Employee Branding
Your Staff’s (and your business’s) Reputation is Online

By Bernie Borges

How can you help your staff build their personal brand while also benefiting your organization?  Start by embracing the concept of personal branding because you will both benefit. Next, set out to build your own personal brand if you haven’t already. It’s important to know the area of expertise of your team members and encourage your staff to consider their strengths as they build their unique personal brands.

Start by ensuring your team has a complete profile on LinkedIn and Facebook. LinkedIn is strictly business and Facebook is a hybrid of business and fun. Then, start connecting with people you know directly or indirectly.  Use the Search feature to find people with whom you used to work or attend school or who are from your hometown and connect with them.  In LinkedIn you connect with others.  In Facebook you friend others.  In Twitter you follow others.

Chances are you’re already using at least one of these social web platforms.  That’s great!  But, are you building your personal brand with them and encouraging your staff to do the same? Perhaps your staff has a head start on you and they’ve been bugging you to get started.  You’ve resisted either because you think it is for kids or because you think you don’t have the time.  Well, Mr. or Ms. CEO, I’ve got news for you.  Many of your peers are already there.  Your absence is obvious.  The train has left the station.  Get on board!

Perhaps you belong to an association of professionals where a private online group is formed. The same principles apply. Even if LinkedIn or Facebook aren’t your thing, chances are there is a place on the social web where you can connect with people who matter to you and to whom you matter.

Once you have your social profiles completed, consider the following. How often do you upload content to your personal profile or to industry social sites? How often do you recommend others in your network? How often do you answer questions in online discussions? How often do you ask questions? How often do you check each of these platforms – once per month? Once per week? Daily? In order to develop your personal brand you must be active in the online social platforms. Think about your favorite networking situations. If you show up to the networking club just a few times throughout the year, you will not build your personal brand or any meaningful relationships.

Here are some tips to consider in building your personal brand on the social web:

• Be visible: Stay active in whichever social web platform you choose to participate.  When you are active you will be noticed more and will have more opportunity to engage with others.

• Be interesting: Whatever your subject matter expertise is you probably have ideas to express. Think of creative ways to express your thoughts. Ask questions meant to get people thinking. Remember that often what is obvious to you is probably not so obvious to others.

• Contribute: Similarly, share your insights. We live in an economy where our content is our marketing. When you have good content to share, by all means share it! Don’t be surprised if you get invited into more conversations, or invited to speak or write because you have contributed good content.

• Push the envelope: This one requires discretion, especially if you are employed (as opposed to being self-employed) or you are the CEO. You don’t want to create controversy that can have a negative impact on both you and your business. 

• Be real: This is critical. The social web is not a place to act or be someone you’re not.  You may get away with it for a little while, but not for long.

• Decide how you want to be found: Develop your personal brand around something specific that you can use as your unique value proposition. Even if it doesn’t boil down to a single phrase, you can still become known for something like “the gal you want to hire if you need to launch a new product in the (fill in the blank) industry.”

Building your personal brand is too important to ignore.  Businesses that understand the value of a personal brand do more than accept it; they embrace it.  One of my favorite personal branding examples is Matt Cutts from Google. His personal brand is very recognizable to people in the Internet industry.  Google benefits greatly from Cutts’ personal brand because he is so effective at conveying who he is as a person and as a Google engineer.  Google has a very effective “face” to the community in Matt Cutts. He portrays Google in a down-to-earth human manner, which is very effective considering the size of Google.  He has become a rock star in the Internet industry.  His personal brand is a great asset to Matt Cutts, and equally a great asset to Google.

Personal branding is nothing more than the new media version of reputation management.  You shouldn’t fight it.  Embrace it for all its value.  Personal branding does not have a line item in your marketing budget, but it is a marketing asset.  It takes time to develop and maintain.  Although there may be a strong argument for stifling employees from developing a personal brand, they’re doing it anyway.  You may as well encourage them to do it in a mutually beneficial way.

About the Author
Bernie Borges is the founder and CEO of Find and Convert, an Internet Marketing firm specializing in search engine optimization and social media marketing strategies.  Bernie is a frequent speaker, blogger and podcaster on these topics and is currently writing a book on social media marketing business strategies due out in June. 

Contact Information

Phone: 727-234-0952
Email: bernie@findandconvert.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/berniebay