So here we are at the end of 2010. After a failed economy things are starting to look better (if only slightly). Companies are beginning to bring back their workforce in small numbers but let’s face it, the number of out of work professionals far outweighs the number of positions available and competition is fierce. These days it takes more than a nice resume and list of impressive qualifications to get you that job. Why? Because there are 10 more right behind you with a resume every bit as impressive as yours, vying for that same position.

And now with the explosion of social living online, it’s easier than ever for employers to get a feel for the type of person you are without ever having to schedule an interview or even call you. With an ever growing number of companies either recruiting through social networks or researching potential candidates through their social networks, your own personal brand has become more important than ever to set yourself apart from the competition and let your potential employer know who you are and what you stand for. Here are a few tips to get you started on building your personal brand:

1. Consistency Just like any other business out there, brand consistency is a crucial part of being memorable. By consistent I mean, use the same picture across all of your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, etc. Just like Nike uses the same logo everywhere, the more it is seen the better it sticks. Creating your own personal logo is a nice touch as well. It can instantly provide a perception of who you are and create an interest in you.

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2. Start A Blog Starting a blog with your own personal domain is good way to start your personal brand. To a potential employer a blog can show how well spoken you are. It illustrates your spelling and grammar and adds an air of professionalism. It’s also a good way to show how well versed you are on a particular topic.

Check out WordPress for setting up a blog on your own domain. WordPress is free but you will need to pay for your domain name (about a yr) and hosting (between – a month depending on the provider). Siteground is a pretty reliable inexpensive hosting solution and domain name provider. They will also install WordPress free of charge and offer several themes for customizing your blog.

3. Focus On What You Do Best Your personal brand is a form of advertising and just like any other business, you need to focus on the value of your brand. An employer will be asking the question, “Why you?” Your job is not only to answer that question, but convince them “why you”. What sets you apart from the rest? Be confident but not arrogant.

4. Don’t Get TOO Personal The personal touch can go a long way in establishing trust and giving someone the feeling that they “know” you but don’t get too personal. Personal opinions and views on touchy subjects such as politics and religion should be avoided. Be personal, but stay objective and professional at all times. Keep separate personal social networking accounts if necessary.

5. Network, Network, Network When building your own brand “market saturation” is key. Social interaction in person is just as important as online. Be sure to keep business cards with you at all times. Business cards are a quick way to provide your contact information and tell a person what you do without being too pushy. Everybody knows somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody and the more people that you can meet in your target audience, the better your odds are of being found, or better yet, sought after.

These are just a few tips that can help you get started building your own personal brand and is by no means an all inclusive list. Leave us a comment and let us know what methods you have used for building your personal brand and how effective it has been for you. Also let us know of anything you’ve learned NOT to do when it comes to personal branding.

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Perhaps one of the most important aspects of marketing is building brand awareness. It is important in the sense that, before you could make any sale of your product, people have to know about it first – hence you have to establish your brand. Only when a certain brand is established can it have an authority or a say in the market. You can establish your brand in the market by doing several things, although it will not be easy since you have no means of measuring the return of your investment in advertising.

One of the most popular and most effective ways of building a brand in the internet these days is through display ads. Display advertising has text, logos, images and other similar things that carry and promote your company name or your product or service.

These ads are called display ads because of their nature – you can practically put them anywhere, unlike classified ads which appear in one specified area. Like billboards, display ads make consumers be aware that your product or service exists out there and that your product or service is available to everyone upon request.

Display advertising has proven to be very effective when it comes to promoting a certain brand. In fact, you see companies take advantage of display advertising almost every where – you might have seen the brand of your cell phone from a billboard, or perhaps you have seen the latest version of a computer brand displayed on a popular website like Facebook.

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When you come to think of it, you will realize that the things that you have seen on display ads have influenced your choices in one way or another. Well in essence, display ads do not have to have images, audios, or videos, but are just used to make ads more effective.

Display advertising is a now a very popular form of online marketing, and may appear on web pages in different forms. Log on to your Facebook page, and you will see a lot of web banners in the home page or even in other websites for that matter.

Display ads in social networking sites such as Facebook are made in order for viewers to click on the ads and make sales. But even when people do not actually click on the ads, it affects them without even knowing it – they introduce your brand to people and they make consumers aware that your product or service exists.

The repeated exposure of consumers to your ads on web pages creates a positive feeling towards your brand. The more people get to see your ads splashed on different websites, the more they will subconsciously feel something positive towards your brand.

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Branding jokes aside, the Dell Streak looks to be a valiant attempt to not only create a new market segment, but define it as well. The 5″ (Gorilla Glass coated) tablet is sitting on top of a skinned version of Android 1.6, with a full (AT&T capable) 3G radio inside for calls and data. Using a device of this size is no doubt going to take some getting used to, as we often had trouble adapting t the Droid X’s 4.3″ screen. Size aside, the Streak packs a familiar 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5MPX rear camera (with dual LED flash), a front facing VGA camera for video calls, in a relatively svelte package. Over the next few days we’ll be showing the Dell Streak a bit more and answering all your questions. In the meantime, hit the play button to get your unboxing on. TechnoBuffalo: www.technobuffalo.com Follow me on twitter cuthut.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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We’ve talked about the importance of Twitter for personal branding in depth. Today, I’m going to share three success stories—companies and individuals that have used Twitter to effectively build their brand.

1) Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh.

Zappos was a very early adapter of Twitter, and as a result has built a very strong presence. CEO Tony Hsieh, in particular, has used his twitter account ( http://twitter.com/zappos) to infuse his personality into his business. Contrary to the approach that many businesspeople take with Twitter, Hsieh isn’t hesitant to tweet about personal thoughts, opinions and activities that may have nothing to do with his business. Rather than approaching Twitter as a giant billboard to advertise for Zappos, Hsieh uses it primarily to express his personality and connect with his followers. When he does tweet about his business, he doesn’t make a sales pitch. Rather, he shares interesting background details with his followers, or invites them to suggest improvements to various facets of his company. As a result, followers stay engaged because Hsieh isn’t simply trying to sell them products. In the long term, this results in customers with a strong connection to both Zappos and Tony Hsieh—and that is personal branding at its best.

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2) Comcast’s Bill Gerth.

Comcast was another early adapter of Twitter, but they took a very different approach than Zappos. In order to counter the perception that they were out of touch with their subscribers, Comcast created a Twitter account ( http://twitter.com/comcastcares) specifically to help out frustrated customers. In order to add personality to the account, Comcast assigned employee Bill Gerth to be the face of the operation. This allowed followers to develop a personal connection—subtly countering the notion that Comcast is a large, bureaucratic, inhuman corporation. Their customer service team uses the page to assist customers that are having issues— technical, billing, or others. A glance at their page reveals a steady stream of correspondence with customers, immediately conveying that Comcast is dedicated to satisfying their customers. Their Twitter presence serves two purposes—first, it’s an efficient way to provide customer support; and second, it presents Comcast as a customer centered company that truly cares.

3) Southwest’s Christi Day.

Southwest has been on Twitter since 2007 and has built a dynamic presence. Run by employee Christi Day, Southwest uses their profile ( http://twitter.com/SouthwestAir) for a variety of functions, but all have brand-building as their central purpose. Common tweets include correspondence with travelers experiencing problems (a tweet earlier this week to a delayed flier read “I’m so sorry for the delay tonight. Hopefully we’ll get everyone outta there soon, hang in there!”) as well as announcements, information and contests. This month, Southwest is holding a “12 days of LUV” contest in which they are offering 12 ,000 Southwest gift cards to contest winners. The contest asks followers to participate in various challenges, such as dressing their pet festively for the holidays. Participants send pictures, and the winner is announced via Twitter. These interactions paint a picture of Southwest as an engaged, fun-loving and customer oriented airline—branding at its finest.

You may not own a Fortune-500 company, but there is nothing stopping you from building a strong personal brand through Twitter. The companies we covered above found great approaches that work for them—what will your approach be?

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Branding is building a relationship between a product or service and the consumer. It is how we feel about that brand that will determine whether we as consumers want to have a relationship with it or not.

I believe therefore that personal branding is the relationships an individual has with its public essentially personal public relations.

Effective relationships are built by communication. Personal branding is communicating the inner essence of you – your uniqueness, qualities, strengths, skills and passions. It is also about your visual communication. Not only your business communication collateral such as stationery and websites but how you appear through dress, style, and personal presence.

As we all need to make a positive impression in today’s competitive work place, here’s:

A Dozen Ways to Develop your Personal Brand

Personality * Work out your personality characteristics and your passions. Discover what sets you apart. Develop a personal brand statement that is just for you – your internal dialogue – then use that as a basis for external communication

Promote * Develop your PB statement into a short ad or commercial about you. When you meet people you should be able to say clearly what you do, how you do it differently, and the benefit it provides.

Package * Develop a unique style suitable to your personality and work. Dress for the role you want, not necessarily the one you have. Balance your individual style with clothing that will appeal to those you are trying to impress.

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Presence * Become a class act. Learn good business manners and social etiquette. Send hand-written notes, return phone calls – it’s the ‘little things’ that count

Publicise * Become an expert source for the media. Get known in your niche. Write articles for magazines and online newsletters. Speak for Rotary clubs and other organizations. Send out interesting media releases on your topic to journalists to help create word of mouth buzz.

People * Build your network. Make new business contacts and stay in touch with them. Choose those appropriate to you and your personal brand; those you can help and those who can help you. Help others become as successful as you. Be selective with which networking groups you belong to.

Positioning * What position do you already own with your audience and what do you want to own? Is there a unique concept or idea you can hang your hat on? Where’s the creative element? Build your brand by being first with a new idea or by recognizing a major trend in your field and moving to the head of it.

Presentations * Learn to be a confident communicator. Join Toastmasters or hire a communications coach to ensure that your written and verbal skills are at their best. Strong communication skills and presentation skills are a must and being a proficient public speaker will help reinforce your personal brand.

Perfection * Well there’s no such thing. We all make mistakes. You may have to try many ways to discover and reinforce your personal brand. If something is not working try something else.

Profit * We all want to be profitable but remember to give something back. Giving your time, talent, or money to charitable causes or industry associations can help build your brand. And of course it will be more enjoyable if you find something you are passionate about or complements what you like to do.

Partners * Work with the best whether employees, contractors, consultants or partners. They will help build your brand reputation. Leverage your time and find someone else to do the job for you so you can concentrate on what you do best.

Plan * Develop a personal brand plan for yourself every year, and review it often. Include specific goals, strategies, action steps, and a timetable. Need some tips on how to do this, then pick up a copy of Apprentice to Business ACE.

Above all take a professional approach to building your personal brand.