Your personal brand is in essence who you are – with a bit of marketing flare! But how can we take our personal brand to the next level? In this blog, we unpack some useful perspectives about how to market yourself and how to keep your digital first impression in check!
Many of us as students or recent graduates might not be familiar or readily comfortable with the idea of ‘marketing yourself’. How do you do it anyway? When looking at others who have their personal brand refined, it might look like a lot of effort for something that doesn’t necessarily mean a lot.
Actually, working on your personal brand is very easy – and incredibly important! Taking a little time to consider who you are and how you present yourself in professional situations can give you great benefits for your career journey. So why not use one of those idle summer days to work on your own personal brand?
What is a personal brand?
The core of your personal brand is all about how you present yourself and what you consider to be your most valuable, employable assets. The journey to taking your personal brand to the next level starts with self-reflection and mapping out what knowledge, attributes, skills and experiences you have.
Try this: imagine you are writing an elevator pitch and want to sell your expertise in a professional situation. Write down a short description of yourself. What skills, values and experiences do you represent? What is the first impression you want other people to have about yourself? Use this as your starting point to more self-reflection!
Projecting yourself out into the world
After you have spent some time reflecting about yourself and identified what employable assets and values you have, it’s time to think about how you can bring this awareness to the world.
Most of us spend a lot of time on social media – but are you making your presence on Instagram, Facebook (and most importantly) LinkedIn as best as it can be? Being aware of your digital footprint and how well-maintained your social media appears has one important function: when a future employer or a professional contact searches your name on the internet, you want that person to get a great first impression of you and what you want to represent.
Take some time to refine your presence online – this could be updating your LinkedIn profile and making sure your headshot, description and past experiences are looking presentable. Weeding out those unwanted tagged photos is always a good idea and making sure you are in control of that virtual first impression.
If you are interested in a career around creative industries, platforms like Instagram, Youtube and others can be great visibility and develop your employability. If you have an interest in using creative skills, why not consider creating content online and expressing your personal brand in new ways, such as blogging, photography or vlogs?
Interested in maximising your LinkedIn profile? Head over to watch our Personal Brand video workshop led by King’s alumna, CEO and entrepreneur Onyinye Udokporo. You’ll learn tips around creating that stellar description and how to enhance your brand online.
Your personal brand journey starts here
Your personal brand is the story you tell to the professional world – and working on your brand can be really fun too! If you’ve never considered your personal brand before, explore our self-reflective course titled What do I offer? to help you think about your knowledge, attributes, skills and experiences and begin your journey of discovery. For tips on the perfect LinkedIn profile, head to our Keats pages for information & resources!
