Social Selling - Personal Branding

Personal Branding – A Great Start to your Social Selling Journey!

As you begin to delve into social selling, know that it grows over time, so it’s not an

As you begin to delve into social selling, know that it grows over time, so it’s not an instant process. In fact, in our training course, we go into 4 hours of building your brand. However, we know people are anxious to get started, and there are some quick steps to move into what we call the “personal branding of you” that we use in our Social Jack Social Selling Course. It’s a perfect framework to get started, and we think you’ll find these suggestions useful!

1.    Know or define your authentic self (your story)

2.    Know your ideal target

3.    Identify relevant keywords

4.    Update all online profiles and websites

5.    Engage in relevant online conversations

Know or Define Your Authentic Self (Your Story)

Knowing your story is critical, and it is perfectly okay to start with a draft and adjust it along the way. Some people wait years to even start; the key is to pick a point and simply begin. Find some trusted allies that will provide feedback and even some subject matter experts to help you as well. People are very willing to help. You might also have some colleagues you work with that might have gone before you. Ask yourself this question: “What do you want to be known for?” Craft a short narrative, typically 300-500 words, this will help you stay on point. Catch yourself, you will want to tack things on as you go, make sure they are relevant. Stay targeted.

Identify Relevant Keywords that will represent you

When writing and building profiles and bios, we look at the story, we analyze the target audience, then we determine which words people would use to find you on the internet, how you want to be found. Sometimes the words are not always what you would choose; however, they are what people would use to find you. We have a whole course you can reference, for free, in our Basic Social Jack Account to go deeper into this topic. Keywords and phrases are typically made up of 1 to 3 words. The ideal profile has 10 keyword phrases, but it is okay to start with 5 if needed to get out of the gate. Once you have them, weave them into your story. We ask you do this after you draft your story so you can flow with your ideas before worrying about keywords.

Know Your Ideal Target

Think about your ideal audience, the people you want to attract and who you ideally want to do business with. This should be at the level of knowing industry, title, type of company, geographic locations, size of organization, years in business, whatever matters most to you. This can be tough for many of us as we sometime want to keep adding to our story; however, the tighter we make this, the better our story will be, and it will take less effort to generate new business or advance your career.

Update All Online Profiles and Websites

First and foremost, even if you do no go into social selling or career advancement, you should do this next step at least once a month for your own protection. First, google your name and any variations. This could look like your name + your company name, etc. When you google your name, you are looking for things that you are NOT aware of and making sure that all social profiles, websites and content are in alignment with your new brand (story). Look over at least the first two pages of your search results. The first things that should appear are any social network accounts, websites and high-traction videos. Once you have these, simply replace your old profiles with your newest profile. You might want to delete any old invalid profiles.

Next, set up Google alerts with your name, brand names, company names, etc. Have Google alert you at the frequency you desire, we recommend daily; this little free tool will alert you when your name shows up on the internet. I do this for my entire family. You will need a Gmail account to set this up, that is also free.

Engage In Relevant Online Conversations

Anywhere online — blogs, video, pod casts, social media sites, online news articles — make sure you get your name and your brand attached to the content that’s most relevant to your story and that fits the keywords you want to be known for. This will take some practice. You can also engage (like, comment, share, retweet, etc.) with the content of others. This will give you reach and visibility into their social network. This can only be good for you. See the 7 likes and 3 comments below; on average, this will reach thousands of views in news feeds as people keep engaging. Keep playing with this and have fun, it’s networking right from your smartphone.

In Summary

Remember you can start this easily now with these first few steps; it only takes a few hours to get out of the gate. If you don’t like where you start, you can make simple adjustments as you grow, just remember your other profiles. Also, remember to do this with others; you are not alone and nor should you be. If you need further resources, check our Free Resource Center at Social Jack. You can access our Free Resource Center by signing up for a Basic Social Jack Account; there are worksheets and classes available currently or contact us for a promotion code depending on the date you’re reading this.

We will see you and your story online!