Social Media Trends: It's All About Your Personal Brand

I have been following Jorgen Sundberg, personal branding expert via LinkedIn and Twitter; who has a wealth of knowledge about social media trends and on-line personal brands. It was through a moment of serendipity that allowed me to go off-line with Jorgen to share some of his insights with you as we go into 2011. A little about Jorgen before we absorb his wisdom...he has spent seven years in IT recruitment and I would describe Jorgen Sundberg as open to people, astute, a good listener and entrepreneurial.

Jorgen says personal branding will be a key social media trend in 2011. It needs to take off here in the UK, as like everything , the US is light years ahead of us , and this may be because we Brits don't like to blow our own trumpet and we under value ourselves. We also need to be aware of our Klout score as early adopters who have been savvy about their Klout score are already reaping the benefits; and Jorgen shares a great story about how Virgin America launched by identifying on-line influencers who had great Klout scores, giving them free international flights with the hope that these influencers would Tweet, Blog and talk about it to their followers. So, having a strong on-line presence pays; and that some-one who wants to be considered a social media expert should aim for a Klout score of 70 and up. While any-one else not focused on becoming an expert should try to get a score of 10 to 20. It takes about three to five years to build a good personal brand on-line and it allows you take your reputation and network with you when you leave a company. It's an insurance policy against unemployment, as those who have invested in raising their profile on-line reap many benefits especially when leaving a job because the offers flood in, giving choices.

We touched on that old adage of own brand versus corporate and Jorgen says we should all be thinking about our own personal brand, which can be employee branded if working within an organisation. If you are a 'corporate citizen' and tweet a lot but not about your company, then it should be stated on your profile, as your tweets will be irreverent to your company and customers. Clarity is pivotal in all that you say and do online.

Jorgen thinks that LinkedIn is "wonderful" and that it is growing just as fast as Facebook, with one new user joining every second. He thinks it is a social media trend and platform that has taken away the role of the head-hunter and inter-mediatory. However, I think this is the best gem that Jorgen gives away...which is you don't need to pay for a LinkedIn membership to get the most out of LinkedIn; you can maximise LinkedIn for free if you know what you are doing; I like that...Jorgen is running Personal Branding from the Inside Out London Workshop on 19 January.

Photo Credit: Jorgen Sundberg