How to brand yourself without pain

Admit it. You’ve Googled yourself. Multiple times. Often in the same day.

Narcissistic as this might seem, you’re actually doing yourself a great service. Checking where you fall in the digital pantheon is a smart career move, because it helps you gauge the effectiveness of your personal brand, particularly online.

That’s because everything we write, post, comment or report becomes part of an ever-expanding Web, where links keep growing and our names/works/deeds are splattering across the Internet for anyone and everyone (including potential employers) to see.

As such, resumes and cover letters no longer express the whole of our being. You need to tighten the reins on your brand now, or get bucked from the bronco later.

To start, get your head in the game. Identify what defines you, and start aligning your activities, partnerships and communication to that image.

Next, protect your brand online. We’ve talked about keeping your social networking sites professional, but you should also be aware of what others might write about you. Say a journalist mentions you in an unfavorable news story, or a blogger leaves a less-than-friendly comment on your site.

Though situations like this are outside your control, you can counter with a response. Ultimately, it’s up to you to offset any (hopefully) false claims or buzz with your own positive reporting, above-board affiliations and most importantly, the truth. No one can tell your story like you can, so get out there and sell yourself.

Check out Wendy Marx’s personal brand expert blog at FastCompany, as well as Dan Schwabel’s Personal Branding Blog, for more information about making your mark. And if all else fails, you can always outsource the process! ;)

Posted by Roseanne D.