By Rose Leadem
Your personal brand communicates your value to the world — not only to potential employers, but to everyone. It is essential today for personal development, career advancement and even establishing yourself as a leader. Expressing who you are, what you do and why you do it will help you position yourself for success and open doors of opportunity.
Today, much of personal branding is done through your online presence, which often means your social media accounts. But before jumping to Instagram to post a couple of pictures that you think “represent” you, take a few steps back. Developing a strong personal brand won’t happen overnight.
Having a professional purpose, practicing your writing, understanding your competition, utilizing social media (not just on Facebook) — these are only a number of steps to take to build your brand.
Take a look at these 10 steps to help you strategize building your best personal brand.
1. Get a professional headshot
Your new professional image starts with an image. Smiling and dressing sharply make you more competent, likeable and influential.
2. Be discoverable online
Someone somewhere will be searching for you at some point in your career. Use your real name on the internet and optimize your social media profiles for discovery.
3. Have a professional purpose
What gets you out of bed in the morning? What helps you be better at what you do? A professional purpose is way more than a pay check.
4. Learn to listen & practise empathy
To have a well-rounded personal brand, you need to strike the balance between what you know and what you have yet to learn and understand.
5. Practise writing
Think before you jot down and share your thoughts on online and hone your writing skills over time.
6. Re-engineer your digital presence
Keep all you social profiles up to date and add social channels to all your professional touch points.
7. Analyse your competitors
Make time to understand what other people in your niche are doing and saying, and how successful they are.
8. Craft your personal branding statement
Include your audience, mission, value, and avoid using buzzwords!
9. Embrace and expound your experience
We all have great experience and stories. Start weaving a professional narrative more completely!
10. Be social by design
Use social media statistics to boost discoverability, speaking engagements, in-person interaction, and more.
This article originally appeared at Entrepreneur.com
