Personal Branding with Social Media

Rather than worry about how to present yourself online, decide first to polish how you speak and interact with others when you speak and this professionalism will naturally be reflected in your online communications. Create a personal mission statement and set life goals for yourself and you will find that your online presence will evolve to reflect the positive goals you have set for yourself.

how do you decide what to blog about? I like to suggest that people simply blog about conversations they have. If you like talking to people (which I hope you do if you're interested in personal branding), then you have conversations all the time about things that interest you. Blog about this. Blog about the advice you give other people. Have an opinion about an industry trend? Make it a blog post.

Blogging is a way to develop your voice and publish your own articles without a middleman. Most importantly, blogging gives you something to distribute.

Blogging takes commitment and is something not many people choose to make time for. Be aware of this going into it and understand the level of commitment it takes.

When building your personal brand on Twitter (as on other networks), keep your postings value-driven. Twitter is especially effective when combined with blogging. The more you create high-quality content in the form of blog posts, the more content you have to distribute on Twitter for others to see and learn from. By associating valuable content with your personal brand, you are strengthening your platform.

Facebook is primarily social and is more "party-like" than other networks. It has a relaxed, let-your-hair-down feel and features many more social connections tools than LinkedIn.

Any time you meet someone in a professional setting, ask for his or her business card (assuming you find that person interesting). Then, look that person up on LinkedIn and make a connection request. Be sure to write a personal note. By making this a habit, you are now able to build an ever-growing, self-updating address book that you can use to expand your network.

Your personal brand is influenced by many things, including how you dress and speak. Your brand is especially affected by how you communicate.