This post was written by guest blogger Michele Rempel

I recently spoke to a group of university business students and asked them, “How many of you believe that your personal presence on all social media accounts is ready for scrutiny by recruiters, potential employers or potential clients, right now?”  Only a few of the 80+ students in the audience raised their hands.  Of course, I wasn’t surprised, given that they had only begun the school year and most of them were not yet seniors.

I know that I would get more raised hands if I were to ask a group of business professionals.  However, my experience has been that most business owners or employees are thinking about that question superficially and not in the way that is going to benefit them the most in this age of social media.  If you are looking for clients, customers or a new position, it’s a good idea to own, manage, monitor and even dominate your personal digital presence.

Your Personal Digital Presence – Own It

This may sound crazy, but do you own your own domain name, such as www.danielstoica.com?  One of the best ways to get your personal brand and content out there is to have your own website or blog site on your own name.  Of course, some of you have a really common name, so you may have to find a variation, but consider purchasing your name as a domain if you can.  I heard Nathan Latka, a young social media phenom, tell his audience a couple of months ago that his future children will only be named whatever he can purchase as a domain.  Although that may seem a bit extreme, I understand his point.  With social media, it’s easier to become your own brand than ever before.  See if your name is available at www.godaddy.com or www.1and1.com.

Your Personal Digital Presence – Manage It

The best way to ensure that your personal digital presence represents the real you is by producing your own content on the web as well as associating yourself with other people’s good content.  Consider writing your own blog posts  and then linking them to your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.  You can set up your own blog site at www.wordpress.com, or consider having someone help you start a blog site with your own domain name. If you have a tough time writing, then you can out other people’s content (giving them credit, of course) about subjects that interest you.  Find a blog post that you would like to share and then send the link to that blog post (with your own quick introduction) using an application such as www.ping.fm.  Your name gets associated with the information that you’re sending, even though you didn’t have to write anything.  The idea is to have your name and brand associated with appropriate content, over and over again.  When people search for you on the internet, they’ll see listings of good content associated with your name.  Keep in mind that every Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blog post, etc., gets indexed on the search engines.

Another way to manage your digital presence is to check up on your social media accounts regularly.  I don’t mean just send out Facebook or Twitter posts; I mean check and update your personal information wherever you’re being represented.  Is your information current and correct?  Have you changed your tagline, brand message, or job responsibilities?  Do you have a good photo?

Your Personal Digital Presence – Monitor It

How do you know what is being said about you or your brand? Do you Google yourself or your brand on a regular basis?  Better yet, do you have your Google alerts set so that you get an email when you’re mentioned on the internet?  Set up a Google alert by going to www.google.com/alerts and you’ll get an email whenever your search term gets mentioned.  Even if you don’t think anyone is talking about you or your brand, you may be in for a surprise.

Your Personal Digital Presence – Dominate It

The goal of owning, managing and monitoring your personal digital presence is to ensure that you are being represented the way you want.  Posting content that represents you, your brand, service or product on all of your social media accounts will help you dominate the search engines and ensure that you can be found.  And when you are found, your name or brand will be associated with good content in listing after listing.

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Michele Rempel is a Partner and Project Manager for Website Development and Social Media Marketing Management at Mandatek, LLC. She leverages her previous experience as an educator & administrator to effectively communicate with clients and translate their visions into website and software projects as well as social media marketing campaigns. Michele enjoys speaking and writing about social media and is also in the process of starting an additional company called Mediavine Marketing to simplify social media marketing for small businesses and individuals. Find out more about Michele on Twitter.


*Photo by Franco Bouly

The personal brand

Charles Manson is a personal brand. He stands for something. When you hear his name you instantly associate him with murder, prison, psychosis and other negative things. But the one thing he has that you don’t…

world-wide brand recognition. He is known by more people than your small business. He has had more interviews and TV appearences than you. Charles Manson is a household name.

He is a brand. And he’s never made a dime from it.

The word BRAND has become meaningless. It’s a great buzz word but what does it actually do for your business? I guess if you’re Nike or Pepsi or Starbucks it matters…

But for you and your business trying to build a brand should not be your primary goal. I know I’ve just peeved off a bunch of people on Madison Avenue and basically gone against what some of my friends and colleagues believe at a core level.

What business is really about

But really … It’s NOT about branding your business. It’s about focusing on your customers. It’s about building products and services that solve problems and meet needs. It’s about making money as a business or making a difference as a nonprofit.

Branding puts the focus on you and your business. To grow, your business must focus on your customers and their needs.

Yes you need to stand for something. But that’s not branding – that’s character and core values.

I’m reminded of a daydream most of us have from time to time in life. We dream about being rich. But money isn’t really the end goal. It is what we think is nessasary to live the life we actually dream about on a deeper level. We think that if we only had millions of dollars we’d have less problems, more time and happiness. The problem with this line of thinking is that it leads us to put emphasis on the tools (money) and not the end result (happiness/freedom).

Brand is the same way. It’s not really a brand we are after, it’s what we think a brand will bring us… more business, growth, sales or nonprofit donations. While having a brand CAN bring all those things, it’s better for us to view branding as a function of marketing not the end goal.

If the end goal is to brand oneself, then Charles Manson would be wealthy and free. So would Hitler.

Don’t misunderstand…colors , logos, names, fonts, design, slogans and marketing materials all matter. But they should reinforce your marketing and sales strategy for getting new business. The goal of a brand is to be remembered as a trustworthy source of a particular solution or product. As you deliver a quality product you will being to gain authority, trust and … dare I use the word again … brand.

Just don’t forget during this process that brand is a function of the end goal … which is  S-A-L-E-S.

How to brand your business

I think Dockers did an excellent job with their 2010 Superbowl ad. It gave a clear call to action and continued their brand identity. But for a small business or nonprofit you don’t have millions of dollars to throw into a branding campaign. Instead of buying Superbowl ads, integrate branding with your response marketing.

You should help people remember you in the midst of giving them a call to action. Make branding part of your process. As my mentor Eben Pagan likes to say, “it’s not about communication, it’s about conversion.” You can communicate your brand all you want, but at the end of the day, conversions matter.

Action Step

Here is your action step for today. Rename one of your products or services.

Let me give you an example. I have a client who works with average looking people to teach them to become professional actors and models. He has developed an amazing modeling technique that he teaches to all his students. I recommended that he name his technique the ” modeling recall method.” I then urged him to add his name to the front of it. This is a simple way of “branding” something that he is already doing.

What are some ways that you can name what you do in a way that helps people remember your business? Spend some time today thinking about something you do in your business and how you can (re)name it. Then leave a comment below with your thoughts, questions or results. I’d love to hear what you come up with.

Now go take action and let me know.

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Joel Mark Witt is the Publisher of Folk Media and author of 21 Days To Twitter Leadership and How To Use Social Media To Find A Better Job. He is a producer, author, and speaker who consults with businesses and nonprofits on how to use social media in marketing and communications. Get more from Joel on Twitter or Google Buzz.

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