Your Brand Continues to Have Me After “Goodbye”

February 14, 2012 By 2 Comments

This is the second part of a 2-post series on tips for how to use your personal brand to make an awesome first impression and leave a memorable one.

What’s Your Brand’s Lasting Impression?

Just as we need to be aware of the first impression our personal brand makes when we walk into a room, we also need to think about the lasting impression we leave behind after we say “goodbye.” People will always make decisions about you after you leave the ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ rooms. Their decision to connect with you will be based on their emotional reaction from that very first meeting, but they will always later rationalize their decision based on the lasting impression you leave behind after you have left the room.

This reminds me of the famous ‘Elaine Dance’ from Seinfeld.

I am sure Elaine had hoped to leave a better impression then she did! Here are three tips for your personal brand to leave an awesome lasting impression and prevent the fallout from the Elaine Dance!

3 Tips to Leave Your Mark in the ‘Real’ and ‘Virtual’ World

1. Respond and give thanks sooner than later

A good rule to follow here is what I call the “24-hour rule.” Send an email within a day after leaving a ’real-world’ event to all the people you engaged with. Thank them for their time and even mention something that they shared with you. This shows you were listening and valued their contribution.

In your ‘virtual-world’ always thank someone for following you, mentioning a post you wrote/shared, retweeting your tweets, liking your Facebook page, or commenting on your blog. When others feel you have something valuable to share with members of their own community, show your appreciation and say thank you right away. Don’t put off sending your thanks until tomorrow when you can do it today!

 2. Give credit where credit is due

To this day I remember the President of a university I worked for telling me “Go ahead and copy my idea. Just give me credit for it!”

Nowadays, blogs, eBooks, and online portals have enabled any one of us to be ‘published’. For 2012 William Arruda sees personal publishing as an important trend for demonstrating thought leadership and extending your personal brand. It is now more important than ever to share the resources where you have gained your insight, tools, and knowledge. For example, “I picked up some great tips from Reach’s ‘The Personal Branding Blog’ so check it out this link.” or “My personal branding approach uses Reach’s proven 1-2-3 Success methodology.” In your social media channels always refer to the source of the tweet, post, or video you are sharing.

3. Ask yourself if you are ‘on-brand’ or ‘off-brand’

Is what you are about to say or do going to support your brand or potentially damage it? Elaine’s memorable dance on that Seinfeld episode is a perfect example of why you need to be aware of your actions!  You might be a thought leader in your field, but a insulting comment or ‘Elaine dance’ at a networking event could leave a mark that you do not want to be remembered for.

In the virtual world you leave digital footprints behind you. Mind what you say in your blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, and comments on sites. Personal publishing may be an effective way to leave a lasting impression, but it is also important to realize that once you do publish something online, it is available for the world to see.  You cannot take it back. Even if you remove it or sweep it under the digital carpet, it is likely that someone has already seen it and shared it.

You may have worked very hard on building a lasting impression online, but all it takes is one bad comment or photo tagged of you to show up on the first page of your search results to change everyone’s opinion of you. Use the “grandmother test” – if you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see or hear it, then don’t share it!.  Instead share the things that support your brand and would make your grandmother proud.

Do you have any other tips to leave a lasting impression?  Share your ideas below.

Peter Sterlacci, Founder of BeYB – Believe. Become. Be Your Brand, combines personal branding strategy with cycling imagery to empower on-the-move careerists in global companies in Japan to shift gears, get out of the saddle, and sprint to career success

 

Filed Under: Everything is a Brand, Expressing Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips, Strong Personal Brands Tagged With: , ,

Is Your Personal Brand Stepping Out of it’s Comfort Zone?

January 31, 2012 By Leave a Comment

While waiting for his owner to return from some local shopping, Bernard here knows where his boundaries are and he is not going to stray at all, he has become too comfortable in his surroundings. Of course perhaps he knows (or has experienced) that if he were to jump out of the back of the truck he might be placing himself in danger.

Unfortunately, at work, this is something we are all a little guilty of. Perhaps on occasion, it’s not going to be life threatening, we need to take a risk or two and leap out of our comfort zone – or maybe just a gentle step will do.

Three simple things to consider as a way to step out of your personal brand comfort zone at work;

1. Bring a little more of your personality to work. Choose something from home that you are passionate about or that means a lot to you and add it to your desk, cubicle or office space. Perhaps a favourite picture, photo or desk ornament.

2. Consider adding a piece of jewellery or favourite coloured accessory and making it a regular part of your wardrobe. It does not all have to be navy and black.

3. Identify a skill or strength that you are well known for, that you have a reputation for delivering on consistently and mention it in your outgoing voicemail message. If you pride yourself on returning calls promptly, say so in your voicemail. BUT if you are not good at getting back to people do not date your voicemail either!

What can you be doing with your personal brand to step out of your comfort zone?

Paul Copcutt first aligned with personal branding after reading Tom Peters ‘Brand You 50’ in 1997. Now a sought after speaker and media resource he has been featured by Forbes, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Elle. He helps employees in leading Fortune 500 corporations realise they can be more successful and productive at work by NOT checking their personalities at the door.

Filed Under: Employee Brand Activation, Expressing Your Brand, Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding Quick Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Is Your Brand LinkedIn?

January 29, 2012 By 3 Comments

LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with a current membership of over 135 million.  Close to 60% of these members are located outside the US. The latest data shows that professionals are signing up to join at a rate that is faster than two members per second! Clearly LinkedIn has become an essential tool for professionals all over the world to network, share business expertise, find jobs, advance professional knowledge, and build personal brands.

5 Quick Tips to Brand Yourself on LinkedIn

Here are 5 tips to effectively use LinkedIn to build and promote your brand.

1) Have a headline that sells an experience

When people visit your profile the first thing they will see is your name and headline at the top of your “profile box”.  This is the most visible part of your page and you want people to continue exploring your profile.  People often fall into the trap of identifying themselves in their headline by a job title (“Accountant”) or label (“Business Major”). While this is a valid representation of what we do, it actually groups us into the same category as everyone else doing the same type of job or studying the same subject matter.

You have 120 characters to describe who you are.  This is the first place to stand out. Consider your target audience and sell an experience not a title or label.  Instead of saying you are a “psychiatrist” tell others you are “The Shrink for Entrepreneurs who want freedom, wealth, and sanity.”

2) Get a Professional Headshot

Absolutely do not leave out a photo and make sure that the photo you use is professionally done. Take the time to invest in high quality headshots as you will use them everywhere. Remember, LinkedIn is a professional business network. Your credibility is at stake so avoid photos of you at college parties or with groups of people where it is not clear which person is you!

3) Edit your LinkedIn URL to include your name

For example, www.linkedin.com/in/yourname

Do not overlook this critical branding point.  Beyond the power of simply having a profile on LinkedIn is the fact it is highly optimized on Google.  Once you adjust the URL to include your full name, your profile will always show up at the top or near the top of the first page of your Google results.   This presence on the first page of search results will reinforce your online brand identity so that opportunities do not pass you by.

4) Write your ‘Summary’ in the first person and tell a story

By using ”I am….” or “My name is…” you are speaking directly to those looking for you on LinkedIn.  While the summary is not immediately visible unless someone views your full profile, it is probably the most important area on your profile.  Treat this summary box as if it were your ‘elevator pitch’.  Convince the readers of your LinkedIn profile that you have something unique to offer. Differentiate yourself from everyone else who seemingly offers the same service or who have similar skills, experience, and background.  Michael Margolis, founder of Get Storied, tells us that “character trumps credentials”. There is plenty of space to show your credentials in the ‘Experience’ section of your profile.  Use the Summary section to tell your story and show your character!

Also, your name is a key word and by using it in your summary you are improving the appearance of your name and profile when other search for you online.

5) Ask for recommendations (and recommend others!)

Build your credibility and validation for your brand and experience by having people who know you well write recommendations on LinkedIn. Once you start adding people to your network, LinkedIn makes it easy for them to write you a recommendation.  You also have the power to review the recommendation someone writes and decide whether to add it or ask for edits or a different spin on what they wrote.  Even as a student you can request recommendations from professors, classmates, internships or virtually anyone with whom you have shared an academic experience.  Make sure to return the favor and write a recommendation for those who have taken the time to write one for you.

 Do you have any quick tips to brand yourself on LinkedIn?  Please share below.
Peter Sterlacci, Founder of BeYB – Believe. Become. Be Your Brand, combines personal branding strategy with cycling imagery to empower on-the-move careerists in global companies in Japan to shift gears, get out of the saddle, and sprint to career success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding Quick Tips Tagged With: , , ,

Substitute

January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

But I’m a substitute for another guy
I look pretty tall but my heels are high
The simple things you see are all complicated
I look pretty young, but I’m just back-dated, yeah

                                                               ~ The Who

Back in the day, when I first became a certified Personal Branding Strategist, I learned that personal branding was about having permission to be yourself. And personal brand was synonymous with your reputation.

Actually, it still is. 

To be even more specific, there are still many people who use the term personal brand to refer to an authentic expression of who you uniquely are in terms of the attributes, vision, purpose, values, and passions that you bring to what you do. It is the you-ness you add to your professional competencies that makes you more valuable to your clients, and your broader professional community.

In many ways, then, your personal brand is the experience you provide while you are doing what people hire you to do. So, the skills that you bring to your work may be the same skills that others in your profession use, but your approach is unique to you. For example, I have a friend who injects her fun, vibrant personality into meetings where she is delivering accounting and tax advice. She brings who she is to what she does. She didn’t cultivate a personal brand. She is just being herself, and her clients love her!

Today, however, there seems to be a lot of personal branding advice that tends to overlook the you-ness element and treat “your personal brand” as a distinct entity that you have to care for and manage. Kind of like a bonsai tree. So, we get articles and blog posts that provide advice on building, revamping, or reinventing your personal brand!!

While much of the advice these authors provide is actually useful, it has little to do with who you are. It is much more focused on tactics for gaining visibility and attracting clients. In fact, there is much great business information for promoting yourself right on this blog.

Yet, in my opinion, you need to make a very clear distinction that changing how you express and exude who you are is not the same as revamping or reinventing “your brand” – but just the way you communicate it. Indeed, it is only the first stage of the Reach 1-2-3 Success process that gets to your brand…to your you-ness. So, to engage in any exercise that is construed as “working on your brand,” but leaves out YOU, is akin to caring for some abstract entity. It’s like creating a proxy. A substitute.

I think it’s really important to be clear on this – and even more so, today!!

Seeing the notion of personal brand become more mainstream is a good thing. It signals the end of mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Even more it supports the growing recognition that we all have the capacity to serve specific tribes. It helps us see that our true value comes not merely from the commoditized functions our skills are based in, but from the very weirdness that makes us appeal to our niche.

Of course, personal brand has also become subject to criticism. And frankly, based on the approach of many “personal branders,” it’s criticism that is well deserved. If you have any doubt about this, you should read Olivier Blanchard’s very well-argued critique of personal branding. Blanchard notes, “People are people. They aren’t brands.” And ironically, one of the tips he offers is, “Just be you.” I think this is great advice! It’s a great post, actually; and if you haven’t read it, you should!

As you might surmise, I reject the idea of personal “reinvention.” This does not mean, of course, that I believe who we are and the reputations we develop don’t evolve. They do. Yet, they change because we have gained new insights into who we are, what we want to do, who we want to serve, and the difference we want to make for others – and impact that has on how we do what we do. This is very different from throwing out a new value proposition to see if it sticks.

So, insofar as our “brand” is concerned, the real task is the application of introspective insights to our work. And often, it is a process that is best done with a well-qualified coach who can help identify the themes that matter to you and to your audiences. Investing this kind of effort fosters a personal clarity that can help align what we know about ourselves with a communications strategy that will bring meaningful visibility and credibility.

Frankly, as I see it, bringing anything less than who you are to what you do means you may as well have been born with a plastic spoon in your mouth.

 

Walter Akana is a Reach Certified Personal Branding and Online Identity Strategist. Founder Threshold Consulting, he works with mid-career professionals and executives. His career advice has been featured online at marketwatch, cnnmoney, and online.wsj. He is a long-time blogger, and avid user of social media.

 

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding for Careers

How e-mail can damage your personal brand

December 17, 2011 By 5 Comments

The recent report of an executive recruiter in the UK being fired for e-mailing a job candidate to go away using colourful language – but accidentally copying everyone (all 4,000+ of them!) on the candidates blast list, highlights the dangers of damaging your personal brand and career by relying too much on technology. What is that recruiter going to say when the question comes up “Why did you leave your last job?”

The candidate also was obviously damaging their brand (and job search chances) by sending out such a generic application to so many people. I am seeing far too much of that at the moment. I get you that finding a job is tough, but use time wisely to be more targetted, not spray and pray job seeking that says I don’t really care.

Just last week, I was talking with both a colleague on the very subject of e-mail versus picking up this still very useful piece of technology called the telephone and also coaching a client on the dangers of mis-understood communication, when a quuick conversation would have eliminated all the angst that they ended up experiencing.

All the ‘gurus’ are telling us that 2012 is going to be the year of mobile, but with that will come an even greater temptation to say it in text versus verbally.

Some quick tips to keep your conversations live and real in 2012;

1. Resist the temptation to respond to an e-mail straight away. A client once said to me there is rarely such a thing as an accounting emergency, and the same should apply to your situation.

2. Before you pen an e-mail or a reply, consider if this form of communication is the best way to get your message across? If it is, be sure to re-read it once and double check the to, cc and bcc box recipients.

3. When in doubt pick up the phone or arrange a face to face. So much can be mis-interpreted by the written word, if it’s important let the other person know that by having a conversation.

4. Make time for 15 minutes every day. We are all guilty (me included) of not connecting properly with people because we feel that we have no time. Stop the Facebook likes, Twitter re-tweets and Four Square check-in’s and use that 15 minutes a day to pick up the phone to three people you know and say hello.

5. Set the send function to delay by 10 minutes, then if you forgot to attach a document or another thought came in to your head you have a chance of only having to send once.

As my colleague Dave Howlett said, “I am much more likely to remember you for that call than a tweet, like, poke or follow”.

Paul Copcutt first aligned with personal branding after reading Tom Peters ‘Brand You 50’ in 1997. Now a sought after speaker and media resource he has been featured by Forbes, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Elle. He helps employees in leading Fortune 500 corporations realise they can be more successful and productive at work by NOT checking their personalities at the door.

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips Tagged With: , ,

Your business card is not the Queen of Spades

December 7, 2011 By 4 Comments


We love to play various card games. My kids especially love Crazy 8′s, it’s a fast paced game with the main goal to get rid of all your cards before any opponents. They get extra enthusiastic when they lay a card down that causes you as the next player to pick more cards up – especially the Queen of Spades, where the penalty is 5 extra cards!

Unfortunately at many events people treat it like a game of Crazy 8′s and use their business cards in the same way – they come around trying to put their cards down (or in your hands) as quickly as possible, many times moving on before even asking you anything or getting your card in return – more worried about their next turn instead.

At two recent networking events I experienced two classic examples of this, which resulted in the damaging of each person’s personal brand in a big way.

1. At the first event I was standing at a small drinks table with three other people, all of us in conversation. This person ‘barged’ in to the group, had their business cards in hand like a deck of cards and proceeded to ‘deal’ us each one card on the table in front of us, with the comment of “I am X and I do Y” and then walked on to the next group.

We all looked at each other slightly bemused, continued our conversations and when we did depart not one of us picked up a card.

2. At the other event I was in conversation with one other person who I had not seen for a while and was really interested in catching up. This person just came up to us both and shoved their card in our hands and walked on.

Not more than 10 minutes later they were back, had completely forgotten who they had already given cards to, and tried to give us their card again. My blue recycling bin was the only place I filed that card!

Your business card is very often the only physical reminder someone has of your personal brand, so make sure you are using it wisely.

Establish some kind of rapport or relationship with someone before offering your card, or wait until they ask for it. Or if you feel you can offer some value to that person make sure to ask for theirs.

But however you decide to exchange cards, as the American Express ad’s say – don’t leave home without them!

Paul Copcutt first aligned with personal branding after reading Tom Peters ‘Brand You 50’ in 1997. Now a sought after speaker and media resource he has been featured by Forbes, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Elle. He works on leadership brands with executives, managers and teams for leading Fortune 500 corporations.

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips Tagged With: , ,

Personal Branding Resources

December 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

These resources are brought to you by William Arruda as part of the Reach 10th Anniversary Celebration …

10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Reach Personal Branding
Top 10 Videos from Personal Branding TV
Top 10 Social Media Dos for A Successful Job Search
10 Ways to Give to Your Network

10 Days to Establishing and Achieving Your Goals
Top 10 Ways to Unearth The Brand Called YOU
Top 10 Most Viewed Commercial Breaks
10 Days to Understanding Your Professional Reputation
10 Ways to Build and Maintain Your Professional Network

10 Days to Writing a Compelling Branded Bio
10 Steps to Recession-Proof Your Career
Ten Most-Read Blog Posts from The Personal Branding Blog
10 Days to a Perfect Linkedin Profile
10 Tools For Creating a Website That Exudes Your Personal Brand

Ten Days to Creating Your Personal Brand Identity System
The Ten Most Re-Tweeted Tweets
Ten Tips Towards Career Reinvention
Ten Days to Positioning You and Your Brand
How Not to Build Your Personal Brand

Ten Most Listened-to Audios from the Reach Personal Branding Interview Series
Ten Reasons to Make 2012 The Year of Your Brand
Top Ten Willisms – William Arruda’s thoughts on Personal Branding

Filed Under: Discovering Your Brand, Employee Brand Activation, Employees Are The Brand, Everything is a Brand, Executive Branding, Expressing Your Brand, Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Ten Reasons to Make 2012 The Year of Your Brand

November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The benefits of branding have been realized by companies for ages, but branding is not just for companies and products on the grocery store shelf.  Today, everything is a brand and the concept of personal branding has been around for 15 years! Isn’t it time you thought about yourself as a brand?

Here are ten reasons why you should make 2012 the Year of Your Brand:

1.  Increase Your Self Awareness
The first step in personal branding is to develop a clear understanding of who you are, what you are great at and what motivates you. By knowing yourself and what you really want from your career and in life, you can develop a plan to achieve it.

2.  Build Your Confidence
Personal branding gives you permission to be yourself – your best self – and to achieve tremendous success. By being your authentic self and seeing the positive feedback you receive, you become more comfortable in your own shoes. The most exciting byproduct of the personal branding process is increased confidence.

3.  Stand Out
Branding is about differentiation. It means knowing your unique promise of value so you can stand out from others who seemingly do what you do and greatly expand your success. Just as Volvo is differentiated from other car companies by its promise of safety, you too can communicate your unique promise of value and achieve your goals.

4.  Become Known
By clearly, consistently and constantly living your brand (the Three Cs of Branding – Learn more here: http://www.personalbranding.tv/the-three-cs-of-a-strong-personal-brand/) and integrating it into all that you do, you make a mark and become visible to the people who need to know you.

5.  Thrive
Strong brands not only survive, they thrive during challenging times. Strong brands who offer something unique remain in demand. This puts you in control of your career or business.

6.  Create a Clearer Focus
By understanding your brand, you can create a laser-like focus on your goals and develop the milestones to achieve them.

7.  Increase Your Wealth
Ever wonder why you pay $4.50 for a Starbucks coffee when you can pay $1.50 at the cafe down the street? It’s the strength of the brand and the unique experience Starbucks delivers. You can benefit financially from the strength of your brand, too. Strong brands earn more.

8.  Struggle Less, Achieve More
By living your brand, you create opportunities. You struggle less because you have a clear road map of where you are going and how your brand can get you there. You know what is on- and off-brand for you. When you align who you are with what you do and how you do it, you’re unstoppable.

9.  Expand Your Business or Career
Strong Brands have permission to extend into new areas. Just as Starbucks is offering teas, sells coffee makers and making ice cream, with a strong brand, you too can extend what you’re doing.

10.  Reach Your Goals
The ultimate reason to uncover, express and nurture your brand is to achieve your professional goals. With your brand plan in place, you’ll know exactly what will propel you to professional success and personal fulfillment.

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Reach 10th Anniversary Celebration Tagged With: , ,

Ten Days to the Perfect LinkedIn Profile

November 17, 2011 By 3 Comments

LinkedIn is perhaps the most important social network for career-minded professionals. Take one action each day for the next ten – and you’ll be well on your way to building an enviable LinkedIN profile!

Day 1:  Get Clear
Know what you want your profile to say. Answer this question: What do you want people to know about you after having visited your LinkedIN profile? Document the words and feelings you want your profile to evoke.

Day 2:  Update Your Summary
Your Summary is one of the most important elements of your LinkedIN Profile. You want it to truly describe who you are and what makes you exceptional. If you haven’t already, update your bio – infusing it with your personal brand. Then use your updated bio as the source content for your LinkedIn summary. Make it compelling and relevant to those who are making decisions about you and replete with words and a style that expresses your personality.

Day 3:  Post Your Photo
Web searchers are more likely to believe content if there is a photo of the person it is about. Get a professional headshot if you don’t already have one. People ignore LinkedIn profiles without photos. If your head is slightly turned, ensure it is turned to the right – looking into your content.

Day 4: Join Groups
Belonging to groups has two benefits. First, it connects you with others who share your interests, experiences and expertise. Second, it says something about you to those who are reading your LinkedIn profile. Join alumni groups, groups related to your area of expertise, geographic groups, etc.

Day 5:  Combine Toot with Tout
Get recommendations. This may take some time, but it’s worth it!. It’s great to have others speak on your behalf. LinkedIn recommendations allow you to get others to share their experience in working with you. Instead of tooting your own horn get others to tout your value.

Day 6:  Give Recommendations
Take some time to acknowledge the members of your network. Give honest, thoughtful feedback without being asked. The best way to expand your network is through generosity. And often, giving recommendations yields recommendations in return.

Day 7:  Use the Right Plugins
There are lost of ways to enhance your profile and bolster your brand using the Plugins from LinkedIn partners. If you want to let people know you are global, Tripit is a great app to add. If you want to embed a video in your profile, install the Google Docs app. To let people know what you’re reading, install the Amazon app.

Day 8:  Get Vain
Secure and use your vanity name. In your profile settings, you can change the direct link to your profile to look like this: LinkedIn/in/yourname. Then, you can use this as your primary professional web presence and include this link in your email signature and in all of your career marketing communications.

Day 9:  Select Your Top Three
LinkedIn allows you to link to three external sites to augment your profile content. Identify your three sites and incorporate them. You might want to link to your web site or Blog if you have one or to a YouTube video, a whitepaper you wrote or an article in which you were quoted.

Day 10:  Link, Link, Link.
Connect with current and past colleagues, managers, clients, etc. Connect with all the members of the groups you have joined. Connect with others who share your interests and expertise. This task occurs on Day 10 because you want your profile to be outstanding before you start inviting people to look at it!

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Reach 10th Anniversary Celebration Tagged With: ,

Engage Brain Before Tweeting – 5 Personal Brand Lessons From Ashton Kutcher

November 16, 2011 By 3 Comments

So another celebrity, this time Ashton Kutcher, has proven to us all what we already know – that we are no different from each other when it comes to making mistakes. Last week on seeing the headline about Penn State firing their football coach he immediately put his stream of consciousness on Twitter and told his 8 million followers what he thought.

This was his original tweet;

@aplusk: How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste

Within minutes the backlash started, nasty responses started to fly and within hours he had removed the tweet, apologized and then decided to suspend tweeting whilst he no doubt consulted with his PR advisors.

As of immediately I will stop tweeting until I find a way to properly manage this feed. I feel awful about this error. Won’t happen again.

Just a few hours later he announced his Twitter account was going to be handled by his PR agency.

Twitter Management http://post.ly/3rk2N

So what are the personal brand lessons you can learn from Kutchner’s mistake?

1. Engage brain before tweeeting. Actually this goes for all posts, status updates and anything else you are thinking of posting online. Consider the wider impact. A personal opinion shared with a couple of friends becomes a whole different ball game when you send it out to the universe. What you say online is a reflection of your personal brand, once it’s out there it’s hard to take back. Removing a twitter post does not make it go away.

2. Stop digging. If you have dug yourself in to a hole, do not try to justify what you have done, the hole only gets deeper. Kutcher claimed to have just responded to a headline, being more or betyter informed might have been a better approach. Take a deep breath, throw the shovel to one side and consider how you are going to start to fill the hole in.

3. Apologize. We all make mistakes, we would never advance as a race if we didn’t. But if you make a mistake or say something you regret, say you are sorry – as long as you mean it.

4. Take a moment to reflect on your mistake. What can you learn from the experience? Share with others what you have learned so that they are less likely to make the same mistake. What will you be careful not to repeat? Be sure to understand the lead up to the mistake, what else was going on to distract you and make you do that knee jerk thing and try to minimise it’s impact next time.

5. Don’t STOP tweeting. Social media to some extent has given some people an over blown view of their opinions, but for authenticity your personal brand reflections should be yours not some paid PR person or assistant – make it real, unless you are a company.

Mistakes happen and he is handling the fallout as best he can, his 8 million followers will probably not know if his next tweet is him or a handler – BUT the world will not stop turning because Ashton Kutcher has changed his approach to Twitter, and we have many greater concerns to expend our energy on.

Paul Copcutt first aligned with personal branding after reading Tom Peters ‘Brand You 50’ in 1997. Now a sought after speaker and media resource he has been featured by Forbes, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and Elle. He works on leadership brands with executives, managers and teams for leading Fortune 500 corporations.

Filed Under: Current Affairs, Expressing Your Brand, Social Media, Sports Tagged With: , ,
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