Digital You: Real Personal Branding in the Virtual Age

People have become sophisticated searchers. They know that they need to refine the search when they see content that just doesn’t seem right. And refine it they will. That means they’ll put in a word or phrase to filter out the “un-you” content. The trick? You need to know the keywords they’ll use, and you need to make sure you include those distin

Put yourself in your stakeholders’ shoes. Think about the people you are looking to influence. Who are the decision makers? Then think about the words and phrases they would use if they were looking for you or someone who does what you do.

Visibility: It gives you the opportunity to be seen by others.

Since we could all spend our time pounding our virtual chests and creating content to increase the volume of search results, we need something to validate what we say about ourselves. This validation is provided by external sources and typically comes in the form of testimonials, recommendations, endorsements, awards, and accolades.

Doyens: These are the thought leaders in your field—the “stars” in your industry or job function. And it also includes “expertise colleagues”—others who aren’t so famous but share similar knowledge or thought leadership goals. You may not share the same point of view, but you are cousins in expertise.

People with strong personal brands are explicit about who they are and who they’re not.

Make your accomplishments count, literally. Sales figures, budget savings, number of presentations, frequent flier miles accrued in a year: It all adds up.

friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others

These six categories of content will help you identify the elements of your story: accomplishments, values and passions, superpowers, differentiation, quantifiable facts, and validation.