Do you have a portfolio of work that establishes your personal brand and credibility?
We live in an economy where your current job could disappear today and the competition for your next job will come from around the globe. How does your next employer know that you “know your stuff”?
No matter the industry or profession, blogging is a very effective way for you to establish your credibility and therefore create a personal brand.
What should you blog about?
It is very important to decide how you want to be perceived. A technical expert? The go to guy or gal in marketing? An artistic creative? What is your personal brand?
What is the image that you want to create?
That will help you to decide the name of your blog and the theme.
How often should I blog?
It does not matter how often but just be consistent. A good start would be once a week. Publish each entry on the same day of the week. This will help you get into a rhythm.
A great way to get into a rhythm from the very beginning is come up with the first 15-20 topics and titles that you blog about before you even start. This could become an editorial calendar that you could follow.
Measuring success
Understanding how you measure success is very critical. For my own blog, Career Pivot, I measure success in three ways:
- Did anyone read the post? There are lots of ways to measure this via Google Analytics and other tools.
- Do the readers comment on the posts? Commenting and responding to comments is a key aspect of establishing your personal brand.
- Do the readers social share the content on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Google+? Social sharing is critical to spreading the word about your blog.
If you blog at a steady pace over time, you will build up a body of work that people in your industry will find either through social media or search or even word of mouth.
Jim Adcock and his blog
I want to tell you the story of Jim Adcock. I have known Jim for a number of years and we currently serve together on a board of directors for a local non-profit.
Jim is a SharePoint guy! In fact, he calls himself “The SharePoint Therapist”.
He has been in the wrong place at the wrong time multiple times. He has worked for a defense contractor that downsized. He has been let go after a merger when his department was eliminated. Lots of bad timing but never because of the quality of work he provided. I am sure this sounds familiar to a lot of you!
Jim started blogging in May of 2009 about SharePoint and related topics. He has been blogging weekly just about ever since. What is amazing is Jim now gets to speak at regional SharePoint conferences where he is known as “that guy with the SharePoint blog”. His blog is now found thousands of times each month and he has created a very successful personal brand. All you have to do is read his blog and you know he “knows his stuff”!
His services are now in demand!
His blog has ALL of his contact information (LinkedIn, Twitter, his other blogs…) and his resume. More importantly, you discover who Jim is beyond just being a “SharePoint Therapist”.
This did not happen overnight! This took consistent and persistent effort to establish his personal brand and credibility!
How about you?
Author:
Marc Miller is the founder of Career Pivot which helps Baby Boomers design careers they can grow into for the next 30 years. Marc authored the book Repurpose Your Career: A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers, published in January 2013, which has been featured on Forbes.com, US News and World Report, CBS Money-Watch and PBS’ Next Avenue. Marc has made six career pivots himself, serving in several positions at IBM in addition to working at Austin, Texas startups, teaching math in an inner-city high school and working for a local non-profit. Learn more about Marc and Career Pivot by visiting the Career Pivot Blog or follow Marc on Twitter or Facebook.
