Part of branding yourself is finding what makes you unique and is part of the key to social media success. All you need is a simple bio in 250 characters or less, and a 100 character sentence pitch. The bio states the need-to-knows, and the pitch amplifies the biography. These help you prioritize your main points about yourself, which is the goal.
There’s a difference between bragging and confidence, and your brand and social media channels are all about confidence.
The authors of “Branding Yourself” note that there are three acceptable lengths for your pitch and biography. The shortest is one sentence long, a very brief note about what you do. Short biography is about 5 sentences, and the longer are double the size. Depending on what you have to say and the amount of characters you can use is what makes the difference in this case.
6 Tips For Your Introduction
- Introduce yourself professionally
- Tell what you do
- Say what you’ve accomplished
- Write in third person, talk in first
- Seek advice from a friend
- Don’t forget your biography
10 Biography Writing Guidelines:
- Your start
- How have I helped?
- Engage on an emotional level
- Be consistent
- Be concise
- It’s all about you
- Keep others fired up
- Connect on their level
- Keep interest
- Edit. Edit. Edit.
And of course, the Do’s and Dont’s of Your Personal Brand:
- Don’t pictures you wouldn’t show your boss
- Don’t view your personal story as a sales pitch
- Don’t post something you’ll regret later
- Don’t ask for things first.
- Don’t get distracted
- Don’t underestimate the power of your network
- Do invest in yourself
- Do invest in others
- Do be visible and active
- Do make time for yourself
Linkedin is described as a social networking platform for professional use. it is a great way to promote your professional side, and is extremely useful in networking.
For starters, the profile photo needs to be professional. Having a profile picture increases your chances of being viewed, and by having a professional picture, you speak to those looking to hire you, and leave a positive lasting impression.
In the case of LinkedIn, the more information you put, the better.
A great way to start your professional network is to connect with family members, colleagues, and classmates. Building your network on LinkedIn is important, and a vital part is understanding your connections and their relationships. LinkedIn has a unique feature that displays degrees of connections, which is essential to growth in the LinkedIn community. Second degree connections are those whom share a “mutual friend”, while third degree connections are “friends of a friend.”
Additionally, it is important to turn the contacts you have into connections, and here’s how:
- Build the trust factor
- Recommendations
- Get involved
- Stay in touch
As always, there are Do’s and Don’ts of each social media platform, and these are LinkedIn’s 10:
- Do upload a professional picture
- Do connect with real friends and contacts
- Do keep your profile current
- Do delete people who spam
- Do spend time on your summary
- Don’t use LinkedIn like Facebook and Twitter
- Don’t sync your LinkedIn profile
- Don’t decline invites, archive them
- Dont’t ask everyone you know for a recommendation
- Don’t forget spellcheck and grammar
