This weekend I engaged in a discussion at LinkedIn Answers about Personal Branding & Corporate Branding, discussing the different aspects of how personal brands and corporate brands can work together and against each other. Since this is a complex question which you may not have given much thought to, I thought that I’d share my ideas with you.

How corporate and personal brands empower or diminished each other

Competence

For the corporation, strong personal brands among the staff show the competences and strengths of the employees as well as the fact that they are interested and engaged in their line of work. For the personal brand it is great to have a network of strong brands around yourself and also to be connected to a strong corporate brand in your line of work.

On the other hand, if the company has weak competence, that brand will be hurt by the fact that the employees are not as sharp as expected. Also if some event (think Enron) happens, that will also have an impact on the personal brand of the staff, whether they have anything to do with what destroyed the corporate brand or not.

Inventory of resources in the company – working with your passion

If you are working in a place where the company cares about its brand and about the personal brands of the employees, it will be easier to find the right competence within the organization instead of using consultants for unnecessary tasks. (I believe in consultants, but they should be used in the proper manner.) This will give the employee a better chance of doing the things they are passionate about (as they have branded themselves) and will in the long run strengthen the corporate brand since it will be a better place to work at and hence attract better employees.

If there are weak personal brands in the organization, it will attract weak and unmotivated co-workers, which will have a negative impact on both brands.

Customer care / receptionist / salespeople

These are areas within the company where every client (hopefully) meets an actual human being. The way this person communicates will have a immense impact on whether or not the client feels happy. The brand of the person interacting with the client is carrying two brands, that of the company and that of himself. Both brands will be affected in either a positive or a negative direction depending on the associations that the client gets.

Conclusion

Both the company and the employees have everything to gain from working with their brands, and also thinking of how they can empower each other’s brands and the brands they are associated with in different networks or contexts. I believe that an increased brand awareness throughout the corporation will also benefit the corporate brand as well as make the employees more motivated to add to the corporate brand as well as start working on their own brands.

Have any of you faced situations in which the corporate brand and the personal brand have empowered or worked against each other?  How did you benefit from it (if positive), or deal with it (if negative)?

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Your personal brand is divided into two parts, your Personal Brand Image and your Personal Brand Identity, where the Personal Brand Image is how your peers perceive you and your identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities. Your Personal Brand Identity is who you really are (identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities) and what you want to communicate to others.

There are a lot of ways in which you can align the two, but today we will focus on networking and events.

When you see someone at a restaurant, in a meeting room, or at a networking event, you will automatically add definitions to your image of that person. If she is having lunch with a head hunter that you recognize, it will probably empower certain areas of her brand image such as skill level and professionalism, while having dinner with her daughter will add to her image of being a good mother, emotional skills etc. The bottom line is, your brand image is affected by the company you keep.

Using Facebook and LinkedIn to meet with the right people

Let’s say you want to meet with a certain type of person, to pick their brain, to hang out or to make inquiries about if their office is a good place to be looking for work. The first thing I normally do is to find out if there is anyone in my network that fits the profile, or if there is anyone that knows someone with the profile I am looking for. So how do I do this?

First I go to my LinkedIn account, looking around for certain skills, positions and interests of the people that I know personally. If somene fits the profile, then I just contact them. I do the same on Facebook, but the search possibilities are much more limited. OftenI find that I do not know the right person directly but that my connections know someone, which is almost as good. Let your connection help you get connected.  Ask for an introduction.

Finding the events where you want to be seen

You have now met with the connections in your network and also with some of their connections, but you still wants more. Maybe you are looking at the local chamber of commerce and other traditional networks for the right events to practice your networking skills. If you do that, it is a great start, but I have found that looking at which events my connections go to is much more efficient as far as find the best ones. The good thing is that Facebook and LinkedIn lets you do that easily.

LinkedIn lets you list the events that your connections are visiting by going to the events section. Here you can see them ordered by date or popularity. You can also recommend events to your connections.

On Facebook, you cannot actually list the events of others, but you can keep track of the one you are invited to and who else is attending. Go to the events page where you will see upcoming events and also the upcoming birthdays of your connections.

How do you use the social media networks to network offline?  Share your tips and success stories in the comments section.

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Everyone’s personal brand is different, even if by the tiniest subtlety.  So, there are very few “sins” of personal branding that universally apply to all.  But, I’m confident that the seven personal branding sins listed below can be applied to everyone – including you (but let’s hope they don’t)! 

Without further ado, here are 7 sinful characteristics of a personal brand that you should absolutely aim to avoid. 

1.  Thinking you don’t need a personal brand

Surprise!  You do need a personal brand, and in fact, you have one whether you like it or not.  The experience that occurs when someone Googles you? That is one reflection of your brand (even if nothing shows up).  Your LinkedIn profile, or lack thereof?  Yet another extension of your brand. 

Personal branding is a bit like fashion.  Whether you know it or not, you’ve got a unique sense of style that the whole world can see. 

2.  Misrepresenting yourself

The internet is a glorious place where we all have the freedom to say and do pretty much whatever the hell we like.  Empowering? Yes.  Overly empowering? Maybe.  Artificially pumping up your personal brand by misrepresenting your experience or skill set will only come back to eventually bite you in the ass. 

Specifically, don’t call yourself an expert or a guru unless you really are one.  Those words are utterly meaningless unless you can quickly back them up. 

3.  Making your personal brand ALL about you

Sure, your personal brand is ultimately a reflection of you and you alone.  But, do you want that reflection to be of a self-centered individual that only looks inward? I hope not! 

I love the 90/10 rule put forth by Jack Humphrey.  Make 90% of your communication about others, or how to help others, and save a maximum of 10% for you.  Will this dilute your personal brand, you might be wondering?  Absolutely not.  Instead, you will come across as knowledgeable, truly willing to share the ideas of others, and ready to lead them to success. 

4.  Building a brand you don’t believe in

Admittedly, the personal branding hype machine is screaming at an all-time high right now.  But don’t be confused into thinking you simply must build a brand this instant around your current job or area of study.  If your heart isn’t in it, or you have self-doubt over your current path, take time to sort it all out. 

Consider Ola Rynge’s take on the importance of passion.  If you are lacking passion, your personal brand will lack passion as well. 

5.  Forgetting the “personal” in personal branding

I find it quite interesting that businesses today attempt to humanize their corporate brands, while many individuals are actually doing just the opposite with their personal brands.  Personal branding is not about hiding your unique traits, it is about making them shine bright! 

The one thing that separates you from the rest of us is not your proficiency with Microsoft Excel, or your super slick profile pic.  What separates you is the fact that…I don’t know actually, you tell me.  Would I know it from your outward personal brand? 

6.  Forgetting the “social” in social media

Social networking is a huge part of personal branding today.  It is absolutely the most effective way to connect with others and communicate your unique message.  But, if all you are doing is repetitively shoving your message down the throats of your network, you will soon be all alone, screaming to no one. 

One of the best examples I can give is Scott Stratton, @unmarketing.  Scott exemplifies all that is good about social networking, and provides an excellent example to follow.  As he puts it, “Engage, Interact, Build.”  Check him out. 

7.  Never taking a day off

The 24/7, lightning quick world we operate in today is truly amazing.  Sometimes I get the feeling that if I miss an hour on Twitter, something Earth-shattering will happen without me.  I’ve got to get over that, and I bet you do too.  So you don’t tweet for a day – will you lose followers? Or your blog goes stagnant for a week.  Will your subscribers panic and unsubscribe? No and no. 

While it is true that your personal brand is publicly viewable on the web 24/7, don’t think that your personal branding efforts must follow the same time schedule.  Taking time off just might be the catalyst you need for a more inspired brand. 

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree with the 7 “sins” listed above?  Any universal no-no’s that I’ve left off the list?  I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section below. 

Ryan Rancatore can also be found at Personal Branding 101, discussing the tools and tactics that will help you build a killer personal brand in 2010 and beyond.  

Ryan would love to connect with you on Twitter at @RyanRancatore, or on Linkedin, Facebook, or Brazen Careerist.

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Many of you are probably familiar with the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, which demonstrates how different waves of users welcome new tools at different points in time. Some people love gadgets, and want to be among the first to have them.  Others prefer to wait until a product has proven its worth before they purchase it. I believe that this framework can just as easily be applied to an idea, in this case social media. Let’s take a look at how social media adoption parallels product adoption:

Social Media Classifications

• Innovators. Those who have a strong brand and do not need much social networking to secure a new position; social networking is their exclusive search technique
• Early Adopters. Those who use social networking early in a search and network every day
• Early Majority. Those who hear that social media works and will try it as a supplement to more traditional job searching techniques (i.e. job boards and directly applying for positions)
• Late Majority. Those who use ¨traditional¨ job search techniques and dabble in social networking as a test but feel they need to because everyone is talking about it
• Laggards. Really do not like the idea of social networking, prefer the tried-and-true ways to find a job

When you are either passively looking or actively looking, where do you find yourself on this curve?  Now be honest, we would all like to be in the ¨Innovators¨ or ¨Early Adopters¨ categories but that just isn’t realistic.  Most of us will find ourselves in one of the ¨Early Majority,¨ or ¨Late Majority,¨ or even the dreaded ¨Laggards¨ category.

Given where you think you are in this curve, pick where you want to be.  Once you figure out your target, then plan on how to get there.  Yes, plan - otherwise the chances of getting to that position are slim.

How might you improve your position?

1. Do the personal brand worksheet to uncover what makes you uniquely you
2. Now that you know how to compellingly talk about yourself, spread that message by making yourself visible online
3. Grow a relevant LinkedIn and Twitter network and start tapping social media to find and secure new opportunities

I recommend reading blogs like Mashable to keep up with the latest trends.  Investigate if any may be right for your personal brand.  You cannot be everywhere, nor should you be on every single site.  Investigate the value of each site and consider your options.  Have fun with it, even try it out to see what you think and then cancel your account if you don’t think it will work.  Test the waters!

Here’s one final tip: start thinking about using video in 2010!

Create a Remarkable Web Presence at Brand-Yourself.com

Once you’ve leveraged your social network for your job search, it’s time to create a visible web presence to further differentiate and brand yourself to prospective employers. Did you know that more than half of employers are more likely to hire you if you’ve spent time developing your personal brand across social networks? To help you do this, we built a platform to manage your online reputation froCm one central hub. Create your Brand-Yourself account today and see how our tools can help you build, optimize and promote a remarkable web presence that gets you hired.

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