Personal Branding (Geek Girl 2014)

Your Personal Brand
AND WHY IT MATTERS
@KseniyaMartin | #GeekGirlTechCon

Questions we’ll answer…
• What is a personal brand?
• Why is it important?
• How do you build one?

We’ll also cover
• Best Practice and Tips
• LinkedIn

My “a-ha!” moment

• Online presence was fragmented
• If you Googled me you wouldn’t find anything
• I didn’t network or go to industry events
• Wasted time filling out online job applications aka the “the black hole” where
your application goes to die

So I tackled the problem.

But more on that later.

How do you want to be portrayed online? Ask yourself these questions:
1. List three words that come to mind when you think of your personality, and
your desired personal brand.
2. Think about how you want to help others, and what value you can add to
individuals or companies.
3. Write down how your colleagues, friends, and family might describe you.
Source: Hubspot @KseniyaMartin | #GeekGirlTechCon

WHAT IS A PERSONAL BRAND?

WHAT IS A PERSONAL BRAND?
Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands.
While previous self-help management techniques were about self-improvement, the personal-branding
concept suggests instead that success comes from self-packaging.
Personal branding also involves creating an asset by defining an individual's body, clothing,
physical appearance, digital and online presence and areas of knowledge in a way leading to a
uniquely distinguishable, and ideally memorable, impression. (The term is thought to have
been first used and discussed in a 1997 article by Tom Peters.)
Personal Branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or
impression in the mind of others about an individual, group or organization.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_branding @KseniyaMartin | #GeekGirlTechCon

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Employers use the internet to learn about potential new employees.
Business people use the internet to do research on potential new partners.
Everyone uses the internet to connect with thought leaders, find new
connections, and promote content.
The list goes on and on.
If your personal brand online is not up to par, you might be losing out on
opportunities you didn’t even know existed!

HOW DO YOU BUILD ONE?
Step 1: Set a goal
Step 2: Audit
Step 3: Execute
Step 4: Share Content
Step 5: Don’t give up!

SET A GOAL
What do you want to do?
What do you want to be known for?
How do you want others to view you?
What do you want to achieve from your online presence?
Find a new job?
Start in a new industry?
Promote personal content?
Position as a thought leader?
Promote current company?

SET A GOAL
How do you want to be portrayed online? Ask yourself these questions:
1. List three words that come to mind when you think of your personality, and
your desired personal brand.
2. Think about how you want to help others, and what value you can add to
individuals or companies.
3. Write down how your colleagues, friends, and family might describe you.

AUDIT
Do you have a clean slate or do you have some cleaning up to do?
• Google yourself
• Audit your privacy settings on all social media accounts
• Delete pictures and posts that may hurt your personal brand
Take control of your online reputation!

Potential employers, partners, clients, and everyone else will use social media to
judge you.
They will also use it to get to know you, your personal brand, content that you
create, etc.
Keep your “brand” consistent across all social media platforms.
AUDIT

EXECUTE
• Set up accounts on all major social media platforms:
• LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+
• Focus on those most relevant to your goals and target industry
• Align your profiles to match your goals
• Focus on topics related to your personal brand and think before you post:
• Does this fit my personal brand? Is this information valuable? Will this
help or hurt my personal brand?

SHARE
The Internet is saturated with content. Readers frequently have to sift through
countless amounts of irrelevant content to find valuable information.
What you publish on your online channels should address a need. Whether it is
something your expertise can solve or someone who is looking to learn more
about you, only post content that will add value.

SHARE
No matter what you do, always add value…
…because people do business* with those they know, like, and trust.
Give to give, not give to get.
*or work with, or are friends with, or employ, etc. @KseniyaMartin | #GeekGirlTechCon

You are what you read.

If you’re not reading within your industry,
if you’re not following industry leaders,
if you’re not following companies you want to work for,
you will not make it.

Share 90% about others.
And only 10% about yourself.
SHARE

SHARE
Use the 4-1-1 rule when posting content:
4 posts that relevant to your personal brand
1 personal post (i.e. self promotion, picture of you traveling, etc.)
1 off topic post (everybody loves cat videos)

SHARE
Paralysis by analysis is bad but so is a controversial post that
could cost your job, a business opportunity, and so on.

Be visible, stay top of mind.

Be active.
, comment, and share.
Everyday.

SHARE
Also, don’t drink and Tweet.
Or text.
Or post to social media under the influence.
Period.

DON’T GIVE UP!
Rome was not build in a day, neither will your personal brand.
It takes less than 30 minutes a day.
Find one area of your personal brand to improve weekly.
The more work you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it.

BEST PRACTICE & TIPS

LinkedIn is the most professional of all social
media platforms and is the best place to start
building your personal brand.
This is the first stop for any future employer or
anyone you meet at networking events.

Your LinkedIn Profile Basics
• Headline
• Profile Picture
• Summary
• Experience
• Groups
• Additional Tips

Headline
• Create a compelling headline that’s more than just your job title
• Use your headline to show how you deliver value to your customers
• You only have one chance to make a first impression

Tips:
• Succinctly showcase your specialty,
value proposition, or your “so what?”
• Speak directly to the audience you
want to entice
• Be specific
• Use important keywords
• Be creative

Profile Picture
• Being seriously successful doesn’t have to mean that you look
seriously intimidating or, worse, angry.
• SMILE!
• Save the pet monkey profile picture for your Facebook account.

Profile Picture DON’T’s
• Selfie
• Cropped out group photos
• Poor quality (pixelated, out of focus, grainy)
• Has more than one person in it
• Poorly lit
• Inappropriate
• Boring
The worst mistake of all? Not having a profile picture!

Profile Picture DO’s
• Hire a professional photographer
• Can’t afford one? Get creative!
• Trade services, crowdsource the funds, or ask for it as a gift for your
birthday/graduation/whatever. Invest in you.
• Do it yourself
• Find a neutral backdrop with good lighting, study proper posing by looking at
YouTube videos and Pinterest, and have a friend take photos of you. It's more
time consuming but if it's your only option, make it work

Summary
• Tell people who you are and why people should be interested in doing business
with you. How do you provide value to them?
• Use keywords in your summary that make it easy for people to find you in
searches.
• Use both industry terms and layman’s terms.
• Use words that express the pain that people are experiencing when they are
searching for someone who can remove that pain.
• Take extra care to avoid any grammatical errors or typos.

Experience
• List both current and previous positions.
• Write complete, descriptive explanations.
• Make it easy for people to learn about you.
• Be interesting.

Groups
• You can join up to 50 groups.
• Make it 80% related to your profession and 20% related to your
non-business interests
• Focus on groups that:
• Are related to your industry or one you want to work in
• Will benefit your personal brand
• Will teach you something new and beneficial
• You are an expert on the topic and can add to the discussion in a meaningful
way

Joining groups can help you stay
informed and connect with people
who are in your industry or share your
interest.

Joining groups can help you
stay informed and keep in
touch with people who are
in your industry or share
your interest.

Additional LinkedIn Tips
• Showcase your work by adding projects to your portfolio
• Ask for and give recommendations
• Include skills and endorsements
• Build your network

ABC
Always Be Connecting!

Connect with coworkers, clients, friends, and family.
Every business card you receive is a connection.
Every person you meet is a connection.
Everyone in this room and conference is a connection.

Don’t be this person:
Don’t be lazy,
send personalized invitations.
RULE #1

Don’t be this guy:
Make it easy
to connect with you.
RULE #2

The “connect” button is not a magic
button, you still have to work at it.

Nurture your connections
• Don’t ask for something the moment you connect with someone new
• Make it about them
• Give them a chance to get to know you first
• Send articles to individuals that may find value in the information
• Help others look smart to their audience, help them look good!
• Get their opinion on a topic that they’re passionate about
• Like, share, and comment on their status updates and bodies of work
• Give public shout-outs to folks who are doing good work
• Connect your connections
• Start conversations, ask questions, etc.
• Take it off-line

You only have one chance
to make a first impression.

So how did I build my personal brand?
• Defined my values and goals
• Cleaned up and aligned social media profiles
• Created a website and personal business cards
• Joined the American Marketing Association
• Attended targeted/industry networking events
• Volunteered skills to non-profits
• Read (a lot) of industry publications and shared what I learned
• Promoted others

It only takes a few minutes a day.

Thank you.

Let’s Connect!
Twitter: @KseniyaMartin
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kseniyamartin
Website: kseniyamartin.com

Personal Branding (Geek Girl 2014)

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