Top Inspirational: Internet Marketing Special Tips & Tricks: #SproutChat Recap: Building Your Professional Brand

Friday, 8 July 2016

#SproutChat Recap: Building Your Professional Brand

In today’s marketplace, your personal brand matters. For better or worse, how you’re perceived in person and across your social and digital platforms can have an impact on your career opportunities. Building and maintaining a personal brand is a daunting task–even for marketers. We often struggle with where to even start.

This week at #SproutChat, we were join by Jeremey Goldman and Ali B. Zagat, authors of Getting to Like: How to Boost Your Personal and Professional Brand to Expand Opportunities, Grow Your Business, and Achieve Financial Success. The experts fielded our community’s questions and offered advice on how to perfect the art of personal branding to unlock new opportunities and achieve success.

Stand Out

Developing a personal brand is really all about standing out in a crowd of people with similar career backgrounds and work experiences. You want to be the one person that everyone remembers. Being memorable amid peers in your industry or field will help build a personal brand around your experiences and accomplishments. This can lead to recognition and new growth and development opportunities.

A1: Personal branding is HUGE – it's how you differentiate yourself & ensure people don't see you as a commodity. You're unique. #sproutchat

— Jeremy Goldman (@jeremarketer) July 6, 2016

a1.2 In advertising/ mktg it is how employers can see how you do the job. If you can't brand yourself how can you brand clients #SproutChat

— Jessie Simms (@JSimmsSocial) July 6, 2016

A1: Even if your job is not public-facing, a strong personal brand can make it easier to move between companies and advance. #sproutchat

— Richard Hostler (@PCC_Hostler) July 6, 2016

A1: very! as a sole proprietor, personal = professional #Sproutchat

— Adam Bianco (@Adam_Bianco) July 6, 2016

A1. All opportunities spring forth from brand. Why hire you? Because you're better? Everyone makes that claim. #SproutChat

— Nathan Young (@notnathan) July 6, 2016

A1: Will cause people to remember you & when they have a relevant opportunity, need etc. you'll be more likely to get the call #Sproutchat

— Katrina Douglas (@KDADouglas) July 6, 2016

Measure Your Efforts

In order to achieve success, you need to understand what’s working and what’s not. That’s why it’s important to benchmark and measure your personal branding efforts. It may feel weird at first, but setting a metric that correlates with your goal is important.

For instance, perhaps you want to land an interview for a senior level job in digital marketing. You could start by measuring how many relevant LinkedIn profile views or inquires you receive from recruiters during the first month of your search. Maybe you’ve just launched a website and are using Twitter to direct your followers there. Using Google Analytics, you can quantify and account for how many people are viewing your content and learn where they are coming from. If there’s a bigger accomplishment that seems out of reach, set a strategy for getting there and be diligent and consistent in order to reach it.

A4.1/2: First establish your metrics for success! New collaborations, bigger audience, invitations to speak–what's your goal? #sproutchat

— Ali B. Zagat (@alibzagat) July 6, 2016

A4. 2/2: If you don't know what your goal is, you won't know what it looks like when you achieve it. #sproutchat

— Ali B. Zagat (@alibzagat) July 6, 2016

A4 Always be measuring your personal branding initiatives & reevaluate what you're doing on an ongoing basis. #sproutchat

— Jeremy Goldman (@jeremarketer) July 6, 2016

A4: Monitor mentions of your name to see if there’s an uptick there. You’ll probably see more interactions if you’re doing well. #sproutchat

— Northcutt (@northcuttHQ) July 6, 2016

A4) Are you talking about/creating content around ideas you are passionate about? If so, it's working. #SproutChat @SproutSocial

— Divergent Digital (@DivergentDigitl) July 6, 2016

A4: I think when you can watch other people naturally summarizing your brand for you when introducing you you know you're good. #sproutchat

— AK Kerani (@AKKerani) July 6, 2016

@SproutSocial A4) Ask customers where they heard about you. Referrals? Social? Email? Other? And keep track of it #Sproutchat

— Tempstar Staffing (@TempstarStaff) July 6, 2016

Take the Conversation Offline

Establishing an eye-catching presence online is only one piece of the puzzle. Meeting in person will have a longer and much more lasting impact on someone than almost any interaction online. At networking events, help acquaintances recognize you by maintaining a current headshot in all of your digital profiles. In person it’s important to be as authentic as possible and embody the same brand you’ve built online, offline.

A6 personal brands aren't about total fame – it's about "fame" or awareness within your specific niche. #sproutchat

— Jeremy Goldman (@jeremarketer) July 6, 2016

A5 Build your brand offline through events, speaking appearances, panels. You *can't* solely rely on digital. #sproutchat

— Jeremy Goldman (@jeremarketer) July 6, 2016

A5. I take who I am IRL and express myself through digital channels. That way when I meet someone in person it's not forced #sproutchat

— Ali B. Zagat (@alibzagat) July 6, 2016

A5: Confident public speaking and active networking – offline brand should be extension of online brand #Sproutchat https://t.co/dnvrV9i4IM

— The Digital Chic (@TheDigitalChic) July 6, 2016

Instead of talking about having fun & making a difference, I go out there & do as I tweet. #ThatsMyBrand #Sproutchat https://t.co/1c4LGXiULw

— Amelia Tran (@AmelianTips) July 6, 2016