Personal Branding Mistake #1: NOT HAVING A BRAND PROMISE

Believe it or not, most senior professionals don’t have a brand promise. Big opportunity lost.

A personal brand is not a portrait or a tagline (although it may include these). A brand is not a biography or a website (although it may be expressed in these). A brand is a promise you can keep… a benefit to your audience that is understandable, believable, delivers superior value and differentiates you from your peers. Whatever your current branding efforts are intending to do, they are perceived by your audience as making a promise. And if that promise is not what you want to communicate, then you’re in trouble. So consider doing research with your audience to find out what they think: what your brand really is, what people perceive of you as promising. And discover if you’re standing out in the way you want.

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Personal Branding Mistake #2: SOCIAL MEDIA PICTURE MISSING

People are 16X more likely to look at your LinkedIn profile when you post a picture. Post a good picture that supports your brand promise. 

Many people do not understand the importance of a good portrait on social media professional profiles. In a study conducted by The Ladders, an eye tracking heat map shows that recruiters spend 19% of the total time looking at your picture then your current job position and education. Not as much time is spent on your skills, specialties or older work experiences. Social media profiles are today’s first impressions. Complementing personal branding with a strong photo gives your audience a picture (both literally and physically) of who you are that goes beyond words. A recent study published in Psychological Science discovered that we draw conclusions about people based on a photo in less than a second. Not having a photo causes your audience to question why not. Leaving your audience questioning is not a good move. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #3: LACK OF FOCUS

Listing too many skills and posting content on your social pages that have no connection to your personal brand may be confusing. Be clear about your brand promise and support it with consistent messaging. 

Social media pages are checked by recruiters 63% of the time. Having irrelevant and unnecessary content on your profile places you at a disadvantage. Your profile should focus on content that compliments and supports your brand promise. Include only relevant information that supports your brand story. Make sure your profiles have clear information and imagery that presents you in a favorable light. Consistency is important with personal branding. While it’s perfectly fine to adapt content to a specific platform, one cannot assume that your audience will only be looking at LinkedIn. Keeping your content consistent and focused delivers a strong message to your audience.

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Personal Branding Mistake #4: YOU'VE BECOME A LITTLE LAZY

As January fades away so does your New Year’s resolution to post. Don’t give up on your personal branding goals! Keep posting and keep engaging your network. 

If you have become a little lazy and figure that you can take a few weeks off from posting and engaging on social media, then you are sadly mistaken. Just because your profile is strong doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work regularly on maintaining its strength. Posting content about relevant information to support your brand story ensures your audience’s continued engagement. Remember to use visuals to spice things up as they are processed 60,000 faster by the brain than text. Be proactive to sustain and grow your brand’s relationship with your social media audience. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #6: NOT CHECKING YOUR FEED

Your have a professional network, now use it! 

Having a social media profile just to have one is unproductive. Why have 500+ LinkedIn connections if you don’t engage them? Posting relevant content opens up new relationships and new opportunities on the web. Providing comments, feedback and insight on network posts is a very effective way to engage with your connections. The stronger your brand’s connection, the more valuable your brand becomes. And, 85% of your visitors feel more connected when you’re following them on social media. In order to reap the benefits of a strong online presence, regularly check your feed and participate. Don’t be viewed as “out of the loop”. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #8: YOU'RE NOT ELEVATOR PITCH READY

When opportunities arise, will you and your personal brand be ready? Knowing what your brand stands for and presenting it effectively is key for the perfect elevator pitch.

You never know when you may meet someone who has the potential to become a client or a meaningful asset to your business. Given this, it is absolutely essential that you’re ready to communicate your brand promise quickly and effectively at any given time. The average attention span of a person is 8.25 seconds, so the first few seconds of your pitch are crucial in capturing their attention. Some of the most meaningful professional interactions occur outside of the office when you least expect it. Know your brand promise inside out and deliver a consistent pitch to friends, family and business people. If you don’t have a clear brand message, then why would you expect anyone to get it? 

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Personal Branding Mistake #9: YOU'RE TOO PERSONAL!

New business prospects want to know about YOU, not your kids, your dog and your extended family. Being professional is important, and finding a balance between professional and personal is even more important.

Professionals often struggle with the fine line between personal and professional content for social media. Posting personal information on your professional social media platforms is not a good idea and at times totally inappropriate. Your professional audience wants to know about your brand and its value, not about your new puppy. Keep your content professional, consistent and always supporting your brand promise. While it’s okay to share your opinion, steer clear of topics that could be too controversial, like politics. Being too personal on your professional social media pages may have a negative impact on your branding. Keep professional content separate from personal and you’ll be good to go.

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Personal Branding Mistake #10: SO YOU'VE GOTTEN A BIT SLOPPY?

Content is important, and keeping it relevant and interesting is key to engaging your network and creating new business opportunities. Post clear content that connects to your personal brand.

The purpose of your brand’s social media platforms is to engage your audience, maintain relevance with your network, and build new relationships and opportunities. The most essential part of your brand’s online presence is content. Valuable content has magnetic power. Create an interesting mix of relevant content to earn audience mindshare and trust. Do not post to post. Your brand’s audience does not want their feed filled with random content. Share clear content with your network that is aligned with your brand and its value. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #12: TOO MANY POSTS

You are focusing on quantity not quality posts. One quality lead is worth 100 leads that do not have much hope.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in personal branding is posting too much content. There’s tremendous pressure to be constantly visible in your ever changing social media feed. The volume of posts will depend on the specific platform. LinkedIn for instance is a low volume/high value platform. Twitter is a high volume/low value platform. Our instinct is to just post, post, post. It’s not about the quantity of your posts; it’s about the quality of your posts. Quality content is what makes your brand stand out. Engage your audience and attract new relationships and new opportunities with great content. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #14: YOUR BRANDING ISN'T CLEAR

If your brand promise isn’t clear and consistent on your social pages, how can you expect your audience to know what you stand for? 

If your brand promise is not consistently presented to your audience, then your brand runs the risk of becoming confusing. It takes 5-7 brand impressions before someone remembers your brand. To build real value, stay on message in all your social platforms. If one social media page does not align with your brand promise then your brand strength will suffer. Your brand made a promise and it is up to you to deliver on that commitment. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #18: YOU'RE A LITTLE STIFF

Professional profiles are important, but your social pages shouldn’t read like resumes. You want to communicate with your audience not confuse them by being overly academic. Be clear and creative. 

Social media profiles are not resumes. Don’t make them look like one or read like one. It’s about your brand promise and your brand story. Experience counts as support for your branding, use it that way and stay away from the resume. Social media is effective because it’s social and interesting. If you do it right and it’s a job you’re looking for, you’ll have plenty of time to show your resume. Having a profile filled with experience, academic accomplishments and recommendations is good if it points to your branding. If not, your connections will not see it as relevant and may not be engaged. Showcase your creativity by presenting your brand in a manner that is socially appropriate and innovative. Spice up your social media platforms with visuals, as 65% of social media audiences are visual learners. Think about it as a party conversation. Would you read someone your resume or would you tell them a story? Bet they would rather hear a story!

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Personal Branding Mistake #19: YOU DON'T HAVE A CLEAR BRAND PROMISE

It can be difficult to assess your brand, but it's an important step in building your brand. Once you assess your brand with an outside professional, you can move towards a better brand promise.

Before creating your brand promise you must evaluate your brand. Obtaining an unbiased opinion is key to getting an accurate assessment of your brand. Working with a professional branding expert provides you with the knowledge and feedback needed to create a strong promise that communicates your brand’s value to your audience. If you don’t take control of branding by making a great promise, your audience will continue to brand you in ways you may not want – and to that extent your future will be out of your hands and in the control of others. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #20: YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU WANT YOUR BRAND TO GO

Once you've defined your brand you’re ready for outreach marketing. But if you don’t know where you want your brand to go, navigating towards your audience may be a bumpy ride. 

Having outreach marketing objectives for your brand is extremely important. Optimize your outreach with goals and a plan designed to connect with the hearts and minds of those you aim to influence. You need to know where your brand is going in order to get there. Define your brand’s target and plan the best route to reach them. It will help expand your reach, your relationships and your opportunities on the web, and beyond.

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Personal Branding Mistake #21: YOU'RE NOT PROVIDING THE "SAILS" FOR YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

So you’ve developed your brand promise… But is this promise backed up by your brand story? Does it support your brand as different and better than the competition? 

A great brand is supported be a great story. Don’t make a promise without a solid rationale behind it. Having relevant content with important keywords reinforces your brand promise and increases the number of viewers of your profile. Those views are important to your professional success. A recent survey showed 93% of professionals use social media for business. And 34% say they have generated leads using LinkedIn and Twitter. So make sure that the story you’re sending to your professional audience reinforces your brand. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #22: YOU'RE LEADING A DOUBLE LIFE

How can your audience get an accurate view of you if your brand appears differently on your social media platforms? Be consistent and make your LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook professional pages communicate a synchronized message.

Research shows that personal brands with well-managed and harmonious social media platforms are 40% more effective than brands with inconsistent platforms. Your audience offers huge new business opportunities if you manage social media platforms correctly. There are more 350 million LinkedIn users, 645 million Twitter users and 1.39 billion Facebook users. Make sure all of your platforms are consistent and reinforce your brand promise. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #23: YOU'RE ANOTHER BLUR ON THE SCREEN

Don’t underestimate the importance of a good headshot. A profile picture that's clear and professional can give you character and credibility  – not to mention 11x more engagement.

Happy faces come off as more trustworthy and likeable. Chemistry is everything in business so why not start with a friendly portrait on your social platforms. Keep in mind that people remember only 20 percent of what they read and 10 percent of what they hear, but retain 80 percent of what they see. Visuals matter when it comes to social media so keep your content interesting to keep it working hard for you.

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Personal Branding Mistake #25: WHY SO SERIOUS?

Your profile picture and background should look professional, but try to have a little fun while you’re at it!

75 of the Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn as an important part of their corporate hiring solutions. Companies are looking for solid citizens but pay more attention when your portrait breaks through the boredom barrier. Don’t do a deer in the headlights portrait or OMG no portrait at all. Turns out 65% of your audience are visual learners so engage them with stimulating imagery! Social platforms achieve 94% more total views with compelling images. Keep it professional but keep it engaging.

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Personal Branding Mistake #27: YOU'RE TIME-TRAVELING

Make sure your picture is relatively up to date. You looked great in your high school yearbook photo, but employers want to hire you, not your seventeen year-old self.

Think about it this way, would you put a baby picture in your LinkedIn profile? Keep it current and keep it real. Don’t surprise people when you finally meet them in person by not having them recognize you. Misrepresenting your portrait is bad for your brand and bad for business. 43% of all professionals found new business connections via LinkedIn. Keep their trust and don’t time travel.

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Personal Branding Mistake #31: A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED

You need your connections and they need you too. Don’t hesitate to give appropriate endorsements or recommendations. They may just want to return the favor. 

Did you know that 35% of LinkedIn users access the site daily? Stay in touch, recommend and nurture your connections. There are over 1 billion LinkedIn endorsements making their profiles 4X more likely to be viewed. The more endorsements you make, the more you will receive and the more attention you will get. So get on the endorsement band wagon!

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Personal Branding Mistake #33: YOU'RE NOT SUPPORTED

What you write on your profile needs support. Attach relevant documents, links and images throughout your page. Keep it fresh and interesting.

94% of people regularly share content online that add value to the professional lives of people in their network. Before sharing, consider sharing only informative and useful content. The average person reads only 20% of text so it’s wise to include visuals (particularly video) to optimize your brand presence. Your social media posts and shares work best when supporting your brand promise and story. 

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