Personal online branding for a new year
Your personal online brand is more important than ever…
You might remember that we did a big campaign on your A-Z of building a personal brand. We just wanted to take this opportunity to highlight that the recruitment industry has listed your online brand as a big trend for 2017 – and we want to continue to help…
Social Media is not just a platform in which you can keep informed on which organisation on the island is currently recruiting your ideal role. It is also an opportunity for you to build your own personal brand – which has been part of my advice for a while now, but now it is becoming a very important part of 2017 trends. “People buy People” – which means that if a potential employer is looking at your profile, impressed with how it looks and the online brand you have created for yourself –then you are automatically making yourself more competitive.
There are three key reasons for developing your online brand:
- Potential Employers WILL look online before asking you to a final interview.
- Reputation, especially in a tight knit community, goes a long long way.
- Your exposure to the market will help you to become an expert.
Here are some helpful tips on how you can develop you own online brand:
Privacy: Privatise your social media accounts that aren’t being used for work benefits – right away. If you use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and you like to post the weekend antics, not only should you try to calm down on the “#wasted #cantremember” sort of pictures of you and your friends, but you also need to make them less public. Post as many of those pictures as you want – but just make sure no potential employer's are able to access them– as they will be doing their research before offering you a job.
Share: Share ‘Market Knowledge’. You will notice, especially on LinkedIn a section that appears on your home area as you scroll down called “Trending in your industry”. This means LinkedIn has noted your skills and industry that you work in and will fire industry relevant stories at you. Read them and learn from them. Share the ones that are relevant and add your comments. Tag industry key figures (people or organisations) – including them in the opportunity to spark a professional discussion/debate.
Networking: When attending networking events, there will be opportunities to promote yourself face to face - and when that new contact goes back to the office, what do you think the first thing they will do will be in regards to you? Look you up. If you are up to date on all the trends and market insight – your credibility will be through the roof and much more likely to secure new business from that new contact.
Consistency: Be consistent in your promoting, content and insight. Coming out with ‘curve ball’ comments to spark a reaction – essentially Professional Trolling – is merely a way to gain exposure and leaves you wide open losing credibility. The tabloids tend to do that, and very few trust the ‘Red top Tabloids’! Stick with what you know best and back yourself in terms of promoting what you genuinely believe to be insight for the wider professional community.
Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon once said that “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room”. We believe that it is even more important with an online brand because this statement implies that you have met the people face to face. When it comes to your online brand, you are fully exposed to people you have probably never met, some of whom will disagree with you. Some may even try to discredit you. Be transparent, be thorough in your research and be firm in your beliefs.