Getting going

These statements should focus on your particular talents, skills or achievements that together will showcase what makes you unique. Think about them in terms of what are the various important facets of your personality and skill set which you think help you to stand out. You won’t necessarily put these statements out in your social media postings verbatim but they should help provide you with a set of areas where you should be demonstrating knowledge, expertise or interest in your posts. Think about them as helping to direct the content of your social media activity.

All successful brands in the marketplace have developed a set of statements which they use to promote their brand. The reason they do this is to ensure that they are always promoting the same perception of their brand – consistent messaging is more likely to resonate with their target audience and it helps maximise their effort as a clearer, more motivating brand image is built more quickly.

The approach is exactly the same for personal brands. If you want to attract the right attention with your target audience you need to promote yourself in the right way, which means communicating your strengths in a positive way that will impress them. You are more likely to succeed if you are consistent – a scattergun approach with numerous conflicting messages will both confuse and get you lost in the myriad of other people communicating their hearts out.

Having a set of statements which focus on your strengths will provide you with the approach and content for your posts and points of view.

1. The first step is to review all your social media sites against your personal brand definition. With the plethora of choice available it is important that you focus on the sites that will be of the most benefit – worse than having no social media presence is one that is static and never changes. Which sites are the most important in the light of your Vision and target audience / sector? Focus on those.
2. Next view your activity – your overviews / posts / comments / connections / network including people and brands or organisations that you follow. How do they measure up against WhyMe? – would you recognise the qualities you have defined (Values / Personality) from your activity? Would your proposed target market be impressed? Are your statements reflected in your social media? Can I tell what is important to you and what sort of a person you are from your posts? Make sure that there is no dissonance between your private and public sites – keep your private ones discreet. Without meeting you, does your social media activity make it clear what sort of a person you are and what is important to you?
3. Draw up an action plan of what you need to improve your social media profile, which might include:
   • rewriting your introductions or overviews
   • creating a list of organisations or people that would be useful to follow
   • increasing the number of connections you have
   • creating a set of interesting features (words / pictures) that you can post
   • setting up a blog – it’s pretty easy to do this yourself these days (wordpress: https://wordpress.org/ is a good option) – and then use sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to draw attention to it.

A successful social media strategy relies largely on two things – interesting content and regular activity. Whilst activity alone will push your profile to the top of the pile, to impress you want to be noticed for more than simply presence. You want a presence that is interesting, incisive and insightful. So, using your statements messages as a starting point, create content that will stop you appearing anodyne – have a point of view, ask some questions, get a conversation going, comment on other people’s postings – it’s all about finding your voice. Fulfilling your goals won’t come easily if you are a shrinking violet – the more you do it, the easier it becomes.

In the case of individuals branding can be interpreted as how you present yourself – the clothes you wear, your choice of bag / briefcase, your shoes, how you cut your hair etc.

Inevitably your chosen career sector will have a part to play in how you appear – if you are aiming for the more conservative area of finance then a more sombre approach to your appearance will be called for, whereas if you are targeting the more creative areas such as the Arts, a more casual and creative approach might be more appropriate.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have to don a uniform. There is still a place for individuality even amongst the serried rows of grey suits – the trick is to be part of the team without being subsumed by it. There is always room for a sliver of individuality, you just have to make sure that you hit the right level. Look at your personality traits in your brand definition – they will help you with props. For example, if you want to appear learned and rigorous – books / kindle / newspapers / trade journals are good props to carry. If you have described yourself as sociable don’t ignore the receptionist when you are waiting for your interview – strike up a conversation, be engaging. If you do get called for an interview, then remember you are playing a part – everything you do must be working towards getting you that role from the second you step into that building.