Knowing and growing your personal brand
As journalists, we are all very much aware of the importance of the company brand. Many of us work for years hoping to climb the journalism ranks to one day be associated with a brand we covet. The New York Times, ABC News, the Washington Post, Washingtonpost.com, Dateline NBC, The Wall Street Journal, NPR and a host of others.
But consider this. In today's media landscape, you are our own brand.
It's a concept that we have to embrace so that we can mange it and use it to our advantage. If you don't manage your own brand, or at least start building it on your own, Google will do it for you . And you might not like the results.
With rampant layoffs and an unstable economy, we have to be more than our current title at our current workplace. If and when those no longer exist, how will you market yourself? Will anyone know who you are based on your web presence? Do you even have a web presence beyond the extent of which your news stories are posted online? If you answered no to any of those questions, please read on.
Chris Brogan, one of my favorite bloggers, has written an ebook about this very topic. It is appropriately titled: Personal Branding for the Business Professional. I've read it several times, and while I thought I was doing a pretty good job with my personal blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, LinkedIn, Friendfeed, Upcoming.org and Plaxo accounts, I could be doing so much better. I am now working on an e-book and I hope to squeeze in some other tips presented in Brogan's.
So, start thinking about who you are professionally and how you might want to convey that using some of the social networking tools available. And don't assume that you have to take advantage of every single platform. That would be a full-time job on it's own.
And if this seems all too overwhelming and you'd like more basic ideas or help along the way, I can certainly help or tap into the vast network of people I've connected with on various platforms for more information and ideas.
If you find this concept intriguing, let me know either in the comments area or via e-mail and I'll blog about it more often.
-AngelaConnor