This document discusses creating a content strategy for a personal brand. It emphasizes that an individual is a brand that goes before and follows them. It recommends establishing and maintaining an online presence through a blog, podcasts, and presentations to promote expertise and draw opportunities. Social media profiles should also be used to engage an audience and establish authority in a topic area.
20. Derek Smith is a lead SharePoint engineer,
developer, and project manager at rmsource, inc. in
Cary, NC. In this role, Derek has been involved in
upgrading, managing, and supporting SharePoint
environments for state and local government, publicly
traded companies, and venture backed startups. He
has been developing software on the Microsoft Platform
for nearly 20 years. Derek is also the founder of
www.HomeSpotHQ.com, an online tool for
managing the critical information about your
home. Derek writes about software development and
technology on his blog, http://www.codeovereasy.com.
21. Derek Smith is a lead SharePoint engineer, developer,
and project manager at rmsource, inc. in Cary, NC. In
this role, Derek has been involved in upgrading,
managing, and supporting SharePoint
environments for state and local government,
publicly traded companies, and venture backed
startups. He has been developing software on the
Microsoft Platform for nearly 20 years. Derek is also
the founder of www.HomeSpotHQ.com, an online tool
for managing the critical information about your
home. Derek writes about software development and
technology on his blog, http://www.codeovereasy.com.
22. Derek Smith is a lead SharePoint engineer, developer,
and project manager at rmsource, inc. in Cary, NC. In
this role, Derek has been involved in upgrading,
managing, and supporting SharePoint environments for
state and local government, publicly traded companies,
and venture backed startups. He has been developing
software on the Microsoft Platform for nearly 20 years.
Derek is also the founder of www.HomeSpotHQ.com,
an online tool for managing the critical information
about your home. Derek writes about software
development and technology on his blog,
http://www.codeovereasy.com.
Part of your personal brand is inherited by the tools, languages and technologies that you use to deliver results. Your brand is also derived from your employer or company or blog or product URL.
Your brand creates a sort of gravity in the marketplace. If you’ve ever taken a physics class or learned about Einstein’s theory of relativity, part of what he posited was that a planet sitting out in space actually creates a curvature.
This curvature causes other things in space to be attracted to the planet.
Your brand, and more specifically content you create, as we’ll discuss, becomes a source of gravity, drawing and attracting new opportunities to you as a professional.
And so it is critical to
establish your brand, but also
maintain your brand over time.
We’ll talk today about some very practical steps to establish your brand, but the truth is that if you aren’t regularly contributing to the things that support your brand, the “brand equity” is weakened.
I’ll be the first to admit, that this can be a challenge when we are faced with balancing work, family, other activities, and the demands of life. So we’ll also talk today about some tips for helping get organized so that the maintenance of your brand is not overwhelming.
Before we get in to the nitty-gritty, let’s ask a basic question? Why do we care? Why bother about having a brand at all?
This chart illustrates the number of incoming freshman at University of Washington in Seattle according to their desired field of study. The line on top there is Computer Science.
Over the past few years – becoming a developer has become cool, hip, not-geeky. And so as these students continue to graduate and join the marketplace, the supply of developers will continue to grow.
I believe, as developers we run a great risk of become complacent in our careers. If you’re like me you frequently get calls from recruiters. You maybe feel like you’d have no real difficulty finding work. But the risk here is that we allow ourselves to become a commodity.
The
Picture of commoditized product
So as more as more developers enter the marketplace, in order to maintain our differentiation – and thus our competitive edge – we need to create and maintain a strong brand. We need a way to elevate ourselves in the eyes of the employer or client who may see you as just another programmer to sit in a cube and write code.
Therefore, let’s talk about getting our personal brands in order.
The first key element of your personal brand is your avatar. Your avatar is the visual element of your brand. It shows you...and it should show up everywhere.
{lots of generic avatars}
This is not you. This is nobody. And you don’t want to be a nobody when your career is depending on it.
We want to be able to represent who we are, and that includes what we look like.
It’s not necessary to go get a professional headshot, though that is fine. But if you’re going to crop yourself out of a larger image, be aware of the background, etc.
Most developers live in a more casual environment – but we need to be careful.
An avatar image should be a minimum of 300 pixels square, in either .jpg or .png format, and 72 or 150 dpi.
{gravatar}
Once you get your avatar, use it everywhere. Consistency in your personal brand means using the same avatar image across all sites where you are represented.
Here’s what I would consider the essential top 8 sites where you should deploy your avatar.
Your bio is a kind of elevator pitch. You have basically three sentences to inform a reader about who you are, what you’re about, and how to find you.
Your bio should be 1 or 2 parts status or history. Talk about what you are currently doing.
then you can start tooting your own horn.
What you’ve achieved establishes creditability.
finally you want to let people know where to find you. The url you put in your bio becomes an inbound link to your site, which helps SEO.
So as your avatar and bio begin to establish your personal brand, what we’re really here to discuss is a strategy for content.
Content creates gravity. If you’ve ever taken a physics class or learned about Einstein’s theory of relativity, part of what he posited was that a planet sitting out in space actually creates a curvature.
This curvature causes other things in space to be attracted to the planet.
Content, as we’ll discuss, becomes a source of gravity, drawing and attracting new opportunities to you as a professional. As we talk about what
A blog serves a few key purposes: First, it gives you a home. It becomes the launching point for many of your content strategy actions.
If social media is shaking hands with someone, your blog is having a cup of coffee with them. It’s taking the connection and having a conversation with them.
The primary reason that most people don’t feel that they are able to start a blog is because they don’t believe they have anything to say – or that nobody will care about what they say. So I’ve found that these 4 broad topics cover most of my blog posts.
Establishing a editorial calendar helps to organize and build consistency in to your writing. Set a goal for 1 post a month and see if you can improve from there.
If you’re going to use Wordpress – these are the plug-ins I recommend.
a Podcast allows you and your brand to get in the car and drive away.
Every developer in the room deals with problems they can’t solve, technologies they don’t have time to learn, and clients they can’t stand. In other words, they are just like you.
SlideShare
Restate: Your brand goes ahead of you; your brand follows you; your brand draws opportunity to you;