Your name is a brand — treat it as one online

The digital business landscape has changed tremendously over the last couple of years and personal branding is starting to play a crucial role online. Having a strong personal brand can do so much more for you than just win you a new job. It adds credibility to your name and can improve the reputation of any business associated with you.

In business, people aren’t buying products, but people. With the advent of social media, it’s also easier to be won over by someone’s personality than by their marketing strategy. A person that is likeable and confident will be able to sell almost anything regardless of the quality or their knowledge or how it works. A salesperson that is annoying, uneducated, and arrogant will struggle to sell a hundred rand note for fifty rand. This is why it’s so important to focus on personal branding online and offline.

Personal branding is powerful. Look at how Nespresso is using George Clooney in their ads. It acts as a form of credibility. If you are a selling a product or service, the personal branding of your employees is important not just for themselves, but to potential customers as well. Your employees are the people working directly with your customers. Make sure they know how important personal branding is.

Your name is a brand
Your name is a brand and you should treat it as one. With building your personal brand online there is a right and wrong way of doing it and knowing the difference of it can boost the credibility of both yourself and your employer. A lot of people (especially on the social web) think that constantly boasting and publishing their achievements and skills is the best way to do it. While it’s ok to promote yourself, in my opinion it’s valuable if you can show people directly how great you are and what you can do.

Rather than posting updates of how cool you are and how great your following is online, why don’t you write a strategy or blog post explaining others to build a following. Rather than posting a photo of your best salesperson each month on your website, why don’t you create a post explaining which strategies you used to improve your sales online.

Publish advice on a regular basis
One way to get started with building credibility around your personal brand online is when you publish useful advice on a regular basis. You can do this on your own blog, company blog or a variety of social media channels. The bottom line is that it can open many doors for you and your business. If you care about your personal brand online, find ways to improve it. It will show you as a dedicated, intelligent, and organised person that others want to work with.

Your name is a brand so it’s important that you start building your profile. Become the expert in your niche and build authority around your name. It will pay off.