Businesses spend vast amounts of resources and time carefully cultivating their business brand. Treating your own personal brand, in the same way, will allow you to stand out from the competition and build trust among prospectively employers and industry insiders.
In much the same way as businesses market products, you can market yourself. Building a personal brand allows you to control what pops up when you type your name into Google, what information takes pride of place on your LinkedIn and Facebook pages, and what reputation you have online.
Here are the reasons why you need to build a personal brand along with some of the ways you can effectively cultivate a positive personal brand online. For more information and advice on all things business, visit bullpreneur.
What is a personal brand?
When you Google your name, what comes up? If the answer is nothing, then you have not established a personal brand online.
Your personal brand will clearly indicate your business area, profession, expertise, and online presence to anyone that searches your name through a search engine or social media site. The very best personal branding will showcase your skills and help you stand out to prospective employers and clients.
Why do you need it?
Recruiters and prospective employers are using social media. Next time you apply for a job, you need to expect the recruiter to search your name, trawl through your social media pages, and determine your eligibility for the role based on what they find.
A 2018 survey found that 70% of employers use social media and search engines to screen candidates. To put yourself in the best possible position when applying for jobs, you need to have at least some awareness of the personal brand you are building online.
Trust
At the core of any personal branding, effort should be the establishment of trust. You need to show any prospective employer or client that you are someone that can be trusted.
Your personal brand should fill employers with trust in your skills and capabilities, as well as your position as an authoritative voice within your industry. If you are a computer programmer, but your online presence only builds trust in your communication skills, employers will want to see more evidence of your programming skills. An effectively managed personal brand will build trust in key industry areas.
Getting Started
So where can you start? The first place to go when building a personal brand is your social media profile. Look back at previous social media posts and consider how they may look to a prospective employer. If anything on your social media pages could harm your employment opportunities, it needs to go.
Building a personal website to showcase your previous work and industry awards, as well as testimonials from clients, is also a good way to control what people see about you online. A well-constructed website that adheres to the best SEO practices can rank highly on major search engines and maybe the first thing prospective employers see when they Google your name.
