Everyone has a personal brand.

It’s the intersection of who you show yourself to be online and in the real world and how other people perceive you.

It is not who you are. But, it is also not a fabricated depiction of yourself.

Your personal brand is basically your reputation, and specifically that reputation that exists of you online. Like I said, everyone has one, whether they’ve spent time creating and controlling the conversation or not.

You are known through your actions in person, the activities that you do and your achievements that are then shared in the news or online through social media or online news sites (even if it’s just your birth announcement or your high school graduation or sports accomplishments).

Choosing not to have a social media presence still sends a message to people about the type of person you are. It may convey that you’re private, closed off, uninterested in the lives of others, shy or mysterious. Having a social media profile with either no profile photo or with one that is clearly not you (a cartoon, a meme, a famous person you admire … etc.) also sends a message that you have something to hide or that you don’t trust people. (And that may be the case – a lot of people aren’t necessarily worth your trust.)

But the point is – how you behave online and in person says something about you and as human beings, we are programmed to make snap decisions when we encounter information or a lack of information from others.

We judge others, all the time, whether we want to or not. (With both conscious and unconscious bias.)

Since this conversation that establishes your reputation happens with or without your input, I’d highly recommend taking control of that conversation by contributing the pieces of you that will help you achieve your goals in life. A strong personal brand can help you get a promotion at your current job, start your own company, or have success in other ways like having a positive influence on those you care about (your friends and family).

I began teaching at the University of Nevada, Reno in May 2020 after taking the Personal Branding course from Dr. Bret Simmons. (Bret is a great human and brilliant professor.) I taught the course called “Personal Branding” for the Master’s of Business Administration students and for mixed undergrad and grad students … and I realized – I’ve never talked about it here on my blog with my awesome online community!

So, here we go – we know what a personal brand is, and we know a little bit about why it matters, but what are the basic components to establishing and taking control of your personal brand?

First, get to know yourself.

You need to figure out who you are, what your values are, how you help others, and what your current online presence looks like. For most of us, that’s difficult to articulate. But fear not, I promise you have strong values and opinions and help people, even if you don’t notice these traits all the time. There are a number of activities you can do to help you figure out who you are and what value you add to others.

Here are a few different activities to help you get there.

• Take a free personality test online.
• Write down 25 things about yourself. Write down 25 things you’re good at. Write down 15 things you don’t enjoy. Look for patterns and things that jump off the page at you.
• Ask your friends and family to give you three words that describe you. Look for patterns and what resonates.
• Read Mark Schaefer’s book Known for even more amazing ideas and a comprehensive plan on how to establish and maintain a personal brand.

Next, write an about me statement.

The about me statement for a personal brand should NOT focus on who you are but rather on how you help others.

A good formula (I got from Clay Herbert’s TEDx talk)  is “My name is X and I help (insert group of people) to (achieve a certain goal).”

A few examples:

• My name is Angela and I help professionals tell their stories through an online presence.

• My name is Angela and I help students shape and manage their personal brands.

• My name is Angela and I facilitate connective conversations between people and their target audiences.

• I’m Angela and I train writers to tell compelling stories through digital content.

You can certainly spruce these up and add interest but keep the “you” portion of your “About Me” statement short, and illustrate the value you add to your target audience. Here is that awesome video from TEDx Reno about how to craft a statement you’ll love when asked, “So, what do you do?”

My favorite bits from that video include these insights: “Your intro is about how you help and why. It should be interesting. It should be confident.”

Now, find out where you’re starting.

Once you have your About statement ready to go, you’ll want to know what your online starting point is.

It’s easiest to start by Googling yourself to find out what is out there online right now. Usually, that will include the social media profiles you have, starting with the one you are most active on. If you’ve been quoted in newspapers or other articles, those will usually appear near the top, too. The results will look different for everyone, depending on how active you’ve been in building your current brand. The good news is that once you actively take control of your brand, you can greatly and quickly shape the results on that search engine results page.

Create a visual representation of yourself to use for your brand.

Portray your brand with imagery through a recognizable headshot. The goal of the personal brand you are shaping is to have it help you in the real world. You want to be recognized from the online value you’re giving so that when folks meet you in the real world, they instantly feel like they know you, trust you and know what they can expect from you.

The way to do that is to have a brand image that is accurate (not photoshopped) and recognizable (not you in sunglasses and a hat). Create an image that showcases your personality and some of the value you add and use that headshot across your online activities.

Put that brand to use – interact with others online.

To build your brand and community, you need to create content and interact with others’ content. You have to give (in the form of helpful content like tips and entertainment, and through likes and shares of others’ content) in order to get (likes and shares and comments on your own content).

You should start by updating your social media profiles with your brand headshot, cleaning up the content you have already posted in years past to make sure it reflects your brand, and start interacting with others in a helpful way by engaging with their content through shares, likes and comments. If you really want to get fancy, start a website and start blogging!

Those are the basic steps to establish a personal brand! I am happy to go into further detail on anything covered above in future posts. Let me know if you found this helpful by leaving me a comment and please ask me questions! There is a lot to explore with personal branding and I’m glad we get to do it together. Thanks for reading!