Using Social Media to Build Your Brand

Social media can be a powerful set of tools to market your business, but they can also help you build your own professional brand. Your business can benefit when you establish an online profile for yourself and demonstrate your expertise. You are also your company’s best “salesperson” simply by believing in what you do and talking about it online.

As a business owner, setting up a LinkedIn profile is a given. LinkedIn is one of the largest professional social networking platforms online and can both help you establish your professional brand and to network with other professionals including customers, vendors and prospects. Here are some other social media tools you can use to enhance your personal brand online:

1. SlideShare

Believe it or not, you can use your slide presentations to visually inform others about who you are and what you know. SlideShare, now owned by LinkedIn, offers a place where you can upload and display your best slide presentations (Powerpoint, Keynote, PDFs) that showcase your expertise. Now is the time to pay more attention to making sure your slide presentations are well designed, visual and informative.

SlideShare also provides a code you can use to embed your slides into your website or blog posts. You can also easily share your slides from your SlideShare profile to popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ and more.

2. About.me

The About.me tool lets you create a single “homepage” on the web for yourself that serves as a gateway to the rest of your presences online including your company site and the social networks you use to promote what you do. An About.me page features a large, high-resolution image that conveys your brand. Use a compelling, professionally shot portrait or action shot that expresses your personality and the image you’d like to project to the public. Compose a brief bio and add the links to the sites where you want people to go to learn more about you and your business.

About.me pages rarely need updates. Include only the highlights of your background and remember to include your contact information. You can also consider using your About.me page whenever you sign up for a social network that asks for your URL. This creates a funnel directing people to the most accurate information about you.

3. Google+ profile

While you might not actively use Google+, setting up your Google+ profile is a smart marketing move. Google draws information about you for search results from your Google+ profile. Your activity on G+ can also populate Google’s search engine. By filling out your Google+ profile to the fullest, you are able to better control how you appear in Google searches. Take care to enter all your vital statistics that let people know who you are and what you do. Upload a photograph of yourself that best reflects your personal brand. Even if you choose not to actively use Google+, your completed profile acts as a placeholder and an information source so customers and prospects can reach you.

The more ways you pay attention to how you present yourself and showcase your knowledge and expertise through social media, the stronger your personal brand will become and the more likely you’ll be readily found in relevant search engine results.