Your Personal Brand
In this guide, we’ll help you regain control of your personal brand and help you market yourself in the most effective way possible, be it for a career change, moving into the public eye or just to manage what others see.
Brands are in abundance and their power can’t be denied. They clothe us, feed us, drive us, entertain us, protect us. We don’t identify with companies, we identify with brands and branding is as much about storytelling as anything else.
Personal branding is about the way we present ourselves. It’s about the way we brand ourselves to people, companies and more importantly ourselves. Being true to your own personal brand is critical.
With the acceleration of all things digital in the past decade we all now have a digital presence. In recent years the trend has been to try and suppress this record, but as we all know – on the internet the truth will come out. It’s therefore up to you to proactively manage your digital presence and your personal brand and bring order to the chaos.
Take control & make a list. What is in the public eye?
This is a critical step – your first task is to find out what information is out there and what could potentially be damaging your personal brand. Mostly this can be done via a Google search for your name but especially with more common names you’ll need to think a little broader. Consider what you have done in the past that might still be online:
- Social media profiles (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)
- Old social media profiles (remember MySpace?)
- News articles (sports teams, ed-ops, local accolades)
- Corporate sites (previous or current employment)
- Chat/support forums (have you commented on a public site/forum?)
- Personal websites
- Personal blogs
- Images (remember to use Google’s image search)
You’ll be able to remove or edit almost all content that you no longer think fits with your brand (those drunken uni pictures that you thought were just the best idea to share with the world for example). Even if you no longer have access (e.g. an old blogging site), you can normally get quite far by reminding providers that it is your right to manage content about you.
When it comes to Google and other indexing services, we are fortunate to have the “Right to be Forgotten” in the EU. This essentially means that you can control search entries about you (of any nature). You can find the Google right to be forgotten form here.
Now that you’ve decided what you don’t want the world to see, it’s time to decide what you do want the world to see.
1. LinkedIn Profiles
LinkedIn is without a doubt your new CV and is an essential accoutrement to your personal brand. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, this needs to be your top priority. Any interviewer worth their salt will now look up your profile even before they’ve met 
I could easily spend an entire article talking about LinkedIn and what a great profile looks like, but here are just a few dos and don’ts to get your profile in order:
- THE BASICS: Make sure you have a professional picture on a plain background. Make sure your spelling, punctuation and grammar are in order. 50% of profiles fail the basics.
- BE SELECTIVE: Choose what you share wisely and keep it simple. Nobody wants to hear about that job you had at a gas station while growing up or details of every GCSE you ever took. Be selective and remember that your content will need to capture people’s attention.
- MODERATE: Do manage your recommendations and endorsements. If recommendations don’t make the grade then hide them. If you’re endorsed for marketing by your college friend who now works as a dentist remember to hide them. People are over-generous and click-happy when endorsing (LinkedIn makes it that way), so don’t be afraid to moderate accordingly.
- BUSINESS OR PLEASURE? Don’t mix business with pleasure. This isn’t Facebook. Pictures of your cats or your mother commenting on your posts is not ok.
- SPENT THE TIME: Do invest time in posting, sharing and commenting professionally. Many people have a profile but don’t engage with LinkedIn’s social side. To increase your visibility and ranking in LinkedIn’s search, make sure you’re adding new content and interacting with existing content. Join a few relevant groups, write a few blog posts.
- WORK IT: Do reach 500+ connections. Over 500 LinkedIn stops counting. Instead of an exact figure, it will just show 500+. This shows that you’re engaged and popular on the platform. Once you’ve reached that milestone it’s less important but not irrelevant. Don’t spam people you don’t know, but do try to connect with people as often as you can – after meetings is always a great idea.
- SHARE, SHARE, SHARE: Do share your LinkedIn profile link. Wherever possible share this link on your personal website, blog and social profiles. The more you do this the more likely that you’ll appear high in Google’s ranking and within the LinkedIn environment too.
Take a look at my LinkedIn profile for some inspiration and let me know if you have any builds!
2. Social Media Sites
On social media, you need to make a simple choice – public or private. In short, you need to decide which social media presences will be visible to the outside world and lock all the rest out completely. With this item, there is no room for half measures and it’s often an item that lands people in the most amount of difficulty. Potential employers now routinely check Facebook and Twitter for an inside look at the person you are.
For those you deem private, check out these guides to lock down your profiles and sure they are not visible to the outside world:
3. Forums/Subject Matter Expert
A real hidden gem and something people don’t do often enough. One of the best ways to push up that search engine result is to become an SME in your own right. Think about joining forums relevant to your area of work and positively contribute to those asking questions or needing support. Show people that you don’t just walk the walk and give demonstrable examples of your work. Remember to steer away from controversial topics or those that are too complex; you don’t want to be spending days on this after all.
4. Personal Websites
This is a very tricky topic with one simple overarching rule – if you can’t do this properly, then don’t do it. Too many people try and fail with personal websites. Done badly they will irreversibly damage your personal brand, done well they will provide the perfect culmination of who you are.
Personal sites can be very cheap as both the domain names and hosting are usually low cost, but if you have the cash it’s always worth paying a good designer to craft the aesthetics of the site – this will usually set you back £200-500 depending on where you find them and how good they are.
Here are some key dos and don’ts on the topic:
- Do use a content management system (CMS) to allow for easy editing of your creation. Use a CMS like WordPress which is easy to get to grips with and well supported.
- Do think security. Most CMS systems like WordPress are extremely hackable, so absolutely remember to secure the server/web host that you’re using along with keeping your CMS software up to date. If you don’t know how to do this, engage a friend, colleague or expert that does.
- Do keep it up to date. The general style of websites changes every 2-3 years
- Don’t be different. Avoid garish and controversial styles. Your singular aim here is to appeal to the masses. Keep it simple and visually appealing.
- Do include basic sections like work/portfolio history, employment details, contact details and a downloadable generic CV. Do include a picture of yourself. Often it’ll be the main reason that people visit the site.
- Do link back. Remember how effective links can be in driving search engine traffic. Link to your LinkedIn and public social spaces wherever possible. Do the same linking back on those spaces also.
5. Personal Videos
On both LinkedIn and your personal site, you should try to include a personal video. This isn’t easy I know, but you’d be amazed at how far a 2-minute video all about you can set you apart from the competition. Written content and a photo will only get you so far.
Here are some key dos and don’ts on the topic:
- Do keep it short. 2-3 minutes is long enough
- Do keep it professional, no shaky iPhone videos – if you have the cash you can get these professionally recorded for £200-400.
- Do talk primarily about work, but include 5-10% personal content too
- Do come across in a calm, confident manner. Smile and make eye contact with the camera
- Do choose your backdrop – think neutral and non-distracting settings but avoid completely plain
- Don’t use a script. You should have what you want to say memorised, even if you’re using a teleprompter people will know.
- Do look at examples before you get started. As an example. You can watch my personal video here.
6. Put Time Aside for Your Personal Brand
Finally, remember to put time aside to keep all of the above in review. If you do this then you’ll avoid having to make major overhauls. Just check once every few months to make sure that your brand says what you want it to say.
Finally… I never said that building your personal brand would be easy; especially at first. Once it’s done though you’ll sleep easier at night, knowing you’re in control of your image. Job markets are fierce regardless of industry and with more university graduates hitting the market every year, education plays a less important role. It’s all about what else you have to offer and how you present that.
With over 7 billion people in this world, how will you stand apart?