You as a Brand: Time to talk networking

When it comes to building a brand, being online isn’t enough. We’ve talked about how being your authentic self, on, and off the screen is important, but ever so important is being able to market yourself offline. Being able to network and to build authentic relationships with other professionals is essential to being successful, and often times the best way to do this is in person.

Source: Creative Mornings

Great ways to get involved and network with people is to go to panels, conferences or meetups that interest you. A great example is Creative Mornings, which gives creatives a space to meet up, network, and hear from passionate speakers. Get on eventbrite and search for events that are related to topics that you’re genuinely interested in. If you’re anything like me, these events can seem a bit intimidating, however, grabbing a friend to tag along with you can be a great way to break down that barrier; eventually you’ll find a conference or meetup that suits you really well, a place that makes you feel comfortable.

Making the most out of your conversation when networking is crucial, and this is where I yet again loop in the fact that being your authentic self is great. Go into it expecting nothing and you’ll come out of the conversation with everything. Use networking as a way to get introduced to someone, not to pull teeth about questions and getting answers. Networking is your foot in the door, a way for you to continue a relationship with a person.

A business card that is personal to you is essential to a successful round of networking. Have something that is different, striking and personalized to you; and ALWAYS make sure to get the business card or contact information of someone who you would like to connect more with. You can’t always guarantee that someone will reach out to you, but if you have their information you can always reach out to them. I also like to carry a thin sharpie that I can make a note on business cards shortly after so that I remember who I’m talking to when I get a business card. When it comes to designing a business card, either look online for templates, or reach out to a friend or even online to see if someone would be willing to help you make something custom that best fits who you are.

Source: Pixabay

The next step is following up with your contacts you created during your networking to see if they’d have more time to sit down for a one-on-one. I’m personally a huge coffee fanatic, so I love going and grabbing coffee with someone and getting to know them better, and start to get curious and ask questions, and gain insight into what they do. Sometimes these conversations will yield great opportunity, and insightful conversation. As humans, we’re inherently social, and sometimes that means that giving the space for someone to talk and brag about themselves and their work means great connection. Always look for the win-win when it comes to networking, you have to play the long game and cultivate connection with other individuals to start understanding how you can work together.

You as a Brand: Let's talk about social media

When it comes to social media, often times we think of it as a way to share our every living moment with our friends and family; we leave the marketing to the big companies and brands that we often admire for their clever marketing in social media. On last week’s blog we talked about how creating a brand around you is incredibly important, especially when it comes to applying for jobs and to colleges. Most people would tell you to just make all of your social media private, that way nobody can see what you’re doing when it comes to potential employers and colleges. But me? I say use social media to your power.

I get it, mom and grandma really love seeing your selfies, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but balance is always key. Personally, and a selfless plug here, my instagram (@kobywheeler) features a couple of things that I’m really passionate about. It basically boils down to travel, art and music. It keeps my instagram clean, consistent and interesting. I don’t post just to post, I only post when I have something I want to share. That means my instagram doesn’t suffer from content that isn’t up to par with the “brand” that I’m trying to project. You can do the same things! Think about where you often find yourself taking the most, and best pictures or the most interesting things to share. Is it at concerts? At dinner? When you’re out with friends? And don’t worry, for you selfie addicts, don’t be afraid to post a good one every now and then, take them when you’re out and about doing something you enjoy or find a friend who’s willing to get an action shot or candid in the moment.

You’ll also notice in the screenshot of my instagram profile that I make use of my biography. When people visit your social media profile for the first time you don’t want to make them scroll through your entire feed to get to know who you are, give them a brief summary of what interests you, what you do or some other sort of hook to get people interested in what you’re doing. For example, in mine, I mix some of my passions with my actual job for people to better understand my diverse interests ranging from art to entrepreneurship. I also make use of the URL section of my instagram profile to link to my website, which better showcases some of my work and my interests. You don’t have to have your own website, although I recommend it (that’ll be a blog posts in the near future); you can link anything that relates to you, maybe it’s an organisation that you’re a part of, or a blog post you write on a free blog website.

Another little secret of mine when it comes to my instagram is sprinkling some of my accomplishments into my page as a sort of easter egg for when a potential employer would maybe look at my page, for example a little scroll down into my page is a photo of me talking at SXSWedu. The photo clearly shows the SXSWedu logo and in my caption I clearly thanks SXSWedu and some of my panel colleagues. You can break from the form of your theme when it comes to accomplishments like this— it’s important to brag about yourself.

The big picture here is, be true to yourself, but don’t be afraid to show off your accomplishments and your passions. It’s important for you to put your best face forward, and to show off what you enjoy.

Thanks so much for reading this week. Have a suggestion for a blog topic or just want to chat about how to better brand yourself? Head over to the “Contact me!” tab and get in contact with me. As always, feel free to follow me on instagram as well @kobywheeler.

You as a Brand: What does it mean?

When we think of some of the best brands in the present day, we often think of big names such as Amazon, Apple, and Uber. It’s no surprise that these world renowned brands have massive marketing budgets and some of the best marketing and public relations experts in the world making them what they are. Companies use a variety of techniques to market themselves and build their brand, such as, digital advertising and large events, as well as content marketing— curating an authentic style that subtly markets a certain company or product through social media, blog posts, and more. In the digital age, however, branding is no longer being limited to companies and products, it also includes personalities— people.

Jeffree Star

As technology becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, social media cultivates a culture of digital connection and communication.This has led to an increase in the importance of online social status, as well as a general desire to climb the internet social ladder or become "insta famous" by amassing a large number of followers. Online celebrities like Jeffree Star (don’t worry, I linked the wikipedia in case you don’t know who that is) have accumulated a mass following through social media by being incredibly good at marketing themselves and creating publicity through social media. Star now owns his own large cosmetic line and frequently flashes his custom pink Tesla and other rare cars online. Your online persona will impact your life regardless of whether or not you’d like to be the next big Instagram, YouTube, or Snapchat celebrity.

We’re here to talk about YOU as a brand— and not in some sort of pretentious way. As social media becomes more and more prevalent, our lives are becoming more public. That not only includes friends and family, but also potential employers, recruiters, and even university admissions counselors who see your social media posts and other content associated with you on the internet. Just do a simple Google search on yourself and see what all comes up. Is there a lot about you out there? What is the first thing that pops up? Is it something you’d want a potential employer or university to see? What if there’s nothing? Increasingly recruiters and universities are looking for online profiles to better understand how you’d fit into a university or workplace. Company culture is an important facet of the workplace today, and the people that are employed at a company create that culture. Employers want to know how you fit into the puzzle; the same thing goes for college campuses.

This is where we mash you + branding together. Creating a brand for yourself has become increasingly important to stand out from the crowd, especially to employers,  universities, and friends alike. This weekly blog will give you insight not only into why building a brand for yourself is important, but also how to do that bit by bit, step by step. As someone who has helped build up brands for many startups, I’ve come to build my own brand as well. I can’t wait to share how I’ve done this so you too can have an incredible brand of your own.

I’m extremely excited about this blog and can’t wait to share more with you all. Go ahead and sign up for email updates below or follow me on instagram @kobywheeler to be updated when a new blog post drops!