I Why Do I Care About Self-Promotion? 1
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 7
How to Build Your Brand 8
The Five Universal Objectives of Personal Branding 10
Discover Your Passion (Passion Is Fundamental to Achieving Your Goals) 10
Be Bold (It's Okay to Talk About Yourself) 11
Tell Your Story (Your Story Is What Makes You Special) 13
Create Relationships (Relationships Lead to Opportunities) 14
Take Action (Even a Small Step Is a Step Forward) 15
Who Needs Self-Promotion? 16
Meet Our Heroes 18
2 How Do You Fit in the Mix? 21
The Basics of Building Your Personal Brand Story 23
Writing Your Personal Brand Autobiography 23
Prioritizing When Writing Your Personal Brand Story 24
Writing Your Personal Brand Biography 25
How Do Our Heroes Use the Personal Brand Biography? 27
Telling Your Complete Brand Story 30
The Law of Anecdotal Value 32
Surround Yourself with People Who Have Passion 33
Sharing Memories and Stories 33
Do's and Don'ts of Telling Your Story 34
1. Don't Post Pictures That Would Shock Your Mother 35
2. Don't View Your Personal Brand Story as a Sales Pitch 35
3. Don't Post Something You Will Regret Later 35
4. Don't Ask for Things First Ask for Things Second 36
5. Don't Get Distracted 36
6. Don't Underestimate the Power of Your Network 36
7. Do Invest in Yourself 37
8. Do Invest in Other People 37
9. Do Be Visible and Active 37
10. Do Take Some Time for Yourself 37
II Your Network Is Your Castle-Build It 39
3 Blogging: Telling Your Story 41
What Is Blogging? 43
A Clarification of Terms 45
Why Should You Blog? 45
Choose Your Blogging Platforms 47
Blogspot.com/Blogger.com 48
WordPress.com and WordPress.org 49
Other Blogging Platforms 50
Tumblr 52
Which Platform Should You Choose? 54
Setting Up a Blog 54
Purchasing and Hosting a Domain Name 56
Getting Inspired 57
What Should You Write About? 57
Finding Subject Matter 60
How to Write a Blog Post 60
Writing for Readers Versus Writing for Search Engines 62
It's About the Quality of the Writing 62
Google Expects You to Write Good Stuff 63
How Often Should You Post? 64
How Long Should Your Posts Be? 65
But My Posts Are Too Long 66
SEO Through Blogging 66
How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 69
Do's and Don'ts of Blogging 70
Do's 70
Don'ts 71
A Final Note on the Rules of Blogging 72
4 LinkedIn: Networking on Steroids 73
The Basics of LinkedIn 75
What's in a LinkedIn Profile? 75
The Employment Section 75
Your Photo/Avatar 77
The Education Section 77
The Summary 77
Your Websites 78
Cool LinkedIn Features Worth Examining 79
Creating Contacts on LinkedIn 81
Using Your Email Database 82
Other Ways to Connect: Colleagues and Classmates 83
Building Off Your Second- and Third-Degree Network 84
Transforming Your Contacts into Connections 85
The Importance of Recommendations 87
Ten Do's and Don'ts of LinkedIn 90
1. Do Upload a Professional Picture 90
2. Do Connect to Your Real Friends and Contacts 91
3. Do Keep Your Profile Current 91
4. Do Delete People Who Spam You 91
5. Do Spend Some Time on Your Summary 92
6. Don't Use LinkedIn Like Facebook and Twitter 92
7. Don't Sync LinkedIn with Twitter 92
8. Don't Decline Invitations Archive Them 92
9. Don't Ask Everyone for Recommendations 93
10. Don't Forget to Use Spelling and
Grammar Check 93
5 Twitter: Sharing in the Conversation 95
Why Should You Use Twitter? 96
What Can Twitter Do for You? 97
How Do You Use Twitter? 99
Creating a Twitter Profile 99
Getting Followers 100
Sending Out Tweets 101
Retweeting Your Content 102
Applications for Twitter Domination 104
Desktop Applications 106
Web-Based Applications 107
Mobile Applications 109
What Should You Tweet (and What Shouldn't You?) 110
Personal Branding Case Study : @applegirl 113
Do's and Don'ts While Using Twitter 113
Twitter Tips in 140 Characters or Less 114
How Does This Chapter Apply to Our Four Heroes? 115
6 Facebook: Developing a Community of Friends 117
Why Should You Use Facebook? 118
What Can Facebook Do for You? 120
Reconnect with Old Classmates and Co-Workers 120
Use a Facebook Page to Professionally
Brand Yourself 120
Help a Cause and Be Philanthropic 121
Find and Attend Local Events 121
What You Should Know First About Facebook 122
Professional Page and Personal Profile 123
The Basics: Creating a Personal Profile 124
Staying in Control of Your Profile 127
Working with Your Personal Page Privacy Settings 127
Setting Up Your Privacy Settings for Your Personal
Account 127
Working with Your Customized URL 129
How Can I Use a Professional Page for Personal
Branding? 130
Using Insights to Track Your Content Growth 133
Setting Up Your Professional Page 134
Top Six Tips for Using Facebook 135
Ten Do's and Don'ts of Facebook 136
1. Do Upload a Real Picture 136
2. Do Share Industry-Specific Content 138
3. Do Use Your Email to Find Friends 138
4. Do Read the Terms of Service 138
5. Don't Use Inappropriate Language 138
6. Don't Spam People 139
7. Don't Poke People 139
8. Don't Tag Everyone in a Picture 139
9. Don't Sync Your Twitter Profile with Your Facebook Page 139
10. Don't Invite People to Your Professional Page Over and Over and Over 140
Facebook Tips in 140 Characters or Less 140
7 Say Cheese: Sharing Photos and Videos 143
Why Video 144
Where to Put Your Video 146
YouTube 146
Vimeo 147
Flickr 148
Shooting Video 149
Video Do's and Don'ts 150
Recording Screen Capture Videos 151
Case Study: Gary Vaynerchuk 151
What Should I Make Videos Of? 152
Why Photos 153
Where to Post Your Photos 153
Picasa 153
Flickr 154
Photobucket 154
Instagram 154
Facebook 155
Copyright: Permission, Creative Commons, and Licensing 156
Creative Commons 156
Embedding Videos and Photos in Your Blog 158
Adding Photos 158
Adding Videos 160
SEO for Videos and Photos 161
YouTube SEO 162
Photo SEO 163
The Video Resume 165
A Cautionary Note About Video Resumes 167
Photos and Video Tips in 140 Characters 168
8 Other Social Networking Tools 169
Google+ 170
BranchOut 172
Twylah 174
Pinterest 176
Quora 180
How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 181
9 Googling Yourself: Finding Yourself on Search Engines 183
Have You Ever Googled Yourself? 184
What Do You Want Others to Find? 186
Search Engine Optimization 187
What SEO USED to Be 188
Keywords 188
Titles 188
Body Copy 189
Anchor Text 189
Backlinks 190
What SEO Looks at Now 190
Time on Site 191
Bounce Rate 191
Click-Through Rate 191
Page Load Speed 192
How Can You Influence These Factors? 193
Quality of Content 193
Quality of Design 194
Ease of Navigation 195
A Quick Note About Backlinks 196
Video 196
Personal Connections/Social Media 197
Reverse Search Engine Optimization 198
What if You Share a Common Name? 199
Search Engine Tools 201
Google Alerts 201
Google Image Search 202
Google Blog Search 202
Bing 203
Yahoo! 204
Other Search Engines 205
The Value of Reputation Management 206
Reputation Management Tools 207
BrandYourself.com 207
Reputation.com 207
Google's Me on the Web 209
How Do Our Heroes Use SEO? 210
Reputation Management Tips in 140 Characters 210
10 Bringing It All Together: Launching Your Brand 213
What Is a Personal Brand Campaign? 215
How Do Our Heroes Build Their P&T Statement? 217
Why Is a Personal Brand Campaign Important? 220
Building Your Personal Brand Campaign 221
Developing Your Personal Brand Campaign 221
Implementing Your Personal Brand Campaign 223
Automating Your Personal Brand Campaign 224
Unique Ways to Launch Your Branding Campaign 225
How Should Our Heroes Launch Their Brands? 228
Do's and Don'ts of Launching Your Personal Brand 229
11 Measuring Success: You Like Me, You Really Like Me! 231
Why Should You Measure 232
What Should You Measure? 233
Reach 233
Quality Versus Quantity 234
Visibility 234
Influence 235
Measuring Influence 235
How Should You Measure? 238
Measuring Your Blogging Effectiveness 238
Using Google Analytics for Your Blog 240
Setting Up a Google Analytics Account 241
Installing Google Analytics 242
Getting an Overview of Your Website Performance 242
Measuring Your Twitter Effectiveness 243
Other Total Influence Measurement Tools 245
Measuring Your LinkedIn Effectiveness 246
Measuring Your Facebook Effectiveness 248
Measuring Your YouTube Effectiveness 250
Nine Tools to Use for Measurement 252
Effectively Measuring Your Personal Brand 254
How Can Our Heroes Use Analytics and Measurement? 255
Do's and Don'ts for Analytics and Measurement 256
Analytics Tips in 140 Characters 256
II PROMOTING YOUR BRAND IN THE REAL WORLD 259
12 How to Network: Hello, My Name Is 261
Why Should I Bother Networking? 263
A Networking Case Study: Starla West 264
The Rules of Networking 265
It's Not About You 265
Giver's Gain Is Not Quid Pro Quo 266
Be Honest Online and Offline 269
You're Just as Good as Everyone Else 270
Avoid People Who Are Unhelpful 271
Network with Your Competition 271
Three Types of Networking 273
Networking Groups 273
Meeting People 274
The Networking Dance 274
What Should You Say? 275
Networking Faux Pas 276
The Follow-Up 278
One-on-One Networking 278
How to Set Up the One-On-One Networking Meeting 279
What to Talk About During Your One-On-One 280
No One Wants a Sales Pitch 281
The Pick-Your-Brain Meeting 281
The Follow-Up 284
Forwarding Articles and Links 284
Sharing Opportunities 285
Making Connections and Introductions for Others 285
But I Just Don't Want to Meet the Other Person 286
Be Honest 286
But What if the Other Person Isn't Honest? 287
Do's and Don'ts of Networking 288
Do 288
Don't 289
How Would Our Heroes Network? 289
13 Public Speaking: We Promise You Won't Die 291
Case Study: Hazel Walker, The Queen of Networking 293
Should I Speak in Public? 294
No, Seriously 294
But I Hate Speaking in Public 294
Overcoming Your Fear of Public Speaking 295
Toastmasters 295
Classes at Your Local College or University 296
Seminars and Courses 296
Speakers Associations 297
Private or Executive Coaches 297
Finding or Creating Your Own Speaking Niche 297
How to Start Your Speaking Career 299
Identify Speaking Opportunities 301
Industry Groups 302
Civic Groups 303
Conferences, Trade Shows, and Expos 304
Introducing Yourself 305
Promoting Your Talk 306
How Does This Apply to Our Four Heroes? 309
Giving Your Talk 310
Important Technology Tips for Presenters 311
Miscellaneous Tips, 140 Characters or Less 316
14 Getting Published: I'm an Author! 319
Why Should I Become a Writer? 322
Publication Opportunities 323
Local Newspapers 324
Business Newspapers 325
Scientific Journals 326
Specialty Magazines and Newspapers 327
Hobby Publications 328
Major Mainstream Magazines 329
Go Horizontal Instead of Vertical 329
Build Your Personal Brand with Your Writing 330
Publication Rights 331
Create Your Own Articles' Niche 332
Getting Started 334
Getting Paid 336
Paying Your Dues 337
The Myth of Exposure 338
Do's and Don'ts of Writing for Publication 338
How Can Our Heroes Turn to Writing for Publication? 340
15 Personal Branding: Using What You've Learned to Land Your Dream Job 343
Using Your Network to Find a Job 347
Twitter: Make Job Connections in 140 Characters 347
Use LinkedIn to Make Job Connections 348
The Art of the Connection 348
Should You Connect Directly or Ask for a Connection? 350
Use LinkedIn to Get Inside Info 351
Creating a Resume 352
Should I Create a Paper Resume? 352
How Does Social Media Fit in Your Resume? 353
Six Tips for Listing Social Media on Your Resume 354
Do's and Don'ts of Resume Building 355
Don't Rely on the Job Boards 358
Try the Company Job Boards Instead 359
Use LinkedIn to Bypass the Job Board Process 361
Skip HR Altogether, and Work Your Network 361
Using Your Network to Land a Freelance Contract 362
How Can Our Heroes Find a Job Through
Networking? 363
A Social Media Case Study 364
Another Social Media Case Study 367
Job Searching Tips in 140 Characters 368
Index 369
