I suggest you create content that reflects the three dimensions of what your brand represents. Those categories are:

1. Who you are professionally. LinkedIn is the basic platform for sharing this information. You may also decide to use other websites—perhaps even your own url—where you can showcase your portfolio, resume and other relevant information.
2. Who you are personally. I recommend using Facebook for this purpose. If, however, you prefer not to use Facebook as a branding tool, then I suggest your work very hard to find another online presence where people can see you as a real person.
3. How you view the world. A blog is an excellent way to share your ideas and your perspective. I recommend that your first blog posts provide information that you hope your next employer will ask you in an interview.

Creating and sharing content will make you more finadable online. This will help you build your personal brand and will increase your chances of being interviewed and ultimately hired.

—————————————————————————

These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

Do you like what you see?

Does your online presence help someone understand 1) who you are professionally, 2) who you are personally and 3) how you see the world around you? Does your digital footprint contain enough information for a prospective employer to “know” you before he or she calls you for a first interview?

When you look at your digital footprint, ask yourself how much of it you actually created? How much it was created by others? Do you have control over your personal brand?

You can expand your digital footprint and actually shape your online image by being findable on at least three social media platforms. I recommend LinkedIn, Facebook and a blog as the basics for building your online image. You can then connect your social media platforms by linking them together. For example, you can put a link in your Twitter profile directing people to your blog. Then, in the “About Me” tab of your blog, you can include links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

To be findable in a competitive job market, deliberately look for ways to expand your online presence. You really can create and control the size and shape of your digital footprint, so make it impressive.

—————————————————————————

These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

Job seekers are admonished to set their Facebook settings high so others cannot look over the wall. Some Twitter newbies protect their tweets so strangers cannot follow them. Too many job seekers have been programmed to fear the unknown evil lurking in the shadows of the Internet.

Here’s your opportunity to differentiate yourself! The more your competitors hide themselves, the greater advantage you have to establish your brand. By being transparent and open, you can stand out from the herd.

For any job opening, you’ll likely compete with dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of people who have work histories, job titles and career accomplishments very similar to yours. From the vantage point of a prospective employer, it looks as if everyone was shaped by the same cookie cutter.

How can you stand out from those who naively believe they can effectively sell themselves in a one-dimensional way? One effective method is to be real. Show others that you are a real, multifaceted person. Show others the splendor of your multidimensional brand.

If you present only your professional persona—as impressive as it might be—you are branding yourself too shallowly. Our 2.0 world requires authenticity and transparency. Being authentic and transparent will definitely help you differentiate yourself and your brand.

People like doing business with people they know, or at least with people who present themselves as real-life human beings. A resume or even a LinkedIn profile is usually a sterile, sanitized description of one facet of your brand. Seldom does a resume portray you as a real, multidimensional person.

You need every available tool—including social media—to differentiate yourself in a crowded job market. Others may be afraid of using social media to reveal who they are personally. Their trepidation can work to your advantage. Their timidity gives you a great branding opportunity.

You can differentiate yourself by presenting yourself as a real person, not just a professional silhouette. You can differentiate yourself by opening up, by being real and by being transparent.

Deliberately look for opportunities to blur the lines that separate the personal and professional compartments of your life.

—————————————————————————

These ideas on personal branding were originally presented during two workshops I conducted for the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. The sessions were attended by current and aspiring nonprofit leaders who came from across the nation for the annual Alliance Management/Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest leadership development and networking symposium for students, faculty and nonprofit professionals. —DH

I don’t get it.

A relative of mine does not have a Facebook profile because, as she says, “My life is not interesting enough to share it with the rest of the world.”

You’ve got to be kidding!

I am privileged to know lots of people. They represent rich diversity of age, race, religion, politics, economic status, education and even personality. Yet, they all have one thing in common: Each has an incredibly interesting life and each has a unique story to tell.

In college I remember a guest lecturer looked across the room where a hundred or so of us had gathered. Decades later I’ve forgotten his name, but his words remain etched in my mind. He said, “The biography of every person in this room would be a best seller if written by a good writer who knows you well enough to tell your story.”

Those words have ruminated in my mind for years. It’s a powerful concept to think that my life story could be a best seller. Your biography would also be a best seller! Seriously!

Each of us has an incredibly interesting life story. Sometimes here on the day-to-day, pedestrian level our lives may seem mundane or perhaps uninteresting. I deeply believe, though, that God created each of us with diverse talents and placed us where we are for the higher purpose of serving others. There’s nothing mundane about that.

I refuse to believe that your life is dull.

I would never argue that Facebook is the right platform to tell every life story. But I’m not buying the lame excuse that you don’t share because you have nothing to say. My “BS detector” is calibrated to see through such trite excuses. If you chose to be quiet on Facebook, you’ve got to come up with a better reason than, “I don’t have anything to share because my life isn’t that interesting.”

Trust me on this: You live an interesting life. You have a unique voice. You have something to say that only you can.

Are you willing to share? Will you speak up? Will you join the conservation?

Unhurt, she began driving through the debris towards help. Along the way, she helped others, even pulling an injured truck driver to safety. When the debris made driving impossible, she began walking. Along the way, she helped with the initial search and rescue efforts, checking to see if anyone needed help.

Marie walked eight miles to the Red Cross office. En route, she climbed over downed tree limbs, walked around broken houses that had been blown into the street and navigated through debris left by the fierce twister. Once at the local Red Cross office, she was given a ride to the university where a Red Cross shelter was being set up. Not only did she help set up the shelter, she then spent the next three nights there as a client.

Prior to the disaster, Marie and I were virtual friends. We had never met, but we followed each other on Twitter and were Facebook friends. We became acquainted as she volunteered her skills in social media to help the Red Cross communicate with key audiences.

Marie and I met in person when I arrived in Joplin to join the public affairs team. Though she was still putting her personal life back together, she chose to work as a Red Cross volunteer so she could help the people directly affected by the tornado. In our job headquarters, Marie served as the social media lead. There she monitored Twitter and Facebook to hear what people were saying and to learn where additional help was needed. She used those social media platforms to engage people in conversation and to let them know how the Red Cross could help.

One evening after work, Marie took another woman and me on a personalized tour within the tornado’s footprint. We retraced the route from her apartment to the Red Cross office and then to the Red Cross shelter. Along the way, she relived the experience and helped me to realize how horrific that deadly night actually was.

Against the darkest nights, stars like Marie shine most brightly. Her courage and her spirit of service will continue to shape my memories of Joplin. Not only did she endure the storm, she grew stronger by reaching out to help others in need. Marie truly was an inspiration.

We talked about the trends in social media, ways to use social media in a nonprofit organization and the blurring of our personal and professional lives.

We even discussed using social media tools for personal branding. I shared my thoughts on using Facebook to differentiate oneself when launching a career. I challenged the students to use social media to “brand” themselves in an open, transparent and authentic manner. Then, to encourage them to develop their own online presence, I did something I’ve never done.

As an experiment, I invited each student to become a guest blogger here on my personal site. I offered this space to anyone in the class who wanted to share why he or she had chosen to pursue a career in the nonprofit world. A couple of students accepted the invitation.

In upcoming posts, I will publish what those students had to say. The first author, Chandra Clark, writes in a style more poetic than I anticipated, yet she speaks from her heart with a voice that needs to be heard. The second guest blogger, Taylor Saalfeld, shares her family influences and personal motivations for wanting to make a difference.

Though these two women communicate in different styles, they are both devoting their careers to the service of others. They represent the next generation of nonprofit leaders. Pay attention to their names in the bylines. These young people are destined to change the world. If you have the opportunity to help them launch their careers, the world will be a better place and you’ll be glad you contributed to their success. Thank you.

What did he do? Well, he talked to me. He engaged me in a conversation. That’s it. Simple, yet profound.

Let me explain why I found that to be so significant.

Two days after the World Series ended, I noticed that the newspaper including Game 6 in its TV listings. On my Facebook status I wrote, “If anyone at the paper watched TV, they’d know the series ended a couple days ago.” I also made a snide remark about the “dead tree” medium, using a broad brush to make a fine point. That elicited a few comments, including two from Facebook friends who are former newspaper journalists.

That night, long after I’d gone to bed, another Facebook friend wrote something I found quite profound. He said, “The section where TV listings are located prints early, but point taken. As someone who still loves to read the ‘dead tree’ and who also is marketing the media company that makes it, what advice would you share?”

Why was his two-sentence comment commendable? Here are six reasons I valued his response:

1. He did not ignore my negative comment. Instead, he talked to me. He listened and responded.
2. He communicated with me on the same social media platform I originally used. He did not redirect me, suggesting that I call customer service or write a letter to the editor.
3. He did not take my negative comment personally. He responded in a sincere, professional manner.
4. He provided additional information that helped me to see things from a different perspective.
5. He responded person-to-person. I knew I was not getting a formal, canned reply from a faceless corporate entity. I was talking to a real person, a Facebook friend who also happened to work at the company.
6. He asked a question, implying that he valued what I had to say. His question also indicating his willingness to keep the conversation going.

I admire the way my friend handled this situation. He taught me some valuable lessons on how to respond to a negative comment in the social media.

I work at the American Red Cross. If someone says something negative about my organization, I hope to respond in a similar, positive manner. As a reminder to myself, and also as a suggestion to others swimming here in this murky social media pool, I hold up my Facebook friend as an example of someone who is doing things right in this evolving 2.0 world in which we live.

Some people are so obsessed with social media technology that they overlook their communication strategy.

They are so focused on gadgets, applications and tactics that they completely miss the obvious:  These are only tools!

Tools are used to create or build something. Tools, technology and tactics are all a means to an end. The “end” is often defined in a well-written marketing goal. A goal articulates what success will look like and offers a clear, measurable definition of the desired outcome.

A communications plan should 1) target a specific audience, 2) define key marketing messages and 3) select the appropriate channels to deliver the right message to the right audience.

These communication channels should include a mix of traditional and new media. I define the two this way:

Traditional media primarily push information outward from a centralized source. They “broadcast” information in one direction. Examples are television, radio, newspapers, direct mail, newsletters and brochures.

New media (sometimes called social media) work best when the content is user-generated. Rather than broadcasting outward, new media rely upon interactions and conversations. Examples of new media are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WordPress and other social networking platforms.

Traditional and new media must be integrated if you want to build a strong and effective marketing communication program.

My first thought was, “That’s pretty stupid!”

My second thought was, “If it’s not stupid, it’s at least naive.”

If you are looking for a job, you already have strong competition from other job seekers. Therefore, you need every available tool to differentiate yourself in a crowded job market.  Facebook can be a very effective tool for branding yourself.

The CNN article began with the story of a college student who wanted “to keep his personal life (hidden) from potential employers while applying for summer internships.” I’d like to remind that young person that there is no shortage of people applying for those same internships. So, what sets him apart from all the others? How is he special? How is he differentiated?

The 2.0 world we live in requires authenticity and transparency. Those who are inexperienced in branding themselves naively believe they can present themselves in a one-dimensional way.

People like doing business with people they know, or at least people who present themselves as real-life human beings. A resume or even a LinkedIn profile is usually a sterile, sanitized description of your job title, your responsibilities and perhaps other work-related stuff. Seldom does it portray you as a real, multi-dimensional person.

For any given job opening, you’ll likely be up against dozens of people who look as if they were cast in the same mold as you were. They have similar work histories, job titles and career accomplishments. So what might make you stand out from the rest of the pack? One way is to present yourself as a real person.

Though I’m not in a job search, I want my personal/professional branding to be multi-dimensional. Of course, I want people to know me as a marketing professional. The problem is there are thousands and thousands of other good marketing professionals. So on a deeper level, I also want people to see me as a loving husband, a proud father, a grieving son mourning the sudden death of his beloved mother, an involved community citizen, a committed church member or whatever else might give me common ground with a new friend. Facebook can be an effective way of doing that.

Those who have nothing to hide should embrace the fact that in this 2.0 world there really aren’t any secrets, especially for those interested in effectively branding themselves. Authentic transparency can be a very differentiating attribute.

So here are some questions for anyone looking for a job (and even those like me who are not) — How are you using Facebook to brand yourself, both professionally and personally? Are your Facebook privacy settings set too high? If so, why? Are you hiding something? Okay, that was probably a dumb question, but in a transparent 2.0 world you never want to give the impression that you might be.

Open up. Be real. Be yourself. You’ll find that’s a very liberating, invigorating and differentiating way to go through life. And to find a job.

But what does “2.0” mean? How are things different now than they were before? What has changed?

For starters, let’s agree that the social media revolution has created an entirely new landscape—a 2.0 world. The changes are so profound that those who do not understand it will soon find themselves on the sidelines, confused and perhaps even angry that the world has passed them by.

The social media revolution is really not that confusing. The more we understand and embrace the changes, the more powerful social media will become. Here is my brief comparison of the differences I see between a 1.0 and a 2.0 world:

Let’s look at the nuances between the two.

1. Audience vs. Community. What’s the difference between an audience and a community? The direction the chairs are facing. A community is much more connected and interactive than is an audience.
2. Broadcast vs. Conversation. A broadcast pushes information outward from a centralized communications hub. Conversations, on the other hand, rely on user-generated content. The best conversations are those that are decentralized. They tap into the collective wisdom of all the participants.
3. Traditional vs. Social Media. Traditionally, information was broadcast from a central hub to an attentive audience. In a 1.0 world, the major media were newspapers, radio and television. Today, in the new 2.0 world, communities have decentralized conversations among themselves. They share user-generated content on Facebook, in blogs, through Twitter, on YouTube and via an endless variety of social media.

My favorite illustration contrasting the 1.0 and 2.0 worlds is this:

Fireworks come from a centralized source. A fireworks show is designed to dazzle an adoring audience. The role of the audience is to watch and be impressed.

A campfire, on the other hand, represents a warm, inviting place where people gather to tell stories, sing songs, swap jokes, share family photos and talk about various topics of mutual interest. The content of campfire conversations is user-generated.

Fortunately, there is a place for both fireworks and campfires. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Traditional and social media will coexist and actually complement each other.

Those who prosper and succeed in the 2.0 world will be those who understand that it’s all about having conversations within communities. With that in mind, I’d love to have you join me here around the campfire as we have a cup of hot coffee and reminisce about “the good old days” when we once lived in the less-colorful 1.0 world.

Welcome to our new 2.0 reality.