Your brand is sacred. It is also the lifeline that runs your business and keeps your contacts close.
However, managing your online presence poorly can SABOTAGE the very brand you worked so hard for - in seconds!
The Internet is where first impressions occur long before in-person handshakes are made, therefore managing your image online has never been more important.
Social media expert Dan Schwarbel offers five ways to protect personal brands against online attacks.
1. Pay attention to mentions about your brands.
Did you know that 58% of Americans don’t even Google themselves?
As you create your personal brand on a variety of platforms, your name will start popping up in search engines and on social networks. This can be both beneficial to your brand or harmful depending on the context. Unfortunately, negative mentions generally spread like wild fire.
Set up a Google alert for your name, your company's name, key competitors, and partners. Stay current on what's being said about you and your industry. You can also try Social Mention for a more complete solution to brand mentions on social networks.
2. Choose your networks wisely.
Don't spread yourself too thin by participating in every social network on the Internet. This can hurt your brand because you'll find it hard to update all of your social profiles and discussions regularly.
Join only the largest social networks - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn - as well as those networks in your industry. Then update them often!
3. Know your audience.
Be selective about who you invite into your network. The second you add your manager or colleagues is the time when you have to rethink what you publish or what you syndicate from other social networks.
On Facebook, consider having a profile page for your inner circle of friends and family and then a Facebook Fan Page for your professional image. This way, you can make your profile private and hide it from search, while having a fan page that you can point your coworkers to.
4. Keep self-promotion to a minimum.
Successful self-promotion only works in moderation, because if you’re constantly only promoting yourself, many people will unfollow, unfriend, or block you from their network.
The best way to build a strong personal brand is to promote other people, which creates goodwill and a connection, as well as distributing value based on what you have to offer: Your expertise.
If you’re helping people 80 or 90% of the time, then people will be much more accepting of your self-promotional messages the other 10%. You will also start to notice that other people will promote you — and their endorsement is even stronger than your own proclamations.
5. Be consistent.
Selecting a unified “picture” and spreading it across all your social media — your website, your blog, your presentations, your press kits, your business cards, etc. — will build image recognition in the mind of your audience. Consistency is significant for pictures, your name, as well as the fonts, the colors and the overall message that you communicate through your online properties.
Building a good personal brand is only half the battle. You also have to manage it.
Get in tune with what's being said about you on the Internet.
Save your image from self-sabotage!
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It's no secret that the road to success is bumpy. It's never smooth sailing - for anyone!
Obstacles are out there. Some of them are big. Some are small. But, ALL of them can have a negative impact on your personal and professional well-being.
Experts like to call these obstacles "barriers." They come in a variety of forms, but most stem from internal circumstances.
Here is a checklist of common INTERNAL barriers that stand in the way of success.
- Fear of the unknown
- Easily embarrassed
- Moodiness/depression
- Lack of confidence
- Fear of failing
- Fear of success
- Fear of change
- Perfectionism
- Balancing work and family
Fear has a way of stopping people dead in their tracks.
Don't let it!
Face your fears by identifying which barriers impact you. All of us experience "head chatter," negative talk that drags us down and takes a bite out of our self-confidence. How do you take the punch out of those self-limiting thoughts? By having a ready retort to your false self beliefs---a positive statement that directly rebuts your negativity, i.e. "I can handle this!" "I have always been successful!"
If you consistently and repeatedly replace negativity with positive affirmations about yourself, you will begin to THINK AND FEEL the truth about yourself....that you CAN achieve your goals....that you CAN be fearless.
Think about it. The one thing you're afraid to do is probably the one thing you need to do to achieve success.
Your fears should NEVER be bigger than your determination - ever!
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When it comes to building client relationships and business development, DIFFERENTIATION is key.
In fact, experts say that firms that differentiate themselves most effectively often provide superior service and are able to market themselves in a whole different way.
One firm, in particular, that has set itself apart is Oregon- based Marger Johnson & McCollom.
They have one of the coolest Websites around - and with good reason.
Marger Johnson is an intellectual property firm that works with clients to protect components of their inventions and technology. While the patent process itself is dull, the products the firm protects are anything but.
Marger Johnson hired an agency and invested a lot of money to re-brand the firm. The result was a Website modeled after a Sharper Image catalogue, featuring sleek images of the products the firm helped bring to the market.
With their brand new Website - Marger Johnson went from being plain to ultra hip in a matter of months.
"Our Website speaks to the fact that we were working engineers and scientists prior to coming to law. Many of our clients were drawn to us because of that experience," says Julie L. Reed, Marger Johnson president.
While Marger Johnson's re-branding effort was expensive, the firm insists it was worth every penny. Firm lawyers have received positive feedback from clients and prospects. The firm's new brand has also steered their attention away from broader, impersonal marketing campaigns, allowing them to focus on personal business development based on relationship-building.
Marger Johnson's story is a shining example of how a sound brand can yield BIG returns.
Strive to build your own cohesive business identity. Show the world that you can be modern and flexible.
Show 'em what you're really made of!
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Good news!
It is all about you when it comes to personal branding.
How you present YOU is more important to success than your legal services. And the most effective way to package YOU is to create a compelling PERSONAL BRAND.
What exactly is a Personal Brand?
A personal brand is the word or phrase we want others to think of when they think of us:
- General Colin Powell: Integrity
- Trial Lawyer Richard Haynes: Racehorse
- Actor Tom Hanks: The Nicest Guy in the World
- First Lady Laura Bush: Classy Lady
Three Components of a Personal Brand:
#1 Your Personal Identity
Your personal brand is based on your character, not what you do for a living.
You may want your brand to relate to your physicality, i.e. Shaq, The Diesel; or maybe you want to highlight your brains and intellect, i.e. Albert Einstein, The Absent-minded Genius; or play up some aspect of your personality, i.e. political pundit Ann Coulter, Antagonist.
Whatever part of your character you decide to promote, there is one golden rule: Never try to be something you are not!
#2 Stimulates Meaningful Emotional Response
The idea is to evoke strong, positive emotions in the hearts of your target audience.
Ask yourself: How do you want to make others feel? Happy? Motivated? Inspired?
- Tiger Woods: Inspires us to be our best.
- John Madden: Makes us laugh and feel good.
- Winston Churchill: Strong leader who stood up to bullies.
#3 Values and Qualities for Which You Stand
Your personal brand is your promise to people about what they can expect from you.
Start thinking about what the promise is you want to deliver to your target audience.
Expertise? Perseverance? Trust? Make your promise SINGULAR.
The best brands are simple, straightforward, and unambiguous, i.e. John Kennedy: Style, or Margaret Thatcher: Iron Lady.
Pick one thing and be known for that one thing better than anyone else. Your objective is to become the epitome of the value or quality you choose.
So ask yourself these questions:
- If your picture were to appear in the dictionary as the definition of a quality, what would you want that quality to be? Tenacious... Aggressive... Charismatic?
- What aspect of your persona is relevant to your target audience?
- What is the one thing that differentiates you from your competitors?
Adapted from: Tim O'Brien, The Power of Personal Branding: Creating Celebrity Status with Your Target Audience
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