Lately, I’ve had some interesting conversations on Personal Branding, Social Media and Inbound Marketing. I really enjoy writing and speaking about these topics because they are the new frontier of the Web 2.0 marketplace. And when combined properly they can create massive opportunity where it would not have existed before.
Once upon a success story…
Let’s take a look at a success story on how one savvy Personal Brand had opportunity find them because of the combination of their Personal Brand, Social Media, and Inbound Marketing.
Savvy Sue had been out of school for a few years and was working a steady job at a good company. She was a good employee, worked hard and was dependable. Despite these qualities she realized she did not have anything that truly differentiated herself from others. That was until she created her Personal Brand.
Savvy Sue began promoting her Personal Brand on social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and her blog. She joined some forums in topics of interest to her in Yahoo Answers, she joined groups, participated in discussions and answered questions on Linkedin. She tweeted useful links and spread the word about her new blog posts. She was constantly making new digital relationships.
Then it happened to Savvy Sue — she got the offer of a lifetime. She was asked to join the social media group at her company and be a thought leader in developing the company’s social media strategy and take it to market. She gladly accepted the offer.
How did Savvy Sue do it?
She took a chance.
Savvy Sue received this offer because she created visibility and credibility for herself. She put herself in the way of opportunity and it found her.
This is just one of the many success stories I have heard over the years and it drives home a very interesting point.
Visibility and credibility = Memorability
Combine the forces of your Personal Brand with Social Media and you will begin to receive inbound opportunities that can change your career and life.
It takes time, patience and persistence but it can happen.
It happens everyday, to everyday people and it can happen to you too.
Have a great weekend!
Author:
Chad Levitt is the author of the New Sales Economy blog, which focuses on how Sales 2.0 & Social Media can help you connect, create more opportunities and increase your business. Chad is also the featured Sales 2.0 blogger at SalesGravy.com, the number one web portal for sales pros, the professional athletes of the business world. Make sure to connect with him on Twitter @chadalevitt.
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Right on, Chad. This really sums what can happen with personal branding. I see it happening for some of my students after only a few months. But you have to be patient and make a commitment. This is not instant pudding. Thanks! Bret
@Brett: There is no such thing as instant pudding in building your Personal Brand — as you point it it takes a hefty dose of persistence and commitment. The results are well worth it. I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
What school do you teach at? What are some of your students’ success stories?
I am at The University of Nevada Reno. I just finished teaching my second course in personal branding to UG and MBA students. A student from my first class spoke to my most recent class and told of how she just landed a job with one of the largest employers in town. During her interview one of the guys from the company had his nose burried in his laptop and was asking her unusual questions. She found out later he had her Linkedin open and was reading her blog posts that were autofed in there. They were impressed and she got the job. Funny you should ask because I recorded that story on video this morning and plan to make it my next post to The Student Branding Blog. That blog should appear on 1/25 at that site. Thanks! Bret
@Brett: Awesome story and it is a story I’m starting to hear more often. Congrats to your student who landed the job as well. I wrote a post for the PBB blog on How to Use Linkedin to get the Job You Want — it was a very popular post and your students may find it helpful in their career searches. Here is the link:
http://bit.ly/5P9Cg3
Building your personal brand does take time. You must evaluate and re-evaluate the type of content your putting out. As your building your brand always focus on creating better content and ask yourself if what your putting it something that you yourself would view.
@Jacob: Nice tips and thanks for sharing. You bring up a good point too about Personal Branding — constantly evaluating your Personal Brand. Through evaluating your Personal Brand you will find areas for improvement that over time will lead to success. Thanks for commenting.
Well said, Chad. Yes, it does take time and patience and it also takes perseverance. Too many people drop out too soon, some just before that big break was about to come, thinking it’s just too much effort, taking too much time with no visible results. I’ve been doing this for awhile now, but not nearly as long as some. I’m still learning – another thing that’s important, not to ever stop learning and think you know all you need to know. That’s just never going to happen – there’s always something new, something more. Life would be pretty boring any other way.
@Diane: Your comment reminds me of a few famous success stories I’ve read — Sylvestor Stallone, Matt Damon, Bill Gates, and Rudy Ruettiger. We all know these individuals as being famous but at one point in their lives they were everyday people with a big dream, or goal. Through the odds they kept going, moving forward, until they all reached their goals. Now, with your Personal Brand and the power of the Web achieving your goals can be done easier (although it is never easy) than ever before.
The best are always learning!
Chad,
You have put your finger on something that I see happening as well: that Inbound Marketing can work for professionals just as it does for companies. The challenge then becomes to build out the personal brand so that companies will want to pursue you once they find you. Social media helps you achieve this, because, in essence, you become perceived as a thought leader in what you blog and tweet. Put the three together and you have a great strategy for 2010. Looking forward to your future posts!
@NealSchaffer
@Neal: You are on point with your comment. Inbound Marketing is changing the way businesses market themselves and it will also change the nature of the job market for Personal Branders. Companies are searching on Linkedin and Google for top talent to fill roles at their companies. Opportunities are waiting for those that build their Personal Brand through creating remarkable content that is easily shared on the web.
Chad,
Nice Post! I love reading success stories with personal branding and social media marketing leading. Well done.
@RBeale
@Ryan: Thanks for reading and commenting — can you share a success story that you’ve heard? That would be awesome!
At a career transition workshop in the Dallas, TX they discuss and advocate that it is the best packaged and promoted job candidate who gets the job. Not the best qualified. Your Visibility and credibility = Memorability equation would reinforce that viewpoint.
@Doug: This makes sense. Once job candidates meet an established requirement for job qualification, that factor begins to see less perceived value by employers. This is where there is opportunity to differentiate yourself with your personal website, blog, social media connections, and online reputation. If there are 5 equally qualified job candidates you can bet the one that will get hired will have the most credible and visible Personal Brand.
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