{"id":30505,"date":"2021-03-11T09:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T07:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=30505"},"modified":"2021-08-17T12:04:19","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T10:04:19","slug":"personal-branding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/personal-branding\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Branding, a Key Communication Tool With Christina Richter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christina Richter<\/a> began her career in traditional public relations; however, she has recently transitioned to work as a consultant on a freelance basis. She has over 15 years of experience in communications, public relations, content strategy, social media and personal branding. Her current job title is Communications and Personal Branding Strategist.  
 
Christine spoke to EU Business School students about the importance of developing their personal brand and how they could use LinkedIn \u2013 the best online platform for business \u2013 to do this. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your Personal Brand?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Christina used a Jeff Bezos quote to define personal brand: \u201cIt\u2019s what people say about you when you\u2019re not in the room.\u201d  
 
Your personal brand is not solely what you do professionally. It also consists of your background, your industry know-how, your interests and voluntary commitments, your passions and your network. 
 
To begin defining your personal brand, Christina suggested asking yourself the following questions: 
 
What are my skills and experience?  
What is the industry I work in or want to work in? 
What are my personal values? 
Who are the people that I want to address? <\/strong>
 
She also used the example of a conference to guide the direction in which you should take your personal brand. You should imagine that you\u2019ve been asked to speak at a business event and consider what topic you\u2019d talk about, the approach you\u2019d take and who you\u2019d want to be in the audience. You should then imagine LinkedIn is a 24\/7 conference and address it accordingly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Is Your Personal Brand Important?<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whether we cultivate it or not, we all have a personal brand.  
 
It\u2019s a shame to neglect the opportunities that building a strong personal brand can bring, but it\u2019s even worse to have a toxic personal brand without realizing it. Whenever your name is recommended to a potential employer<\/a> or partner, the first thing they will do is Google you. Refining your personal brand is one way to take control over what they find when they do<\/strong>. 
 
Today, anyone can brand themselves as an expert. That means you don\u2019t have to wait until you\u2019re a polished final product to start raising your visibility. You don\u2019t have to lie about your situation either. Instead of portraying yourself as an expert when you\u2019re not, you can take your network on the journey with you as you gain knowledge and experience in your industry. 
 
Other people in your industry, who will be your competition, are doing this already. That\u2019s why it\u2019s better to start building your personal brand early. It\u2019s about being visible, not about being perfect. If you do this effectively, it will position you well for future opportunities. You are more likely to become a familiar face and a respected voice in your industry.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 5 Cs of Personal Branding on LinkedIn <\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Care<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, you should care for your LinkedIn profile. That means keeping it up-to-date and ensuring that you have completed all the requested information. 
 
Your header image should relate to your industry, and your profile picture should be a clear headshot, preferably with an eye-catching, colorful background<\/strong>.  
 
Your tagline should incorporate keywords or your expertise, and it could be phrased as a concrete action; for example \u201cI support entrepreneurs to express their personal brand.\u201d  
 
Write your biography in the first person and use it as an opportunity to show your personality and passions. This is also a good place to highlight achievements and awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curate<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To grow your visibility you must be active on the LinkedIn platform. This will bring your profile to the attention of more people. 
 
You can become a curator by sharing useful and interesting information that relates to your industry.<\/strong> However, you should not simply share other people\u2019s LinkedIn posts.  
 
The algorithm prefers when you make your own original post. You can also tag the person or topic to whom you wish to address your post, which should drive interactions.  
 
Using established hashtags with high follower counts can help bring people to your page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can also post your own content<\/strong> on LinkedIn. If you have a YouTube channel, you can advertise it through your profile. You can also share original blog posts to your networks. 
 
Try to avoid linking to external sites, as LinkedIn\u2019s algorithm does not like this. Instead, you can say \u201cLink in the comments\u201d and post the URL as the first response.  
 
An ideal structure for a post is: a teaser (a short attention-grabbing opener); some context explaining why this content is of interest to your industry; a call to action: relevant hashtags; and an image.  
 
The call to action is especially important when you share original content, because you want people to interact with your posts. One strategy is to ask a question they can respond to in the comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

LinkedIn responds to your level of activity, increasing your visibility as you become more present and dynamic on the platform. 
 
You can also build relationships by introducing different people in your industry via LinkedIn when you notice shared areas of interest between them<\/strong>. This can be a very effective strategy for increasing your influence amongst your network. 
 
You can encourage this process by commenting on other people\u2019s posts, too. Add people that are in your network and send them direct messages where appropriate. 
 
Building a personal brand isn\u2019t about implementing heavy sales tactics: it\u2019s the opposite. Instead, you build your visibility so that people approach you when they need your products or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consistency<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf content is king, consistency is queen,\u201d Christine stated in her presentation. 
 
She said that it\u2019s worthwhile to dedicate 30-60 minutes per day to growing your personal brand. Making a consistent investment of time and attention will pay off, and the algorithm responds to this routine<\/strong>. 
 
Your personal brand is also strengthened when you keep it consistent across platforms. You can do this by using the same profile picture for LinkedIn and Instagram, for example. This makes you more memorable and easier to find.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personal Brand Check In<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A good first step for developing your personal brand is to do a personal brand check-in. Ask a friend to look at your current profiles and give their first impression of the image you portray. Google yourself and see what results come up first.  
 
Remember, social media that is visible to employers could have an impact on future career prospects!<\/strong> Christine reminded students of the importance of regular housekeeping when it came to their digital footprint. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christina Richter began her career in traditional public relations; however, she has recently transitioned to work as a consultant on a freelance basis. She has over 15 years of experience in communications, public relations, content strategy, social media and personal branding. Her current job title is Communications and Personal Branding Strategist.   Christine spoke to EU Business School students about the importance of developing their personal brand and how they could use LinkedIn \u2013 the best online platform for business \u2013 to do this.   What is your Personal Brand? Christina used a Jeff Bezos quote to define personal brand: \u201cIt\u2019s what people say about you when you\u2019re not in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1777],"tags":[725,6778,1040,1230,4274],"class_list":["post-30505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eu-business-school-guest-speakers","tag-communication","tag-international-womens-day","tag-personal-branding","tag-professional-women","tag-women-in-business","post--single"],"yoast_head":"\r\nPersonal Branding, a Key Communication Tool<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Christine Richter spoke to EU Business School students about the importance of developing their personal brand and how they could use LinkedIn to do this.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/personal-branding\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/personal-branding\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Community\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Guest Speakers\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.euruni.edu\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/eu-business-school-community\\\/eu-business-school-guest-speakers\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Personal Branding, a Key Communication Tool With Christina Richter\"}]}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Personal Branding, a Key Communication Tool","description":"Christine Richter spoke to EU Business School students about the importance of developing their personal brand and how they could use LinkedIn to do this.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/personal-branding\/","author":"EU Business School","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/personal-branding\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"EU Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EU Community","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Guest Speakers","item":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/eu-business-school-guest-speakers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Personal Branding, a Key Communication Tool With Christina Richter"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30505"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30531,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30505\/revisions\/30531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}