How to Develop YOUR Personal Brand Online Using Social Media -Part 1

Just as companies and products have brands, individuals can have brands too. Your personal brand tells the world, or more specifically your target audience, who you are. It conveys your message –your thoughts, ideas, beliefs, likes/dislikes, talents, and areas of expertise. When done well, your brand message will be clear, consistent, and it will help you achieve your goals.

WHO Are You?
One of the first things you need to decide upon when developing your personal brand is how you want the world to perceive you. What do you want to be known for? What words do you want to pop into others’ minds when they hear your name? What are your strengths? What makes you different and unique from everyone else? My About Me page is essentially just this. It’s my brand points…the things that make me, me and that set me apart from others.

Tip: Be sure to conduct a situational analysis: Identify your strengths and weaknesses, know who your competitors are and what they’re doing, identify key trends occurring in the general environment (and your industry) –are these opportunities or threats? Use these findings to your advantage when building your personal brand strategy.

WHAT Are Your Goals and Objectives?
What’s the point of developing your brand without an end goal in mind? What are you hoping to achieve by spending all this time and effort “creating yourself online?” All strategies should have goals they are striving to achieve; something to measure success or failure by. Your goal could be to become a thought leader in your industry. Your end goal could be to drive sales for your new book or product. Or, like me, your goal could be to find a new job (once I graduate in June).

Tip: Once you know what you want to do, you should be able to identify your target audience –those you want to reach with your content and message. Be sure you understand this group to enable effective targeting and engagement with them: what are their online habits, what are their relevant behavioral, demographic, and/or psychographic characteristics?

Once you know WHO you are and WHAT you hope to accomplish, it’s time to jump in online and get savvy with social media platforms. Check back on Sunday for Part 2, which addresses where to go from here (start thinking LinkedIn, Twitter, and a personal blog of your own). In the mean time, starting thinking about the who and what of your personal brand!

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