9780789749727

In today's turbulent business environment, millions of people are seeking to strengthen their personal brands, and demonstrate far greater value to potential customers and employers. Many of them are seeking to rebrand themselves as they move towards entirely new jobs and careers. Fortunately, social media offers powerful new tools for building personal brands, strengthening business and personal relationships, and showing how you can solve the tough problems that keep customers and potential employers awake at night. Branding Yourselfdoesn't just introduce these tools: it shows how to use them to build a personal brand that connects you to unprecedented new opportunities. This book shows how to: " Build your own storyline and online identity - and start "living" your brand " Choose the social media tools most likely to help you meet your goals " Make your blog the "hub" of your social media "wheel," and use it to tell your story far more effectively " Integrate online and offline networking to supercharge both personal and professional connections " Avoid the killer mistakes too many business social networkers make This edition has been updated with new chapters on: - Sharing photos and videos on sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr and more. - Other social networking Tools including Pinterest, Google+, Quora, and many more. -Finding yourself on search engines

Erik Deckers is the co-owner and vice president of creative services of Professional Blog Service, a ghost blogging and social media agency. He has been blogging since 1997 and speaks widely on social media topics. He is also a newspaper columnist and award-winning playwright. Erik coauthored No Bullshit Social Media: The All- Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing with Jason Falls.

Kyle Lacy is a principal of Marketing Research and Education for ExactTarget, a leading global provider of interactive marketing solutions. He has an in-depth understanding of the application of social and interactive media for both small and large businesses and regularly speaks on topics ranging from social media adoption to interactive marketing trends across email, mobile, and social media. Kyle has been recognized as one of Indiana’s 40-under-40 by the Indianapolis Business Journal, Anderson University’s Young Alumni of the Year, and TechPoint’s Young Professional of the Year. Learn more about Kyle at KyleLacy.com.

Deckers and Lacy coauthored the first edition of Branding Yourself.

I Why Do I Care About Self-Promotion? 1

1 Welcome to the Party 3

What Is Self-Promotion? 5

Why Is Self-Promotion Important? 5

What Self-Promotion Is Not 6

What Can Self-Promotion Do for You and Your Career? 6

Personal Branding 6

What Is Personal Branding? 7

Go Brand Yourself 7

How to Build Your Brand 8

The Five Universal Objectives of Personal Branding 10

Discover Your Passion (Passion Is Fundamental to Achieving Your Goals) 10

Be Bold (It’s Okay to Talk About Yourself) 11

Tell Your Story (Your Story Is What Makes You Special) 13

Create Relationships (Relationships Lead to Opportunities) 14

Take Action (Even a Small Step Is a Step Forward) 15

Who Needs Self-Promotion? 16

Meet Our Heroes 18

2 How Do You Fit in the Mix? 21

The Basics of Building Your Personal Brand Story 23

Writing Your Personal Brand Autobiography 23

Prioritizing When Writing Your Personal Brand Story 24

Writing Your Personal Brand Biography 25

How Do Our Heroes Use the Personal Brand Biography? 27

Telling Your Complete Brand Story 30

The Law of Anecdotal Value 32

Surround Yourself with People Who Have Passion 33

Sharing Memories and Stories 33

Do’s and Don’ts of Telling Your Story 34

1. Don’t Post Pictures That Would Shock Your Mother 35

2. Don’t View Your Personal Brand Story as a Sales Pitch 35

3. Don’t Post Something You Will Regret Later 35

4. Don’t Ask for Things First Ask for Things Second 36

5. Don’t Get Distracted 36

6. Don’t Underestimate the Power of Your Network 36

7. Do Invest in Yourself 37

8. Do Invest in Other People 37

9. Do Be Visible and Active 37

10. Do Take Some Time for Yourself 37

II Your Network Is Your Castle–Build It 39

3 Blogging: Telling Your Story 41

What Is Blogging? 43

A Clarification of Terms 45

Why Should You Blog? 45

Choose Your Blogging Platforms 47

Blogspot.com/Blogger.com 48

WordPress.com and WordPress.org 49

Other Blogging Platforms 50

Tumblr 52

Which Platform Should You Choose? 54

Setting Up a Blog 54

Purchasing and Hosting a Domain Name 56

Getting Inspired 57

What Should You Write About? 57

Finding Subject Matter 60

How to Write a Blog Post 60

Writing for Readers Versus Writing for Search Engines 62

It’s About the Quality of the Writing 62

Google Expects You to Write Good Stuff 63

How Often Should You Post? 64

How Long Should Your Posts Be? 65

But My Posts Are Too Long 66

SEO Through Blogging 66

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 69

Do’s and Don’ts of Blogging 70

Do’s 70

Don’ts 71

A Final Note on the “Rules” of Blogging 72

4 LinkedIn: Networking on Steroids 73

The Basics of LinkedIn 75

What’s in a LinkedIn Profile? 75

The Employment Section 75

Your Photo/Avatar 77

The Education Section 77

The Summary 77

Your Websites 78

Cool LinkedIn Features Worth Examining 79

Creating Contacts on LinkedIn 81

Using Your Email Database 82

Other Ways to Connect: Colleagues and Classmates 83

Building Off Your Second- and Third-Degree Network 84

Transforming Your Contacts into Connections 85

The Importance of Recommendations 87

Ten Do’s and Don’ts of LinkedIn 90

1. Do Upload a Professional Picture 90

2. Do Connect to Your Real Friends and Contacts 91

3. Do Keep Your Profile Current 91

4. Do Delete People Who Spam You 91

5. Do Spend Some Time on Your Summary 92

6. Don’t Use LinkedIn Like Facebook and Twitter 92

7. Don’t Sync LinkedIn with Twitter 92

8. Don’t Decline Invitations Archive Them 92

9. Don’t Ask Everyone for Recommendations 93

10. Don’t Forget to Use Spelling and

Grammar Check 93

5 Twitter: Sharing in the Conversation 95

Why Should You Use Twitter? 96

What Can Twitter Do for You? 97

How Do You Use Twitter? 99

Creating a Twitter Profile 99

Getting Followers 100

Sending Out Tweets 101

Retweeting Your Content 102

Applications for Twitter Domination 104

Desktop Applications 106

Web-Based Applications 107

Mobile Applications 109

What Should You Tweet (and What Shouldn’t You?) 110

Personal Branding Case Study : @applegirl 113

Do’s and Don’ts While Using Twitter 113

Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less 114

How Does This Chapter Apply to Our Four Heroes? 115

6 Facebook: Developing a Community of Friends 117

Why Should You Use Facebook? 118

What Can Facebook Do for You? 120

Reconnect with Old Classmates and Co-Workers 120

Use a Facebook Page to Professionally

Brand Yourself 120

Help a Cause and Be Philanthropic 121

Find and Attend Local Events 121

What You Should Know First About Facebook 122

Professional Page and Personal Profile 123

The Basics: Creating a Personal Profile 124

Staying in Control of Your Profile 127

Working with Your Personal Page Privacy Settings 127

Setting Up Your Privacy Settings for Your Personal

Account 127

Working with Your Customized URL 129

How Can I Use a Professional Page for Personal

Branding? 130

Using Insights to Track Your Content Growth 133

Setting Up Your Professional Page 134

Top Six Tips for Using Facebook 135

Ten Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook 136

1. Do Upload a Real Picture 136

2. Do Share Industry-Specific Content 138

3. Do Use Your Email to Find Friends 138

4. Do Read the Terms of Service 138

5. Don’t Use Inappropriate Language 138

6. Don’t Spam People 139

7. Don’t Poke People 139

8. Don’t Tag Everyone in a Picture 139

9. Don’t Sync Your Twitter Profile with Your Facebook Page 139

10. Don’t Invite People to Your Professional Page Over and Over and Over 140

Facebook Tips in 140 Characters or Less 140

7 Say Cheese: Sharing Photos and Videos 143

Why Video 144

Where to Put Your Video 146

YouTube 146

Vimeo 147

Flickr 148

Shooting Video 149

Video Do’s and Don’ts 150

Recording Screen Capture Videos 151

Case Study: Gary Vaynerchuk 151

What Should I Make Videos Of? 152

Why Photos 153

Where to Post Your Photos 153

Picasa 153

Flickr 154

Photobucket 154

Instagram 154

Facebook 155

Copyright: Permission, Creative Commons, and Licensing 156

Creative Commons 156

Embedding Videos and Photos in Your Blog 158

Adding Photos 158

Adding Videos 160

SEO for Videos and Photos 161

YouTube SEO 162

Photo SEO 163

The Video Resume 165

A Cautionary Note About Video Resumes 167

Photos and Video Tips in 140 Characters 168

8 Other Social Networking Tools 169

Google+ 170

BranchOut 172

Twylah 174

Pinterest 176

Quora 180

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 181

9 Googling Yourself: Finding Yourself on Search Engines 183

Have You Ever Googled Yourself? 184

What Do You Want Others to Find? 186

Search Engine Optimization 187

What SEO USED to Be 188

Keywords 188

Titles 188

Body Copy 189

Anchor Text 189

Backlinks 190

What SEO Looks at Now 190

Time on Site 191

Bounce Rate 191

Click-Through Rate 191

Page Load Speed 192

How Can You Influence These Factors? 193

Quality of Content 193

Quality of Design 194

Ease of Navigation 195

A Quick Note About Backlinks 196

Video 196

Personal Connections/Social Media 197

Reverse Search Engine Optimization 198

What if You Share a Common Name? 199

Search Engine Tools 201

Google Alerts 201

Google Image Search 202

Google Blog Search 202

Bing 203

Yahoo! 204

Other Search Engines 205

The Value of Reputation Management 206

Reputation Management Tools 207

BrandYourself.com 207

Reputation.com 207

Google’s Me on the Web 209

How Do Our Heroes Use SEO? 210

Reputation Management Tips in 140 Characters 210

10 Bringing It All Together: Launching Your Brand 213

What Is a Personal Brand Campaign? 215

How Do Our Heroes Build Their P&T Statement? 217

Why Is a Personal Brand Campaign Important? 220

Building Your Personal Brand Campaign 221

Developing Your Personal Brand Campaign 221

Implementing Your Personal Brand Campaign 223

Automating Your Personal Brand Campaign 224

Unique Ways to Launch Your Branding Campaign 225

How Should Our Heroes Launch Their Brands? 228

Do’s and Don’ts of Launching Your Personal Brand 229

11 Measuring Success: You Like Me, You Really Like Me! 231

Why Should You Measure 232

What Should You Measure? 233

Reach 233

Quality Versus Quantity 234

Visibility 234

Influence 235

Measuring Influence 235

How Should You Measure? 238

Measuring Your Blogging Effectiveness 238

Using Google Analytics for Your Blog 240

Setting Up a Google Analytics Account 241

Installing Google Analytics 242

Getting an Overview of Your Website Performance 242

Measuring Your Twitter Effectiveness 243

Other Total Influence Measurement Tools 245

Measuring Your LinkedIn Effectiveness 246

Measuring Your Facebook Effectiveness 248

Measuring Your YouTube Effectiveness 250

Nine Tools to Use for Measurement 252

Effectively Measuring Your Personal Brand 254

How Can Our Heroes Use Analytics and Measurement? 255

Do’s and Don’ts for Analytics and Measurement 256

Analytics Tips in 140 Characters 256

II PROMOTING YOUR BRAND IN THE REAL WORLD 259

12 How to Network: Hello, My Name Is 261

Why Should I Bother Networking? 263

A Networking Case Study: Starla West 264

The Rules of Networking 265

It’s Not About You 265

Giver’s Gain Is Not Quid Pro Quo 266

Be Honest Online and Offline 269

You’re Just as Good as Everyone Else 270

Avoid People Who Are Unhelpful 271

Network with Your Competition 271

Three Types of Networking 273

Networking Groups 273

Meeting People 274

The Networking “Dance” 274

What Should You Say? 275

Networking Faux Pas 276

The Follow-Up 278

One-on-One Networking 278

How to Set Up the One-On-One Networking Meeting 279

What to Talk About During Your One-On-One 280

No One Wants a Sales Pitch 281

The “Pick-Your-Brain” Meeting 281

The Follow-Up 284

Forwarding Articles and Links 284

Sharing Opportunities 285

Making Connections and Introductions for Others 285

But I Just Don’t Want to Meet the Other Person 286

Be Honest 286

But What if the Other Person Isn’t Honest? 287

Do’s and Don’ts of Networking 288

Do 288

Don’t 289

How Would Our Heroes Network? 289

13 Public Speaking: We Promise You Won’t Die 291

Case Study: Hazel Walker, The Queen of Networking 293

Should I Speak in Public? 294

No, Seriously 294

But I Hate Speaking in Public 294

Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking 295

Toastmasters 295

Classes at Your Local College or University 296

Seminars and Courses 296

Speakers Associations 297

Private or Executive Coaches 297

Finding or Creating Your Own Speaking Niche 297

How to Start Your Speaking Career 299

Identify Speaking Opportunities 301

Industry Groups 302

Civic Groups 303

Conferences, Trade Shows, and Expos 304

Introducing Yourself 305

Promoting Your Talk 306

How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 309

Giving Your Talk 310

Important Technology Tips for Presenters 311

Miscellaneous Tips, 140 Characters or Less 316

14 Getting Published: I’m an Author! 319

Why Should I Become a Writer? 322

Publication Opportunities 323

Local Newspapers 324

Business Newspapers 325

Scientific Journals 326

Specialty Magazines and Newspapers 327

Hobby Publications 328

Major Mainstream Magazines 329

Go Horizontal Instead of Vertical 329

Build Your Personal Brand with Your Writing 330

Publication Rights 331

Create Your Own Articles’ Niche 332

Getting Started 334

Getting Paid 336

Paying Your Dues 337

The Myth of “Exposure” 338

Do’s and Don’ts of Writing for Publication 338

How Can Our Heroes Turn to Writing for Publication? 340

15 Personal Branding: Using What You’ve Learned to Land Your Dream Job 343

Using Your Network to Find a Job 347

Twitter: Make Job Connections in 140 Characters 347

Use LinkedIn to Make Job Connections 348

The Art of the Connection 348

Should You Connect Directly or Ask for a Connection? 350

Use LinkedIn to Get Inside Info 351

Creating a Résumé 352

Should I Create a Paper Résumé? 352

How Does Social Media Fit in Your Résumé? 353

Six Tips for Listing Social Media on Your Résumé 354

Do’s and Don’ts of Résumé Building 355

Don’t Rely on the Job Boards 358

Try the Company Job Boards Instead 359

Use LinkedIn to Bypass the Job Board Process 361

Skip HR Altogether, and Work Your Network 361

Using Your Network to Land a Freelance Contract 362

How Can Our Heroes Find a Job Through

Networking? 363

A Social Media Case Study 364

Another Social Media Case Study 367

Job Searching Tips in 140 Characters 368

Index 369

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Branding Yourself How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself

Branding Yourself How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself

0789749726

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials