Defining Your Personal Brand Online (Part 1)

Since I started b-school last week, everyone has been emphasizing the word “networking.” My 2nd year mentor said the number one priority in business school is to find a job, and that class work should come second (they call it “B”-school for a reason!).  To kick off the year as a superstar networker, I’m gearing up to conduct a few informational interviews with some alums that I’ve met. From my experience though, the person you are interviewing is likely to ask some questions about your background and career goals too. And who knows? It may even turn into a real job interview! So, it’s important to make sure you’ve got your personal brand down pat. Most people know to have their 30 second elevator pitch and resume nice and clean, but are you keeping your bases covered online too? In the event that an interviewer Googles you, your Facebook profile, Twitter page and LinkedIn profiles should all be well-established and in sync with each other to define your personal brand.

What spurred this blog post was an article I read today by Guy Kawasaki. He poses the question “What would you do if an interviewer asked you to show them your Facebook profile?” In an informal poll, he discovered that only 12% of respondents would feel comfortable showing their profile to a prospective employer. Now, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that you should delete those inappropriate frat party photos from your Facebook page. However, as Guy proves, you can use some of the past experiences reflected on your profile as interesting anecdotes about yourself. Here are some ways to show you are an intelligent and well-rounded person in your Facebook tour:

• “This is my graduation picture. I completed a four-year program on time while working full time.”
• “This is one of my favorite professors. I took ABC from him (where ABC is a subject area relevant to the job).”
• “This is a photo essay of when I traveled throughout China. I was totally blown away by the entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese, and I made many friendships that will help me in your position.”
• “Here’s when my hockey/soccer/basketball/whatever team won the championship. I learned so much about hard work, discipline, and team play because of sports.”
• “Here’s a bunch of my friends hanging out with me (this picture should contain people of multiple genders, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations) right before we went on a mission to build schools in Guatemala.”
• “This is the day that I got my iPhone/iTablet/iWhatever—I have to admit that I’m an early-adopter of technology.” Even better: “This is a picture of how I use what this company makes.”
• “Here’s when I went to Demo/TechCrunch50/World Economic Forum/G8/whatever in order to learn about what’s happening in the industry.”
• “This is the tweetup/meetup/faceup/whatever that I coordinated to help people network better.”
• “Here’s where I volunteered to work at SXSW so that I could attend all the sessions for free. This is the most amazing conference—have you ever been to it?”
• “Here’s when I met Robert Scoble/Mike Arrington/Charlene Li/Jeremiah Owyang/Chris Anderson/Steve Rubel/Ariana Huffington/Steve Ballmer/Steve Jobs/ Muhammad Yunus/David Pogue/Walt Mossberg/whoever.”

I thought the above statements were pretty clever. If you were interviewing that person, you’d be pretty impressed, right? Since an increasing number of employers are starting to check personal online profiles, it’s in your best interest to make yours stand out – in a good way! That’s where defining your personal brand comes into play. If you are one of those people who is still committed to only using Facebook for personal use, I’d say you are missing out on a the chance to showcase yourself to a world of opportunity.

In parts 2 and 3 of Defining Your Personal Brand Online, I will go on to explain how to enhance your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. Once you’ve got those three well-established profiles, they are likely to be the first few results when you Google yourself. And don’t forget to try a Google image search of yourself. You may come across some old embarrassing photos of your 21st birthday you never knew existed!