Personal Branding used to include not much more than having your business cards handy. Occasionally, you might even have monogram your tailored shirt or have your name embroidered on your handbag. With the internet and the rise and rise of social media, Personal Branding has come to play a much bigger role in how we present ourselves to the outside world, especially to people who only know us by name.

Your personal brand is how you appear on social media, your resume, business cards, news mentions, blog articles… anywhere your name or anything about you is mentioned. Your personal brand is more than the sum of these parts. Your personal brand tells a story about who you are and where you’ve come from and hints at where you’re going. Ultimately, your personal brand is the means with which people remember you.

LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest… the list goes on. We’re all on multiple social media channels whether we want to be or not. Even if you don’t have a profile yourself, chances are there is a photo of you somewhere on a friend’s profile or a mention of your name or your work. It isn’t anything to be feared. Your profiles and your mentions can be a real asset for you, personally and professionally.

We’re not going to advocate lowering your privacy filter, we believe your private life should remain private, but knowing what to make public (by choice or not) is important in controlling how your personal brand is developed online. Your profile picture, your posts, even down to the way you display your name (yes, ‘Jimmy McJimmyface’, it might be time to change) helps build a profile of you which determines your brand. We’ll help you understand this and more about developing your personal brand using social media.