Three Ideas for #PersonalBranding on #LinkedIn and Beyond

Everyone is saying "develop your personal brand" - a notion I support.  I just have a simple question:

Who’s Brand is This Anyway?

Consider LinkedIN.  LinkedIN is free, but it will take you at least a couple of evenings at home to get your profile and page constructed. Next, you'll maintain your work history, contribute content, join groups, share experiences, etc. All this activity naturally builds your brand.

With this in mind, why would you agree to fly your employer's colors on your personal masthead?  I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of where you work or the products and services your dealership provides.  I'm just saying promote yourself, not a copier, automobile, manufacturer, device, or dealership.

Here are three ideas:

1.  Curate - Be Relevant

Find information that your prospects and customers find relevant. Only you can determine what would be of interest to your clients. I can tell you this much your last big sale, contest win, BLI award or copier release ARE NOT RELEVANT to your prospects.

If you're focusing on the HVAC vertical, join a few industry groups and research industry challenges, find pertinent articles, and share with the group.

Important: don't simply repost an article, pull a sentence or two out of the piece, paste it above the link and add a word or two of your personal reflections.

2.  Be Who You Are - Human

No matter what you do, be yourself. The world is a stage, I'd rather lose some audience by being authentic than bad acting - be real. Go ahead and post an article you found interesting although it has nothing to do with your niche.  Be Human.

3.  Branding does not require LinkedIn - Buy "yourname.com"

LinkedIn is NOT the internet and may not be around forever.  Buying a .com and hosting a website/blog is not expensive so go out and get yours.  There are plenty of tools that will help you build a site and running in no time.  Nothing complicated, a simple page with your beliefs, core values, profile, and contact information. 

These are simple ideas, there are at least 100 others all over the internet.  My strongest recommendation goes back to it being YOUR brand, not your employer.  Show the world who you are, not who pays you.