Creating a personal brand and image online is hard work and the reason why most people don’t do it however we’re moving in a fast paced world and if you want to be seen you need to get onto it NOW! There are more job seekers out there than ever and if you don’t start building a plan that helps you build your own “business of one” you will fade into the background.
Recruiters and Employers will automatically look at your social media without you knowing, if it’s out there to see, we will find it, we’re like Mi5 but you need to be aware that everything you send a recruiter, an employer, an HR manager is stored first of all. Second of all everything you post on social business networks is tracked. If you are having a bad day, try not to put it out there for everyone to see, your future self will thank you. Thirdly…….
Online Presence has everything to do with what you say, how you say it, who you’ve said it to and is everything you say consistent? There’s something called SEO or “search engine optimisation”, to rank higher on your LinkedIn on recruiter/hr/employer searches as well as on Google Search you need to think about who you are and what you would like to come up in searches for! Tricky I know but let me explain a bit further. If you have been the type of person who has previously added tens or hundreds of “keywords” in your CV, LinkedIn etc then you fall right down the pecking order. No one knows what you really do, you’ll never rank highly for anything and that’s because SEO has developed over the years due to people “keyword stuffing”, CVs, ATS Systems (Applicant tracking systems), Humans, social business profiles and google all work exactly the same way. If you can’t define what you do then someone else will be able to.
Your Personal Brand/LinkedIn Checklist
- Pick 5-10 keywords that defines what job you do
- Now your Linkedin is optimised start posting articles, projects, achievements etc
- Time on LinkedIn is time well spent - if you want to be seen then talk, make an effort and eventually people will get to know you
- Confidence is all it takes - do you remember your first post on social media? I know I do! Looking back i sounded like someone's Grandmother on Twitter talking about food and feelings haha. Leave your feelings and food for Twitter and Facebook but add value to your community and I promise you it'll start to grow quickly
- Make a note of what content works and what doesn't. Ultimately you want more followers to spread the word that you are awesome as an employee BUT BE WARNED - If you're a vegetable grower and you're talking about "flying expertise" it's doesn't look particularly good on you. Too many people repost comments etc that have got 1,000s of likes but have nothing to do with their field and completely out of their understanding. Keep focused on what YOU need in order to succeed as your own "business of one"
- Post images or better still videos - now this is scary but one you will thank me for some day. There's very few people who enjoy posting videos of themselves talking etc however it's honest and that's what matters.