Putting Yourself Out There on a Shelf to Buy

I HEAR the word "brand," as in "learn how to brand yourself," and my heart sinks. I became a journalist rather than a salesperson because I do not like selling anything — including myself. And selling myself as a brand seems even less appealing than selling myself as, well, me.

I know, I'm showing my age. And it's not that I don't appreciate that social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook (on which, yes, I have profiles) are providing a great way for companies to find people and people to find jobs. It's just that everything I've read about branding doesn't make me want to leap into this brave new world.

Branding experts, self-proclaimed or otherwise, throw out slogans like "Find your unique qualities and highlight Brand You!" "You can be a brand just like Coca-Cola and Kleenex — or Brangelina!" "You're not a worker, you're not a job title! You're a brand!"

But what if I don't want to be a brand? What if I don't want to build a public image and network? What if I like the security and camaraderie of being "just" a worker in a company? Creating my own brand sounds as if it is potentially liberating. But that's what we thought about managing our own retirements rather than relying on pensions and choosing a phone company rather than being stuck with Ma Bell. It turned out, though, that that kind of freedom comes with a lot more risks and responsibility.

Still, I have come to realize that branding (once I cut through the hyperbole) is something I need to learn about, even if I'm not ready to embrace it wholeheartedly. The reality is, many of us may not have the option of staying in a company, unbranded. We have to create our own job security, and branding is part of that.

"If you don't brand yourself, Google will brand you," said Sherry Beck Paprocki, co-author of the forthcoming book, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Branding Yourself" (Alpha, an imprint of Penguin, May 2009). That means you need to try to control what information comes up when your name is searched online by a potential employer, as it inevitably will be. Will she see a professional LinkedIn profile or that embarrassing photo of you from Halloween 2005?

Or perhaps even worse, will nothing pop up? Not being online today is akin to not existing.

So the first question is not whether you should establish a presence online (yes!), but where. Start small so you won't be overwhelmed. Choose either LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, the sites most often recommended to me by branding and job search specialists as a crucial first step in establishing your brand.

These sites also can help in other ways. Twitter alone offers jobshouts.com (job openings are "tweeted" to users); twitterjobsearch.com, a search engine that searches Twitter for jobs that match key words you enter; and JobAngels (twitter.com/jobangels), a kind of one-on-one online mentoring program.

Then join a few sites that are oriented toward your field. But don't go crazy and throw your profile up on dozens of sites. You don't want to spread yourself too thin.

That's just the beginning. Next, you have to dig deep inside yourself and figure out what makes you you and not that other Brand You over there.

"Finding your niche is the key," said Dan Schawbel, author of "Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success" (Kaplan, April 2009), and a personal branding guru (that's his brand, by the way).

He espouses a four-step process — discover, create, communicate, maintain. That translates into: discover your passion and put it together with your expertise; create a "personal branding tool kit" (which may include a résumé, online profile, blog and portfolio of your work) that consistently reflects your brand; pitch your brand online and offline; and update and monitor any conversations about your brand. (Try Google Alert, so that every time your name comes up, you're notified.)

Consistency is key. Every social networking site and blog that Mr. Schawbel writes for or appears on, for example, states "Personal Branding — Dan Schawbel." So whether the topic or the person is searched, he will come up prominently.

Is branding just a new term for what we all knew when we marketed ourselves the old-fashioned way with a résumé sent by mail: highlight your expertise and emphasize your achievements? Yes and no.

"It's about building a community," said Veronica Fielding, president of Digital Brand Expressions, which provides search marketing and social media marketing to companies. Once you have created your online profile, at whatever site you've chosen, "you've just scratched the surface," she said. "You want to find groups — alumni, former employees of your last jobs, trade groups."

Join the groups, then wait and observe the discussions. When you feel you have something thoughtful to say, chime in with your opinion, Ms. Fielding said.

Start branding yourself as someone insightful in that particular area, she said, so "when people are thinking about filling a job, they think of you." read more

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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.


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