1. Personal Branding:
Online vs. Offline
Stephanie Nelson
SBNMarketing@yahoo.com
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2. What is a
Personal Brand?
• In the simplest
of terms, your
personal brand
is how you are
perceived by
other people.
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3. Personal Brand:
Offline vs. Online
• Offline – how you
present yourself “in real
life”: how you dress, how
you word your resume,
how you come across on
the phone, how you
interact with others.
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4. Personal Brand:
Offline vs. Online
• Online – what the things
about you on the Internet
say (literally & between
the lines): e-mails,
LinkedIn, Facebook,
Twitter, your blog, your
personal website, etc.
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5. Personal Branding:
Why Is It Important?
• 70% of hiring managers say they’ve
rejected a candidate based on information
they’ve found online – Washington Post,
1/28/10
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6. Personal Branding:
Why Is It Important?
• Big brands don’t let
others determine
what their brands
represent. Neither
should you!
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7. Personal Branding
Starting Points
OWN IT!
• First step to success is
to be yourself and to
be honest about who
you are.
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8. Personal Branding
Starting Points
OWN IT! – Part 2
• Second step to
success is to be
confident in who you
are and how you want
to be perceived.
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9. Personal Branding
Starting Points
OWN IT! – Part 3
• Most importantly,
define your brand
before someone defines
it for you. Don’t let
your reputation
proceed you.
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10. Personal Branding
Starting Points
• Create a personal
branding
statement. Define how
you want to be perceived &
how you are going to reach
that goal. Be specific.
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11. Personal Branding
Starting Points
If you don’t have them already, set up your
online profiles.
• Important ones: LinkedIn, Google,
Facebook & Twitter.
• Look at other social media outlets, too,
that you think you’d be able to maintain,
such as Flickr, Foursquare/Whrrl/other
location-based services, Quora, etc.
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12. Personal Branding
Starting Points
Purchase your name as a URL…or at
least something close.
• Even a basic site is better than nothing.
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13. Personal Branding
Starting Points
Start a blog on a topic about which you are
passionate.
• Doesn’t have to be anything related to
your job – could be cooking, pets,
volunteering, anything! Just show your
passion.
• Free blog sites abound. The only thing
you’ll have to invest in is some time.
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14. Personal Branding
Tips
Offline #1: Present your best self at all
times.
• You never know who you’re going to
run into while you’re out.
• Remember that all of us have
paparazzi – they can be as close as
our friends with their cell phone
cameras – and those pics can be used
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15. Personal Branding Tips
Offline #2: Be conscious of your
setting & act appropriately.
• How you interact with your
friends may not be appropriate
for work. How you dress for
work may not be appropriate for
networking events.
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16. Personal Branding Tips
Online #1 : Do a Google search for yourself.
• Do you like what you see?
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17. Personal Branding Tips
Online #2: Read your Facebook status updates
& Tweets.
• What do they say, individually and when read
more than one at a time?
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18. Personal Branding
Tips
Online #3: Be consistent across your
profiles with your profile photo, bio, etc.
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19. Personal Branding Tips
Online AND Offline
• Don’t give up!
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20. Personal Branding Tips
Online AND Offline
• Be open to change and growth.
• Update your profile content & photos
frequently.
• Keep up with new outlets that come
available.
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21. Questions?
• Follow me at @StephanieNelson
• E-mail me at SBNMarketing@yahoo.com
Check out IgniteCharlotte.org for video.
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