5 Reasons for Having a Personal Brand Strategy Online
What is a Personal Brand Strategy?
In the quickly evolving, what I call mass mediums age, people are able to research and find anything and everything that is online about any company, person or brand. That being said, and especially as an entrepreneur, it is definitely in your best interest to ensure your personal brand is guarded against cyber-squatters and those who would like to see your name/brand tarnished in any way. Some of their motives are extremely odd and some are outright illegal, but they still present a danger. There are several websites, such as scam.com, complaintsboard.com and ripoffreport.com (just to name a few), that I have seen completely destroy a person’s reputation/brand online. For example, do a Google search for any brand in the network marketing space and there is a very high chance that you will see a scam.com thread about the company on the first page of results. Crazy, isn’t it? What’s more, do a Google search for your name and see just what is out there. Play around with it and search your name plus phone number or even address. You will be amazed at what some of you will find floating around on the internet. Imagine what a competitor or friend-turned-foe could do to those results.
Before I get to the “5 Reasons for Having a Personal Brand Strategy Online” let me explain what exactly is a personal brand strategy. A Personal Brand Strategy is the process in which you first research, then determine key focal points of your personal branding online, prior to execution. Similar to any well executed web project, the key is research and testing. Personal Brand Strategy is just that. Being aware of the pitfalls of personal branding, in search engine optimization more specifically, and taking the steps necessary to ensure you and/or your personal brand don’t fall victim. Remember, we are talking about your NAME and PERSONAL BRAND here. Do you think that it may follow you for the rest of your natural life (and them some) online? Probably.
Why Do I Need to Have a Personal Brand Strategy Online?
You don’t. Let me say that again with more conviction. You do not need a personal brand strategy online at all. You can absolutely start making social networking accounts, as you find new networks, and just interact with the communities or friends without a care in the world regarding reputation management, brand image, search term authority etc… No one really needs a strategy for anything I suppose; but the question that you should ask is, “Why SHOULD I have a personal brand strategy?” Let me give you 7 seperate scenarios as to why you should.
1.) You are unemployed and looking for a job. The Collegian posted a greate article, “Employers Utilize Social Media,” in which they offer a few valuable tips on ways to effectively use networking sites to your professional advantage. In this scenario, you don’t want the prospective employer running into your half drunken MySpace profile that you created when you were a teenager or seeing the comment you posted/Twitter ‘tweet’ about how you hated your last employer and “wish you could find some sucker to give you a job”. You may want to have a personal brand strategy to prevent from the “you then” and the “you now”. Here is a perfect example of someone who was offered a job and fired quickly thereafter – based on their social networking activity. I don’t think he had a personal brand strategy.→ “theconnor”
2.) You are a budding Entrepreneur. You just opened your first store, started your first home business, or website/blog or found something to sell and generate a profit from, online. As a new business, the question of credibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the owner or founder. Whether you establish it by way of traditional marketing, social media or by trying to tell your story and promote your products/services online, there are specific strategies that you must be aware of in protecting your new venture. Be prepared to have your name or new brand researched!
3.) You’re the most popular kid/adult online. You have thousands of friends or followers and are using your social networks to just have fun online and let out some randomness once in a while – and people dig it. Your MySpace, Twitter and Facebook accounts are about to explode from all the new activity that is going on in your networks and you are a carefree person who likes o share stuff and chat. Hello. Wake up and smell the money tree that has been sprouting under your nose! If you have a massive following or network of friends, then you DEFINITELY need to have a personal brand strategy! Big companies reach out to individuals with huge networks all the time. (As one example of how to monetize these networks, link and direct all of your social networking account profiles toward the “hub” or main website/blog of your personal brand strategy and see how many targeted products and services either are accepted or rejected by your networks just by displaying banner ads – all while making money doing the same things you were doing before. Heck, if you have a larger than normal network and aren’t making profits somehow from it, contact me asap! I’m always interested in profit sharing LOL 
4.) You are a network marketer. You need all the help you can get already (haha, just kiddin’), so I’ll just get to it. In network marketing there tends to be a bit of ‘leap frog’ going on. Much like the world series of poker where the same guys are always on the last tables, certain network marketing leaders are able to jump from company to company, seemingly with ease, and make ginormous amounts of money in each new venture they undertake. Ever wonder HOW they could do that and continue to grow wealth? Not because they make the best business choices (with some exceptions 
), but because they have a personal brand strategy! The people that they are introducing to the new company are being cultivated through personal brand value and placed in a database. Bottomline, they can reach out to their database whenever they like – no matter what the product of the month is. This isn’t new folks, the leaders have been doing it. Ask yourself how many mentors, seminars and workshops you have heard about or come across an ad for in the past month. Ever hear of Tony Robbins or Frank Kern?
5.)You are a corporate level executive. In this economy, “corporate exec” doesn’t have the same ring to it that it did back in the 50’s. Times have changed. Now, as a corporate level exec in certain positions, you have article after article being written and posted online so fast that it makes your head spin. Sure you have a few good articles written, and maybe even company profiles that are in the upper portions of Google search engine results for your name, but maybe they just don’t paint the picture you would like or have all the facts right. On the other side of the coin, as an executive, maybe you would like to take a proactive approach in representing your bio and porfolio online to add credibility to your brand as an accomplished or accredited leader. Maybe you just might be on the brink of getting canned. Refer back to 1.
The purpose of this post is to provide a few scenarios in which it would make sense to have a personal brand strategy. As I mentioned in number 4, this isn’t a new practice. However, it is most relevant NOW. With the explosion of social networking and Google and Bing rushing to be the best in ‘real time conversation’ results, you can’t afford to NOT have a personal brand strategy. As most of you already know, this is a living document; meaning I will be updating this post from time to time with new info. Please subscribe to my feed to receive updates when I do make changes.
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