You may have heard "peacock danced fantabulous in jungle", but you might be believing "until I see something happening in front of me, can not believe it." Got an idea what am I talking about? Yes! You are right, if you have got something in you, and no one knows it, in today's world it's not worth having. In the world of digital marketing and throat cutting competitive environment you have to be very careful. You take care of even a single update on your social media site. Have you ever noticed, why are you so careful? Because you are very brand conscious, and here I am not talking about brands which you wear or use, here I am talking about "Personal Branding". You have been doing everything to make yourself smarter and presentable. You might have got everything to be a head turner. But if you are not doing your branding effectively, then you are like same peacock who danced fantabulous BUT in the "never seen jungle".
So there are some points for your successful corporate odyssey and personal branding, which you need to care about …
Professional Skill
Resume: Your up to date resume plays the largest role in your personal branding. It is the first entry ticket which allowed your successful entry in current organization and will give you next invitation and entry in other organization too.
LinkedIn: Generally, we ignore few fields in our LinkedIn profile. There are no fields that define your full personality like your interest, kind of group you are following, no of certificate you have done, honors and rewards you have, causes you care about, your publications, etc. We do not update our profile incase we have completed any certificate or got any award while working with current organization. We wait till the time we need to change our company, that is sheer suitcase for your personal branding.
Portfolio: Today we are living in "soft copy" era, where in hard copy things are bygone. There are no free platform wherein you can create your own website or portfolio. This could be a common platform where you can link every event of your professional life. Irrespective of your field you can show your potential and promote your personal branding over the online portfolio or website.
Entrepreneurial Skill
Organizational Involvement: Your office is not a hub of the human machine, there must be some activities barring official work, you could involve in. If you do not take part in activities like weekly quiz, competition or corporate social responsibility, then somewhere down the line you are putting yourself on back bench that would leave a bad scar on your personal branding.
Cause & Volunteer: World is very dynamic and we are exploring new opportunities everywhere. Sometimes we do not care about our surroundings. Always try to involve in social cause or volunteer required issue which shows your leadership skill.
Interest: Office is not your limit, you might have some other skill which you can enjoy and sharpen outside the office. Just imagine any official or non official get together happens and you show your performance which was your interest too, it gives you additional points for robust personal branding.
Attitudinal Skill
Communication: Communication is something which gives you a special place in your organization. If you know how to speak, when to speak and what to speak; you can be cynosure of your organization. Written communication is equally important like verbal communication, because it fills your absence and your written words become your voice.
Appearance: Sometimes we think, dress does not play an important role while representing your attitude. But we forget that our dress speaks the first word of our attitude. Selection of right dress for the right situation builds your personal branding.
Language: Generally, we are very pertinent while interview. We use the very selective words while speaking and use very sophisticated language, but the moment we get into the job, we become very informative with our language. We take it granted, we think that our college and management are not aware it. But till the time you get to know that your attitude is wrongly assumed it gets very late.
Relationship
Client: Relationship with client or customers ensures your positive position in your organization. We should give priority in trust building with our clients, because this is the most valuable factor which enhance your personal branding in your organization.
Peers: Sometimes we forget to behave properly with our peers or colleague. They are our brand ambassador in the organization. You can not be the same person for everyone. You have to very careful with all individuals.
Management: Do not consider management as teething problem always. They are also going to promote you. It might be possible, sometimes you do not like management policies, but if you are concerned about your personal branding try to make positive relation with management. They carry loads of weight of your branding.
Liveliness in Digital World
Social Media: Social media is being a hot spot for all kinds of branding, so how could personal branding would be untouched? If you are connected with your colleague then try to be more cautious, because sometime your updates do not define your personality but people take it otherwise. Here, you can go with separate social media id's if you do not want to leave even a single stone untouched for your personal branding.
Thought Process: The kind of links, updates, comments and picture / video you upload over the digital world, make your image. So you have to be very alert while updating anything. Here, you do not have to be formal always, your sense of humor and witty comment play a major role while defining your personal branding, because your updates and comments reflect your thought process.
Networking: Your friend list plays a big role in image building. People will judge your personality from your networking. In LinkedIn connections are a game changer, it is responsible for further relationship and further business deal. So be very careful while making your network.
Generally, all the points are common and I am sure you must have come across all those points earlier. But the bigger question is that, knowing and get known are two different situations like "Peacock is dancing in jungle" and "peacock is dancing in city". Personal branding makes you fantabulous seen dancer. So let the world see your presence !!!
