Branding Yourself How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself

In today's turbulent business environment, millions of people are seeking to strengthen their personal brands, and demonstrate far greater value to potential customers and employers. Many of them are seeking to rebrand themselves as they move towards entirely new jobs and careers. Fortunately, social media offers powerful new tools for building personal brands, strengthening business and personal relationships, and showing how you can solve the tough problems that keep customers and potential employers awake at night. Branding Yourselfdoesn't just introduce these tools: it shows how to use them to build a personal brand that connects you to unprecedented new opportunities. This book shows how to: " Build your own storyline and online identity - and start "living" your brand " Choose the social media tools most likely to help you meet your goals " Make your blog the "hub" of your social media "wheel," and use it to tell your story far more effectively " Integrate online and offline networking to supercharge both personal and professional connections " Avoid the killer mistakes too many business social networkers make This edition has been updated with new chapters on: - Sharing photos and videos on sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and more. - Other social networking Tools including Pinterest, Google+, Quora, and many more. -Finding yourself on search engines

Erik Deckers is the co-owner and vice president of creative services of Professional Blog Service, a ghost blogging and social media agency. He has been blogging since 1997 and speaks widely on social media topics. He is also a newspaper columnist and award-winning playwright. Erik coauthored No Bullshit Social Media: The All- Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing with Jason Falls.

 

Kyle Lacy is a principal of Marketing Research and Education for ExactTarget, a leading global provider of interactive marketing solutions. He has an in-depth understanding of the application of social and interactive media for both small and large businesses and regularly speaks on topics ranging from social media adoption to interactive marketing trends across email, mobile, and social media. Kyle has been recognized as one of Indiana’s 40-under-40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anderson University’s Young Alumni of the Year, and TechPoint’s Young Professional of the Year. Learn more about Kyle at KyleLacy.com.

 

Deckers and Lacy coauthored the first edition of Branding Yourself.

I  Why Do I Care About Self-Promotion?    1

1  Welcome to the Party    3

What Is Self-Promotion?    5

Why Is Self-Promotion Important?    5

What Self-Promotion Is Not    6

What Can Self-Promotion Do for You and Your Career?    6

Personal Branding    6

What Is Personal Branding?    7

Go Brand Yourself    7

How to Build Your Brand    8

The Five Universal Objectives of Personal Branding    10

Discover Your Passion (Passion Is Fundamental to Achieving Your Goals)    10

Be Bold (It’s Okay to Talk About Yourself)    11

Tell Your Story (Your Story Is What Makes You Special)    13

Create Relationships (Relationships Lead to Opportunities)    14

Take Action (Even a Small Step Is a Step Forward)    15

Who Needs Self-Promotion?    16

Meet Our Heroes    18

2  How Do You Fit in the Mix?    21

The Basics of Building Your Personal Brand Story    23

Writing Your Personal Brand Autobiography    23

Prioritizing When Writing Your Personal Brand Story    24

Writing Your Personal Brand Biography    25

How Do Our Heroes Use the Personal Brand Biography?    27

Telling Your Complete Brand Story    30

The Law of Anecdotal Value    32

Surround Yourself with People Who Have Passion    33

Sharing Memories and Stories    33

Do’s and Don’ts of Telling Your Story    34

1. Don’t Post Pictures That Would Shock Your Mother    35

2. Don’t View Your Personal Brand Story as a Sales Pitch    35

3. Don’t Post Something You Will Regret Later    35

4. Don’t Ask for Things First    Ask for Things Second    36

5. Don’t Get Distracted    36

6. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Your Network    36

7. Do Invest in Yourself    37

8. Do Invest in Other People    37

9. Do Be Visible and Active    37

10. Do Take Some Time for Yourself    37

II  Your Network Is Your Castle–Build It         39

3  Blogging: Telling Your Story        41

What Is Blogging?    43

A Clarification of Terms        45

Why Should You Blog?    45

Choose Your Blogging Platforms    47

Blogspot.com/Blogger.com    48

WordPress.com and WordPress.org    49

Other Blogging Platforms    50

Tumblr    52

Which Platform Should You Choose?    54

Setting Up a Blog    54

Purchasing and Hosting a Domain Name    56

Getting Inspired    57

What Should You Write About?    57

Finding Subject Matter    60

How to Write a Blog Post    60

Writing for Readers Versus Writing for Search Engines    62

It’s About the Quality of the Writing    62

Google Expects You to Write Good Stuff    63

How Often Should You Post?        64

How Long Should Your Posts Be?    65

But My Posts Are Too Long    66

SEO Through Blogging    66

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes?    69

Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging    70

Do’s    70

Don’ts    71

A Final Note on the “Rules” of Blogging    72

4  LinkedIn: Networking on Steroids    73

The Basics of LinkedIn    75

What’s in a LinkedIn Profile?    75

The Employment Section    75

Your Photo/Avatar        77

The Education Section    77

The Summary    77

Your Websites    78

Cool LinkedIn Features Worth Examining    79

Creating Contacts on LinkedIn    81

Using Your Email Database    82

Other Ways to Connect: Colleagues and Classmates    83

Building Off Your Second- and Third-Degree Network    84

Transforming Your Contacts into Connections    85

The Importance of Recommendations    87

Ten Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn        90

1. Do Upload a Professional Picture    90

2. Do Connect to Your Real Friends and Contacts    91

3. Do Keep Your Profile Current    91

4. Do Delete People Who Spam You    91

5. Do Spend Some Time on Your Summary    92

6. Don’t Use LinkedIn Like Facebook and Twitter    92

7. Don’t Sync LinkedIn with Twitter    92

8. Don’t Decline Invitations    Archive Them    92

9. Don’t Ask Everyone for Recommendations    93

10. Don’t Forget to Use Spelling and

Grammar Check    93

5  Twitter: Sharing in the Conversation    95

Why Should You Use Twitter?    96

What Can Twitter Do for You?    97

How Do You Use Twitter?    99

Creating a Twitter Profile    99

Getting Followers    100

Sending Out Tweets    101

Retweeting Your Content    102

Applications for Twitter Domination    104

Desktop Applications    106

Web-Based Applications    107

Mobile Applications    109

What Should You Tweet (and What Shouldn’t You?)    110

Personal Branding Case Study : @applegirl    113

Do’s and Don’ts While Using Twitter        113

Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less    114

How Does This Chapter Apply to Our Four Heroes?    115

6  Facebook: Developing a Community of Friends        117

Why Should You Use Facebook?    118

What Can Facebook Do for You?    120

Reconnect with Old Classmates and Co-Workers    120

Use a Facebook Page to Professionally

Brand Yourself    120

Help a Cause and Be Philanthropic    121

Find and Attend Local Events    121

What You Should Know First About Facebook    122

Professional Page and Personal Profile    123

The Basics: Creating a Personal Profile    124

Staying in Control of Your Profile    127

Working with Your Personal Page Privacy Settings    127

Setting Up Your Privacy Settings for Your Personal

Account    127

Working with Your Customized URL    129

How Can I Use a Professional Page for Personal

Branding?    130

Using Insights to Track Your Content Growth    133

Setting Up Your Professional Page    134

Top Six Tips for Using Facebook    135

Ten Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook    136

1. Do Upload a Real Picture    136

2. Do Share Industry-Specific Content    138

3. Do Use Your Email to Find Friends    138

4. Do Read the Terms of Service    138

5. Don’t Use Inappropriate Language    138

6. Don’t Spam People    139

7. Don’t Poke People    139

8. Don’t Tag Everyone in a Picture    139

9. Don’t Sync Your Twitter Profile with Your Facebook Page    139

10. Don’t Invite People to Your Professional Page Over and Over and Over    140

Facebook Tips in 140 Characters or Less    140

7  Say Cheese: Sharing Photos and Videos        143

Why Video    144

Where to Put Your Video    146

YouTube    146

Vimeo    147

Flickr    148

Shooting Video    149

Video Do’s and Don’ts    150

Recording Screen Capture Videos    151

Case Study: Gary Vaynerchuk    151

What Should I Make Videos Of?    152

Why Photos    153

Where to Post Your Photos    153

Picasa    153

Flickr    154

Photobucket    154

Instagram    154

Facebook    155

Copyright: Permission, Creative Commons, and Licensing        156

Creative Commons    156

Embedding Videos and Photos in Your Blog        158

Adding Photos    158

Adding Videos    160

SEO for Videos and Photos    161

YouTube SEO    162

Photo SEO    163

The Video Resume    165

A Cautionary Note About Video Resumes    167

Photos and Video Tips in 140 Characters    168

8  Other Social Networking Tools    169

Google+    170

BranchOut        172

Twylah    174

Pinterest    176

Quora    180

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes?    181

9  Googling Yourself: Finding Yourself on Search Engines        183

Have You Ever Googled Yourself?    184

What Do You Want Others to Find?    186

Search Engine Optimization    187

What SEO USED to Be    188

Keywords    188

Titles    188

Body Copy    189

Anchor Text    189

Backlinks        190

What SEO Looks at Now        190

Time on Site    191

Bounce Rate    191

Click-Through Rate    191

Page Load Speed    192

How Can You Influence These Factors?    193

Quality of Content    193

Quality of Design    194

Ease of Navigation    195

A Quick Note About Backlinks    196

Video        196

Personal Connections/Social Media    197

Reverse Search Engine Optimization    198

What if You Share a Common Name?    199

Search Engine Tools    201

Google Alerts    201

Google Image Search    202

Google Blog Search    202

Bing    203

Yahoo!    204

Other Search Engines        205

The Value of Reputation Management    206

Reputation Management Tools    207

BrandYourself.com    207

Reputation.com    207

Google’s Me on the Web    209

How Do Our Heroes Use SEO?    210

Reputation Management Tips in 140 Characters    210

10  Bringing It All Together: Launching Your Brand    213

What Is a Personal Brand Campaign?        215

How Do Our Heroes Build Their P&T Statement?    217

Why Is a Personal Brand Campaign Important?    220

Building Your Personal Brand Campaign    221

Developing Your Personal Brand Campaign    221

Implementing Your Personal Brand Campaign    223

Automating Your Personal Brand Campaign        224

Unique Ways to Launch Your Branding Campaign    225

How Should Our Heroes Launch Their Brands?    228

Do’s and Don’ts of Launching Your Personal Brand    229

11  Measuring Success: You Like Me, You Really Like Me!    231

Why Should You Measure    232

What Should You Measure?    233

Reach        233

Quality Versus Quantity    234

Visibility    234

Influence    235

Measuring Influence    235

How Should You Measure?    238

Measuring Your Blogging Effectiveness    238

Using Google Analytics for Your Blog    240

Setting Up a Google Analytics Account    241

Installing Google Analytics    242

Getting an Overview of Your Website Performance    242

Measuring Your Twitter Effectiveness    243

Other Total Influence Measurement Tools    245

Measuring Your LinkedIn Effectiveness    246

Measuring Your Facebook Effectiveness    248

Measuring Your YouTube Effectiveness    250

Nine Tools to Use for Measurement    252

Effectively Measuring Your Personal Brand    254

How Can Our Heroes Use Analytics and Measurement?    255

Do’s and Don’ts for Analytics and Measurement    256

Analytics Tips in 140 Characters    256

II  PROMOTING YOUR BRAND IN THE REAL WORLD    259

12  How to Network: Hello, My Name Is    261

Why Should I Bother Networking?    263

A Networking Case Study: Starla West    264

The Rules of Networking        265

It’s Not About You    265

Giver’s Gain Is Not Quid Pro Quo    266

Be Honest Online and Offline    269

You’re Just as Good as Everyone Else    270

Avoid People Who Are Unhelpful        271

Network with Your Competition    271

Three Types of Networking    273

Networking Groups    273

Meeting People    274

The Networking “Dance”        274

What Should You Say?    275

Networking Faux Pas    276

The Follow-Up    278

One-on-One Networking    278

How to Set Up the One-On-One Networking Meeting    279

What to Talk About During Your One-On-One    280

No One Wants a Sales Pitch    281

The “Pick-Your-Brain” Meeting    281

The Follow-Up    284

Forwarding Articles and Links    284

Sharing Opportunities    285

Making Connections and Introductions for Others    285

But I Just Don’t Want to Meet the Other Person    286

Be Honest    286

But What if the Other Person Isn’t Honest?    287

Do’s and Don’ts of Networking    288

Do    288

Don’t    289

How Would Our Heroes Network?    289

13  Public Speaking: We Promise You Won’t Die        291

Case Study: Hazel Walker, The Queen of Networking    293

Should I Speak in Public?    294

No, Seriously    294

But I Hate Speaking in Public    294

Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking    295

Toastmasters    295

Classes at Your Local College or University    296

Seminars and Courses    296

Speakers Associations        297

Private or Executive Coaches    297

Finding or Creating Your Own Speaking Niche    297

How to Start Your Speaking Career    299

Identify Speaking Opportunities        301

Industry Groups        302

Civic Groups    303

Conferences, Trade Shows, and Expos    304

Introducing Yourself    305

Promoting Your Talk    306

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes?    309

Giving Your Talk    310

Important Technology Tips for Presenters    311

Miscellaneous Tips, 140 Characters or Less    316

14  Getting Published: I’m an Author!    319

Why Should I Become a Writer?    322

Publication Opportunities    323

Local Newspapers    324

Business Newspapers    325

Scientific Journals    326

Specialty Magazines and Newspapers    327

Hobby Publications    328

Major Mainstream Magazines    329

Go Horizontal Instead of Vertical    329

Build Your Personal Brand with Your Writing    330

Publication Rights        331

Create Your Own Articles’ Niche    332

Getting Started    334

Getting Paid    336

Paying Your Dues        337

The Myth of “Exposure”    338

Do’s and Don’ts of Writing for Publication    338

How Can Our Heroes Turn to Writing for Publication?    340

15  Personal Branding: Using What You’ve Learned to Land Your Dream Job    343

Using Your Network to Find a Job    347

Twitter: Make Job Connections in 140 Characters    347

Use LinkedIn to Make Job Connections    348

The Art of the Connection    348

Should You Connect Directly or Ask for a Connection?    350

Use LinkedIn to Get Inside Info    351

Creating a Résumé    352

Should I Create a Paper Résumé?    352

How Does Social Media Fit in Your Résumé?    353

Six Tips for Listing Social Media on Your Résumé        354

Do’s and Don’ts of Résumé Building    355

Don’t Rely on the Job Boards    358

Try the Company Job Boards Instead    359

Use LinkedIn to Bypass the Job Board Process    361

Skip HR Altogether, and Work Your Network    361

Using Your Network to Land a Freelance Contract    362

How Can Our Heroes Find a Job Through

Networking?    363

A Social Media Case Study    364

Another Social Media Case Study    367

Job Searching Tips in 140 Characters    368

Index    369