Personal Branding/Reputation Management/Social Media

Personal branding is where people and their careers are seen as brands. The personal (online) branding concept suggests that success comes from self-promotion. You should take control of the kind of search results that are produced when your name is typed into a search engine. Stand out from the crowd. Project your professional and personal image in the way you want to be seen.

To be successful, your personal brand must be seen over and over again. Do this in a consistent way and you will create an effective personal brand. Set yourself apart from your competitors. Reflect your personality, core values and skill set. Increase your credibility. Most of all, you should establish your expertise, value and authority.

Personal branding can involve the applying of one's name to various products. For example, celebrity Paul Newman used his name extensively on the products/brands that he endorsed.

What does your personal brand say about you?

Reputation management

Strong personal brands can take years to build up. They can also be destroyed in seconds. With the popularity of blogs, people can say what they like and it becomes a permanent record on the internet. It’s important to make sure that the online message about your personal brand is one of your own making.

Social media is an exciting array of online tools that can be utilised to promote your brand, your message, and most importantly, to have a conversation with your community. Social networks, bookmarking, blogging, business networks, podcasts, video and photo sharing sites are just some of the ways you can promote your personal brand using social media. Social media has changed how people discover, read and share news, information and content and we should all be getting on board the social media train.

Social media is extremely popular. It allows people to connect in the online world, to form relationships for personal, political and business use. It is typified by its user generated content and is cheaper than traditional media, providing a high return on investment.

Tailoring your messages to appeal to specific online communities or groups can be more effective, as they have a stronger emotional appeal. Social media optimisation is how you engage the users on your website.

Social Media Monitoring Tools

There are a number of tools available, some free, and some paid versions. What you use will depend on your own needs. At the very least you should have a Google Alert set up to track any search on your own name.

Personal Branding & Social Media Applications

	LinkedIn — Business social networking site that helps you discover connections to recommended job candidates, industry experts and business partners.
	Twitter — A social-messaging microblogging site for staying connected in real-time.
	YouTube — It's the leading video sharing website.
	Facebook — Social networking site that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. Keep in touch with friends, upload photos, post links and videos and learn more about the people you meet.
	RSS (Really Simple Syndication) — Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news, headlines, audio, videos, etc.
	Flickr — Online photo sharing application. Show your favorite photos and videos to the world. Publicly or privately show your images to your family and friends or blog the photos and videos you take with a cameraphone.
	Blogger — A free blog publishing tool from Google.
	Delicious — Keep, share and discover the best of the Web using one of the world's leading social bookmarking services.