A post today by Jeff Pulver, “The Social Media Community Shares Ideas about Social Identity“, on Pulver.com, started me thinking about my “personal branding”.
As he explains in an earlier post (see “It’s a Social Media World Outside…“), Jeff believes that the way you represent yourself on social networking sites such as Facebook is as important to you as identity branding is to a corporation.
“Over the years, I felt I have benefited a lot by making myself easy to be found on the Internet. And this is a path I would strongly recommend to others to follow.”
- Jeff Pulver on his blog
Until I saw the words “personal branding” today’s post, I had not equated my presence on the Internet with my own “brand”. But that is exactly the correct concept to describe what I have been doing to make myself known, even before “social networking” became a term.
I established my own “branded” website, GaryBurge.com, in 1998. When I register at websites, I consistently use “garyburge” as a username or screenname. I try to stake my territory, so to speak, by joining new websites as soon as possible after they are announced. Not only to have a consistent personal brand, but also, I am loath to admit, because I would otherwise be unable to remember my logon credentials at the hundreds of sites at which I am a member.
