The Campaign Begins

I’m getting ready for my week ahead, listing all the things that have to be done.

My headliner has to be changed.

Daily status updates on my LinkedIn profile.

New head shot as my profile photo was the only recent one I had and had been cut out from a distant sisters’ shot. (Thanks Jai for sneakily taking that photo at Chinese New Year otherwise I would have had none).

Posting discussions on all my group boards.

My Personal Brand.

1.  Headliner
Currently my headliner is boring, Business Analyst seeking Opportunities. I have to make the title so it attracts people to my profile. I take slices out of the introduction that The Face had produced for the advertisement. “Analyst, can take complex problems and data, making them understandable to financial people and to everyone in the business”.

2. Daily Status Updates
I can be a very talkative person but I am not the type of person who is likely to tell all my connections what I am doing on a daily basis. It is to remind my connections that I am around and something is about to happen. So I do daily update status reminding my connections I have won a personal branding campaign and that it will be launched on Saturday in the SMH.

3. Profile Photo
Isn’t it always the way it goes. I am so stressed about the campaign I have a giant pimple in the middle of my cheek! I can’t even remember the last time I had a pimple on my face and it has to come up the only time when I don’t want one to! Photographer, Paul Kennedy, whom I met at JobCAMP, made the session fun. I usually feel very self conscious when posing for photos but we had laughable moments. Ok, I admit to photoshop but only the pimple was removed and now longer exists . Paul would not photoshop anything else as he said it would take the character out of the photo. Oh, so I can’t remove the bags under my eyes and my freckles… ok…

4. Group Discussion Boards
I’m ready to be a content creator, not really. Then I realise there is only an ad in the local paper therefore only the essence of the personal brand campaign will be in my LinkedIn profile and not the complete campaign with the ad. Thought I could get away with it but it was confirmed that MyCareer.com.au who were sponsoring the ad were also going to include an online campaign on their homepage and the homepage of TheBigChair.com.au.

Now I have to create a discussion. I am very scared. I see all the discussions on the group boards, sometimes the discussions get heated and sometimes there are no comments at all. What do I write about so I can get people’s attention and not be beleaguered or left feeling unnoticed.

Below, my very first posting on a discussion board.

Personal Branding. What is it? How does it apply to me?

These are the exact questions that have been haunting me since the GFC. All the recruiters are talking about it, now it is not good enough just to have a good resume but now you need a Personal Brand! But how?

So off I headed to JobCamp, “Getting Australia Working”. JobCamp is the idea of Luke Harvey-Palmer, to inspire people to think differently when it comes to career and work.

The conference was fantastic with speakers including Iggy Pintado, author of “Connection Generation”, Laurel Papworth also known as SilkCharm and the most connected in AP, Stan Relihan.

So what does this all have to do with personal branding? I won my own personal branding campaign by The Face!

So how will The Face give someone in my line of work a personal brand? My job title isn’t the most exciting job title in the world, business analyst.

To see what The Face can do for my personal brand stay tuned, my campaign will begin on the 23rd May.

I was overwhelmed by the response. I received at least one comment online or offline from each group and more than 5 in some, some 50 responses. I had never posted anything on the internet before and did not know what to do with it all. Comments were all very heartening, with good advice, requiring deep thought, asking friends and knowing oneself. I had not thought about my personal brand other than the flurry at JobCAMP. I replied the best I could and very poorly at that, I know now.

There were 2 comments that stood out though. One person sent me a link to Gary Vaynerchuk, Building Personal Brand within the Social Media Landscape at the Web 2.0 Expo. First thing I thought was check out his last name out I am never going to forget that. I watch the video and was left in awe with his enthusiasm, he was so passionate about personal branding and building a business with a good brand. I do occasional go back to watch this video when I need some inspiration.

The other comment mentioned my headliner which was my first attempt at my personal brand. Hmmm, first attempt not very successful   The person said the title appeared as if I was bragging that I was smarter than management as I could talk to everybody in the business about their business. This is not what I am like at all and actually had a chuckle when I read the comment. I can understand the numbers for you to make the right decisions for your business. Have to redo my headliner before the launch. I suppose without the rest of the personal branding, it didn’t work.

Last thing to do before the launch is My Personal Brand…

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