2. What We’ll Talk About:
•
•
What is a Brand?
How Social Media Impacts Your Brand
•
Developing YOUR Brand
•
Social Media Tips for Shaping Your Brand
3. What Is a Brand?
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business.
A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan.
When referring to personal branding, we mean positioning oneself to advance your career and to
manage your reputation.
Can you think of some examples of people who manage their personal brand?
4. Why
do we need to ‘position ourselves to advance our careers’?
(BRAND OURSELVES)
Heavy competition for limited opportunities.
Technology enables schools, employers and others to
Completely pre-screen candidates without ever meeting you!
5. YOUR CLASS IS
DIFFERENT THAN EVERY
OTHER CLASS BEFORE YOURS.
EVER.
Do you know why?
During your middle school and high school years, you’ve had social media.
You have a presence on the Internet, which is public, permanent, and
indexed by the search engines.
Be sure to regularly Google yourself. Also set up Google Alerts for your name.
(www.google.com/alerts)
6. How Does Social Media Impact Your Brand?
Social Media enables people to:
• See your full background – education, activities, clubs, community/civic involvement, church, etc.
• See the types of people you associate with
• See what you do on your own time, how you talk, what you choose to reveal about yourself
AND OTHERS, form opinions about your work ethic
• Form opinions about your intelligence, maturity, professionalism, sense of judgement
• Allows OTHER PEOPLE to comment about you, share pictures of you, information about you
• Allows OTHER PEOPLE to share information you have posted
• Forms a permanent, public record of your life, online
7. The Good, The Bad & The UGLY!
The Good:
Social Media provides you many tools to create and develop your brand…for free!
Social Media offers you wonderful opportunity for exposure
You get to SHAPE the way people view you!
The Bad:
Social Media provides others tools, too. Their (bad) judgement can impact you.
Social Media needs to be monitored to be sure you are represented positively.
9. Developing YOUR Brand…
You get to decide WHO YOU ARE.
One of the best parts of growing up (and we’re all still growing up!)
is the process of ‘becoming’.
You can use social media to let others know what you’re going after, and to
seek their help in getting there!
Act the way you want to become.
(‘State it, then CREATE it’)
10. Developing YOUR Brand…
What do you want to do for your career?
What are the characteristics of people that currently do that as a career?
Who are the leaders in that industry? Do you know local people who work in that field?
What types of skills are important in that field?
Think of yourself outside of work…what kind of person are you?
How would you describe yourself?
How do you want OTHERS to think of you?
What type of people do you want to be associated with?
What type of person do you want your life partner/husband/significant other to be?
Who are the people you admire? How do they behave online? What types of conversations do they have?
Who would you like to have as a mentor?
11. Social Media Tips for Shaping Your Brand…
Carefully craft your profile on the social networks you participate in.
You get to choose what you put up, so be selective!
What characteristics about you are impressive?
What characteristics and skills paint the picture of who you are as a student? Professional woman?
Use an appropriate profile picture.
Would you want a prospective employer to see your current profile picture?
Would he/she think you might be a good fit for their company if they saw it?
Would you be comfortable for your minister/pastor to see it?
Thoroughly read the privacy options for each
network you are in. Then set your privacy settings
appropriately.
Never post anything that could be hurtful, embarrassing, or
inappropriate.
Protect your photos, contact information and personal data with privacy
settings.
12. Social Media Tips for Shaping Your Brand…cont’d.
Be VERY careful about what you post
Never be rude, snarky, vulgar or hateful. It will come back to haunt you!
Ask yourself how your posts would read to someone who doesn’t know you…
Make each post as though your first job interviewer will be looking at it with you.
Avoid obvious misspellings and ‘text talk’. You’re educated…right?
Take time to be uplifting, supportive or encouraging of others
Be public in your appreciation and compliments of others. If you must criticize, do so privately.
Offer positive, helpful comments and information that others will appreciate receiving.
Seek out and befriend positive role models and mentors
Use your social network to give back
What charities and community organizations are you interested in? Which have impacted your life or
the lives of your loved ones? You can support them by ‘liking’ their page(s) and sharing/re-posting their
Upcoming events, fundraisers, etc. Encourage your friends to support them, too!
13. What are some examples of ways you can help
others with your social network?
What are some examples of types of posts that help
shape your brand?
14. Final thought…
Always read over your profile/wall and pretend that
you’re someone who has never met you.
Maybe you are:
an employer, teacher, advisor, pastor, prospective husband, etc.
What impression does the profile give of you?
