I Why Do I Care About Self-Promotion?
1 Welcome to the Party 3
What Is Self-Promotion? 5
Why Is Self-Promotion Important? 5
What Self-Promotion Is Not 6
What Can Self-Promotion Do for You and Your Career? 6
Personal Branding 6
What Is Personal Branding? 7
Go Brand Yourself 8
How to Build Your Brand 8
The Five Universal Objectives of Personal Branding 9
Discover Your Passion. (Passion Is Fundamental to Achieving Your Goals.) 9
Be Bold. (It's Okay to Talk About Yourself.) 10
Tell Your Story. (Your Story Is What Makes You Special.) 12
Create Relationships. (Relationships Lead to Opportunities.) 13
Take Action. (Even a Small Step Is a Step Forward.) 14
Who Needs Self-Promotion? 15
Meet Our Heroes 17
2 How Do You Fit in the Mix? 19
The Basics of Building Your Personal Brand Story 21
Writing Your Personal Brand Autobiography 21
Prioritizing When Writing Your Personal Brand Story 22
Writing Your Personal Brand Biography 23
How Do Our Heroes Use the Personal Brand Biography? 25
Telling Your Complete Brand Story 27
Do's and Don'ts of Telling Your Story 29
1. Don't Post Pictures That Would Shock Your Mother 30
2. Don't View Your Personal Brand Story as a Sales Pitch 30
3. Don't Post Something You Will Regret Later 30
4. Don't Ask for Things First.Ask for Things Second 31
5. Don't Get Distracted 31
6. Don't Underestimate the Power of Your Network 31
7. Do Invest in Yourself 32
8. Do Invest in Other People 32
9. Do Be Visible and Active 32
10. Do Take Some Time for Yourself 32
II Your Network Is Your Castle-Build It
3 Blogging: Telling Your Story 35
What Is Blogging? 37
A Clarification of Terms 39
Why Should You Blog? 39
Choose Your Blogging Platforms 41
Blogspot.com/Blogger.com 41
WordPress.com and WordPress.org 43
Other Blogging Platforms 44
Which Platform Should You Choose? 47
Setting Up a Blog 47
Purchasing and Hosting a Domain Name 49
Getting Inspired 49
What Should You Write About? 50
Finding Subject Matter 53
How to Write a Blog Post 53
Writing for Readers Versus Writing for Search Engines 55
How Often Should You Post? 56
How Long Should Your Posts Be? 57
But My Posts Are Too Long 58
Search Engine Optimization Through Blogging 59
How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 60
Do's and Don'ts of Blogging 62
Do's 62
Don'ts 63
A Final Note on the Rules of Blogging 63
4 LinkedIn: Networking on Steroids 65
The Basics of LinkedIn 67
What's in a LinkedIn Profile? 67
Cool LinkedIn Features Worth Examining 71
Creating Contacts on LinkedIn 73
Transforming Your Contacts into Connections 77
The Importance of Recommendations 79
Ten Do's and Don'ts of LinkedIn 82
1. Do Upload a Professional Picture 82
2. Do Connect to Your Real Friends and Contacts 82
3. Do Keep Your Profile Current 83
4. Do Delete People Who Spam You 83
5. Do Spend Some Time on Your Summary 83
6. Don't Use LinkedIn Like Facebook and Twitter 84
7. Don't Sync LinkedIn with Twitter 84
8. Don't Decline Invitations. Archive Them 84
9. Don't Ask Everyone for Recommendations 84
10. Don't Forget to Use Spelling and Grammar Check 85
5 Twitter: Sharing in the Conversation 87
Why Should You Use Twitter? 88
What Can Twitter Do for You? 89
How Do You Use Twitter? 91
Creating a Twitter Profile 91
Getting Followers 92
Sending Out Tweets 93
Retweeting Your Content 94
Applications for Twitter Domination 96
Desktop Applications 97
Web-Based Applications 98
Mobile Applications 100
What Should You Tweet (and What Shouldn't You?) 101
Do's and Don'ts While Using Twitter 104
How Does This Chapter Apply to Our Four Heroes? 105
6 Facebook: Developing a Community of Friends 107
Why Should You Use Facebook? 108
What Can Facebook Do for You? 109
Reconnect with Old Classmates and Co-Workers 110
Use a Facebook Page to Professionally Brand Yourself 110
Help a Cause and Be Philanthropic 110
Find and Attend Local Events 111
What You Should Know First About Facebook 111
Professional Page and Personal Profile 112
The Basics: Creating a Personal Profile 114
Staying in Control of Your Profile 116
Working with Your Personal Page Privacy Settings 116
Setting Up Your Privacy Settings for Your Personal Account 117
Working with Your Customized URL 118
How Can I Use a Professional Page for Personal Branding? 119
Using Insights to Track Your Content Growth 120
Setting Up Your Professional Page 122
Top Five Tips for Using Facebook 123
Ten Do's and Don'ts of Facebook 125
1. Do Upload a Real Picture 125
2. Do Share Industry-Specific Content 126
3. Do Use Your Email to Find Friends 126
4. Do Read the Terms of Service 127
5. Don't Use Inappropriate Language 127
6. Don't Spam People 127
7. Don't Poke People 127
8. Don't Tag Everyone in a Picture 128
9. Don't Sync Your Twitter Profile with Your Facebook Page 128
10. Don't Invite People to Your Professional Page Over and Over and Over 128
7 Bringing It All Together: Launching Your Brand 129
What Is a Personal Brand Campaign? 131
How Do Our Heroes Build Their P&T Statement? 133
Why Is a Personal Brand Campaign Important? 136
Building Your Personal Brand Campaign 137
Developing Your Personal Brand Campaign 137
Implementing Your Personal Brand Campaign 138
Automating Your Personal Brand Campaign 140
Unique Ways to Launch Your Branding Campaign 141
How Should Our Heroes Launch Their Brands? 143
Do's and Don'ts of Launching Your Personal Brand 144
8 Measuring Success: You Like Me,You Really Like Me! 147
Why Should You Measure 149
What Should You Measure? 149
Reach 149
Quality Versus Quantity 150
Visibility 150
Influence 151
How Should You Measure? 153
Measuring Your Blogging Effectiveness 154
Using Google Analytics for Your Blog 155
Measuring Your Twitter Effectiveness 159
Measuring Your LinkedIn Effectiveness 160
Measuring Your Facebook Effectiveness 161
Ten Tools to Use for Measurement 164
Effectively Measuring Your Personal Brand 165
How Can Our Heroes Use Analytics and Measurement? 166
Do's and Don'ts for Analytics and Measurement 167
III Promoting Your Brand in the Real World
9 How to Network: Hello,My Name Is 171
Why Should I Bother Networking? 173
A Networking Case Study: Starla West 174
The Rules of Networking 175
It's Not About You 175
Giver's Gain Is Not Quid Pro Quo 176
Be Honest Online and Offline 178
You're Just as Good as Everyone Else 179
Avoid People Who Are Unhelpful 180
Network with Your Competition 181
Three Types of Networking 182
Networking Groups 183
One-on-One Networking 188
The Follow-Up 193
Be Honest 196
Do's and Don'ts of Networking 197
Do 197
Don't 198
How Would Our Heroes Network? 199
10 Public Speaking:We Promise You Won't Die 201
Case Study: Hazel Walker, The Queen of Networking 203
Should I Speak in Public? 204
No, Seriously 204
But I Hate Speaking in Public 204
Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking 205
Toastmasters 205
Classes at Your Local College or University 206
Seminars and Courses 206
Speakers Associations 207
Private or Executive Coaches 207
Finding or Creating Your Own Speaking Niche 207
How to Start Your Speaking Career 209
Identify Speaking Opportunities 211
Industry Groups 212
Civic Groups 213
Conferences, Trade Shows, and Expos 213
Introducing Yourself 215
Promoting Your Talk 216
How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 218
Giving Your Talk 219
Important Technology Tips for Presenters 221
Miscellaneous Tips, 140 Characters or Less 225
11 Getting Published: I'm an Author! 227
Why Should I Become a Writer? 229
Publication Opportunities 230
Local Newspapers 231
Business Newspapers 232
Scientific Journals 233
Specialty Magazines and Newspapers 234
Hobby Publications 235
Major Mainstream Magazines 236
Go Horizontal Instead of Vertical 236
Build Your Personal Brand with Your Writing 237
Publication Rights 239
Create Your Own Articles Niche 240
Getting Started 241
Getting Paid 243
Paying Your Dues 244
The Myth of Exposure 245
Do's and Don'ts ofWriting for Publication 246
How Can Our Heroes Turn to Writing for Publication? 247
12 Personal Branding: Using What You've Learned to Land Your
Dream Job 249
Using Your Network to Find a Job 251
Twitter: Make Job Connections in 140 Characters 252
Use LinkedIn to Make Job Connections 253
Creating a Resume 256
Should I Create a Paper Resume? 257
How Does Social Media Fit in Your Resume? 258
Six Tips for Listing Social Media on Your Resume 258
Do's and Don'ts of Resume Building 260
Don't Rely on the Job Boards 263
Try the Company Job Boards Instead 264
Use LinkedIn to Bypass the Job Board Process 265
Skip HR Altogether, and Work Your Network 266
Using Your Network to Land a Freelance Contract 267
How Can Our Heroes Find a Job Through Networking? 268
A Social Media Case Study 269
Job Searching Tips in 140 Characters 271
Index 273
