CEO’s – Build Your Personal Brand to Boost Your Business
Are you the leader of your business?
Whether you’re a one person organization or the CEO of a business with 25 employees, your personal brand matters. In the mobile Internet age, your personal branding is capable of reaching your team, your strategic partners, news organizations, and your clients as well.
Building and nurturing your personal brand will help:
If you haven’t started building your personal brand yet, you can get started with these tools and practices.
Stop putting it off for another day and start taking your personal brand seriously. Begin by committing to one or two small steps, and grow comfortably over time. Your team, partners, and clients will appreciate the authoritative thoughts you share, the encouraging words you give, and the ease of learning more about you.
- Build credibility
- Show authority and knowledge
- Provide contact and network opportunities
- Improve confidence (your own, your team’s, and the recipient of your services or product)
Buy a Domain Name
Go to GoDaddy.com right now and purchase YourName.com (ie. KevinEkmark.com). Even if you did nothing with that URL but sit on it for years, you can at least protect it from someone else using your name and potentially ruining your reputation. However, the CEO who cares about his or her personal branding will be eager to take the next step…
Build Your Website
You don’t need anything fancy. Simply create a website that includes your most important information (Bio, resume, recent projects). I suggest using StudioPress.com (my site uses the Eleven40 theme) to find a mobile responsive WordPress theme. Use managed hosting to help keep your WordPress site up-to-date and secure with pagely.com.
Blog
If you’re the CEO of a business and you don’t have anything to write about, then I would be worried about the future of your company. As the leader, you have a variety of experiences, expertise, ideas, and influence that can all be written down and shared. Your blogs provide encouragement and support to your team, they build trust with your strategic partners that you are knowledgeable and care, and blogs show authority and expertise with current and potential clients. A blogging bonus: The practice of writing encourages reflection of yourself and your business. This is essential to future growth.
Join Twitter
When I joined Twitter in 2009, I have to admit that I didn’t quite understand it at first. However, it has become one of the most powerful tools that I use on a daily basis. Twitter can be used for networking, learning, sharing, stalking competition, and staying up-to-date on the most breaking news in the world. In addition to the consumption aspects of Twitter, it is also a great place for sharing your thoughts and blog posts. Use Twitter to connect, interact, and position yourself as a thought leader. Most people quit Twitter early because they are following the wrong people. While I occasionally tap my feet to a catchy pop song, I have no interest in following Katy Perry on Twitter. I would rather receive updates from Forbes, Moz, Raven, and UGA Football.
Stay Active on LinkedIn
The social network for professionals isn’t just for job seekers. LinkedIn allows you to create and publish content, network, attract new talent, and show off your expertise in your field. Start by filling out your profile with proper descriptions and don’t forget to include keywords that your customers or partners in your field might be using in search. Once your profile is respectable, challenge yourself to share an update once a day. Start out by sharing interesting articles that you picked up and read in your Twitter feed. When you publish a new blog post, share the link with your LinkedIn followers. As you become more active on LinkedIn, you will begin to notice more requests to connect, and an increase in people viewing your profile. Unlike other social networks, LinkedIn will let you know when people view your profile to check up or learn more about you.