Why Personal Branding is the Most Important Thing You Can Do for Yourself [SSM005]

Building a personal brand on social media is one of the best ways to become a thought leader in your industry. Whether you’re looking to change roles or simply advance your career, developing a personal brand is a great place to start.

And we’d love to share some tips on how.

Duke University professor Dorie Clark — a bestselling author and consultant for various Fortune 500 companies —  is an expert in the field of personal branding. Recognized as a “branding expert” by the Associated Press, Fortune, and Inc. magazine, her most recent book, Stand Out, was named the #1 Leadership Book of 2015 by Inc. magazine and was a Washington Post bestseller.

We had the pleasure of speaking to Dorie about her unique approach to personal branding on social media and why developing a brand of your own is becoming critical in today’s global environment.

A huge thank you to Dorie for packing this episode with incredible wisdom and takeaways for social media managers and marketers looking for great ways to develop their personal brand and become a thought leader in whatever passion they choose to pursue.

How to listen: iTunes | Google Play | SoundCloud | Stitcher | RSS

This episode is available on:

• iTunes
• Google Play
• Stitcher
• Sound Cloud

In this episode, here’s what you’ll learn:

Dorie Clark takes us through her vast knowledge and expertise in the world of personal branding on social media.

• What a personal brand is and why it’s your most important professional asset
• How to define and align your personal brand with your professional career
• The 3-step process to reinventing yourself on social media – “Big R” vs. “little r”
• How social media truly fits into creating your personal brand
• Tips on staying agile in your career while maintaining a personal brand

3 Personal Branding on Social Media Takeaways from Dorie

In Dorie’s words…

1. The importance of creating your own content

It’s useful and powerful to be a curator of other people’s good stuff. But, if you really want to establish an expert reputation, the fast ticket to do that is creating your own content.

2. Communicating frequently and regularly on a small number of channels

It is more important to go deep than it is to go wide. If you are Coca-Cola, yes you need to be on every social channel. But as an individual, you’re not a global brand in the same way, and people understand that you can’t be everywhere at the same time. So it’s more important to do a good job on two or three social media channels.

3. Understand the overlap of where your skills and target audience overlap

Take time to figure out what type of content that you are really good at creating. If you’re not good at creating a certain types of content, don’t make yourself do it. Don’t do things that make you miserable. Gary Vaynerchuk is a great example of someone who focused their skills in an area where they excel. Decide how to reach your audience, but in a way that is optimal for you so that your best traits can come forward.

Mentionable Quotes and Shareable Snippets

“Your personal brand is what other people say about you when you leave the room. It’s essentially your professional reputation. I think sometimes people get thrown off because they hear the word ‘personal brand’ and they think that sounds so phony. Why do I have to be a brand the way that Tide is a brand? But if we re-frame and bring it back to first principles … This is your reputation and very few things in business matter more than your reputation.”

Show Notes and Other Memorable Moments

Thanks a million for checking out this episode! Below are the websites and other tidbits that were mentioned in today’s podcast about personal branding on social media. If you have any questions for us, feel free to drop us a line in the comments and we’ll respond right away!

Dorie’s Downloadable Resources

• Dorie Clark’s incredible 42 page Stand Out Workbook
• Reinventing You – “Getting ahead of the curve and sending the right message about “you” to people.
• Stand Out Networking – “A simple and effective way of meeting people on your own terms.
• The 4 Hour Work Week  – Tim Ferriss

Great Quotes

• “For the majority of people, the first thing that businesses will do when considering you for a job will be to look you up online. That could be something you leave to chance, or it is something you can control by creating your own content.”
• “The best thing about being proactive about your personal brand is that you can be presenting a really coherent, cohesive picture of yourself as a knowledgeable professional.”
• “Lower-case r (reinvention) allows you to make those moments when there’s a big shift more exciting and less painful … You’re priming yourself for future career reinventions.”
• “If you are able to create a frame for how your interests fit together, I think that’s a very powerful way to think about branding.”
• “The biggest mistake that people make with regard to personal branding is that they don’t spend enough time explaining their narrative. You need to set the terms of the discourse by communicating with people.”

How to Say Hello to Dorie (and us)

Dorie is quite active on Twitter at @dorieclark and also has a shining example of a personal branding website at www.dorieclark.com.

Thanks for listening! We’d love to connect with you at @buffer on Twitter or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a

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About the Show

The Science of Social Media is a podcast for marketers and social media managers looking for inspiration, ideas, and results for their social media strategies. Each week, we interview one of the very best in social media marketing from brands in every industry. You will learn the latest tactics on social media, the best tools to use, the smartest workflows, and the best goal-setting advice. It is our hope that each episode you’ll find one or two gems to use with your social media marketing!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.