Tag Archives: Personal Branding

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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 4: YOUR Thank You Note Matters

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Thank You Multiple Languages

This is the final post in a four-post blog series on personal branding lessons inspired from Tom Peters, The Brand Called You.

The Deepest Human Need is the Need to be Appreciated

Insightful Advice from William James and Tom Peters.  Watch this Tom Peters video about the power of Thank You Notes (specifically time stamp 1:20 to 2:34).  In addition to the William James quote,  Mr. Peters shares:

"Recognition and Appreciation.  Nothing gets you further in your career.  And, it also makes you a better human being."

 

 

Digital Thank You Notes.   When someone links to your blog, tweets your post on Twitter, or shares your work on LinkedIn News, do you say thank you?

If someone cites your content in his/her blog, show appreciation and demonstrate listening by:

* Commenting in their Blog Post.  Doesn't it feel good when someone leaves you a blog comment?  When someone takes the time to find your post, read it, evaluate it, and share it in their work, they are giving you a generous gift.

* Tweeting This Person's Blog Post.  Publicize this person's blog post to your Twitter followers.  Help drive readers to this person's blog.  Sharing builds community on The Web.  Isn't building community the goal?

* Tweeting A Quick Thank You Note.  Thank you notes are important on The Web.  Why?  You show you're listening.  You show your appreciation.  You show you're human.  

Demonstrating humanity and humility in 140 characters (or less) is a good thing.

Mitch Joel's Golden Rule

Advice from Six Pixels of Separation.  On pages 41 to 42 and 210 to 212, Mitch Joel reinforces the importance of (1) monitoring mentions of your product / service AND (2) expressing thanks to the people sharing your content:

If someone mentions you, it is now your duty — at the very least — to leave a comment back on their blog (or email them directly), letting them know you are reading, paying attention, and most importantly, appreciative of their mentioning you.

As much as you physically can, respond and be thankful to everyone who takes the time to mention you.

Make this your golden rule, and make a commitment that you will never break it.

Conclusion

Success Requires the Help of Others.  Achieving successful outcomes is a team sport.  Teachers, mentors, coaches, teammates, family members, colleagues, clients, or someone else helped us accomplish something really worthwhile.

The Digital World Is Different.  Why?  Everyone I previously mentioned is someone I know personally.  In the digital space, there's a higher likelihood that you don't personally know the people who spread your content. That's a key difference.   Folks from any part of the world may have linked to your blog post, liked your content on Facebook, or tweeted about your service on Twitter.

Whenever you can, recognize these people and express your appreciation. 

A Final Thought.  I've thoroughly enjoyed publishing this four-post blog series on Tom Peters' Personal Branding Lessons.  Readers shared these posts on LinkedIn News, curated them on websites, and tweeted the posts to their followers.

I appreciate you taking time to read these posts.  And, you're so generous to share them.


Thank You — It means so much to me.

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.    

 

Photo Credit By woodleywonderworks via Flickr

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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 3: YOUR Lifelong Reinvention Matters

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Fortune Magazine Reinvent Your Career

Fortune Magazine published, Reinvent Your Career, in its July 4, 2011 issue. 

The article shares real-life stories of five (5) professionals who confronted and overcame personal and professional setbacks.  

And, these compelling examples prove successful reinvention happens at any age despite your previous job description.

The following video profiles one of these true-life reinventions (note: the beginning contains a short commercial):

 

 

Lifelong Reinvention Is A Professional Requirement

U.S. Labor Statistics Paint a Sobering Picture. These statistics are from the Fortune Magazine article.  We’re living in an era of:

* Job Destruction.  12.6% of the workforce lost their jobs in the past recession, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Displaced Worker Survey (the highest rate since at least 1981).

* Multiple Professional Identities.  The youngest baby boomers (those born from 1957 to 1964) held an average of 11 jobs from ages 18 to 44, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The Denali Group, a procurement-services company, predicts Generation Y will have 15 to 25 jobs in their lifetime.

* A Project-Based Economy.  By the end of 2010, the number of people working part-time because they couldn’t find full-time work had nearly quadrupled since the 1950s to 2.38 million people.

Tom Peters Described Our Project-Based Economy In 1997

Read The Fast Company Article, The Brand Called You.  These Tom Peters quotes underscore the personal branding opportunities in a project-based economy:

One key to growing your power is to recognize the simple fact that we now live in a project world.  Almost all work today is organized into bite-sized packets called projects.  

A project-based world is ideal for growing your brand: projects exist around deliverables, they create measurables, and they leave you with braggables.  If you’re not spending at least 70% of your time working on projects, creating projects, or organizing your (apparently mundane) tasks into projects, you are sadly living in the past.

Today, you have to think, breathe act, and work in projects.

Project World makes it easier for you to assess — and advertise — the strength of Brand You.

Project World Dictates Lifelong Learning and Reinvention

Brand You Requires Regular Reinvention.  Tom Peters emphasizes this conclusion in The Brand Called You:

A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.  

Instead of making yourself a slave to the concept of a career ladder, reinvent yourself on a semi-regular basis.

Common Traits of Successful Reinventors.  In the Fortune Magazine article, Pulling Off The Ultimate Career Makeover, successful reinventors share a common attitude:

  • They love learning by doing  
  • They embrace the future (especially new technologies like social media)
  • They take calculated risks (e.g., they are willing to fail)

Read, Read, Read!  Tom Peters shares important advice on keeping your analytical skills and creativity fresh (e.g., new skills and knowledge powering reinvention): Out-Read The Other Guy.


  

Reinvent Yourself By Doing Work That Matters

Seth Godin’s Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself.  “Doing work that matters” may require a personal transformation.  Here are Godin’s seven (7) ways to do it:

1. Connect.  Social media and a laptop allow us to make direct connections on a global scale.  Connect and learn new insights from other people.  Better yet, create something that impacts their lives.  In return, you’ll build reputation, influence, and power.

2. Be Generous.  By creating something that benefit others and by not expecting anything back, you’ll cultivate community (aka a tribe).  And, communities spread ideas.  Your personal brand could be one of those ideas.

3. Make Art.  All of us are capable of creating art.  With today’s technology, it could be an informative website, a great blog post, or a thought-provoking eBook.  Your art can move and influence others.

4. Acknowledge the Lizard.  That voice inside our heads that prevents us from creating art — that’s the lizard brain.  The lizard brain reminds us how we fear being laughed at or looking foolish.  Acknowledge it.  Now, ignore it.  And, create the art that’s inside you.  

5. Ship.  Godin says: “The key to reinvention of who you are, then, is to become someone who ships (aka The Linchpin).”  The Linchpin is the person who accepts accountability, has the skills for getting things done, and creates outcomes.  To create outcomes, you have to ship (i.e., hit enter to send that email, press publish to post that blog article, or make the hard decision).

6. Fail.  Reinvention requires failing often and failing small.  You have to be willing to fail.  Watch this Tech Crunch TV interview with Godin on The Value of Failing Small (especially time stamp 1:59 to 3:26).


    

 

7. Learn.  Another direct quote from Seth Godin: “The path to reinvention, though, is just that — a path.  The opportunity of our time is to discard what you think you know and instead learn what you need to learn.  Every single day.


Read Godin’s eBook: Brainwashed — Seven Ways to Reinvent Yourself.  Here it is from Slideshare:  

 

Seth Godin – Reinvent Yourself

View more presentations from LeeFuller

Conclusion

Leverage Technology To Your Advantage.  The Internet levels the playing field.  In the following video, Godin makes a strong case how technology powers your reinvention:

* Your Laptop Is The 21st Century Factory (0:38 – 1:54).  Now, you own the means of production.  What are you going to do with your laptop to make something that changes the world?

* You Can Globally and Directly Connect (2:17 – 3:54).  Plus, the Internet enables your global connections to promote your work and do business (and vice versa).  

* You Can Spread Ideas Via Social Media Connections (3:55 – 4:58).  Developing these connections (or knowing people who have them) is vital.  Why?  Social media influences: 

  1. The ideas that get a head start
  2. The ideas that spread 

 


 

Don’t Make My Mistake.  I started my blog and personal reinvention process in July 2009.    

 My ONE Regret — Not starting sooner.  


And, it isn’t just because of the resulting opportunities.  Reinvention Is Fun.  


Go. Connect.  Be generous.  Make art.  Acknowledge the lizard.  Ship.  Fail.  Learn.

And, please let me know how it goes. 

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

   

 

Photo Credit via Mike D Merrill   

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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 2: YOUR Storytelling Matters

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Storytelling

Why Is Storytelling Important?

It’s A Necessary Business Skill.  Do it well and you’ll surpass your competition.  Tom Peters makes a memorable point about storytelling’s importance especially during senior executive presentations: 

 

MBAs — Become Better Storytellers.  John Byrne published What Business Really Thinks of the MBA in his Poets & Quants Website.  The article summarizes insights from the 2010 book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads.

Analytical Smarts Aren’t Enough.  The authors cite storytelling as a necessary skill today’s MBAs lack.  Several executives (aka newly-minted MBAs’ future employers) in the book say MBA presentation skills are a special weakness:

Students need to master the art of storytelling. They must learn to sell their ideas in a powerful, succinct way.

Students fail to deliver the important message up front. I’m often asked to review their five-minute pitch for a business plan, but after the first minute they still haven’t given me a reason to listen for the next four. I’m looking for clarity with accuracy, precision, and conciseness.

Stories Motivate Us For More


Read Valeria Maltoni, Author of Conversation Agent Blog.  Valeria ALWAYS writes thought-provoking, well-researched, passionate posts.  She tells stories brilliantly.

And, she leaves us wanting more. 

Her recent blog post is no exception.  How Content Rules, reviews the fantastic book, Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman.  Check out this killer opening:

She stood next to the podium and started reading from Gustav and the Goldfish, a book written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss in 1950 as part of his long-running series of children stories for redbook. We all sat there in rapt attention — the bigger the fish got, the more we leaned forward in anticipation.

Ann Handley is more than a writer and Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs: She’s a storyteller.

Doesn’t that:

  • Grab your attention from the start
  • Drive you to read more
  • Make the reading experience memorable

Stories Makes Your Message Stick
The SUCCESs Model.  Chip Heath and Dan Heath introduced this framework in their classic book, Made to Stick.  Buy it.  Study it.  Your must-have, business library has a place for it.

Here are their six principles of successful ideas:

S = Simplicity.  Strip an idea down to its core.  Relentlessly prioritize.

U = Unexpectedness.  Be counter-intuitive, use surprise, and generate interest and curiosity.  

C = Concrete.  Paint a mental picture using human actions or sensory information.  

C = Credible.  Cite outside authorities using vivid details (i.e., “Where’s the Beef?”)  

E = Emotional.  Make people feel something.  People care about people, not numbers.   

S = Stories.  Stories drive action through stimulation and inspiration.

Chip Heath explains the principle of simplicity in the following video.  Note: There’s a short advertisement at the start.  

Notice how he uses the SUCCESs principles especially storytelling:  

 

Conclusion

Data, Facts, and Analysis Aren’t Enough.  Peter Guber, former chairman of Sony Pictures and current CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, published a book earlier this year:  Tell to Win — Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Storytelling.  Fast Company interviewed him in this article, Storytelling Your Way to Success.  

Here’s Guber’s view on how storytelling impacted the successes and failures in his life:

I realized that the secret sauce to success is the ability to take facts, bullet points, and data and orchestrate them into an emotional offering so that your audience metabolizes them and then the information becomes resonant, memorable, and actionable.

The Best Story Wins.  That’s timeless Tom Peters’ wisdom.  Telling a simple story when describing a complex solution is challenging.  It’s a highly sought after skill.  

I work in a professional services firm that addresses complicated problems.  And, the solutions are never easy to execute.  Plus, the solutions contain multiple components that can be difficult to explain.

A Differentiating Opportunity.  Untangling the complexity and simplifying the message are the differentiating opportunity.   That’s how storytelling differentiates your organization.  If you’re the storyteller (or the person charged with creating the story), take advantage of the opportunity to differentiate your personal brand. 

 

 

What’s YOUR story?

 

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If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

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Tom Peters’ Personal Branding Lessons, Part 1: Why YOUR Blog Matters

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Brand Called You - Personal Brand

 

 

Fast Company published The Brand Called You by Tom Peters in August 1997.  Mr. Peters’ timeless advice about personal branding is especially relevant in our current economy.

Personal Branding is Important.  Here are two (2) direct quotes from the article:

  • “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.”
  • “To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for The Brand Called You.”

A Brand = A Promise of Value.  Think of personal branding like this:

  • The distinctive role / niche you create for yourself
  • The message and the strategy you’ll conduct to promote The Brand Called You


Your Personal Branding Hub: A Personal Blog 

A personal blog can be an important component of your personal brand (maybe the most important): 

* Blogging provides your forum for demonstrating your expertise about a subject you’re passionate about.  And, you get to pick the subject area — don’t worry about your current job description.

* Blogging drives your creativity, imagination, and intellect.  Adam Singer says it best: Blogging Is Like Going to the Gym … For Your Brain

* Blogging and personal branding means building community.  Community is a key concept in Mitch Joel’s book, Six Pixels of Separation.  Building community (online and in-person) includes:

  • Commenting on other blogs
  • Attending conferences related to your chosen subject area
  • Participating and contributing to conversations in social networks relevant to that subject (i.e., LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)
  • Developing new relationships inside and outside of your current employer

You’re Not Defined By Your Job Title … 


… And, You’re Not Confined by Your Job Description.  This is another timeless lesson from Mr. Peters.  For corporate employees, his insight brings significant career implications:  

“No more vertical.  No more ladder.  That’s not the way careers work anymore.  Linearity is out.  A career is now a checkerboard.  Or even a maze.  It’s full of moves that go sideways, forward, slide on the diagonal, even go backward when that makes sense.  (It often does.)  A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.”  

Mr. Peters explains this concept in the following video:

  


You Own The Means of Production to Mold Your Personal Brand


Take the Initiative — The Internet Levels the Playing Field.  Paraphrasing a key concept from Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin, “employees no longer have to be cogs in the giant industrial machine.”   

Why? The Internet provides direct and infinite opportunities in building a personal brand.  The only limit is your imagination.  On page 24 of Linchpin, Godin states:

  1. “Today the means of production = a laptop computer with Internet connectivity.”
  2. “Three thousand dollars buys a worker an entire factory.”

Godin shares his thinking with David Meerman Scott in this video interview (time stamp 3:48 to 5:12). 

 

David Meerman Scott interviews Seth Godin from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.

 


You are Responsible for What You Do with the Means of Production.  There are two (2) important requirements in leveraging the “Digital Age Factory”:

  1. Initiative — Having the courage to start.  
  2. Persisting and persevering to finish.

Career Security Versus Job Security.  The means of production can lead to career security.  I’ll take career security over job security everyday of the week (and twice on Sunday).  To understand the difference between them, read these articles by Adam Singer of The Future Buzz:

Start Your Personal Blog.  Select a subject you’re passionate about.  Set up a WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad account.  

Keep Keeping On.  For most beginning bloggers, the writing and creative process doesn’t always flow easily.  Don’t worry.  It gets better with time and practice.

 

The Most Important Marketing Tool for Your Personal Brand

Tom Peters and Seth Godin Say Blogging Matters.  Check out this video.  Both Peters and Godin provide their personal insights on why blogging is a powerful marketing platform.  

Mr. Peters says “blogging is the best damn marketing tool by an order of magnitude that I ever had.  And, it’s free.” 

 

Blogging = Writing …  

… And, Writing is a Vital Business Skill.  Thoughtfully expressing written ideas directly impacts your career.  Think about it.  How many corporate emails do you write on a daily basis for one of the following audiences:

  • Your clients
  • Your boss
  • Your teammates
  • Your boss’s boss
  • Outside vendors

Practice Breeds Confidence.  I’ve published and maintained my personal blog for five and half years.  Blogging allows me to practice writing more than any other business activity.  

And, blogging is something I love practicing!   

A resulting benefit of consistent practice — increased confidence.  Written communications require confidence when:

  • Summarizing “the so what” to an executive audience
  • Delivering good news
  • Delivering bad news (and the plan to address the situation)
  • Crediting a colleague(s) on outstanding work (especially to upper management)
  • Gaining consensus (especially among team members beyond your management control)
  • Framing / Describing a politically sensitive situation (and the plan to address the situation)

Writing and the Link to Your Business Career.  Don’t believe me?  Listen to what Mr. Peters says about business writing skills and its importance:

 

Conclusion

You Don’t Have to Make the Op-Ed of The New York Times to Make the Grade.  That’s my favorite direct quote from The Brand Called You.  Your effort, your passion establishes your personal brand / reputation.

Publish. Connect. Give.

Do these three (3) things regularly and people WILL:

  • Find you online
  • Link to your blog
  • Cite you in their blog posts and articles
  • Ask you to contribute to their publications
  • Say you contribute value to their respective communities 

It Happened to Me. It Can Happen to You.  Here are links to other blogs or content highlighting my personal brand and/or citing my personal blog.  My blog posts or other networking activities created these personal branding opportunities: 

Start blogging.  Start writing.  Start creating.  And, Don’t Look Back.

 

Did You Enjoy This Post?

If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!

 

Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.

 

 

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5 Tactics for Optimizing Your Online Visibility in Google Search Results

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Thinking Digital According to the Bloomberg article, Microsoft has Herculean Task in Taking on Google, Americans conducted 65% of their online searches using Google in May 2009. Bing, Microsoft's latest competitive offering, is making some headway and apparently caught the eye of Google co-founder, Sergey Brin (click here for the June 14, 2009 Mashable article). Bing's potential competitive threat benefits all online users because Google will continue improving its core business. This August 10, 2009 Mashable article discusses how Google's engineering team is upgrading the speed, accuracy, size, and comprehensiveness of Google Search. The project is still in beta mode and is code named, Caffeine. In the foreseeable future, Google's online search dominance will continue so understanding its influence and impact on your online visibility is critically important.

Various reputable news sources report signs of an improving U.S. economy, but I'll believe the economic turnaround when I see it. Unfortunately, Corporate America is still conducting layoffs. Therefore, high online visibility to potential networking connections, corporate recruiters, or employers is vitally important. Whenever any of these three contact points researches "your name" on Google, you want to dominate the first and second page search results. If you don't own the majority of the Top 20 Google results, you may as well be invisible.

To boost your online visibility, I suggest the following five tactics. Each tactic is worth your time and effort. Remember that perfection and technical expertise are not a requirement — Just Get Started! The most important critical success factors are your commitment and persistence.

  • Start a Blog
  • Create a Google Profile
  • Participate in the Big Three Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
  • Post Comments on Other Blogs
  • Register with Frequently Updated Profile Sites (i.e., MyBlogLog, FriendFeed)

Tactic #1: Start a Blog
Blogs rank high in Google search results so this tactic cannot be emphasized enough. The Google algorithm rewards websites with frequently updated content. High ranking blogs are routinely updated on an hourly and daily basis. As a result, blogs garner a distinct advantage in the search engine results pages game (e.g., SERPs). This advantage is exactly why businesses and individuals should implement blogging as the foundation of an online marketing strategy.

For an easy-to-understand primer on how to create and maintain a blog, I highly recommend Dan Schawbel's eBook, Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success. This well-structured reference literally walks you through a step-by-step process that's accessible to both Beginner and Expert bloggers.

Tactic #2: Create a Google Profile
One of the quickest and easiest ways to achieve a front-page Google search engine result is by creating a Google Profile. Google introduced this service in Spring 2009. For individuals completing a Google Profile, their name and profile is shown as Google search engine result #10 (in a search for that person's name). The Google Profile launch received a lot of press during this time which triggered a "land grab" for individual names. Still, this shouldn't discourage you from filling out an individual profile.

Another important reason for completing a Google Profile is you can use the customized URL created for your Google Profile as a "virtual business card" when posting your comments on other blogs. When you post a blog comment, you want the blog author and other respective commenters to "see who you are." Until I got my blog up and running, I relied on my Google Profile for posting blog comments or other instances when I required a personal web site URL.

If you need more information about Google Profiles, here are some helpful online resources:

Tactic #3: Participate in the Big Three Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
On June 18, 2009, eMarketer published the article, Facebook Overtakes MySpace. The statistics confirmed Facebook's supremacy as the top social networking site. Additional data I found interesting included how Twitter experienced explosive growth of ~2,700% and LinkedIn grew by 90%. MySpace still ranks as the second largest social networking site, but its traffic and membership are steadily declining. Profiles from these sites rank high in Google Search, but I recommend focusing on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (especially if you're a social networking newbie). To maximize your online visibility, make sure you consistently employ your real name as your profile username (i.e., www.twitter.com/yourfirstnameyourlastname or www.twitter.com/tonyfaustino or www.facebook.com/tonyfaustino).

Tactic #4: Post Comments on Other Blogs
Commenting on other blogs provides an opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge in a particular subject or industry. In the online world, commenting on another person's blog is the equivalent of attending a face-to-face networking event. Take advantage of this opportunity to make a great impression! Your comments also give Google another means of indexing your name. By consistently posting blog comments, you'll compile a critical mass over time. As a result, Google will display these comments in future search results related to your name.

Also, register with BackType.com so you can maintain an online record of all of your blog comments. You never know when those comments might come in handy for a future blog post.

Tactic #5: Register with Frequently Updated Profile Sites (i.e., MyBlogLog, FriendFeed)
Member profiles in social networks like MyBlogLog.com and FriendFeed rank high in Google Searches because their content is frequently updated. These sites aggregate your activity or updates in other social networking sites such as Twitter or Delicious.com. Therefore, every time you send out a tweet or bookmark an article or website, the activity is automatically recorded as "an information stream." These "information streams" are searchable, indexed, and provide a great opportunity displaying your name in the Top 20 Google Search results.

Photo Credit: By Karl Schneider via Flickr

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LinkedIn Lessons Part 1: Monitoring Your Personal Brand with the Popular Profile Section

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It’s hard to believe I graduated from Washington University twenty-plus years ago.  Since that time, I’ve made many important professional relationships.  “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is more than a clever cliché.  Relationships and access to key individuals is vitally important to succeeding in any organization, conducting a job search, executing a strategic plan, or selling a solution.

I started using LinkedIn more than a year ago to build, centralize, and maintain my professional relationships.  LinkedIn is a social networking site targeted to business professionals.  According to its website, LinkedIn counts 43 million+ members in over 200 countries.  In many ways, it’s the business audience version of Facebook.  Similar to growing and keeping in touch with Facebook “friends,” your primary purpose is to grow and maintain your LinkedIn “connections.”

Participation in LinkedIn is Important for Personal Branding and Online Visibility
When I started documenting ideas for The Social Media Reinvention Blog, I naturally thought of writing a LinkedIn-related article, and its importance in personal branding.  Here are some helpful online resources describing the importance of participating in LinkedIn:

·     HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn by Dan Schawbel

·     4 Minutes to Optimize a LinkedIn Profile for SEO by HubSpot

·     10 Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job by Guy Kawasaki

Your individual, LinkedIn Profile is a personal branding opportunity that promotes your skills, capabilities, and connections to:

·     Your current employer

·     A prospective employer

·     A prospective connection

Even more importantly, LinkedIn public profiles rank very high in Google Searches which significantly increases your online visibility.  My public LinkedIn profile consistently ranks as my highest Google Search Engine Result when searching for “Tony Faustino.” 

The Popular Profiles Section Measures Your Personal Branding Efforts Within LinkedIn 
LinkedIn Popular Profile Cropped Many LinkedIn features are highly useful in personal branding.  For this post, I will focus on the “Popular Profiles” feature found in the LinkedIn Company Profile Page of a respective company. 

In a LinkedIn Company Profile Page, the top five Popular Profiles are displayed for that respective organization.  According to LinkedIn’s Frequently Asked Questions: Origin of Data for Company Profiles, a Popular Profile is defined as: “These are LinkedIn users who have the most Profile views for the Company Profile page you are viewing.”

Therefore, the Popular Profiles Section measures your LinkedIn Profile’s “findability” or “searchability” to other LinkedIn members.  This is extremely important so I monitor my profile’s popularity on a weekly basis.  This monitoring activity helps me gauge how well I’ve optimized my profile with important keywords and the effectiveness of my comments in various LinkedIn Discussion Group forums.

Note: I checked with LinkedIn Customer Service if the Popular Profile algorithm also factors in the number of views of one’s public profile – it does not (e.g., LinkedIn profiles views resulting from Google Searches).

I’ve Maintained a Popular Profile on my Firm’s LinkedIn Company Page for 22 Consecutive Weeks
Maintaining a Popular Profile on LinkedIn takes significant time and commitment.  When I discovered the Popular Profiles feature, I made it a personal goal to get my profile listed in this section.  Here are the four tactics I employ to continue achieving this result:

·     Optimize Your Profile for Important Keywords (Particularly The Specialties Section)

·     Thoroughly Describe Your Work Experience

·     Frequently Update Your Status with Useful Content

·     Actively Comment in LinkedIn Discussion Group Forums

In LinkedIn Lessons Part 2, I will describe in further detail how I specifically employ these four tactics.

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LinkedIn Lessons Part 2: Four Tactics for Creating a “Popular Profile” on Your Company’s Profile Page

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Note: This blog post is Part 2 of a two-part series on LinkedIn Lessons.  The first blog post is titled, LinkedIn Lessons Part 1: Monitoring Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn with the Popular Profile Section.

For 22 consecutive weeks, I’ve maintained a LinkedIn Profile that’s listed on the Popular Profiles Section of my firm’s Company Profile Page.

Here are the four tactics I employ to continue achieving this result:

·     Optimize Your Profile with Important Keywords

·     Thoroughly Describe Your Work Experience

·     Frequently Update Your Status With Useful Content

·     Actively Comment in LinkedIn Discussion Group Forums

Optimize Your Profile with Important Keywords
LinkedIn Specialties It’s important to include keywords in your profile so a prospective employer, recruiter, or connection can easily find you.  In particular, the Specialties Section provides an outstanding opportunity to highlight your skills and capabilities.  Make sure this section fully lists and describes the knowledge you’ve acquired throughout your entire professional career.  Too often, people make the mistake of not fully elaborating on the many skills they’ve implemented in different jobs.  In the leaner world of Corporate America, you’ve probably developed additional skills that weren’t part of the original job description by frequently multi-tasking.  Make sure you describe those skills in the Specialties Section!

LinkedIn Who Viewed My Profile p1 A leading indicator of your profile optimization is the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” Section.  This section is located on the right side bar of your LinkedIn Home Page.  “Who’s Viewed My Profile” measures how many people recently viewed your profile, and the number of times it appeared in search results.   


Thoroughly Describe Your Work Experience
LinkedIn allows you to host and exhibit your entire resume online.  Take full advantage of this opportunity!  I recommend copying and pasting every bullet point from your resume into the LinkedIn template.  A full explanation of your work experience ensures your profile contains several keywords.  In addition, LinkedIn provides the option to make your public profile available with a customized URL that includes your name.  A customized URL with your name provides another search engine opportunity for Google or Bing to identify and display “your name” in search results.  Remember, LinkedIn Profiles rank very high in the Google Search algorithm so take advantage of the customized URL option.  Doing so will maximize your online visibility to prospective connections or employers.

Frequently Update Your Status with Useful Content
I view the Status Section as channel for sharing content that other connections will find personally or professionally beneficial.  This philosophy is similar to my strategy for crafting a tweet on Twitter.  Whenever possible, I link an article or online reference to my status update.  Using a URL shortening service like bit.ly makes it easier to accomplish this task because you’re limited by character spaces.

Here’s an example of a LinkedIn status update that connections favorably commented on: “A permanent job is a temporary one disguised with benefits.” Reinvent Your Job-Forbes http://bit.ly/EuuO8; One connection even tweeted this article to his Twitter followers and referenced me.

I wrote this updated linked to a New York Times article on the recent Yahoo-Microsoft deal: Why Carol Bartz Sold Yahoo Search: Matching Google & Microsoft's investment level is unsustainable strategy; NYTimes http://bit.ly/g5G8D.

Here’s the status update I provided this Friday morning: Is Universal Care & Cost Containment Viable? France's universal healthcare experiencing challenges|WSJ http://bit.ly/1U412E

Actively Comment in LinkedIn Discussion Group Forums
Joining and actively commenting in LinkedIn Discussion Groups allows you to demonstrate your knowledge in particular topics or industries.  It’s important to write thoughtful and helpful comments because this is how other LinkedIn members will primarily interact with you. Essentially, these discussion forums are the online equivalent of a 24/7 networking event.  After all, it’s called social networking for a reason!

Starting or posting a Discussion Topic is one of my favorite ways to establish a presence on LinkedIn.  In my own experience, trial and error determines what types of posts other members will favorably respond to and provide comments.  When a particular post strikes a favorable chord, the results are absolutely rewarding.  Four months ago, I posted a provocative article in my graduate business school’s LinkedIn group.  The article, RIP MBA: The Economic Crisis has Exposed the Myth of Business-School Expertise, and the ensuing discussion generated 33 comments.  I acted as the discussion moderator and let commenting activity take a life of its own.  More importantly, it gave me a credible entrée in connecting with other business school alumni that I otherwise would never personally meet.  And ultimately, isn’t that what we all would like to achieve through LinkedIn …

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Why Studying Me 2.0 Can Reinvent the Career of a 40-Something Working Professional

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Me 20 Book CoverI purchased Dan Schawbel’s book, Me 2.0, in Spring 2009.  Since that time, I’ve diligently studied and implemented Dan’s advice particularly in creating and promoting a personal blog.  Dan is the lead author and founder of the Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine.  He’s a nationally recognized expert, and I avidly read his blog for helpful insights relating to online personal brand management.  Dan also has a number of talented, contributing authors to the Personal Branding Blog such as Chad Levitt and Jun Loayza whose articles I regularly study.

Me 2.0’s target audience is the Generation Y demographic.  The book provides excellent guidance on interview preparation, interviewing skills, and professional networking that I wish someone would have shared with me 20+ years ago.  Young undergraduates and graduates competing in today’s job market should heed Dan’s guidance.  These two Wall Street Journal articles provide sobering evidence: With Jobs Scarce, Age Becomes an Issue: More Young Workers are at Risk of Layoffs as Employers Grow Wary of Letting Older Employees Go and The Curse of the Class of 2009: For College Graduates Lucky Enough to Get Work this Year, Low Wages are Likely to Haunt Them for a Decade or More. 

Furthermore, 40-Something Working Professionals (like me) can tremendously benefit from Me 2.0’s advice on online personal branding.  According to Me 2.0, effectively creating and promoting a blog are foundation principles in successful online personal branding.  Until I started studying Me 2.0 and Dan Schawbel’s free eBook, Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success, I had no idea about “the basics” and overall commitment required to effectively create, optimize, promote, and maintain a blog.  These two resources educated me on purposefully:

·     Positioning my knowledge about a subject I’m passionate about (e.g., social media and digital marketing strategy)

·     Establishing my personal brand online (as evidenced by Google Search Engine Page Results / SERPs on my name)

·     Optimizing and promoting my blog via search engine marketing and by commenting on other bloggers’ blogs

·     Evaluating and selecting a blog hosting service such as TypePad or WordPress (along with other infrastructure considerations)

·     Claiming my blog on Technorati.com (and other relevant steps to “owning” my online identity)

I’ve been executing Me 2.0’s lessons in professionally branding myself as an inbound marketer and social media / digital marketing advocate.  Writing The Social Media Reinvention Blog and earning the Inbound Marketing Certified Professional Certification are cornerstones of this branding strategy and the reinvention of my professional skills. The online publication of my new blog, catalog of blog comments, and tweets on Twitter will credibly present my personal wherewithal and knowledge in a Web 2.0 world. 

Studying and implementing Me 2.0's lessons provided me the "hands-on guidance" I required to purposefully build and shape that knowledge.

And the journey continues …