Creating a Personal Online Brand

I’m not talking about your company’s online brand. I’m talking about yours.

Yes, I said “yours.” Now, you might not think a person has a brand, or that it can be extended online, but hear me out. Remember when I said you need to be visible? That visibility, transparency, and knowability will be key deciding factors in whether or not you’re invited to the table in the future? Here’s the link. This is nothing more than a natural extension of the visibility idea.

Why Worry About a Personal Online Brand?

Defining personal brands is getting to be serious business. Many executives pay personal brand consultants to help them discover, develop, and foster their personal brand. And when it can make the difference between career advancement and stagnation, it’s no wonder. People want to make sure they make the right impression when they first meet someone—and they want to make sure it makes them stand out, it makes them memorable, and it makes them effective.

But—let’s face it—a whole lot more people “meet” you online than meet you in-person, whether in-person means in a business meeting or on the street.

So, what will they find when they go Googling for you? A stale, personality-free corporate profile on your company’s website and an abandoned LinkedIn page? Or maybe only that Google box offering to "Find Jane Smith for Only $9.99?"

Or, on the other hand, they could find a wealth of information on a vibrant personality who’s been out there blogging, participating in the social networks, and creating and tagging media. Who do you think looks better to a prospective client or partner?

It’s time to get active in defining your own online brand—the person people see before they meet you, the person who they might judge, first, before they ever see you in the flesh

How Do You Create Your Online Brand?

Before the tactics, a word of advice: personality. Yes, personality. Don’t try to please everyone. Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. True personality comes through, and it’s the most likely way someone will be able to connect with you. People don’t buy you because you’re wearing a gray suit, or because you have a MBA from name-the-institution here. They’re more likely to buy you because of an emotional connection. And that connection comes from—you guessed it—personality.

1. Blog. Yeah, I know, it’s work, but there’s no better way to get exposure than with a personal blog. Search engines love the RSS feeds with relevantly tagged content. And content tagged with your name is golden. Just do yourself a favor, and use an industry-standard blog platform like WordPress or TypePad. And commit to doing something at least once a week. And don’t be afraid to use your own unique voice—you don’t need to sound like a business journal, or the Author du Jour.
2. Get visible. Put your profile—complete, accurate, and interesting profiles—on relevant business and social networks. LinkedIn. Tribe. MySpace. Facebook. They all have their place. Want to be even more visible? Check out Twitter and Dodgeball—not for everyone, but definitely the ultimate in visibility.
3. Connect to friends. Social networks are dead without connection. You have friends and business partners. Find them on LinkedIn and invite them in. Invite them in anyway. Find people you know on all the networks, and make sure all your profiles are living, breathing, and expanding.
4. Feed the media. Take pictures? Shoot video? Great. Get them off your hard drive and onto open networks like Flickr and YouTube. Tag ‘em with your name. Again, more stuff for people to find. More chance of a connection. Just keep the, uh, questionable stuff off.
5. Participate in relevant forums and interest groups. LinkedIn has forums and crowdsourced questions. There are many entrepreneur and business forums. Have something to say? Say it there. You’ll get in front of thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of people—perhaps creating real inquiries in real time. At the least, it is more content to find, a more complete picture of you and your capabilities.

What About Virtual Brands?

Virtual worlds like Second Life are hot right now. And, right now, it’s not unusual to see serious business meetings between cyborgs, flying squids, and relatively normal-looking humans. And any of those embodiments might be a perfect complement to your online brand. But the important thing is—the way you look and act in virtual worlds is going to be the primary way people meet you in the coming years. Best to get started on defining that brand  right now.

1. Invest in avatar design. Your avatar might be you. Or it might be a giant flying squid. In either case, it should reflect who you are in a unique and memorable way.
2. Polish your chat skills. Virtual worlds are distracting, because it’s easy to have a voice chat happening at the same time as an IM at the same time as a text chat—all while looking at signs, hearing ambient sounds, and seeing some really strange things. Are your chat skills weak? Can’t multi-task? Practice until you get good.
3. Consider custom gestural development. The use of signature gestures is an important way to differentiate between yourself and other avatars. Consider having unique gestures developed, and learn how to use them.
4. Train your voice. Voice is now coming to many of the leading virtual worlds. How’s your teleconference voice? If it’s weak, it may be time to take some voice lessons.
5. Choose your environment. Where do you hang out? What are your favorite places? What do your offices look like? The environments you choose reflect on your virtual brand. Choose them to complement the personality you’re developing overall.

A Final Word

Yes, you might think we’re a little crazy now, but consider the not-so-distant future when all of this stuff is not only knowable and Googleable, but is actually automatically brought up on your prospective client’s heads-up display.

Are you going to let random chance define your online brand—or are you going to take an active role in creating it yourself?

Posted by May 17th, 2007 | by Jason | Permalink