Presentation to the Seattle Graphic Artists Guild on 3/27/13. Audience: design professionals. Topic: learn how to create a personal brand strategy, why it's important, how to create a personal online footprint, best practices and cautionary tales.

1. COMMUNICATE YOUR VALUE —
AND BRAND YOURSELF TO WIN
ERIC WEAVER • SVP SOCIAL STRATEGY • MEDIABRANDS
MARCH 2013

2. Currently SVP Social Strategy for Mediabrands (IPG)
22 years in digital marketing
Brand strategies for Ford, Brita, P&G, BMW and others
Social strategies for Intel, Jack in the Box, Holland America,
HP, Starbucks, HTC
Last three roles came from my social media footprint!

3. …yet — cobbler’s kids —
not all of us can package
and communicate our
value — to managers,
peers or clients.
WE ALL BRING SOME How do we communicate
KIND OF VALUE TO THE our story and our value?
WORLD Prove you’re the kind of
person successful
businesses want?
Create a visible, concise
story that is easily found
online?
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4. The need for a personal
branding strategy
How to craft this
strategy
TODAY’S TOPICS Content
Venues for content
Best practices/
cautionary tales
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5. PERSONAL BRAND STRATEGY
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6. A PERSONAL WHUTT?
A personal brand strategy is a simple 2-3 page document that can help
you:
1. KNOW YOURSELF
Who am I, really?
How do I work? What am I like? What do I value?
What problems do I solve?
2. DETERMINE WHERE YOU WANT TO GO
Subject matter expert? Team lead? Creative?
Where do I get the most joy? Challenge? Satisfaction?
Who is my audience for that kind of role?
3. POSITION YOURSELF FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
What are competitors saying to the market?
What makes me different? Better?
What are the reasons others should believe me?
Can I leverage existing truths about me — and suggest new truths
— that will make me a more desirable candidate?
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7. Judging how we are
perceived is difficult
A little thought and
structure around our
perception helps remove
subjectivity
AND WHY WOULD I
If you can create a
NEED SOMETHING perception that better
LIKE THAT? aligns you with what your
clients want — and if you
can bring consistency and
clarity to that perception —
you can get past their time
starvation and build trust
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8. 49% of surveyed hiring
managers caught a job
applicant fabricating
resume data
34% of all applications
contain outright lies about
experience, education and
TWO PROBLEMS ability to do the job
TRUST ISSUES FOR JOB The average cost of a bad
APPLICANTS hire can equal 30% of their
salary
To replace them: $7k for
entry-level, $10k for mid-
manager, $40k for exec
OUCH.
SOURCES: US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, SHRM,
CAREERBUILDER.COM
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9. PROBLEM #2:
TIME STARVATION
Attention deficit
Smartphone addiction
Girl Scouts now can earn
a merit badge in time
management
Hiring professionals are
ESPECIALLY time-
starved, so asking for
their time means a good
ask, and a good story.
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10. PERSONAL BRAND STRATEGY
#1) WHO ARE YOU – REALLY?
WORK TRAITS – DESCRIBES THE THE PRIMARY PROBLEM
ROLE FIT: think #keywords. YOU SOLVE:
Adjectives others would use to “I help overworked clients
describe HOW you do what you make smarter decisions
do. Analytical. Collaborative. around their marketing
Strategic. Consensus builder. efforts.”
Investigator. Translator.
“I bring clarity and usability
PERSONALITY – DESCRIBES THE to digital channels.”
CHEMISTRY FIT: adjectives
others would use to describe “I persuade clients to
WHO you are. Funny. Warm. innovate without adding
Humble. Friendly. Driven. Matter- risk.”
of-fact. Trustworthy. Both good & “I bring stories to life
bad. through unique, compelling
VALUES – DESCRIBES THE creative.”
POTENTIAL OUTCOME: what’s
important to you? Curiosity.
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Dependability. Speed. Accuracy.

11. PERSONAL BRAND STRATEGY
#2) WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
DESIRED CAREER PATH: what do
you see yourself doing in three
years? Five years?
SPECIALTY EXPERT, TEAM
LEADER OR FREE AGENT? Do
you want to be the best in your
field? Lead and coordinate
people? Or act as a lone agent
accomplishing tasks for a
company?
SUCCESS MEASUREMENT: how
do you know you’ve achieved
your goal? Salary? Title?
Responsibilities? Staff? Industry
recognition? Awards?
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12. PERSONAL BRAND STRATEGY
#3) HOW DO I POSITION MYSELF TO GET THERE?
AUDIENCE: who do I have to
connect with and communicate
my value to, in order to advance
along the path? What do they
want to hear from me? What
don’t they?
DIFFERENTIATORS: for that
audience, what makes me
different? Better than the next
person? Uniquely qualified?
REASONS TO BELIEVE: why
should anyone believe I’m better?
What proof points do I have?
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13. EXAMPLE: JENA
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14. EXAMPLE: JENA •
Pursuing
excellence
•
Problem-­‐solver
•
Elegant
solu�ons
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15. Do an HONEST
assessment of where
you are today – good
and bad – warts and all
Tweak your traits to
become aspirational —
IMPORTANT but don’t be so far off-
script of who you are as
to be non-credible
Test your personal brand
strategy with colleagues
and friends
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16. CONTENT
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17. In Jena’s case, she wants to
not only explore UX/UI, but
become enough of an
expert to become a
thought leader. So we’ll
suggest she both CURATE
and CREATE content that
will
WHAT TO POST OR Help her grow
PUBLISH? Build trust in her abilities
Show off her thinking
process
Show off what she’s
learned during her
career
Share her vision for her
area of expertise
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18. CURATE CREATE
Post articles to friends and Continue to showcase
colleagues that discuss or her design savvy
demonstrate great UX/UI Post commentary about
Engage in related forums how function can have
React to related current compelling form
events or industry news, Share her team’s success
and solicit opinions stories
Share her own
cautionary tales
Share her career journey
and learnings
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19. STRONG VENUES FOR CURATION
Tumblr
Pinterest
Facebook/Twitter
LinkedIn groups/Q&A
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20. STRONG VENUES FOR CREATED CONTENT
Personal blog
Facebook/Twitter
Video blog
Audio podcast
SlideShare
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21. MORE ABOUT SLIDESHARE
60MM monthly visitors,
140MM monthly pageviews
Content sharable on
intranets
Audio “slidecasts” give the
audience an idea about you
Voted amongst the World’s
Top 10 Tools for education
and eLearning
By paying for PRO edition,
content more likely featured
on homepage
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22. MORE ABOUT
RICH MEDIA
Aids in retention
Easily digestible
when time-starved
Provides a more 3-
dimensional view of
you as an expert
BlogTalkRadio allows
you to interview
others, provide more
perspective, widen
the value
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23. RICH MEDIA
NEED NOT BE
DIFFICULT –
NOR EXPENSIVE
Animoto.com lets you
create a HD video
very cheaply (or free)
– synced slides to
music or an audio
track
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24. YOUR SOCIAL SITES
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25. TRICK OUT TWITTER
Contact info
Link back to your primary site
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26. FILTER YOUR FACEBOOK
Links back to your primary site, blog
or profile (aggregator) page
Share personal side of yourself, but:
Create a separate list for clients or
colleagues
Segregate your posts so colleagues
and potential hiring managers
aren’t bombarded by this:
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27. LEVERAGE YOUR
LINKEDIN
Ask for testimonials
(particularly from clients
with whom you have a
good relationship)
Link back to your blog,
Twitter account,
SlideShare
Keep it succinct
Probably should think
about “Open to Job
Opportunities”
Provide industry-
specific advice on the
successor to LinkedIn
Answers
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28. Pinterest has grown to the size of Twitter, in a
PONDER shorter time
PINTEREST ADD A PIN IT! BUTTON TO YOUR WEBSITE
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29. Pinterest has grown to the size of Twitter, in a
PONDER shorter time
PINTEREST ADD A PIN IT! BUTTON TO YOUR WEBSITE
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30. BEST PRACTICES/
CAUTIONARY TALES
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31. SET UP ONE
PRIMARY PROFILE
PAGE
About.me
Google+ profile
LinkedIn
Naymz (Premium)
…and add links to
content to drive traffic
back to your profile
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32. CONSIDER GARY VAYNERCHUK
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33. REMEMBER IF
YOU FRIENDED
YOUR BOSS
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34. REMEMBER
THAT GOOGLE
HAS A GREAT
MEMORY – AND
THAT SOME
EXECS ENJOY
VANITY
SEARCHES
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35. MAKE YOUR
CONTENT
KEYWORD-RICH
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36. 36

37. 37

38. DO build proof points
Video
Testimonials
Sourced statistics
wherever possible
DO build a content
calendar, targeting:
OTHER
Important industry
CONSIDERATIONS dates, events,
conferences
Regular update
times
Example: Jena might
read about an
upcoming Facebook UI
change & prepare a
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post

39. Don’t ever lie or even
stretch – you run the risk of
being called out, publicly
If you have experiences
where you have damaged
others’ trust, make a nod to
them first, before others do
Don’t stalk hiring managers
DON’TS on social channels
If you friend them, explain
why you’re doing so
Don’t spam, bombard or
intrude as it annoys
recruiters and managers, as
it would in real life
Fear smells awful
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40. Don’t ever lie or even
stretch – you run the risk of
being called out, publicly
If you have experiences
where you have damaged
others’ trust, make a nod to
them first, before others do
Don’t stalk hiring managers
DON’TS on social channels
If you friend them, explain
why you’re doing so
Don’t spam, bombard or
intrude as it annoys
recruiters and managers, as
it would in real life
Fear smells awful
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41. IF YOU’RE
SAYING
POTENTIALLY
INFLAMMATORY
THINGS, MAKE
SURE YOU’RE NOT
STILL LOGGED
INTO THE
COMPANY
ACCOUNT
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42. CONSIDER GENERATIONAL NORMS
BOOMERS
All about propriety. We were trained in formalities, taught to never
offend. Oversharing is “weak.” Guarded = safe. And your suit & tie is a
sign of trustworthiness in business.
GENS X&Y
All about affinity. Formalities are ignored, sharing means being found,
and they grew up with Google. Your suit & tie = untrustworthy.
2010
THE YEAR MILLENIALS SURPASSED BOOMERS IN THE WORKFORCE
PHOTO:
FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/KATINALYNN

43. PROBABLY NOT A
GOOD IDEA
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44. Structure will help you get
rid of subjectivity
Content will help you tell
your story, showcase your
thinking, and BE FOUND
SUMMARY
Leverage social – whether
you personally use it or not
As you build your footprint,
think TRUST and TIME
STARVATION
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45. FOLLOW ME AT
@WEAVE
THANK YOU! OTHER PRESENTATIONS AT
slideshare.net/weave
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