Your personal brand is a career asset. Invest the needed time, energy and effort in yourself.

Personal Brand Building Steps

1. Establish your personal brand goals and vision. This should be driven by your passions and purpose for growing your brand. Consider what success means for you.

2. Define a plan of execution to grow your brand. Create your course of action aimed at achieving the specific goals and objectives within a specific timeframe. Decide specifically what needs to be done, when, and how.

3. Identify your network. Determine who shares your values and cultivate relationships to develop your audience. This includes project teams, employees and executives and customers.

4. Be yourself and become a consistent storyteller. Grow your credibility by adding value to others and representing your personality and approach with consistency, persistence and restraint.

5. Take action. Confidently pursue and develop your niche and what you will be known for - your brand statement. Delight others and be the media you need to grow your awareness and interest with others.

6. Learn from brands that are succeeding. Take heed of what actual brands and social influencers are doing and use those tactics to elevate your own brand efforts.

7. Listen to feedback and re-evaluate the definition of success. Actively solicit and heed feedback from your champions, chain-of-command, peers and other influencers. Rise to the occasion by making needed changes and improvements.

Statistics

• 74% of employees reported using their personal and/or professional social media accounts to promote employer brand. (CareerArc)

• 53% of decision makers have eliminated a vendor from consideration based on information they did or did not find about an employee online. (Kredible Research)

• Only 2-8% of employee social networks overlap with brand networks. (WeRsm)

Take Aways

Be bold. Develop relationships with those who will advocate and influence for you as a brand. Do not feel that this is self-promotion - this is being driven, focused and advancing confidently in the direction to which you endeavor in your career.

Be a social contributor. Be active, relevant and share. Participate in internal and external social channels and share content that tells your story and builds your brand.

Be a positive experience. Focus on sharing your strengths and be grateful to others who work on your behalf to enhance your personal brand.