Creating an effective personal brand
Take the time and figure out who you want the world to see.
www.linkedin.com/pub/christopher-russell/0/726/119/
I’ve been working with my LinkedIn network over the last few months. I was an early adopter when LinkedIn first came out. In the last year I have grown my direct professional network to over 4,000 contacts.
Now you may think “So what?” Why do I put the effort into establishing a professional profile and attracting and connecting to other professionals in my industry?
Well, I see it as a benefit in many ways.
First, through my network I am connected to someone in almost every company in my industry. If I need to hire or recommend or help someone else I can ask my network. Not spammy, not selling to them, but using them as an extended, networked community to add value. I become the connector. It’s the professional form of crowd sourcing and it is an asset to me.
Second, even though your company may think you are wasting your time ‘playing around on social networks’ when you are supposed to be working, it is a way for me to gather intelligence and triangulate on customers and prospects during engagements. This information can be critical in reading an account or an organization. It allows you to eliminate blind spots in B2B interactions.
Third, it lowers my personal risk. The more connected I am, the less isolated I am. This takes leverage away from ‘circumstance’ and puts it in your pocket. I’m not looking for a job, but if I was I’d know 4,000 plus people I could ask for help in my industry.
Fourth, these contacts give me an audience in my profession for my ideas. For example: you may create content like a blog or white papers that you want to let people in your industry know about. I have a built in audience of 4,000 plus professionals in my industry that I can share my value added content with just by updating my status with a link.
And remember, in this digital age all that content is search engine friendly. This means the Google is smart enough to read your blog and rank it for the terms and phrases you use in your profession. Those are the same terms and phrases that your prospects and customers are searching for info on. You can’t be found if you don’t exist.
Fifth, and what I want to talk to you about today, is that this allows me to create my version of my story. It allows me to proactively create and control my narrative. Just like you have a personal side of your life or a spiritual side of your life or a health and fitness side of your life you have a professional avatar. This is your professional face to your professional world and the onus is on you to make it work for you.
This ‘Personal Brand’ creation is at the core of a successful professional network. The current social media tools provide you with platforms so you can display your strengths and value.
I frankly don’t understand professionals who won’t connect or won’t put their professional information online. They are losing a competitive advantage to savvy professionals like you and I.
But here’s the big difference…
I’m not talking about posting your resume or mindlessly filling out your personal information. I’m talking about taking the time to create and tell your professional story. You’ve done great stuff. You need to build a great story to let your professional world in on the secret.
Let’s break it down.
Each of these online social business platforms will also ask you for a “Summary”. Most people just slam in some weak stuff about what their current job is.
Not you. You’re smart.
You will spend some effort and introspection figuring out what your strengths are and what you have accomplished and what you aspire to. You will create a compelling narrative around these things and that will become your summary. That first sentence, that first paragraph will grab the reader by the throat and breathe authentic passion into the conversation.
Don’t just list stuff. Write a compelling narrative. Got it?
And continue this thoughtful process into the sections that list your experience and education. Don’t’ just list job titles. List your accomplishments and your dreams. Make it sing!
I’m not talking about making stuff up. There are authentic things for you to say. You don’t have to make stuff up. Just answer the question “What were you most proud of in this role?” That’s the story you tell.
Your intent is not to deceive. Your intent is to inspire.
Most of these platforms want a profile picture. For heaven’s sake people don’t upload the quick selfie from your computer camera and don’t upload that great photo of you in the funny hat from your last holiday! Go put on your business suit (whatever the business suit is for your profession) and have some professional photos taken. At the very least have that friend who thinks they are a photography expert take some good shots in an appropriate background.
Most of these sites also ask you for a website. I won’t go into it here but you should create a profession blog and seed it with some intelligently curated posts. Don’t link it to your favorite sports team or your facebook page.
Finally, and this is an extra-credit tip, most of these sites let you associate a video with your profile. This is an extremely powerful way to tell your story. Here’s what I did…I simply wrote a powerful script entitled “Why I love what I do”. I brought it up on the computer screen in front of me and ‘performed’ it into the laptop camera. It is super powerful and authentic.
Friends, the tools are out there. Use them to tell your story. Your profile, once created, becomes a powerful differentiator and will create opportunity in your life.
With online presence your professional profile can either help you or hurt you. Look at it as an opportunity. Use it to your advantage. It is a point of leverage. It is a way to influence.
And don’t wait until you’re looking for a job – keep it fresh – make it part of your yearly renewal process.
By using these methods on LinkedIn I was able to generate over 1400 views of my profile in the last 90 days. Again, I’m not looking for a job, but I’ve had a half dozen people reach out to me for business opportunities of one thing or another.
The real reason you should do this, the real reason your professional profile is so important, is that most other people won’t do it.
The question is…Will you?