It is almost 2012 and I think by now, we all know that an important part of personal branding takes place in social media.  But, do you have a plan for that?

Before you choose and decide which social networks you want to use for your personal branding, you should have a strategy in mind. Understand what image you want to portray, and, more importantly, realize that it’s not You who will determine what people think, but rather, your brand will be determined how people see you and how true you are to yourself.

A road map that helps me focus when I want to start new directions in my business and expand my personal brand comes from IDEO, the leading design and innovation firm here in Palo Alto, and its five principles for brainstorming:

• stay focused on the topic,
• encourage wild ideas,
• defer judgment,
• and build on the ideas of others.

So look at your brand, and begin brainstorming [with friends and colleagues] your strategy by asking:

• What do you want to accomplish,
• How will you show your uniqueness,
• Whom do you want to reach,
• What does your audience want to know about you,
• How often will you have time to update your social networking accounts,
• Do you really have the discipline to contribute regularly with fresh news or information?
• And how will your actions make you feel about yourself and your personal brand development day to day?

When you’ve answered these questions and are sure you know where you’re going, it’s time to design your strategy and how you’re going to implement your answers.

But before going there, I think you should consider one other aspect that looks at what the outcome will be. Is what you’re doing making you happy?

A couple of months ago, I listened to Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor, Jennifer Aaker, talk about her new book, The Dragonfly Effect, in which she writes: “Ensure that your goal is personally meaningful such that the thought of achieving the goal would bring happiness to you and your audience – in some way.”

This is one of the areas we rarely consider before launching our personal branding campaign. I, myself, think that the only way you will have a personal brand that lasts, that resonates and says something meaningful about you is one that you approach with passion and conviction and, it makes you happy. This passion and happiness have to be felt in your online life as well.

Image via CrunchBase

Some of the comments I got were:

• “I didn’t have time yet, but have been meaning to fill it out completely”
• “I don’t need LinkedIn, I have a job”
• “In my profession, I can’t really write anything, it’s all confidential”
• “None of my colleagues has a LinkedIn profile, why should I?”

I don’t understand these arguments, isn’t LinkedIn the perfect vehicle to get your own persona brand out to be seen and read by the very people you might want to reach in the future?

LinkedIn is free or if you do upgrade to the paid account, it’s very inexpensive.

Three Key LinkedIn Profile Tips

The profile will take some time to write, I agree and the three key places in your profile are:

1. The Headline under your photo - Have a good headline under the photo; this is your personal brand statement. You have 120 characters with which to write a good sentence, which captures the essence (and where you are different) about what you do.
2. Your Summary - Your summary is where you can write from the heart – I know this sounds really corny – but people are tired of reading artificial jargon filled resume language. Just say what you are passionate about in your job, what makes you go to work every day and why you are good in what you do.
3. Specialties, Experience, and Interests - In the sections, Specialties, Experiences and Interests, besides filling them out with relevant information, this is the place to load up on keywords that will lead people looking for your specialties to you.

There are lots of articles on how to find relevant keywords. Thomas Petty in particular, can give you all the information you ever wanted about finding and using the right keywords.

To complete your profile, get 3 recommendations from colleagues or supervisors – now. Besides, if you don’t ask now, you will hardly be in a position to if you are laid off in the next months or if you wanted to look for another job at a later date.

Finally, be sure you have a professional, or at least a good quality profile photo.

These tips can all help you brand and market yourself in the future. After all, you want to position yourself in the most positive light possible – just in case that next opportunity comes knocking.

Related articles

• “Optimizing LinkedIn Profiles for Job Search” (dickhurych.wordpress.com)
• LinkedIn Checklist (convonix.com)
• The Ultimate Business & Career LinkedIn Training Course! [Reginald Alston] (ecademy.com)
• Why College Students Should Join LinkedIn (money.usnews.com)
• LinkedIn’s “Resume Builder” (dickhurych.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

I’m always amazed how long it takes us to get around to doing something which is not that difficult  – in this case, starting a YouTube channel and posting short videos about ourselves and our brand. Here are some tips I’ve thought about based on my own YouTube experiences.

Make a list of topics you want to talk about

Think about which topics interest you, and where you are the expert, which ones inspire you – those are the ones you’ll want to put onto a video.

Local wisdom says you should do a lot of research about your topics before you make your videos, but I think it is important to just get started. A – you can delete the early videos if you really hate them, B – once you have a few under your belt, it gets a lot easier and C – you’ll figure out which topics are well received and which ones are not.

Take a Flip camera and record yourself

So, to start, take a Flip camera, get a friend to hold it [or set up a tripod] and talk for 2 – 3 minutes about a point in your business that you are passionate about and which can establish you as an expert in your field.

Use a Teleprompter

There is software, which you can run during the video shoot that lets your read your text on your computer so that you don’t have to memorize all of your points. It works well if you don’t mind that we can see that you are reading and not speaking freely. For longer videos, that is the way to go.

Be authentic

No one minds if you have some blips in your speech or if you say a couple of /ahs/and /ems/, it just makes you natural and authentic.  That’s the real ‘you’ which people want to see.

Practice, practice, practice

The same as for giving a presentation, before you record the video, practice it at least 5 times. That way you come across as very natural and engaging.

Mix up your videos

Some can be serious and give good, lasting ideas – evergreen videos – but some can also be funny and personal. You have different sides to your personality and it’s good to show them.

Keywords count

Before you upload your video [with the USB connector on your Flip] onto YouTube, Blip.tv, Viddler etc., make sure you write a good description with frequently used keywords about your topic/video.

In addition, put these keywords into the tags. That way people might actually find you!

Editing is easy nowadays

iMovie for Mac users is easy, and I know that PCs also have  manageable software to edit your videos. Once you are up and running and know how to use it, you should think of the look and feel of your brand and feature that consistently in every video.

Put links on how to reach you on the last slide of your videos

Don’t forget to put your information on how to reach you via email or through your web site, as well as on Facebook and Twitter onto a slide at the end of your video.

Promote your Videos

You can promote your videos on your own blog, on Facebook, through Twitter, and even embed them in LinkedIn. The main thing is that you do it.

And as always, have fun

We have so much stress in our lives nowadays – making these videos can and should be fun. Your personal brand is something you transmit, it is the way others perceive you, so be relaxed and enjoy it, because that’s what will shine through.

Related articles

• Optimize Your YouTube Videos for More Exposure (parkercorpcomm.wordpress.com)
• How to upload your Flip Videos to YouTube (simplehelp.net)