Yes, you are a brand

Social media has the tremendous power to put you in contact with thousands of people. The more people, the more opportunities. First of all, everyone can Google you, so make sure they get useful information about you when they do that. Second, people can’t Google you if they never heard about you, you need to make a name of yourself. In order to build your online brand you need to know all of the possibilities and how all of your activities are working together. It’s important to be consistent so that each part of your social media network can contribute positively to your brand, to your name.

Who are you?

How do you want to represent yourself? Make a list of your skills that are important for the work you do. Be passionate about your passions, let the world know what makes your blood run. Passion and personality are keys to a strong brand. Now when you have that, find you path. What do you want to do? What do you offer? Remember, specialization is the key to success.

Emotions

Get your emotions involved when it comes to creating your brand. You’re not a big not a corporation and people who are going to stumble upon your work, shouldn’t think that. Everything you do should be personal, should represent you as a person. If you’re looking for a name, slogan and logo for your brand, choose something that will characterize and represent you. Another important thing is story telling. Avoid tedious stories, tell your story from the heart, and talk with passion and excitement.

Create your ecosystem and network

Having your own website and/or blog isn’t a privilege anymore, anyone can have one. You don’t have to have mad web design and coding skills to get one, thanks to services like WordPress and Tumblr that offer a lot of good looking and practical themes. Once you get your website, make it the center of your online communication and connect it with social networks you use. Now follow experts in your field, create relationships and learn from them. Don’t think online relationships are enough, go offline and visit networking events related to your field.

Make content

Don’t just stop with sharing someone else’s content, make your own. The best way to express yourself is by writing a blog. Talk about your work, talk about you hobbies, and talk about things you’re passionate about, write reviews… Write about whatever you decide to write, just write and share it with other people. Don’t stop there, make a video, record a podcast, and share your work. The important thing is that you do it frequently, being present online can and will take you to the road to success.

Listen and monitor

Ok, you got yourself out there and you’re making a lot of content. The next step is to monitor reactions. Monitor comments of other people on social networks and your blog. Show that you know how to deal with criticism in a professional manner and be thankful for all the nice words you get. Use Google Alerts to monitor what other media is saying about you. Adjust to the market, change something if necessary. Listening what others want will help you grow.

Bookmarks

Pinterest varies from standard bookmarking sites because it allows you to bookmark via images and video rather than just saving standard page URLs. Visual pin board saves a lot of time when you need to find your bookmark later. If you have a lot of bookmarks and most if you spend more time trying to find something that you need than using it, you need to get a Pinterest account. A few months ago, Pitnerest introduced private boards, so you can bookmark even things that you don’t want to share publicly.

Planning & inspiration

Once you use Pinterest as a planning tool you will never use something else again. It doesn’t matter what are you planning, events like birthdays and weddings, trips, redecorating your home, or even designing a website. You can make a board for inspiration to get some ideas what do you want or you can use it as a to-do list. Another cool feature is being able to share pin boards with your friends, you just need to invite them to your board to co-pin.

Job hunting

Yeah, that’s right, Pinterest can help you find a job. Search for CV design inspirations, make a stunning resume and pin it. If you have a portfolio (designs, photos, articles…) pin them as well, having all of your works in one place will help potential employers to find you. After you do that, make sure you show your passion about things you want to do. Let’s say you’re a web designer, pin designs you like, pin news from design world etc. Don’t stop there, make boards for other things your passionate about, show your other side, you never know who’s looking. Maybe photography is your hobby and maybe someone wants to buy your photos or hire you for some event, extra money is always welcome.

Marketing tool

If you run your own business, Pinterest can be useful when it comes to marketing. Pinterest buyers spend more money, more often, and on more items than any of the other top 5 social media sites (source: comScore). Pinterest generates over 4x as much revenue per click as Twitter and 27% more revenue per click than Facebook (source: Converto). Facts don’t lie, you want to be on Pinterest. Embed Pinterest widgets or buttons on your company’s website, and consistently create pin boards that are populated with images unique to your brand. Photos, product packaging, and infographics will grab the attention of your followers and attract new ones.