Whether you’re in a full-time position or leading a startup, developing and maintaining a personal brand can go a long way. A distinctive brand can create new business and career opportunities, expand your professional network and build thought leadership. Here are a few ways to create a personal brand that stands out.
Create a personal style. A unique logo can go a long way in building an impressive brand. Just like a company brand, a logo or design can express your individual style, values and personality. When creating content and connecting with your followers, be yourself.
Share meaningful content. Creating your own content will establish thought leadership and is valuable for SEO. To compliment your own content, share content (blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts) from colleagues, friends, industry leaders and people you admire or would like to add to your network. Social media is an easy way to get noticed.
Unify your digital presence. Social networks are a necessity for your personal brand: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, a personal website. Having a unified presence across all of these networks is important for reaching your network no matter where they are. You should have a similar look to each profile and use the same username when possible. For example, your Twitter and Instagram handles should be the same so your followers can find you and your profiles are linked when sharing between networks.
Take it offline. Social media can be a great way to build your personal brand but your real life connections will take you even further. Networking at events and getting to know your colleagues will build your network and your knowledge of your industry, not to mention open up a number of opportunities. Personalized business cards that link to your online profiles add a great touch to unify your physical and digital presence.
For new grads and executives alike, a distinctive personal brand will build your network and create opportunities, online and offline.