The Non-Negotiable Power of Personal Branding

For executives and entrepreneurs in 2025, personal branding is a must-have asset. “Every face of a company with high conversion rates and strong product engagement typically has a following unmatched by competitors,” says Archer Wolfe. In today’s landscape, where numbers often guide decisions, a robust personal brand cuts through the noise, offering credibility and influence. Wolfe explains, “People’s instinct is to follow the numbers, but it’s up to potential users to do their homework on the teams.” A strong personal brand doesn’t just attract attention—it builds trust, making it a game-changer for securing partnerships and clients.

Crafting Global Personal Brands with 1stimpression.com

Archer Wolfe’s agency, 1st Impression, takes personal branding to the next level for executives worldwide. “We help executives from all industries establish an elitist personal brand that reflects their best qualities and achievements through the eyes of Google and AI LLMs,” Wolfe shares. The agency goes beyond surface-level PR by publishing content that showcases clients’ expertise and opinions on trending industry topics. This strategy positions executives as thought leaders, driving engagement and turning online visibility into real-world opportunities.

“Creating valuable reasons for people to engage and become potential customers is our focus,” Wolfe adds. In a digital era shaped by AI-driven personalization trends outlined by Forbes, 1stimpression.com ensures its clients’ brands are both discoverable and impactful, giving them a competitive edge on a global stage.

Authenticity: The Heart of Personal Branding

Authenticity isn’t just a buzzword for Wolfe—it’s a core principle. “The famous quote ‘authenticity is key’ is a strong pillar of the 1stimpression.com business model,” he says. Unlike influencers peddling empty hype, Wolfe’s team partners with media outlets adhering to The Trust Project’s transparency protocol, ensuring content meets rigorous editorial standards. This approach resonates deeply with millennials and Gen Z, who crave genuine stories over polished ads.

“We give executives a bigger stage to showcase their knowledge and skillsets,” Wolfe explains. By prioritizing value over vanity, 1stimpression.com builds personal brands that foster trust and loyalty—key currencies in 2025’s digital marketplace.

Avoiding Costly Personal Branding Mistakes

Even seasoned executives stumble with personal branding. “One of the biggest mistakes is purchasing followers or engagement,” Wolfe warns. Such shortcuts risk account bans and waste resources on hollow metrics. Another misstep? “Spending thousands on PR agencies and influencer marketing before a product is live,” he notes, which can drain financial runway prematurely. Let’s not forget one of the most important reasons; getting too addicted to the social validation you receive.

Wolfe’s advice is simple yet powerful: “Invest in yourself as much as you invest in your business.” Treating your personal brand with the same care as your diet or relationships ensures it’s built for longevity, not just fleeting attention, as highlighted in Brands at Play’s branding best practices for 2025.

The Competitive Edge in 2025

A strong personal brand offers more than visibility—it’s a strategic advantage. In a world where AI tailors experiences per Metrobi’s 2025 personal branding strategies and authenticity drives connection, executives with a clear, credible online presence stand out. Whether securing high-stakes partnerships or winning over clients, the trust and authority a personal brand conveys are unmatched.

Take Action Today

In 2025, personal branding is the linchpin of success for executives and entrepreneurs. Archer Wolfe, an entrepreneur with a proven track record, shows how authenticity and strategy can transform your digital presence. Ready to elevate your brand? Visit 1stimpression.com or connect with Archer Wolfe on LinkedIn, X.com, and Instagram for expert insights and actionable steps.

The post Personal Branding is Everything: Interview with Archer Wolfe appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

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On the surface, it’s a neat, new plum job for a great guy who is a leader and pioneer in corporate social media. But there’s a lot more to the story because it writes another chapter in the personal vs. company brand playbook.

Yeah, Charlene Li and Jeremiah Owyang left Forrester and are now reunited at the Altimeter Group. But those two were analysts at a tech-oriented company who branched out to be analysts at their own tech-oriented company. (Yes, they serve non-tech clients, but they’re tech/social analysts.) Robert Scoble? Same thing … tech to tech. Different deal.

Eliason leaves a cable company to go to a financial services company. It’s a bit different when it is out of the tech bubble. Eliason is also, intentional or not, the face and voice of Comcast customer service, not just a shining star on a team of content providers.

Frank Eliason is many people’s personal connection to Comcast. Losing him will be a blow to the cable company, and one more impactful than other personal brands moving on have been. You would think that Comcast would realize that and make every effort to keep Eliason in that position. Not so says a friend in the know at the company.

I’ll also be watching Eliason’s move to Citi because the position there, as I understand it, reports to marketing and isn’t a delineated customer service initiative. Eliason is a customer care and quality assurance guy, so he’ll stir the pot at the financial services company, I’d bet.

More importantly, though, I’m interested to see how @FrankEliason evolves as a face and voice on Twitter. Will Citi position Eliason as an employee handling social media or a personal brand speaking for the company?

Ford’s Scott Monty oversees many social media efforts, but is perhaps most effective for the company on Twitter as himself. Yet, in many ways he has leased his name to Ford. (Not a criticism. Ford is his job. And it’s not my opinion. Look at his Tweet cloud.)

What happens if Monty were to leave Ford? Yes, their social media efforts would go on, and perhaps largely unaffected. Monty has wisely built a robust social presence for the Ford brands there and the company isn’t as dependent upon him as Comcast is on Eliason. But what about the Scott Monty brand? If he moves to, say, Sony, and suddenly becomes Sony fan boy number one, I worry that his personal brand may become the Rent-This-Space of the social world.

What happens to Frank Eliason’s personal vs. company activity is going to be interesting to watch. What could happen if Monty ever leaves Ford might be more interesting, but we may not see that any time soon. My guess is that Ford won’t let him go easily the way Comcast allegedly has Eliason.

But this new chapter in personal vs. company brand is being written now. How will the chapter end? What challenges do you see Comcast facing in the coming weeks? What challenges does Eliason have before him at Citi in terms of him vs. the company? The comments are yours.

NOTE: Frank Eliason and Scott Monty are both friends but also semi-public figures in this space. I did not contact either of them about this issue before writing it. I only offer the questions and scenarios here as what-ifs for us to consider about personal brands and company presences in the social media space. I wish Frank the best at Citi and know he’ll be as terrific for them as he was for Comcast. I love Scott Monty like a brother and, though I’m perhaps more critical of him as a result, think the world of what he has done at Ford and before. I also consider him perhaps the best corporate social media lead on the planet.

The post A New Chapter In Personal Brands appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

The exploration of your personal brand is quite a captivating experience. It is, after all, all about you. Human beings, by nature, prioritize themselves over others. Whether from an inherited survival of the fittest conditioning imperative in our ancient ancestors or just a matter of world perspective, we do think about ourselves on some scale of priority.

But therein lies a danger we must recognize. While your personal brand may well serve a valuable purpose for you and your company, separating and recognizing the best interests of those two entities is important. Regardless of how successful or influential our personal brand is, we need to be certain to keep our egos in check.

Deloitte’s recent Ethics & Workplace Survey shows 53 percent of employees say their social networking pages are not an employer’s concern. But 60 percent of executives believe they have a right to know how employees portray themselves and their organization online. Shockingly, one-third of employees surveyed NEVER considered what their boss or customers might think before posting material on the Internet.

Letâ€s say youâ€re a product development researcher for a toy company. You blog, participate in forums online and build a well-respected brand as a toy developer. Everyone knows you work for ABC Toys, but your opinion is clearly marked as your own in your online life. But the head of product development at ABC Toys is nervous that your authority in the industry can taint what competitors, suppliers, vendors and customers think about ABC Toys. Your opinions about processes, products of other companies and more are not opinions ABC Toys is comfortable having broadcast to the world.

You just continue to blog along, participating in communities and talking about what interests you, but your growing online presence starts to look like an ego play to ABC Toys. They start to wonder if you’re spending work time doing what you do. They are concerned you may be using your position to jockey for a promotion, or worse, a job with another company.

The communities you participate in will be severely disappointed in ABC Toys if you stop participating or when they find out ABC Toys has censored you a bit. So whatâ€s the company to do?

I hear you yelling about personal rights and personal time and all that jazz. But if you put your company on a LinkedIn profile, you are connected to that company online. Thus, your funny Facebook photos, while not directly connected to your company, are connect-able to it. Your employer does have the right to hold you accountable for your online life.

At some point, we also have to admit that personal brand growth is intoxicating. For some people, it feeds a hungry ego. When motivated by ego, we often run awry. While most of us can and do keep that ego in check and aren’t motivated for wholly selfish reasons, our managers don’t always know what’s inside our heads and can assume too much.

But we should recognize that if personal branding or reputation management is so important in getting a job, it should also be considered important in keeping one. As such, those with or building strong personal brands need to take a few simple steps to ensure your employer doesnâ€t issue that awful ultimatum of stop or be fired.

1. Bring Personal Branding Into HR Conversations When applying for a job, ask what the company stance is on employees blogging, whether you can identify as being with the company on your personal websites or in communications on social networks and blogs. Define the goals of your personal brand with Human Resources or your hiring manager and discuss them. If youâ€re already in your job, go have those conversations now and establish some comfortable parameters.

   You may also want to establish some goals for your personal brand tied to company success, then negotiate personal rewards for achieving them. For instance, agree with your boss that for every new business lead or conversion generated by your audienceâ€s outreach to you online, you get a bonus. Perhaps you can set a lofty goal with the reward being a raise or promotion.

2. Decide How Much/Little You Want To Affiliate With Your Company

   Identifying yourself as a blogger who works at company X can certainly help build your personal brand as you borrow a bit of company equity to attract respect and readers. But your ideas are what will make you relevant to your audience in the long term. If you want to be strongly affiliated with your company, sell the benefits of an influential personal brand to your boss. Explain to them how your influence can be used to drive website traffic, solicit customer feedback and even be a social media outpost for a company that might be afraid to toe those waters.

   But make sure youâ€re prepared to give up a bit of control of what you can and cannot do or say. Thereâ€s no such thing as a gray area here. If you identify yourself with your company, the company has the right to protect their reputation and investment in you. And if you disagree, theyâ€ll likely stop sending you a paycheck.

3. Educate Your Boss & Co-Workers On Personal Branding

   Strong personal brands can quickly lead to interesting inter-office angst. Your fellow employees may be jealous youâ€ve gotten some cyber-blessing they donâ€t have (because they donâ€t know to ask) or frustrated youâ€re getting attention, promotions and the like by, “playing on the Internet.” Your boss and those co-workers may also start to develop some concerns youâ€re spending too much time working on your personal presence online and not doing what you were hired for.

   The only way to get around the office politics is to proactively teach people the benefits of a strong personal brand and show them how to do it. Do keep in mind, however, you need to show them the companyâ€s benefits of a personal brand first. If you make it part of the departmentâ€s business objectives, theyâ€re more apt to see the merit and no longer think youâ€re just goofing off online all the time.

4. Do An Ego Check

   Every so often, you just need to step back and ask yourself, “Am I working for the company or am I working for me?” If you want to keep your job, you should continually take steps to ensure you are pushing forward the agreed upon company messages, goals or objectives. If youâ€ve drawn a distinction between the two (company and individual) with your boss, then ask how much time youâ€re spending on your personal brand during work hours. If itâ€s more than what your boss or company is comfortable with, cut back.

Certainly, in an ideal world, all our personal brands would be so successful we wouldnâ€t need to work for someone else. But reality is a much different picture. As strong as we agree the building of personal brands is a relevant and necessary endeavor, we shouldnâ€t lose sight of the fact that our employers have a right and should have a role in where, when and how we shape them.

A penny for your thoughts. The comments are yours.

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• me 2.0 (marketing.blogtanker.com)
• Common Personal Branding Mistakes (lookuppage.com)

The post Walking The Fine Line Of The Personal Brand appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

This week Dan Schawbel, of the Personal Branding Blog released his latest book, Me 2.0. Dan has become a leading personal branding expert for Gen-Y. He also has introduced a whole new generation to personal branding. Dan’s approach has afforded him the opportunity to be recognized by leading advertising publications as well as publishing his own magazine called, Personal Branding.

Me 2.0 builds upon the foundation on how you can command your career in four steps. Me 2.0 constructs a step-by-step approach on how you can,

• Discover Your Brand
• Create Your Brand
• Communicate Your Brand
• Maintain Your Brand

From these principles that Me 2.0 develops, you can take use them to possibly avoid being let go from your current job. Through social media you now have the tools to empower you to be seen and heard. With these tools and brand building strategies you can,

• Become a Invaluable Asset to Others
• Be the Go-To Person for a Specific Skill
• Gain Self-Confidence
• Focus on Social Equity Instead of Just Monetary Equity
• Build Your Network Before it’s Needed
• Use Advertising to Brand Yourself… Everywhere!
• Through Personal Branding Strategies Become Visible
• Branding Techniques that Catch the Eye of Those Outside of Your Network
• Position Yourself as a Content Producer Instead of Just a Consumer
• Be a Collector of Endorsements

Even in our current economic state, Dan presents case studies where these types of strategies are working. I’m sure that in a recession where over 3.6 million jobs have been lost and the end not in sight, perhaps within the pages of Me 2.0 you could find a few survival tips that will position yourself as someone that brings something of value to the table.

If this topic is something that generates curiosity and you would like to optimize social networks and tools, then this is a book you’ll want to check out.
Make sure you visit the book’s website, www.personalbrandingbook.com and also Dan’s blog www.personalbrandingblog.com.

What are your thoughts about personal branding?
Leave a comment.

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The post Me 2.0 – Build A Powerful Brand To Ensure Career Success appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Everywhere you turn someone is talking about how bad the economy is. From the housing markets to the stock market, optimism is a trait that you would be hard pressed to find. Depending on which news channel you watch and what economist you listen to, the prognosis is that before it gets better it probably will get worse. With the job market shrinking and budgets becoming tighter, it’s vital that you have a strategy in place especially if you’re hoping that social media will play a role in career advancement or new business.

As social media has become the mainstream buzzword, individuals and corporations are looking at social media as a tool to find jobs as well as provide new business opportunities. However, approaching social media without any knowledge or strategy could be more harmful then helpful.

Here are 5 social media strategies that you can implement immediately.

1. Start with a Blueprint
Make sure that before you jump out and “go for it” that you have a plan in place. Know what communities you’re going to engage in as well as what that engagement will look like. Having a blueprint in place will keep you from wasting time, money and energy as well as serve as a reference point if you find the interactive space to be intimidating.

2. Engage in Conversations
Utilize this time to maximize conversations. Don’t be anxious to promote yourself or business at first, find ways that you can add value and expertise to the conversations going on around you. I guarantee that if you provide value and expertise it will open opportunities for your voice or pitch to be heard.

3. Monitor your Brand
Use tools like Google Alerts, Scoutlab, and Radian6 to monitor what’s being said about you, your company, your competitors and the market in which you’re targeting. Knowing what’s being said about you and/or your brand can make you aware of the your brand evangelists as well as your brand assassins. Knowing what’s being said about your competitors and market can also make you more competitive.

4. Filter the Noise
There are so many conversations taking place and content that is being distributed that this is where having a plan can be extremely beneficial. Instead of being swept in to the hype around social media, you can streamline the individuals and communities that you need to be a part of. It also helps as a time management tool that keeps you on target as outlined by your plan.

5. Optimize Both Online and Offline
Maximize both your online and offline interactions. Make every effort, campaign, and initiative count. Utilize online tools to generate offline meetings. While others are pulling back, use this time to step forward and engage potential employers, future customers and new partnerships.

Here are a few additional resources from Social Media Explorer that will also help shape your social media strategy.

Related Resources:
1. A Quick ‘n Dirty Guide to Setting up Social Media Monitoring
2. Job Searching With Social Media
3. How to Grow Your Personal Brand
4. The Bonsai Method of Social Media Management

How are you using social media in light of the what’s taking place with the economy?

The post 5 Essential Social Media Strategies for a Bad Economy appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Thursday morning, I had the honor of appearing on the WHAS-TV morning show here in Louisville to join Andy Treinen and Rachel Platt to talk about how social networking and social media can help people find and better position themselves for jobs in a difficult economy. It’s exciting to see the local media getting interested in and excited about covering social media.

As indicated on the segments, I’ve compiled a list of links to the sites I talked about, plus several interesting articles for WHAS viewers to read that should help them get a handle on leveraging social media in their job search. If you’re a first-time visitor to Social Media Explorer and saw me on WHAS, thanks for stopping by. Please subscribe to the RSS feed and stay updated on this blog. If you don’t quite know what RSS feeds are, watch this video. It will make your web surfing experience a lot easier. Oh, and scroll down and read through comments. My readers are pretty smart and will add links and other ideas that might help.

And you may also want to visit and subscribe to the Social Media Club Louisville’s blog here to keep updated on events we have going on this spring.

If you’re a regular here, thanks for coming back. Please drop links to other good job post advice and articles, or leave your own advice for folks below.

Sites Mentioned

Linkedin

Facebook

Twitter

Indeed.com

SimplyHired

CareerBuilder.com

Monster.com

SalaryScout.com (Reference point resource for negotiating salaries)

LouisvilleSoup.com (Mike Campbell’s CPA expertise site)

Other articles you might find interesting or useful

RSS In Plain English – Video from CommonCraft

Ten Ways To Use LinkedIn To Find A Job – from Guy Kawasaki

Using Twitter For Job Search – from Louise Fletcher

How Blogging And Social Networking Can Impact Your Job Search – from About.com

7 Secrets To Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media – from Dan Schawbel and Mashable

Free eBook – Using The Social Web To Find Work – an e-book from Chris Brogan

The post Job Searching With Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Today is also the first day of Blog World & New Media Expo, one of the finest and, I believe, the first, true blogging conferences. I attended last year’s conference as a participant (though it was held in November, not this early in the year) but am going back this year as a speaker and panelist. Again, those of you who have helped make Social Media Explorer a relevant place to visit for social media thinking are to thank. What a difference a year can make.

Several people have asked me how I came out of nowhere to be where I am. I normally just shrug and say, “focusing on good content and networking,” which is the short answer. But to give you a more detailed list of what it takes to build a successful blog and personal brand in any niche or business, here are some things I would recommend based on my own experience:

Be Bold

Content is king. If you’re the nicest guy in the world but your blog offers nothing different than the other 500-600 bloggers out there in your niche, you’re just one of them, only nice. Take a stand on something. Call someone else out. Don’t be afraid of saying something stupid. If I were, I’d never speak.

Some Examples:

The Demise of Online Advertising Is Upon Us

Is It Time To Rethink Email Marketing

Social Media Is The Responsibility Of Public Relations

Friday Frustrations

PRSA Digital Impact Afterthoughts, More Solutions

Why PR Folks Should Blacklist Bloggers

Be Nice

This is the two-word essence of The Cluetrain Manifesto. While that instruction applies to businesses and industries in that particular work, it’s really the key to establishing relationships. I might have strong opinions. I might have a distaste or intolerance for certain people or opinions. But everyone deserves a firm handshake and a smile and the acknowledgment their work, opinions and person are worthwhile. Yes, even her/him.

Be Real

I was going to call this section, “Be Genuine,” and could argue they are the same thing, but real is better. Yes, it sounds cliche, but there’s more to it that the surface interpretation. It means being honest, even to a fault, participating on people’s blogs or social networks because you really want to, not just because it’s advantageous financially or otherwise, and not compromising your approach or principles to “play the game.” To use a political analogy, being genuine is being the anti-politician. There’s no such thing as you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. If I like your product, I’ll write about it. If I don’t, I won’t and won’t apologize for it. If I say I read your blog, it’s because I do. If I don’t, it’s not because I don’t like you or your writing. It’s either because I haven’t found it yet or it doesn’t provide me with something I can’t get elsewhere. It’s about not blowing smoke up anyone’s ass — including your own.

Be Involved

If I can point to one reason over another my blog is widely read in the industry it’s that I’ve reached out to people, shook their hand and smiled. I’ve listened to them. They’ve listened to me. We’ve established a relationship, if not friendship, and they’re more apt to read the blog of someone they know. You can blog all you want, but meeting folks in the flesh make the relationship more meaningful. I don’t know Mark Dykeman well, but I’ve met him in person. I’m 10 times more likely to read his blog as a result. He would probably say the same of me.

And this doesn’t just mean go to a lot of conferences. Todd Earwood and I started Social Media Club Louisville to do something locally to embrace those interested in social media and share experiences with them. I easily know 100 more people in Louisville now as a result. Shawn Morton and I hopped in the car one morning and drove to Cincinnati — about an hour and a half drive — to meet some folks up there. If it weren’t for that, I would still only know Albert Maruggi as an avatar and a voice. It’s not only about connecting with people online. You have to also connect with people … period.

Be Available

The more bold, nice, real and involved you are, the more you’ll be asked to contribute elsewhere. Whether it’s speaking at a club meeting, a conference or just attending a meet-up, consider it part of your job as a personal brand builder. In the last year, I’ve given talks, presentations, hosted webinars and teleconferences, served on advisory boards and committees, written guest blog posts and done countless podcasts and Blog Talk Radio interviews for no other reason than the people responsible asked me to. I embrace and enjoy the conversation, the camaraderie and the connections as a result. Any benefit I get out the effort in terms of money or clients is gravy.

Here’s the secret sauce to it all, though: Most times, you don’t know more than other people. You’re just more visible and willing to participate with what you do know.

Don’t Trust Just Me

There are lots of other smart folks out there who have great things to say about personal branding. I’ve linked to some of my favorite posts and content on the matter below. While I might have a personal case study to provide, there are lots of great examples of people coming from nowhere to be a visible or relevant voice in their space.

What have you done with your blog, business or social networking connections to elevate your visibility? Tell us your secrets and tips in the comments so we can all contribute to a larger resource of tips and tricks.

And from the bottom of my heart, thanks for reading.

Chris Brogan’s E-Book on Personal Branding

Shel Israel on Personal Branding

Tom Peters’s Fast Company article, “The Brand Called You.”

Susan Bratton’s recent podcast on personal and professional branding.

Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog

Photo: First Birthday Cake by “HFB” on Flickr.

The post How To Grow Your Personal Brand appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Today, that discussion continues and expands on WFPL, Louisville’s NPR affiliate and public radio station on the talk show, “State of Affairs.” I’ll join host Julie Kredens and two area attorneys, Jeff Calabrese and Michale Losavio, to cover the topic, “Employers, Privacy and Social Media.” I can’t imagine me and two lawyers going back and forth not being entertaining. In Louisville, you can hear us live at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT on 89.3 FM. You can also listen to the stream on WFPL’s website and access the archived podcast of the show on the site whenever you like, as well.

There has been a lot of recent talk about personal branding and because a year ago no one in social media or, for that matter, public relations beyond Louisville, knew who I was, my name pops up. I love the discussion going on over on Paul Chaney’s Conversational Media Marketing blog about the emergence of personal brands that overshadow corporate ones. The social web is dependent upon human connection and interaction. As such, the personal brand is more engaging and compelling than the company one. I can speak to, relate to and interact with Bob Lutz (theoretically). I can’t do any of those with General Motors. Or at least I don’t want to.

Participating in personal branding, whether it be strategic and purposeful or social and accidental, is certainly a good idea. I hadn’t done this in some time, but last night I Googled my name. Not only are 27 of the top 30 results pointing to my social media profiles, blog posts or things written in blogs about me, but I finally pushed that stupid YouTube video of Jason Newsted of Metallica falling down to page three of the results. (The video is entitled “Metallica Jason Falls On Stage.”)

Google your name. Do you like what comes up? Is it you or can a potential employer mistake that risque blog post for you when it was written by someone with the same name but a different interpretation of the term, “decorum?”

Today’s talk show dives into the notion that while we live a certain portion of our lives online, particularly those of us active in social media, there are some privacy concerns and legal issues worth considering when participating there. Your employer can sometimes see the photos you upload, videos you’ve posted or even favorited, Tweets you’ve uttered that may not be the most tasteful and so on. Can they use that against you? Should they be able to?

For those of you in need of my stance, I’ll simply say anything you put online you should consider public. If it’s public, anyone can see it, including your boss or potential employer. If you are uncomfortable with them seeing your beer bong pictures from the beach, don’t post them.

From the legal perspective, it’s not that clearly defined which is why we’ll be chatting about it. Please do join. You can call in and ask questions or send one in via email at soa — at — wfpl.org.

On a somewhat related note at least relative to reputation management, we had great fun at SMC Louisville last night. Terry Boyd, a reporter from Business First , a weekly business publication in Louisville, called me out and said I hadn’t offered any empirical evidence that social media in the newsroom effects the bottom line or business of journalism. That was a fair assessment and to ensure my reputation isn’t spoiled by the whole thing, I’m digging up some examples and will respond to him more fully. He’ll probably write about it and I’ll share that when it happens.

Two guests at last night’s meeting were Bill Sledzik of Tough Sledding/Kent State University and Andy Currens of the University of Cincinnati. It was an honor having the esteemed professors there. The two are doing a video interview series on social media and public relations for their classes which I’m sure you’ll see online at some point in the future. I was honored to be asked to participate.

And just in case my ego is still hungry, Chaney and his co-horts at Bizzuka have asked me to join them on Blog Talk Radio Friday at 1 p.m. ET on the User Friendly Thinking program (formerly called Bizzuka Buzz). We’ll talk about social media, the advertising industry and I’m sure personal branding will weed its way in there, too.

Enough of my self-serving promotional obligations. I’m sorry for the pimpitude, but when I do these things, I’d much rather you know, come participate, etc. Still …

Please tell me in the comments what you think about your profile information online, how current and potential employers should use that information when considering you for a job and whether or not you think it’s fair to expect you to keep those profiles free of potential job status-altering materials. If able, I may refer to some of the comments during today’s show.

The post Personal Branding And Reputation Management, The Topic And The Action appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

[slideshare id=450483&doc=icanseeyourprofile-1212716292338193-8&w=425]

While my post from Monday stirred some interesting discussion in the comments, I want to stress that the point of the presentation was not to say that human resources pros and hiring managers are out there snooping through your Facebook photo albums and MySpace profiles looking for something for which to disqualify you from job searches. Rather, many are looking for the good — are you active in communities in your industry? Do you have a blog or comment on blogs? Have you established an expertise or at least a professional reputation online? If they find the good, it helps your chances.

Anecdotally, I would also say that PowerPoint decks, as we call them in the ad business, are generally vague and useless to me. (One of my pet peeves about my industry.) So, if you have questions or would like some background on what we said to accompany the presentation, fire them off in the comments. I promise we’ll both keep an eye on them and answer any you might have

Thanks to Robin Miller from the AdFed and the folks at Glassworks for hosting the event, as well as Central Bank (disclosure: A Doe-Anderson client) for sponsoring the Career Construction Series for the organization.

The post Your On-Line Life Has Windows appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

We are the experts on digital marketing for our clients – recommending new ways, through social media and networking, to connect their brands to their consumers.  In order to do this, we must have employees in place who are familiar with the digital world.  Employees who not only know the digital lingo, but can efficiently work their way through the maze that is the online world.  An up and coming, savvy advertising/marketing professional should be able to speak the social media language and navigate the digital seas.  And, for folks who have been in the business for a while, you should be quickly getting yourself up to speed, or Generation Y will quickly pass you by.

But playing in this online world means you are exposing yourself, both personally and professionally. You are displaying your personal brand. Are you a member of Facebook?  MySpace?  Are you reading and commenting on blogs?  Are you writing blogs?  If the answer is “yes” to any of those, then your online life gets tricky.   If the human resources director at your place of business Googles your name, what will come up?  How does the information about you available on the World Wide Web affect your personal brand?

To provide smart decision-makers for our clients, we in the advertising and marketing business have to encourage our employees, both current and future, to engage social media. Not doing so would be like hiring an art director with no portfolio. So go for it.  Start navigating through the digital world.  If you’re not out there right now, get out there.  If you’re already out there, great!

But be careful!  We want our employees to be the experts on all aspects of digital marketing for our clients and their brands.  But we also want employees who are professional and responsible with their own information.

So, what does your personal brand say about you?

Related Posts You’ll Enjoy:

1. Personal Branding and Social Media by Chris Brogan.
2. Ignore the Social Media Scoreboard by Ben Yoskovitz
3. Are Blogs the New Thought Leadership by Valeria Maltoni
4. Having Your Accounts Hacked is a Hard Way to Learn About Protecting Your Online Identity, from Dan Schawbel on CommonSense PR
5. Wait Till the MySpace Generation Hits The Workforce by Jeremiah Owyang

[tags]personal brand, personal branding, social networking, privacy, professional, etiquette[/tags]

The post Defining Your Personal Brand appeared first on Social Media Explorer.