In fact, when it comes to being a truly innovative entrepreneur or industry professional, having a personalized online footprint is essential to your business strategy. Kredible found that 52 percent of vendors it surveyed said they'd lost business because of information customers found, or didn’t find, online, about them. That’s because there is a good deal that professionals can glean from your visual brand online. As Claire Bahn, CEO of Online Profile Pros, a profile photo provider, shared with me about my own personal brand, “Experts estimate it takes less than one-tenth of a second for someone to make an impression of you from your photo. So much of the online world is outside of our control; so it’s important to flood the web with as much positive content as possible. That’s why having an active personal branding strategy is a crucial part of controlling your image online. The more content you put online, the more that effort will help your good content rise above any negative content that may be out there. Make yours a profile-centric world. As Bahn put it, “People used to have one or two online profiles, but these days the average is closer to nine, if you include dating profiles.There’s just a lot more for people to research about you these days.” With so many social profiles, it’s important to carefully select and manage which ones people will see. As such, every platform has been bombarded by "influencers" trying to subtly market products without making those efforts look like ads.
Why is everyone all of a sudden trying to become LinkedIn-famous? Is anyone else tired (like me) of reading about all of the branding “hacks” out there? After all, there’s a lot more to achieving great personal branding than tricking algorithms.
And,make no mistake: Achieving great personal branding is important. In fact, when it comes to being a truly innovative entrepreneur or industry professional, having a personalized online footprint is essential to your business strategy.
Research has confirmed this. Kredible found that 52 percent of vendors it surveyed said they’d lost business because of information customers found, or didn’t find, online, about them.
That’s alarming, because entrepreneurs and startup founders can’t afford to have potential customers stumbling upon the wrong information; and no information at all can be just as problematic. The same goes for job-seekers surfing the web to check out a prospective employer. According to a Jobvite survey of recruiters, 95 percent of those polled viewed a competitive personal brand as an essential differentiator for attracting the best applicants in today’s workplace.
I’ve found this to be true:My personal brand has afforded me unlimited opportunities, from earning me big business deals and partnerships, to reasons to travel, to everything in between.
So, make 2018 your own year for upping your game:Here’s a list of reasons why entrepreneurs, solopreneurs (and everyone else) should focus on personal branding in the new year:
1. Image is everything.
If you believe the old axiom that you need to put your best foot forward, a more modern version would be that you have to put your best face forward. While numerous HR-driven applications are pushing for photos and names to be removed from the hiring or sourcing process, to lower the possibillity of racial and gender bias, people use photos and visual branding for positive reasons, too.
That’s because there is a good deal that professionals can glean from your visual brand online. As Claire Bahn, CEO of Online Profile Pros, a profile photo provider, shared with me about my own personal brand, “Experts estimate it takes less than one-tenth of a second for someone to make an impression of you from your photo. They don’t bother reading your profile or digging deeper if their initial impression is negative.”
2. Personal banding is content you control.
Let’s face it. A lot of us have some sort of content out there — whether it be photos or an angry Facebook rant — that we might not be comfortable with potential employers, business partners or…
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