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 #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 #15: WEAK NETWORK

You need like-minded people in your social network that can help you achieve your business goals. Say yes to invites and get out there and find them! 

What is the point in having hundreds of connections on social media if they are not aligned with your brand and its value?  76% of LinkedIn members' primary use of the platform is for networking with other professionals. You want a network of like-minded people who share similar knowledge, experience and goals. Maintaining a network of these individuals gives you a great advantage over your peers. Sharing advice, ideas and content with your network benefits both your brand and theirs. Actively pursue these relationships by accepting invitations and initiating meaningful communication. Like-minded connections make social media work for you. 

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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 #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 #40: THE CLOCK IS TICKING

Start reassessing your image now, not when transition inspires you or calamity strikes. Don’t wait until the final hour to revamp your personal brand; you might just miss a great opportunity.

Waiting to take action on your social media profile may cost you a valuable opportunity. For instance, adding an industry to your LinkedIn profile can get you 15X more views. Establish your personal brand and constantly update it. Active social media users follow brands that interest and engage them. 51% of user profiles on LinkedIn are 100% complete so make sure yours is one of them!

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Personal Branding Mistake #42: IT'S NOT ALL FUN AND GAMES

Don’t be a slave to social media; make it work for you instead. Have it serve as a platform to leverage your brand and increase awareness. You want to build an audience, not a platform of gifs and memes to distract your connections from the service you provide.

LinkedIn powers 50% of the world’s hires, so make sure your audience knows your brand promise and its value. Represent that promise with relevant text, documents, visuals and links. LinkedIn’s power is in professional connections, so keep your professional profile focused and clear of personal information. Puppies work great on Facebook, not so great on LinkedIn.  

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Personal Branding Mistake #48: YOU'RE WALKING ON A TIGHTROPE

So you want to transition into a new field or career? Make sure the content on your profile builds a connection between where you are and where you want to be. Make your transition happen with a strong brand promise.

Live in the present, create content for the job you want, not for the job(s) you had but make a strong connection between the two. 50% of LinkedIn users have a Bachelor’s or Graduate degree, so make sure you link your education to a strong brand promise to build value for potential employers. Consider making that link come to life in a video. It’s 50X easier to get a video to rank on the first page of a Google search than any other content.

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Personal Branding Mistake #50: YOU FORGOT YOUR TWITTER "BUSINESS CARD"

Don’t have a Twitter avatar and completed bio? A profile without a personal brand is like going to a meeting without a business card. Forgetting your business card may make for a sad ending – no business! 

80% of world leaders use Twitter so make sure you are a leader in your field by having a complete and solid profile to actively engage your audience. Tweets with image links receive 2X the rate of engagement of those without. The average number of tweets sent per day is 3, as user engagement slightly decreases after the third post. After LinkedIn, Twitter is the platform of choice for CEO’s. Add it to your business card.  

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