Have you ever Googled somebody’s else’s name to find out more about them? How about Googling your own name?

Today, Google is the first place we turn to learn more about another person. To put this in perspective, there are 3 billion searches a day on Google and 77% of job recruiters are required to do a Google pre-screen before hiring you. So in short, if you haven’t Googled yourself, somebody has.

It’s your responsibility to ensure you make the best impression possible when that person searches you. Obviously you want to avoid negative content, but just as importantly, if you aren’t represented by well-branded, positive content, you are missing out on an important opportunity to make a lasting first impression.

This series has been written to walk you through each step towards owning your own search results and managing your online reputation.  It will help you create and raise your best content to the top of your search results, and push unwanted content (negative, irrelevant or other people) farther down. Or, as we like to say, a guide to making search engines your b**ch.

Part 1 of the series: Diagnose Your Google Ranking

The first step to controlling any situation is determining whether or not you have a problem, and if so, knowing how bad it really is. So in Part 1 of this series we are going to help you diagnose your Google ranking, no matter how good or bad it might be, so you can begin to take corrective action.

Step 1: Google Yourself 

The very first thing you need to do is go to Google and type your name into the search bar. Important:

• Sign out of your Google Account. Google employs personalized and local searches when you are signed into your account. In other words, Google will slightly alter your results to make them more relevant to you based on your location and what they know about you through your Google account. The person searching you won’t have this, so you are better off getting neutral results.
• Enter the name people will actually use to search you: Do you use your middle name or initial on your resume?  Did you recently acquire a hyphenated last name? When you search for yourself online, be positive that you’re using the name that people are going to be searching for you with! This also brings up the important point of consistency: when you use your name online, on a resume, anywhere for that matter, be sure that you are using the same name- and make sure that it’s the one that you want to rank for.

Step 2: Diagnosis- Which Google Ranking Category Are You?

Once you see your results it’s time to figure out which category you fall under. Decide which of these categories best represents your first page of results. It may be a combination of them all. Tip: Concentrate on your first page because 93% of searchers never go past the first page. They use the first 10 to form their impression.

• The Negative Category: This is the worst category to be in because it means you have one or more negative results representing you. This category it not just reserved for criminals and politicians, either. In today’s world of social networking and anonymous sharing- it is disturbingly easy to have your reputation tarnished. It takes only one status update, tagged photo or blog post from a pissed-off ex, former employee or wild friend, to put you in this category.
• The Irrelevant Category: Yes the results are about you, but they don’t really help or hurt you. They are completely outdated and irrelevant. Instead of finding out you are one of the most well-respected doctor’s in Boston, the person finds out you finished 120th in a 5k run three years ago.
• The “Hey That’s Not Me” Category: In this case, your results are dominated by somebody or multiple people with your name. In a best case scenario, they simply prevent the searcher from finding anything meaningful about you. In a worst case scenario they might actually mistake you for someone else, like our Co-founder Pete who couldn’t get a job in college since he was being mistaken for an ex-con.
• Positive & Relevant: This means your results are full of positive, well-branded content about you. This also means you are one of the very few people who have a strong grasp on their results, or you are some sort of celebrity. So this probably isn’t you

Step 3: Figure Out How Much Work You Have Ahead and Make a Plan

Once you know where you stand, it’s time to be proactive and start improving your search results. Your goal is to fill your first page with as many positive results as possible.  Depending on your web presence, you can figure out how much work lays ahead and plan accordingly.

• You Have No Web Presence, and No Content:  The first thing you need to do is build your online presence for Google. Quite simply, if you don’t’ have any positive content, there is no way for it to show up on your first page. If you haven’t done this, read Part 3 of our Series: Building your foundation presence for Google Coming Soon
• I Have Specific Content I Want to Push Higher: You might already have a personal website, a LinkedIn profile, or other content you want people to find, but they just aren’t  showing up high in search results. You need to read Part 4: Advanced Tactics for your Google Ranking. Coming Soon
• I Have Specific Content I Want to BURY:  Perhaps you have something unflattering out there about you, or you’re also being mistaken for an ex-con. You need to read Part 4: Emergency Tactics, when search engines make your their Bi*ch article, which will walk you through the most effective ways to get unwanted content off the first page. Coming Soon

Conclusion:

Today, it is just plain irresponsible to be passive about your Google results. You spend a lot of time building your reputation- you do good work, you treat others well, you make sure that you’re dependable. It’s time to apply that same discipline to your online presence. The rest of our Make Search Engines Your B**ch series which will cover everything from the basics to advanced tactics for controlling your search results. Take a look below for the full list of articles coming up in the series.

• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 2:  Intro to Personal Search Engine Optimization
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 3: Building the Foundation of Your Online Presence for Google
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 4: Emergency Tactics to Repair Your Online Reputation
• Make Search Engines Your B**ch Part 5: Advanced Tactics to Boost Your Google Ranking
• ***These articles will be released on a weekly basis- we will include links once they are published:

If you’re finding this series helpful, you might be interested in signing up for BrandYourself’s online reputation management tool for free. It makes it easy to get your best content on the first page of Google and monitor your progress. Want to sign up for early access?

• Sign up for early access
• Give us a call at (315) 723-2056 and we’d be more than happy to help you get your personal brand on the ball.

As always, please let us know if you have any further ideas on how to diagnose your online reputation by leaving some comments below- have a good one!

We were all taught that a firm handshake, professional attire and a strong resume were the necessary pillars of a good first impression, right? Well today that is no longer enough. With the advent of social media, making an unforgettable first impression in-person is no longer the only thing you need to worry about.

From Twitter to Facebook to Google, our personal brands are in the spotlight everyday for everyone to see online. Are you putting your best foot forward? Are you making the impression you want? This has spawned a new set of ideas and tactics known as Personal Branding.

This article will walk you through the basics of personal branding as well as some of the best tips and practices.

What is Personal Branding?

1) Personal Branding DO’s

• Define Your Brand: Take the time to soul search and determine exactly who you are and what makes up your personal brand. See our 10 steps to define your unique personal brand for help.
• Communicate Your Brand: Make sure you are effectively able to communicate that brand clearly and concisely. A concise personal bio is essential for this step. For help with your bio, read our personal branding guide to writing a professional bio. 
• Start Building Your Online Presence: You’re being Googled. By employers, by colleagues and even first dates. Building a basic online presence that can promote your image and support your personal brand is therefore essential. For more on this step, stay tuned next week for the second part of our “Make Search Engines Your B**ch” series titled “Build a basic online presence for Google.”
• Become Visible: You want to make sure your branded content is what people find when they Google your name. This can be a difficult feat unless you are well versed in search engine optimization, however, the 4th article in our  ”Make Search engines your b**ch” series will be highlighting some advanced tactics to control your Google results.

2) Personal Branding DO NOT’s

• Fabricate or Exaggerate:  Personal branding is not a means to lie about your qualifications and doing so will absolutely hurt you in the long run.
• Leave Out the PERSONAL Aspect:  As much as people want to hear about your professional accomplishments- they also want to understand your personality.  Don’t be afraid to inject your sense of humor, your hobbies, interests, etc… the things that make you, you.
• Have ANY Inconsistencies: Your core message (as it is outlined in your personal bio) should be communicated the same in every medium, especially online. That means using similar wording across all of your online accounts, the same headshot everywhere and the same avatar.

Why Should You Care About Personal Branding?

1) Personal Branding Can Help Your Career:

Personal branding is necessary for any professional – but let’s look at job applicants as an example:

Job applicants: if you think that the first time you’re meeting a recruiter or potential employer is during an interview then you need to think again. You two have met before, in the online world.  Recruiters are turning away from more traditional methods and searching for applicants through social media and search engines. One of the biggest mistakes that a job candidate can make is having an inconsistent personal brand. Many people think as long as they don’t have negative content, they are in the clear. However, recruiters are looking for a postive, consistent brand that they believe lines up with their company culture.

“Recruiters are hired to eliminate candidates from the pool,” said Joshua Waldman, Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies author and Career Enlightenment blog creator. “This means they are not only trained to find red flags, if your personal brand is inconsistent, that’s the surest way to the maybe pile. So thinking about your branding message BEFORE filling out social media profiles is extremely important.” In short, have a strong brand online and you will stand out from the competition.

2) Personal Branding Can RUIN Your Career

It goes without saying that a negative brand can hurt you. However, most people don’t appreciate how easy it is to end up with a bad brand!

Everything you do or say on the web represents you. “What goes onto Facebook is on there forever,” said Rasmussen. “You need to make self-aware decisions of what you put online impacts your personal brand and reputation immediately and irrevocably… so the key is to be cautious, consistent, and conservative.” Rasmussen also stressed the importance of not posting anything online that you would be ashamed of if a prospective employer saw it. Even though they might never see it, why take the risk?

One great (and kind of hilarious) example occurred over the summer of 2009 when an employee went on a rant and called her boss a… well why don’t you find out for yourself.  Not exactly the smartest way to use your social networks- but thanks for the laugh on your behalf!

Conclusion

One thing is clear: your online reputation is just as important as your off-line reputation. While having a negative personal brand will hurt you, taking the time to build a positive, consistent brand on the web will actually help you!

Now that you’ve read the information, can you answer the question what is personal branding?  Or more specifically, what is personal branding TO YOU? Please leave any comments or tips below- and if you have any questions feel free to send me an email.  Now get out there and control your brand!

The Online Reputation Checklist

You have seven seconds to make a first impression, and your time starts the moment your name is typed into a search bar. To put this in perspective, 80 million names are Googled daily, 77% of employers do a Google pre-screen on applicants, and 35% of these employers eliminate candidates based on negative content.

This new step in the hiring process can spell trouble for applicants, but follow our checklist below and you can turn this threat into a huge opportunity!

• Google Yourself

What do you find? Almost everyone falls into three troubling categories that our checklist will remedy:

• Negative Content: An unnoticed tagged photo, a post by a disgruntled ex-colleague or spouse, or even an impulsive 4 a.m. tweet can spell disaster for your online reputation, and your job search. With the right strategy you can replace undesirable content with positive results, pushing the negative stuff out of sight.
• Low-ranking content: What good is your LinkedIn profile or personal website if potential employers cant see it? Many people work hard to create a positive online presence, but when you Google their name, none of it shows up. This makes employers think that you are inexperienced or unimpressive, you’ve just missed a huge opportunity to stand out in a very crowded job market.
• No content at all: If you have nothing about you on the web, employers will assume that you’re irrelevant and inexperienced. Continue with the checklist to quickly create positive, visible results.

• Buy Your Domain Name:

This is a crucial first step because a domain name is the first thing that Google considers when it ranks search results. Purchasing from services like Godaddy or Register.com is a cheap and easy way to own your domain. If someone else already has your name, try using your middle initial or purchasing a .net or .org (the two best ranking extensions behind “.com”)

• Create a Personal Website:

One good way to show your value and relevancy as a candidate is by blogging. With a blog you can show your  expertise in the industry, while also giving employers a better feel for who you are as an individual, since your voice and personality will come through in your writing.

If you don’t have a personal website yet, here are some great, free site builders that tend to rank high in search engines:

• WordPress
• Tumblr
• Blogger

• Create Professional Networking Profiles

You probably already use social networks, but they might not be working to your advantage professionally. Amber Rinehard, Global Community Manager at Text 100, provided the following practical ideas for professional social networking success:

• Use Your Facebook Privacy Settings (!!): Your potential employers went to college once too, so they know what type of antics go down – but that doesn’t mean they want to see it! Make sure your Facebook photos are set to private, or better yet- don’t let people take incriminating photos of you in the first place.
• Tweet Responsibly: Take a look at your Twitter stream ask yourself, what would an employer think if he or she read my updates? Even if you use Twitter for personal versus professional reasons, it’s important to come off as professional and relevant- and yes, employers look at your spelling and grammar. Jump into relevant industry conversations by participating in a tweet chat or strike up a conversation with influencers in your industry via @ reply.
• Build a Complete LinkedIn Profile: Even if you don’t have a ton of experience yet, employers will see that you take your professional opportunities seriously. Ask your professors, peers, or former employers to provide recommendations for your profile.

• Register with High-Ranking Directories:

Services like BigSight, Zerply, and BusinessCard2.com are the “yellow pages” of the Internet. They will help those Googling you find you more easily because your results will rank higher, and they only take a few seconds to set up. (IMPORTANT: be sure to link from these directories to your most relevant content online such as your personal website.)

• Boost Your Info to the Top of Search Engines

By following this checklist you can ensure you exist in all the right places online, but what good is all this  content if employers cant find it when they search for you?  In our follow up post we are going to show you how to actually boost those profiles to the top of search engines. In the meantime, check out this great beginners’ guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

If you have anything to add to the online rep checklist, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below.

By Chelsea Wagner, Blogging Intern at BrandYourself

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Trevor Elwell recently released this post on Social Media Today.  This article will provide you with the knowledge that you need to get your Facebook profile to rank on the first page of Google for your name, Enjoy!

Facebook and Google are Friends?

Since your Facebook profile has so much personal information about you, it’s probably best for you to hide it away in a corner of the Internet where no potential employer, customer, or date can find it right?  Wrong. You can use Facebook and Google to make yourself more marketable if you use them in the right ways. Exposing and publicizing your Facebook allows you to show a more personal side to your employers, seem more well rounded, and prove that you aren’t hiding anything from them. Best of all, Facebook profiles are perfect pieces of content to easily boost up to the top of Google- a great way to bolster your online reputation.  So let’s get started:

Step One: Clean Up Your Profile

Let’s face it, your Facebook profile isn’t exactly the cleanest thing in the world (as in, it doesn’t exactly put you in the best light)- you’re going to have to do a little work to get it up to snuff. Go ahead and remove those harming pictures, curse-word-filled status updates, and videos of you at 5AM signing “Small Town Girl”.  Trust me, these are necessary measures on your quest to conquer Facebook and Google.

Step Two: Change Your Privacy Settings to Public

If your friends can’t find you, how can search engines?  It’s very simple to go into your Facebook settings and make your profile “Public”.  You are still able to restrict access to some of your content, but in order for a search engine like Google to find and rank your profile you need to make it available to the public.

Step Three: Use Your Actual Name

Do your buddies call you “T-Smooth” or Dave “Danger” Lewis?  Even though your nickname is probably awesome, it should stay between you and your friends and shouldn’t make it’s way onto the Internet.  Using your real name on social networks like Facebook allows potential employers, customers, and even dates to easily find you when they search for you on Facebook and Google. Your nickname may give you and your friends a few laughs but everyone else won’t be in on the joke and might not be able to find you.  With this step, make sure you keep your name consistent as well!  Even though Trevor Elwell and Trevor R. Elwell are very similar, in the eyes of search engines they are very different- use the name that people will be searching for you with.

Step Four: Don’t Forget Your Vanity URL

A simple way to boost up your Facebook page on Google is to get your vanity URL. If you go to your account settings you will easily be able to change this.  A vanity URL is a URL with your name in it (for instance facebook.com/AboutTrevorElwell) .  If “Facebook.com/YourName” isn’t available then make sure that you use some variation of it like I did.  The important thing is keeping your name in the URL and in the same order (as in nothing in between your first and last name).  This is probably the single most powerful way to get your Facebook page to rank on Google.

Step Five: Links!

You have a Twitter and a LinkedIn on top of your Facebook and Google profiles, but are you linking between your profiles?  Google loves to see inbound links- and a very easy way to get them is to utilize the profiles that you already have set up!  Link to your now-public Facebook profile from all of your other social networks and make sure to include your name in the link text (for instance “Trevor Elwell on Facebook“ would be a good link but “Trevor Elwell on Facebook“ would not).

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, all the tips that you need to get your Facebook profile to the top of search results.  If you have any more ideas please feel free to let me know in the comments section below, good luck!

We will also talk about “Safe Sharing” to help your kids avoid posting something online as youngsters that can effect their online reputation for the rest of their life.  So without further adieu, let’s get started describing the problem.

How To Spot a Creeper

“OMG did Melanie just friend you?  She’s so cool- she loves Selena Gomez almost as much as I do!”  Melanie sounds like a cool girl, except for the fact that Melanie is actually a 57 year-old man from Omaha Nebraska.  You see, it’s pretty easy to make a new profile on any social network including Facebook and Twitter.  It’s even easier to input false information into the site as well.  The problem is, children don’t always know how to spot the tell-tale signs that someone is not who they say they are and could end up talking to someone who they probably shouldn’t.  Here are some easy ways to spot a false account:

All Friends No Followers

Does the person who just followed you on Twitter follow 10,000 other people and only have 2 people following them?  Does the person who just friended you on Facebook have one friend and nothing written on their wall?  If you answered yes to either of these questions then you most likely have a stalker (or a very poor brand) on your hands.  What they tend to do is create a profile and send out a lot of “feelers” to see who will bite.  If your son or daughter friends them back, it’s a signal to the weirdo that they don’t know much about online privacy and they can exploit them.  Explain that it’s best to stay away from these types.

No Profile Information

Most people input at least a little bit of profile information when they create an account on social networks, this way they can find people that they’re friends with in those networks.  When a creeper creates a social profile they tend to leave out a whole lot of information because, well, they don’t have actual information.  Make sure your kids are on the lookout for profiles that skimp in the information department.

Lots of Links

Did the last five things that this person sent out include a link to a website to win a free iPad?  In case you couldn’t figure this on out yourself: profiles that share links int his manner are probably just trying to spam people and aren’t actual people.  Even though this person most likely isn’t going to be stalking your children, giving up information to these characters can easily result in your child’s or your profile being targeted by other scams or crazies.

Chat Rooms and Forums

Even though programs like AIM have dropped in popularity in recent years, it’s important that your child knows how to safely navigate through the various new chat rooms that have recently emerged.  The basic rules go a little bit like this: if your child is below the high school years they probably shouldn’t be on chat rooms that utilize video (See Chatroulette’s Penis Problem) because they are a hotbed for creepers of all walks of life.  For other chat rooms that allow simple text-chatting it’s pretty easy to follow this one rule: if you know who you’re chatting with then feel free to act normally, otherwise (if you don’t know the person) then use a filter.  By “use a filter” I mean that you shouldn’t give any any personal information and think carefully about what information you’re sharing in your discussion.

Even though chat rooms aren’t as popular as they once were, it’s still important that you know the problems that are associated with them.

Privacy Settings/Sharing Personal Info

A big problem with children on social networks is that they don’t always know who they should friend/follow and who they should ignore.  This goes hand-in-hand with the fact that children also don’t usually know how much information is “too much information” when it comes to social networks.  The equation is pretty standard: TMI + Bad Followers = Potential Disaster.

Make sure that your kids know that there is some information that they can tell to their friends (where your going after school, your phone #, etc.) and that this information should not be shared in a public fashion.  As a parent, you should probably dictate what information you’re comfortable with your children sharing and what information they should leave out of the picture. Luckily most social networks let you control who sees the information you put out, and even give you the ability to share different information depending on how close you are with certain groups of friends or family.  Go through the Twitter privacy settings and read Mashable’s Facebook Privacy Guide with your child and help them understand why they should utilize these privacy settings and why they’re important.

Having The Talk

Now that you know the information, the fun part is actually sitting down and having the conversation with your child.  It’s important that they know you aren’t telling them to stay off of social media, but rather that you’re encouraging them to do so in a safe way.  Here are the key takeaways from this article:

• Only Friend Friends: A good rule of thumb is that if they aren’t friends with them in real life, then they probably shouldn’t be friends with them online.
• Become The Expert: If you don’t already have accounts on prominent social networks then get one with your child! (You’ll both be learning and you can monitor as well)
• Monitor Privacy Settings: Make sure your kid’s privacy settings are properly configured on all of their social networks (read Twitter’s privacy settings and Mashable’s Facebook Privacy Guide).
• Know The Enemy: Know how to spot a creeper and make sure your children do as well.
• The Chatroulette Effect: Video chat rooms and children do not mix.
• Be Open: Let your children know how  much personal information you’re comfortable with them sharing online (and with whom)

In sum, the best policy when it comes to these things is to be honest with your children.  Don’t be afraid to tell them that what they say on these social networks can stay with them for the rest of their lives- you don’t want them to tarnish their online reputation before they even know that they have one.  Good luck, and if you have any more tips or advice for us please let us know in the comments section below.

Stay tuned for our future How To Have “The Talk” articles- We’ll be talking about Sharing/Etiquette, Cyber Bullying, and How to Control Your Online Reputation. 

It takes literally one minute to go to Google, type in your name, and Google yourself.  But the real question remains: why would you want to do this?  What is in it for you and why should you take time out of your day to go and search for yourself on Google?

Wouldn’t you like to know if someone who shares your name has done something negative?  How about if someone that you’ve done business with in the past (or maybe a crazy ex-boyfriend or girlfriend) has written something negative about you online?  Don’t you think that you should know about this potentially negative content and how it could affect you?

It’s good to know the statistics too, in a recent study:

• 77% of potential employers used search engines like Google to screen their candidates
• 35% of these employers eliminated a candidate from consideration based on information they found online

This should open your eyes up a little bit to the potential implications that irrelevant or negative content can have on your future.  Let’s perform a real-time analysis using my own name as an example.

Why You Should Google Yourself

Go to Google, type in Trevor Elwell, and analyze what you see.  For me, I see my personal website, my BrandYourself page, Twitter account, an article I wrote on Social Media Today, and a blog about Ethical Surrogacy.  Wait, Ethical Surrogacy- why is that on there?!  Well it turns out that there is another person named Trevor Elwell who lives in Australia, he and his partner were the first couple to have a child from an Indian surrogate mother.  Now, even though this blog is not about me it’s important that I know that it’s out there.  I am in the process of pushing down this particular blog for my name, but since it’s up there at the moment it’s important that I am aware of it and am able to respond to any questions that might arise from it such as, “So you have a kid” or “I didn’t know you were from Australia”.

Since I know the irrelevant information that’s out there, I’m able to better understand my own online reputation and respond accordingly.  These are things that you would never know if you didn’t Google yourself to observe how your personal brand is thriving (or dying) in the online ecosystem.

What Happens if You Don’t Google Yourself

Just like you wouldn’t go into an interview without doing some research on the company that you hope will hire you, you shouldn’t go into any professional situation without knowing what information the other person is likely to have seen about you.  Even though it could be pretty harmless information like that which shows up when my name is searched (not too many people have confused me for my Australian name-partner) there is definitely the potential for bad situations to occur.  Our very own founder Pete Kistler was confused for a criminal while he was looking for jobs (which obviously resulted in a few very interesting interviews).

If you don’t Google yourself then you are not preparing yourself adequately for any form of professional meeting.  The best strategy to protect yourself from negative and irrelevant information is always to create positive content that is more optimized for your name than other content.  But since this process takes some time to complete, you should see what else is out there about your name and prepare yourself to answer questions about it just in case it gets brought up.

Sean Ogle (@seanogle):

His story: “In 2009 my life sucked. So I quit my job, moved to Thailand, built a business, and started living life the way I’d always wanted. Location 180 documents the journey and teaches you how to do the same thing.”

His Blog: Location 180

Why he Rocks:  Sean isn’t just one of those “Hey look at me! My life is awesome. I travel all over the world and make money while doing it. Now go feel bad for yourself while i live it up!” kind of guys. Instead he provides a storybook of his travels on his blog and advice on how you can live independently too by running a location independent online business. His business is his personalbrand, and hes leveraged his online reputation to live an awesome life and help others do the same.

Tim Ferriss (@tferriss):

His Story: Tim Ferris is kind of a big deal. He wrote the  #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and BusinessWeek bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek and the NYT bestseller  The 4-Hour Body.

His Blog: Experiments in Lifestyle Design

Why He Rocks: Tim Ferris wrote The 4-Hour Work week with one premise in mind: outsource the stuff you dont want to do in your life so that you have more time to do the stuff you do want to do. With some of his practical advice you can live life on your own terms as well.

Maren Kate (@marenkate)

Her Story: Maren Kate is a good follow-up to Tim Ferris because in addition to providing great info on her blog about becoming self made she also started a virtual assistant company called Zirtual which helps busy people find virtual staff and virtual assistants. It’s the Match.com of finding virtual staff.

Why She Rocks: She runs a blog with great lifestyle design tips and started a company to help people actually act on that advice. She’s the Yin and yang of lifestyle design.

Ashley Ambirge (@TMFproject):

Her Story: I’ll steal a line from her bio: “Hey, I’m Ash, and I started The Middle Finger Project back in October of ’09 as a way to serve up devilishly good insights on how to start, run and rock your small business using the internet…so you can stop trading hours for dollars, work better, and attain a higher quality of life.”

Her Blog: The Middle Finger Project

Why She Rocks: Ash serves up great content for making your online business flourish, she’s also funny and sassy as hell while doing it. Her blog is always a fun read and its packed full of useful information that makes you want to say F**k it, im going to start doing ME (and make money while doing it.)

So there it is, a list of some inspirational people with some realistic advice on taking the reins and living an independent lifestyle. All of these people have their own way of doing things, their own mottos, their own philosophies, their own style, but they were all able to become happy and successful by creating a personal brand online that others could connect with and relate to. That’s what we’re all about here at BrandYourself, empowering people to own  their online presence and achieve their goals, whatever they may be. So hats off to these rockstars, keep up the great work.

Editor’s Note: To continue our Music and Brands series, I would like to share an article written by our friend Alex Munro.  Just as job applicants should create a personal brand that is approachable by hiring managers, musicians should create a personal brand that is approachable by listeners.  One powerful way to do this is by getting your songs featured on the online radio service Pandora.  Please continue reading to see how you can build your band’s brand by getting plays on Pandora. 

Get Music On Pandora

I highly recommend that all independent musicians begin the process of submitting your music to Pandora with this link. Pandora is easily one of the best way for music lovers to discover new music  and therefore one of the best ways for bands to get new fans- if you can get music on Pandora you will be in a very good place. But first:

What Is Pandora?

For those who are not familiar with the service, it is a free streaming internet radio site which uses an algorithm to make custom stations for its users based on the bands/songs they input. (more here)  I’ve been using the service since 2007 (where it made my summer internship at least tolerable) and can’t tell you how many new bands I’ve came across because of it. If you are new on the scene or even a veteran, this is just an easy way to get access to potentially millions of fans.

Two reasons why there are no excuses for not submitting:

1. It’s free to submit.

2. Access to millions of fans: They just went over 100 million users, 36 million of whom are monthly active users, effectively making them owners of 3.6 percent of the entire radio market. (Source)

Now, two things to be aware of before submitting:

1. They are selective: They are very tight with what they allow in.  Not sure what their exact rejection rate is but I’m going to bet pretty high. (I’ve submitted music before for successful bands that has been rejected)  So just make sure that before you go through the process, you have your best material ready to be put out. (properly produced, mastered, ect.)

2.You need to be selling CDs: You need to have your physical CD, not MP3 downloads, available for sale on Amazon. (slight pain in the ass but necessary for them to vet serious musicians from anyone who has an extra 2 minutes and some mp3s on their hands)

3. An Extra Step For Foreigners: For non-U.S based musicians you will need some help submitting due to the fact that you can not sign up for a Pandora account in your country.  It is still possible you will just need to email them for help - pandora-support@pandora.com

Conclusion:

There is absolutely no reason in the world you should  not be submitting your music to Pandora. It’s free, relatively easy to do, and gives you access to millions of music lover who may never have been introduced to your music before.

Worst case scenario: Your pride is slightly hurt and you are out the cost of posting some CD’s to Amazon. (but now you have your CD’s for sale on one of the world’s biggest online retailers)

Quick Tip: They are very responsive on their Twitter so I usually go there first with any quick questions. @pandora_radio

Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies

Joshua Waldman is one of our friends in the personal branding field and the founder of Career Enlightenment, where he helps frustrated job seekers leverage social media to find work quickly.  Josh recently published Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies, an awesome resource for job seekers looking to boost their chances of getting hired.  Joshua has given us a few copies of his book that we are going to give away to our readers – please keep reading for the details!  Even though we’re a little biased (Joshua mentions BrandYourself as one of the resources in his book), Job Searching with Social Media is an excellent resource for those of you on the job hunt.  We were very impressed by Joshua’s comprehensive and well organized roadmap to get hired using the web.  Let’s take a look at some of the topics that are covered in his new book.

1. Marketing Yourself with a Personal Brand

Just like BrandYourself, Joshua believes that having a strong personal brand is one of the best ways to stand out to employers.  One of the more important aspects of the “personal-brand process” is actually discovering your personal brand.  You can’t just decide one day that you want to brand yourself as an expert in web development, you have to decide this early on and then actually create the content and online presence to back this up.

2. Communicating Your Expertise Online by Blogging

Most people know that one of the best ways to create an online presence is by starting a blog; very few know how to go about doing so.  Joshua covers some of the finer points of having a successful blog: developing a content strategy, picking your area(s) of expertise, selecting the right title and domain name, scoring guest posts on other blogs, and many more tips to help your blog become a success.

3. Managing Your Online Reputation

Online reputation is a very tricky thing for one specific reason: you have an online reputation whether you want one or not.  This is a harsh reality for many people in the job market these days because it adds another project to their to-do list.  The reality is that there are many strong ways to control and monitor your online reputation so that you can create the virtual first-impression that you want to.  Showing up when someone searches your name on a search engine is extremely important- and showing up there with positive content that you control is even more so.

4. Updating Your Resume for an Online Audience

Hiring managers aren’t always receiving a physical copy of your resume these days- you have to be prepared for someone to view your resume online as well!  Put some links on your resume, maybe add a QR code, why not make a video resume?  These are just a few of the tips that Joshua mentions in his book to help your resume stand out online.

5. Using Social Media to Find a Job

Can’t find the job that you’re looking for in any job postings or forums?  Many times businesses don’t make their desire to hire public and you’ll have to take a more direct approach to figure out who’s hiring.  Joshua gives a lot of good advice on how to find the “hidden job-market” that you probably wouldn’t be able to find without the use of social media.

And Now the Fun Part

I mentioned above that we’re giving away four of Joshua’s books for free, but we’re also giving away a free brand-consultation to one of the winners!  Here’s how to enter:

• Send an email to telwell@brand-yourself.com
• In your email please include your name, phone number, and a short paragraph about why you would benefit from a consultation with one of our personal branding experts.

The winners will receive:

Grand Prize:

• An hour long brand-consultation with one of our personal branding-experts via phone
• A featured blog post on BrandYourself
• A copy of Joshua’s new book.

• A copy of Joshua’s new book.

Here are the rules:

• We must receive your paragraph and contact information by Wednesday, September 21st.
• We can only ship within the continental United States

As always, if you would like to add anything to our review of the book or have any questions regarding the book giveaway please feel free to leave a comment at the end of the post or shoot me an email.  Good luck!

Also- for a really great infographic from Joshua’s website be sure to click this link: http://careerenlightenment.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/INFO-GRAPHIC-7-1920×5742.jpg

Personal Marketing Plan

What is a personal marketing plan?

Well, it’s just that!  It’s a marketing plan that you create to promote your most important (and probably favorite) brand- yourself.  It brings focus and direction to your job search and allows you to spend your time actually getting closer to your goal instead of figuring out what to do.

In short: it’s a plan that lays out how you will launch your brand into the workplace.

Why It Works

There are two main reasons:

1. It provides personal focus and direction for your job search.

2. It directs networking contacts to provide the right type of help.

You will see what I mean by this if you continue to read on.

Building Your Personal Marketing Plan

Your Personal Marketing Plan can contain these sections:

• Job titles you are pursuing
• Value proposition statement
• Summary of your qualifications
• Work history summary
• Market preferences (industries, geographic locations, size of company)
• List of target companies (companies that could potentially hire you, though they may not have current openings)

Creating this document is going to help you clarify where you want to go to prevent the “spray and pray” approach to promoting and selling your brand.

Direction

Rather than waking up Monday morning and wondering what you need to do and where you’ll find new people to talk to or jobs to apply for, you now have focus.  Your Personal Marketing Plan keeps you on track.  Review that list of target companies.  Have you met people who work in all of them yet? What information do you know about each of the companies on your list?  Have you spoken to recruiters who place people in any of your target companies?

This type of prospecting works for a two main reasons:

• Companies prefer to hire candidates that are referred.
• Many of the best jobs never get advertised.

Proactive vs Reactive

Reaching out proactively will put you in front of  more hiring managers before jobs are available.  If you are the right fit for the company, they may even create a job for you.  Networking with companies that COULD have a job for you allows you to stand out.  Once a company has posted a job, the flood gates open and the odds that you’ll stand out are slim.

*A little advice here…network more, apply for job postings less.

Asking for the “Right” Type of Help

You will need to explain to people in your network how you want them to use your plan.  The majority of people are not familiar with it, nor should they be. They are used to seeing a resume, which reeks of your past. You want them to see where you are headed.  This is what your personal marketing plan outlines- the help you seek is dependent on whom you are speaking to.  Here are some different scenarios:

Past co-worker:
Ask them for additional job titles they have seen that are similar to what you do “What else are they calling what we do out there?”

Neighbor/family/friend:
Ask them to provide you with names of people they know in your target companies “Do you know anyone I could speak to at any of these companies?  I am looking for information on what it is like to work there?”

Someone inside a target company:
Ask to have them review your summary of qualifications/elevator speech.  “Do you think this background might be of value within your company?” and/or “Does this sound like something your company might be interested in?”

Hiring Manager or above:
Ask them where they think your background may be of value “Where do you think this background might fit within your company?”  “Do you know any other companies that might have a need for this type of experience?”

Sample Personal Marketing Plan

Your Personal Marketing Plan has to be very well crafted and thought out. It has to do a very good job of spelling out what makes you unique and specifically what skills you bring to the table.  Constructing this document makes you think about your skills, experiences and goals.  It is forward thinking.  It is proactive.  It makes it easier for people to help you!

Do you have one?

If you have any tips on creating a personal marketing plan, or any supplements to it feel free to let us know in the comments section below.

 Career Sherpa, aka Hannah Morgan, can be found on Twitter @careersherpa, feel free to follow if you like what you see here.  You can also find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google +.   Career Sherpa.net  provides advice and information related to reputation management, social media strategies and job search.