We all understand what a brand is. If I say to you Mc Donalds you can instantly visualise their brand. But then Mc Donalds spends a lot of time and money polishing their brand. But do you know your own personal brand? You might tell me you don’t have one, but if you have a blog, a website or you are active socially on the Internet, you do have a brand. You just may not know it.
If you blog from your business website, or even publish your own personal blog. It has a brand. And that brand is how everyone sees you or your blog. Dan Schawbel is regarded as a personal branding expert and has published discover your brand before you blog on daily blog tips. He reckons before you blog, your success triangle should be in place. He defines these as passion, expertise and a support system. Your support system is your network or promotion strategy. This is good advice. My blog has a brand. What do you think it is? You can probably see it better than I can.
In today’s featured video, Dan Schawbel talks on personal branding. In the age of social media anyone can build a personal brand. We don’t have to be mega-corporation. And personal branding is how we market ourselves to others. Take a look at who you are and measure it against how you are perceived. If it’s different, you need to work on your branding. There is plenty of advice on how to achieve this on Dan’s personal branding blog.
Dan makes a few more really interesting points. You should be developing your network before you need it. How many people are you connected to and are you actively developing your personal network? He reckons in the future, the size of your network is going to be a factor in the recruitment process.
That’s a sobering thought to those of us with no network! It really doesn’t matter whether you agree with him or not. One thing is clear. If you are a webmaster or website owner, you know your business brand is important, but it seems your personal brand is important too.
