By Michelle Favalora
The Hoffman Agency
No matter what industry you’re in, it’s important to develop your personal brand as a professional. A strong personal brand establishes credibility in your field, gets the right people noticing your company and helps others in your field find you.
What’s more, it doesn’t take a lot of effort to define your brand — seriously! Here are a few quick tips for improving your brand:
Update Your Social Profiles
This is mission-critical. Just like if you don’t pass GO, you won’t collect $200; if you don’t have up-to-date social media profiles, you won’t establish and grow your brand. So, make sure all of your social profiles list you at your current job and title.
A few people have told me they’re hesitant to make updates to their LinkedIn profiles, since they don’t want their employer to think they’re looking for a job. I confess I was on that same train of thought before I joined Hoffman. Since being here, I’ve learned that your LinkedIn profile not only propels your personal brand, but it also gives others an inside look into the company you work for.
With accurate and detailed professional information, your social profiles can provide validation for you and your company that others in your field will notice.
Share Content from Experts in Your Field
There are plenty of people on the Internet sharing relevant tips and news — for any given industry. Find a handful of bloggers and journalists you like. Get in the habit of reading their work and when you find an interesting article, share it with your social network.
Be sure you’re sharing on the appropriate social platforms. If you’re a kindergarten teacher and all of your Facebook friends are accountants, your Facebook audience isn’t going to appreciate your posts on teaching. But, if you know a lot of teachers on LinkedIn and Twitter, then head over to those sites and share away.
Your goal is to keep up on news and trends in your industry (which I’m sure you already do) and provide your network with helpful information.
Create Your Own Content
To take it to the next level, you want to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Once you have the above foundation, you can start writing your own posts. Don’t know where to start? You can add your two cents about the latest news in your industry, share a how-to or describe your personal experiences in your field.
Once you have your content, where do you post it? Most branding experts recommend having a blog or personal website. If that’s not your thing, you can also publish posts on LinkedIn (for free), your company’s blog or find a blogger that accepts guest posts.
You can also post Tweets or status updates that offer your point of view. Once your audience recognizes you as a player in your industry, they’ll be interested in hearing what you have to say.
The tips above can help you create a strong personal brand that showcases your expertise, so you can take your career up a notch.
