Branding myself

Been musing over this personal brand issue for days now. At first I did think it was a bit self-indulgent, and a bit too managed. I was under the illusion that surely I didn’t need to plan my web presence, it would just evolves naturally. However then a colleague remarked that my description on Twitter is “pretty sad” and I had to agree, though I still haven’t got round to changing it. I also read some blogs about how I already have an online brand whether I like it or not, and therefore ensuring that I’m aware of this and managing it for my own purposes is pretty important.

I’ve no intention at all of blathering on about my home life – even I don’t find it interesting – and all though some unimportant details may slip by my internal censor, I’m positive that my online presence, on this blog at least, will be purely professional. I want to be able to engage with other people who deal with the same issues as myself (and can I just thank all those who’ve left comments on this blog – it’s so encouraging), and for this to happen I need to be able to project who I am and what I do in order for others to be able to find me. That also is why I use my own name and own photo on all my social networking sites. I WANT people to be able to recognise me and know who I am. Using my own name and the same picture keeps consistency across different social networks as well so people will know that I am the same person as Nia08 on Twitter. I’m also thinking about changing my photo as the one currently on my blog was taken at a Christmas party and I’m not sure whether that’s the impression that I want to give although I do look very happy!

I also want this blog to reflect my views, and not those of the organisation for which I work, so I had better make that clear as well right at the start.  I’ve also taken to heart the comments on http://davefleet.com/2010/05/ruin-build-personal-brand/ on the importance of not being negative, so no posts on how unbelievably busy I am, or how colleagues are annoying, or why I’m not being paid enough, for example. I’m hoping to write more about my day-to-day job so I’ve kept the title as general as possible and not restrict it to just 23 Things.

And that’s it really. If I have time enough, I’d like to put an unique background on this blog and on my Twitter page. Also I really need to change my descriptions to something a bit more meaningful, but that will have to wait.