogging about or discussing online.

Step 6. Connect with Top Organizations and People

Use social media to assist with a job search, career change or even graduate school applications by connecting with the companies, schools and their top people. Which social networks do they spend time on? Set up a profile on those sites and start networking.

Go to the organization or school’s website and subscribe to newsletters or RSS feeds
Like their Facebook Page
Follow them on Twitter
Follow their Pinterest or YouTube accounts
Circle (follow) them on Google Plus
Contribute meaningful comments to their posts and share them on your own Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Google Plus accounts.

Follow these 6 steps, consistently add meaningful content to your social media networks and you’ll be building a positive personal brand in no time!

Image courtesy of stock images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net