#personalbranding. David M. Scott explains that “An important thing to consider is how
your online actions are a reflection of your personal branding (the image that
you project to the world)” (Scott, 2013, p. 260). He further argues, “Most
Twitter pages don’t say enough and most have crappy design. While that’s fine
if you’re just communicating with friends, if you care about your personal
brand, you need to do better. Much better” (Scott, 2013, p. 260). This is a very
important concept to consider when configuring your personal brand online.
Concurrently, an individual should also understand how search engine marketing
may impact a personal brand. As Mark Schaefer examines, “much of social media
happens in broad daylight for the world to see. And much of this information is
findable in search engines (Schaefer,
2012, p. 183).
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A key part of my professional work is not
only developing business, but more importantly, building relationships within
the financial community. Therefore, my personal brand is a key factor to my
success. When creating my personal brand campaign, it will be important to
stress my strengths in a professional manner. Thus, posting political,
inappropriate, or personal opinions via social media is not a wise move, as
prospective employers or clients may be put off by these actions. Additionally,
it will very important to have a consistent theme across all the media
platforms that I am engaged on (even personal sites).
In order to manage the effectiveness of my
personal brand, it is critical to measure its success. As highlighted in An in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of a social media campaign, it will be important
to first evaluate what stage of the Social Media ROI Cycle my brand is in
(Launch; Management; Optimization) (Turner, n.d.). Once I understand what brand
stage I am in, it will be essential to test my current strategy, as well as use
metrics to optimize my brand presence and stimulate change (Turner, n.d.).
To raise awareness of my personal brand, it
will be important to highlight how my capabilities and business approach are unique, as well as personalized, to prospective clients. Personally, I have worked in various
capacities within finance, including on a trading desk; therefore, I have a keen understanding of what motivates prospective clients, as
well as what their potential pain points are and how to solve these issues.
Shama Hyder suggests in her article, 7 things you can do to build an awesome personal brand, to “find ways to produce value” (Hyder,
2014). This is fantastic advice. By consistently
creating respected and thought-provoking content, I will be able to connect
strategically with my clients.
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Ultimately, when creating and
managing a personal brand campaign it comes down
to: design consistency, timeliness,
relevancy, valuable content, and professional demeanor. This may sound more challenging than it has to be. However, each day, we are finely crafting our personal brand through our style, behavior, demeanor, appearance, opinions, thoughts, and speech. So, why wouldn't you finely craft your personal brand online?
References
Hyder, S. (2014, August 18). 7 things you can do to build an awesome personal brand. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2014/08/18/7-things-you-can-do-to-build-an-awesome-personal-brand/
Schaefer, M. (2012). Return on influence: The revolutionary power of klout, social scoring, and influence marketing. [Kindle Version] Retrieved from Amazon.com
Scott, D. M., (2013). The new rules of marketing & pr: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, &viral marketing to reach buyers directly . (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Turner, J. (n.d.) An in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of a social media campaign. The 60 Second Marketer. Retrieved from: http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/
