Mentor EU Personal Branding for C level Executives

Personal Branding for C-Level Executives

Everything you need to know to get your name out there

Beata Staszkow

Identify your value proposition and define your brand. Learn how to use social media and network effectively. Tell the world about your personal brand. Showcase your achievements to a wide audience. Give your career the exposure it deserves.


Mentor EU Company 7234953 22 Faircross Avenue Barking, Essex London, UK Email: [email protected] www.mentoreu.com

Personal Branding For C-Level Executives

Contents Mentor EU’s Personal Branding Guide for C-Level Executives ............................................................ 5

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5

What is my value proposition?....................................................................................................... 5

Brand Values ................................................................................................................................. 7

Personal Brand Blogging ................................................................................................................ 8

So what topics do I write about to enhance my personal brand?................................................ 8

Where to Publish your Personal Brand Blog ............................................................................. 10

LinkedIn Blogs .......................................................................................................................... 10

Connections vs. Followers ........................................................................................................ 11

Hard and Fast Rules about LinkedIn Blogs ................................................................................ 11

Promoting your Personal Brand ................................................................................................... 11

Using LinkedIn Effectively ........................................................................................................ 11

LinkedIn Search Tools .............................................................................................................. 12

Networking, LinkedIn and your Personal Brand ........................................................................ 14

Comments and Likes ................................................................................................................ 15

Your Networking Strategy on LinkedIn ..................................................................................... 15

LinkedIn Groups .......................................................................................................................... 17

Connecting on LinkedIn ............................................................................................................... 18

Attracting LinkedIn Connections .................................................................................................. 18

Connecting with Headhunters and Recruiters .............................................................................. 19

Attracting Visitors to your Profile ................................................................................................. 20

Post Targeted Updates............................................................................................................. 20

Post in Relevant Groups ........................................................................................................... 20

Comment, Like, Share .............................................................................................................. 20

Read through the Comments on Blog Posts ............................................................................. 20

Viewing Profiles ....................................................................................................................... 20

Have a conversation? Request to connect ................................................................................ 20

Send Blogs to Strategic Contacts for Feedback ......................................................................... 20

Not Getting Results? ................................................................................................................ 21

You’re not Re-evaluating.......................................................................................................... 21




Not Following up ..................................................................................................................... 21

Not Interacting on Social Media ............................................................................................... 21

You’re going for Unrealistic Positions ....................................................................................... 21

You’re not interacting in Groups .............................................................................................. 21

Blogging Infrequently ............................................................................................................... 21

Other Social Media Networks ...................................................................................................... 21

Twitter ........................................................................................................................................ 22

Updating Twitter...................................................................................................................... 23

Facebook ..................................................................................................................................... 23

Key points of updating Facebook ............................................................................................. 25

Google Plus ................................................................................................................................. 26

Key points of updating Google Plus .......................................................................................... 29

Hootsuite .................................................................................................................................... 30

Adding a Social Network to Hootsuite .......................................................................................... 30

Engagement ............................................................................................................................ 34

Updating Social Networks via Hootsuite ...................................................................................... 35

Scheduling ............................................................................................................................... 35

AutoScheduling........................................................................................................................ 35

Bulk uploading ......................................................................................................................... 37

The last word on Social Media ................................................................................................. 38

How Strong is your Personal Brand? ............................................................................................ 39

Do I need a Personal Brand? .................................................................................................... 39

1. How often do you blog about your accomplishments, your industry, and provide useful tips

for others in your field? ........................................................................................................... 39

2. How well do you understand your value proposition? ...................................................... 39

3. Do you have a set of brand values which you adhere to rigidly? ....................................... 39

4. How many LinkedIn Contacts have you made in the last week? ........................................ 39

5. Who wrote your CV and LinkedIn profile? ........................................................................ 39

6. How often do you update your LinkedIn Status ................................................................ 39

7. How often do you Update Facebook, Google + or Twitter in relation t your career ........... 39

Scoring: ....................................................................................................................................... 40

Mentor EU Personal Branding Service .......................................................................................... 40




Meet the Team ............................................................................................................................ 43

Beata Staszkow - Managing Director and founder of Mentor EU .............................................. 43

What our Clients Say ................................................................................................................... 44

Contact Mentor EU ...................................................................................................................... 46




Mentor EU’s Personal Branding Guide for C-Level Executives

Introduction This guide was put together to try to clarify exactly what personal branding is, and how you can use

it to further your career. For some time personal branding has been a necessity for a prosperous C-

level career. It began as a recruitment trend and now thousands of executives all over the world are

using it to define who they are, and showcase their value proposition. The Guide is the result of our

work with senior executive clients as well as observation of what is happening in the employment

market.

Despite all of the literature on the need to have a personal brand, thousands of C-level executives

are unsure how best to manage their personal brand.

This guide will show you:

How to define your value proposition

The importance of social media

How to use LinkedIn

How to network using social media

How personal branding helps you access the hidden job market

The importance of regular blogging

How to define yourself as a professional

Define your brand

The fundamentals of personal branding

Personal branding is a bit like a jigsaw and all the pieces have to be in position to be effective. Good

personal branding encompasses the following:

Defined value proposition

Defined brand values

Regular blogging

Strategic networking including targeted follower/connection building, participating in

discussions, and adding regular valuable updates to your followers

For personal branding to work, it is important that you devote time to all four aspects.

What is my value proposition? Your value proposition is essentially the problem you solve in a business. When a company recruits,

it is because there is a problem in the business that has to be solved. If you are the right fit you will

solve the problem.

How well you can show that you can solve a business problem is your value proposition. The better

CVs and LinkedIn profiles showcase this well.




For example, a business has a problem with sales and is looking to recruit a sales executive. If sales is

where your experience lies, then you have a chance of filling the hole the business needs to fill. By

answering these four questions you can take a step in defining your value proposition:

Is the problem one that needs solving?

Can the problem be avoided without recruitment?

Is it an urgent problem?

Is the problem underserved?

When you put answers to these problems in your positioning statement your value proposition

becomes clearer.

Hence:

o Is the problem one that needs solving? In the sales example, does the business need to sell

products and services? The answer is yes, so yes the problem does need solving.

o Can the problem be avoided? No, all businesses need to make sales to survive and prosper.

o Is it an urgent problem? All businesses want people to start as soon as possible, so we can

assume the answer is yes.

o Is the problem underserved? In our example probably not. There are plenty of sales people

around. The fact is though; if the position is vacant it is because the business needs to fill it

and has not found anyone suitable. So, actually the answer is yes.

Therefore, your value proposition is looking like:

My sales expertise has increased the profits of businesses whose income relies on the sale of

products and services in their respective market places.

Put a different way, you solve the problem of underperforming sales. This is your value proposition,

the problem you solve. It is the basis of all of the marketing documentation about you, and this

includes your CV, LinkedIn profile, and your personal brand.

Let’s take another job role: an oil and gas engineer.

o Is the problem one that needs solving? Any business that requires an oil and gas engineer

has a problem with the production of oil and gas. Moreover, it is a highly specialised position

requiring specific qualifications and experience.

o Can the problem be avoided? Possible options would be to retrain existing staff, but in

essence they still need an oil and gas engineer.

o Is it an urgent problem? The answer to this is, if they need an oil and gas engineer then it is

urgent. If the company isn’t recruiting at the moment, having a personal brand will help to




keep you in mind for when they do. This is because your presence on key social media sites

such as LinkedIn and Twitter will be high. In effect, you will be in their heads.

o Is the problem underserved? Taking a wider view in our previous example, the answer is that

a specialised position will be in demand somewhere in the world. Oil and gas are in high

demand in the Middle East, but not so much in Europe. You could find a wealth of

opportunities by working abroad.

Therefore, our oil and gas engineer can define themselves in the following way:

My oil and gas expertise and experience has successfully contributed to the safe extraction of

natural resources to the benefit of oil and gas corporations, together with the countries and

stakeholders they serve.

As you can see, once your value proposition is defined, together with your positioning statement,

you have a platform to build upon.

Your value proposition is what will sell you to headhunters and recruiters who in turn will provide

you with access to the hidden job market.

Brand Values All brands have brand values. These are a set of guiding principles on which the brand is built. Like a

company brand, your personal brand should have guiding principles or values which you adhere to.

Through doing this, you are building your personal brand and reputation.

Some examples of personal brand values:

You meet deadlines

You are punctual

You take pride in your appearance

You will deliver a good performance in a given role

You will maintain job knowledge through research and undertaking courses relevant to your

position

You will endeavour to become an authority in your chosen field

You will pass on your knowledge to colleagues

You will work as part of a team and use your own initiative as a job position demands

You will take charge and responsibility for projects

You will optimise the efficiency of your job role where possible

By adhering to the values you create for yourself you will establish a reputation for these traits with

your peers. The next section will take this one step further, as through blogging and social media

use, you will expand your brand to a wider, influential audience.




Personal Brand Blogging Blogging is without doubt the most productive way to showcase your value proposition and brand

values. Before we explain why, take a look at these statisticsi; although they are for businesses, it

gives us a good insight into the power of regular blogging.

Companies receive:

80% more new visitors (if you blog daily)*

5 times more traffic if you blog on a daily basis than if you do not blog at all*

Even if you only blog once a week you will have 4.5 times more visitors if your blog contains 200

posts than if your blog contains none at all*

*http://socialmarketingwriting.com/

From the personal branding perspective, good blogs on subjects relevant to your field will create

career opportunities for you. For example, imagine you work in HR. You blog regularly about HR

issues, and concentrate on specific problems faced by corporations. Eventually, a corporation will do

some research into the problem and come across your blog. Immediately, you have cemented your

name with solving HR issues.

This is where personal branding adds real value to your career. At C-level you are always under

threat from your competitors. If you apply for a job, the competition for that job will be more

intense. Your past performances will not necessarily stand up well at interview. Your personal brand

blog, however, will showcase your value proposition and your brand values. It will also show your

industry and job knowledge.

So what topics do I write about to enhance my personal brand?

In our experience once you start putting together your blog, one idea leads to another. It just takes a

little time to put your mind to it.

Many executives have fantastic accomplishments, however, they are known only to a small circle of

their professional contacts. Good blogging can help to change that.

Here are some ideas for blog topics:

Industry news – Ensure you always approach this with an opinion. Although it does not

matter what your opinion is, be as tactful as you can. You do not want to make enemies.

Past / current projects – These always make good reading. Ideally, you should explain what

the problem was and how you overcame it. Try to explain your approach, the decisions you

made and what your thought processes were.




Do not be afraid to showcase projects which were not entirely successful. Ensure however,

that you can show why a project did not go to plan and what you learned from the process.

Solving a common issue – This is a very good way of showcasing your value proposition to a

wide audience. At Mentor EU we create posts based on client feedback. As such, you will

find plenty of tips on what should and should not go on your CV and LinkedIn profile, what is

the best way to approach an interview, and posts on working as an expatriate. This is

because they are common issues and our audience wants this kind of information.

You should do the same for your industry. Is there a common issue which resurfaces?

Identify the common questions and problems, and write about your approach to

overcoming them. Unlike our posts, you may well be writing for a different audience. If you

are looking for a specific position, say CIO, you should aim your posts at this level and above.

Speak about budgets and allocating resources. Show how you made the big decisions

effectively and the results.

Reviews – Reviews can be anything from tools you use, to a particular company. Ideally you

want to review the ones you like rather than do not like, and you simply say why you use

them and what you like about them. Information like this can be highly useful to others in

your industry.

Frequently asked questions – If you are often asked similar or the same questions to do

with your field, then simply write a post about it. We’re often asked about personal

branding, and as such we have developed not just a few posts, but a whole guide dedicated

to the subject!

You can do the same. Writing about questions you are often asked helps a great deal with

online networking as you can point out the answer to a question, directing the questioner to

your blog in the process. (See below)

This does not cover everything to do with personal brand blogging, but it will get you started. Once

you have a few blogs under your belt, the next step is promoting your blogs to the wider world.




Where to Publish your Personal Brand Blog

The best place to publish your personal brand blog is on LinkedIn. If you have the option to do so,

your LinkedIn home screen will look like this:

If you click Publish a post, you see the blog publishing page. You can upload an image, and copy and

paste from MS Word. Do not forget to put your title in the separate section. (This catches people

out!)

If you do not have the LinkedIn publishing capability to publish blogs, other options are available to

you.

LinkedIn Blogs

After long form posts or LinkedIn blogs were introduced to all users, and not just influencers, it gave

us the opportunity to show our expertise. The only aspect which is not so appealing is that at this

time not everybody has the blogging facility.




Connections vs. Followers

Connections are not necessarily your blog’s followers. According to LinkedIn, your followers are

made up of your first degree connections, and followers of your posts. This means that your

followers do not have to connect with you to read your posts. Potentially, this gives your blog

further reach.

Hard and Fast Rules about LinkedIn Blogs

The ideal picture size is 698 x 400 pixels

Use H2 tags for sub headings. This is an SEO element and has a small influence on search

engines

Always try to end a blog with a call to action. For example: “Why not connect with me on

LinkedIn so we can benefit from each other’s knowledge?”

Always complete the tag section at the bottom of a post. Start by typing the first letters of

the tag: For example, in this case type ‘personal branding’, and then choose from the

available options. You can choose up to three tags and it is advisable to spread the net wide.

As this guide is written for C-level executives, we will ensure one of the tags targets that

group

If you cannot use LinkedIn, Blogger.com is free to use and is a perfectly good blogging platform in its

own right.

You may also want to consider establishing your own personal brand website. This can bring huge

benefits including an added touch of professionalism – www.myname.com for example.

Promoting your Personal Brand

Using LinkedIn Effectively

LinkedIn is particularly important for building your personal brand. It is a particularly powerful social

media tool and can help you to access the hidden job market. Through utilising the networking and

search functions, you will discover opportunities.

http://www.google.com/blogger

http://www.myname.com/




LinkedIn Search Tools

By clicking the menu symbol you can narrow down searches to find jobs, people, groups, companies,

universities, specific posts, and access search messages in your inbox .

Here we have searched for human resources jobs. On the left you can narrow down jobs by location,

and search for jobs in specific companies or job titles. You can also select a salary range, an industry,

and a level of experience. These can be selected further down this page on the left.




Use the left column on a LinkedIn search page to focus your searches

If you were to click on a job post, you would be taken to a screen which gives you more details about

the job. You can then click on the apply button, which often takes you to the company website. If

the job is advertised via a recruitment agency, it will go through to this page.

You also have an option to see the hiring company’s LinkedIn page. This can be especially useful.




If you click on the company logo, HSBC in the example above, you will come to their company page.

If you click People at HSBC you will be presented with a list of their employees.

If you click on any of the employees, you will go through to their LinkedIn profile. If you scroll down

you will see what groups they belong to. By joining these groups, you have an opportunity to

network, but you also have a good opportunity to discover what they are looking for.

Shaping your updates and your blogs to answer their questions is a good way of keeping you in the

minds of the people that matter.

As you have probably deduced, targeting the right people on LinkedIn is very important to your

future career.

In the next section we discuss targeting the right people to further your career, and learn about

networking.

Networking, LinkedIn and your Personal Brand

A common issue we find is that people are uncomfortable with networking, even online. This is a

shame as good networking opens doors which would be otherwise closed. The beauty of LinkedIn is

that it keeps networking on a purely professional level, and makes it easy for you to interact with

people.

Before we go any further let’s look at some ways you can interact with people without saying a

word.




Comments and Likes

When you connect on LinkedIn, updates mutually appear in your streams. As and when your

connections publish updates, simply like the ones you feel are worthy and/or accurate. This is the

first steps to networking. If an update is published and you feel you can say something constructive,

then why not comment?

It does not have to agree with the updater. Your comment can take the opposite view as long as it is

constructive. If you take the view that all comments should inform and not preach, then you are on

the right lines. There are no prizes to be won for point scoring on comments.

The same approach can be taken with LinkedIn blogs. When one of your first degree connections or

blogs that you follow on LinkedIn publishes a new blog, you will be notified in the notification area.

When you publish a post the same happens with your first degree connections and followers of your

blog.

If you read through a blog and you think it offers something, like it. When you read a blog and you

feel you have something meaningful to contribute, simply comment. Again, keep the comments

constructive and to the point.

Your Networking Strategy on LinkedIn

To make the most of personal branding you need to have a strong networking strategy on LinkedIn.

This will extend the reach of your personal brand, and extend your influence. When putting together

your networking strategy think about:

Targeting the right industry

Targeting the right company

Targeting the right people

Target the right region

As we have seen, it is quite easy to find anything you want from the LinkedIn search screen, and you

can use the filters to pinpoint the search more precisely. If you have a premium account, you can

target positions within companies.




If seeking a high level position, targeting the right seniority level together with human resources is a

good place to start. This can be extended further by targeting the right department, for example,

operations. Using the standard search tools you can pinpoint the region, and at the end of this

filtering produce a viable list of contacts.

As we have seen, you can discover the groups they are members of. After joining these groups, you

are in a good position to start getting in the minds of the people that matter.

This may feel a little like being a stalker, but it is actually the professional way to network. It is

strategic and professional, and one of the few ways you can access the hidden job market.

With all this in mind let’s recap. Using LinkedIn search facilities do the following:

Make a list of industries and companies you would like to work for

Narrow this down by limiting the search to the regions where you would like to work and be

willing to relocate to (Middle East, USA, France, Far East)

Filter the positions by using the Function and Seniority Level search options. (You will need a

premium account)

The names you have left are in all probability going to be people worth connecting to. As such,

ensure you:

Join their groups

Comment and like their posts

Try and answer their questions

Direct them (and others) to your blogs, especially if your blog post answers a question

Offer to connect once you have liked a few posts, discussed a few things, etc.




LinkedIn Groups Connecting to LinkedIn groups based on your personal brand is highly beneficial to your career. The

secret to joining the right group is to see if they are rated as Active or Very Active by LinkedIn. See

below:

If a group does not have these ratings, it is probably not worth joining as nobody will read your

posts.

When responding to a group discussion always:

Abide by the rules of the group – you do not want to be thrown out!




Always be polite

Put your points across in a constructive way. Never look to point score or be insulting

If you can, point people towards your blogs

Try to answer questions and put forward useful information

Try to be a useful and active member of your groups

The secret to success in a LinkedIn group is to interact with other group members. With this in mind,

here is some advice to get more from LinkedIn groups:

Delete ‘dead’ groups. Unless a group is classed as active or better it is of little value

Like 5-10 updates from other group posters per day, per group

Find ten LinkedIn blogs relevant to your industry and targeted contacts and share them on

all of your social media accounts. Use Hootsuite for this (See below)

Monitor discussions on LinkedIn. Every time this happens it will be ‘flagged’ in your

notification area

Use other social media to connect to your contacts and share their content too. Follow

industry publications as well as well-known publications and broadcasters. Think Harvard

Business Review, BBC, CNN, Wall Street Journal, etc.

Do not join too many groups as it will become too difficult to manage. Try to limit yourself to

around ten good groups; ten good ones are better than fifty average ones. It will also make

the process more manageable. As a guide, try to join the ones that contain the contacts

which can further your career. Strategic networking is everything.

Connecting on LinkedIn When you connect on LinkedIn there are some rules to follow. Connecting on LinkedIn is often a give

and take process, and often you have to share a few updates and like a few comments before asking

to connect. This is just the way it is.

With this in mind always:

Share and like a few updates before connecting

Try to engage in a group and blog discussion before connecting

Try to promote your blog to answer a question from the person with whom you want to

connect

Avoid spam connections as this can lead to bans and being branded a spammer, which is not

the best

Attracting LinkedIn Connections Now we have covered the basics, let’s look at ways you can make new connections and grow your

network. Therefore, it is important that you target people who can further your career before you

start sending mails on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn allows you to send messages to people with whom you want to connect.




To send a mail, view the profile and click Send InMail.

Simply asking to connect is networking cold calling and should be avoided at all costs. Instead offer

something they may like initially. Never ask for a job or enquire about vacancies either.

For example, it could be an article – either your own or from a publication, or perhaps a tool you feel

they could use. It could be an interesting group discussion. Remember, you are kick-starting a

dialogue or a conversation. As they are part of a strategic network, you should have at least

something in common.

What you offer should be enough to attract their attention. If you work in sales, think of it as a hook.

The idea, here, is that you are showing your future connection that you are knowledgeable and

would make a valuable connection.

Mention that you would be happy to introduce your connections to them; again this is showing your

value to them.

Connecting with Headhunters and Recruiters Connecting with headhunters and recruiters requires a slightly different approach, and an

understanding of how they work.

Headhunters and recruiters are paid by the company that has hired them to find talent . They are

often under pressure and working to strict deadlines. As such, they will only respond to an approach

if you have experience and skills they can sell, or need to fulfil a brief from one of their clients.

To help you make a connection with headhunters and recruiters here is a brief guide:

Step 1 – Draw up a list of headhunters and recruiters who work in your industry, and recruit

for the region you want to work in

Step 2 – Send a message offering value as discussed above, and then connect with them on

LinkedIn




Step 3 – Send them an email (not an Inmail) with your CV and explain your value proposition

to them. Call them to ensure they received it. This will give you a chance to speak to them

directly

Step 4 – Repeat the process with other headhunters and recruiters. Keep records of who

you’ve spoken to, and try to contact them once every two weeks to keep you in their minds

Attracting Visitors to your Profile To grow your network of contacts, you need to have people visiting your profile. Without this your

chances of success are slim. As you are brand building, the more people who visit your profile could

be argued to be a measurement of success. Here are some ways to generate profile visits.

Post Targeted Updates

Share your own blog and updates, and that you have seen, with your connections on your main feed

and in relevant groups. Do not publish content from competitors as this may land you in hot water

with your employer. When you share a content, just say something about it to personalise your

update. “Interesting developments in oil and gas technology”.

Sometimes asking a question is a good way to stimulate interest and gain a response. “What do you

think of this technological advancement in extracting gas? Good or bad?”

Post in Relevant Groups

When you post in a group ensure the group is relevant to the update. Posting an oil and gas

technology post in an APAC recruitment group is not a good idea. Keep it relevant.

Comment, Like, Share

Networking works on give and take. Ensure you comment, like, and share your connections’

updates. Do not be contrived however, and always say a few lines to introduce the update when you

post it. If you do not feel it is worth commenting on, do not do so.

Read through the Comments on Blog Posts

If you read through the comments on blog posts, the chances are someone has made a good point.

Reply to these comments as well as the blog. Good connections are made this way and it is an under

utilised form of networking.

Viewing Profiles

We’re all naturally curious to see who is viewing our profile, so view a few and see who responds. If

they reach out, you can consider it a win.

Have a conversation? Request to connect

If you have a conversation with someone always request to connect. Although they won’t always be

part of your strategic list, it is always a good idea to expand your network as far as possible.

Send Blogs to Strategic Contacts for Feedback

When you write a blog, send it via the Inmail system to select contacts and ask for feedback.

Monitor who responds and who you sent it to. You do not want to send it to the same person twice!




Unless you are in a related industry, do not send blogs to headhunters and recruiters, it will be of no

interest.

Not Getting Results?

If you are not getting results it could be that you’re making classic errors, or it is just bad timing.

Here is a checklist of errors which are easy to make.

You’re not Re-evaluating

With any strategy you have to modify it to get results. If you feel you are not getting anywhere, ask

yourself if you are targeting the wrong people, going for a position you have little experience for, or

are your Inmails offering value? Once you have a revised strategy, try again.

Not Following up

Following up is important and here’s why:

You stay in the minds of the people that matter. Do not be a voice, be a name. Follow up with

recruiters, headhunters, and important connections at least once per month, and keep a record of

who you speak to and when, and what you discussed.

Not Interacting on Social Media

This is a vital piece of the jigsaw, and without it your complete personal brand picture can never be

realised. It may feel unnecessary, and a bit of a chore, but without it you’re dead in the water.

You’re going for Unrealistic Positions

Realism is a strong word in recruitment. The higher up the ladder you aim, the more competitive the

field. If you are aiming too high, the chances are this will always be beyond your reach. In this case, it

is time to re-evaluate your goals, and make adjustments.

You’re not interacting in Groups

Often we see clients update groups with their own updates and nothing more. This will not get

results. Some even go so far as not to post at all in groups. Nobody is going to be able to learn about

what you can do unless you are active in groups. Think of groups as your chance to prove your

worth.

Blogging Infrequently

If you are not putting effort into blogging, your profile on all social media will diminish, greatly

reducing the effectiveness of your personal brand.

Other Social Media Networks As well as LinkedIn you may want join other social networks to cultivate your personal brand. In

many respects they work in the same way as LinkedIn, but unlike LinkedIn they have broader target

markets.




In the same way as you use LinkedIn, follow people and share and like their content to attract

followers. With all your personal brand updates, you should bear in mind your value proposition and

brand values.

Here are three of the most popular:

Twitter Twitter needs no introduction and has millions of users. In our experience people either love or hate

the format, but again it can be used to good effect to bring your personal brand to life.

Notifications Direct messages Suggested Tweets Search Twitter Profile Settings Update

Trends Main Feed Suggested followers

This is the typical home page of a Twitter account. Here is a brief guide as to how to use it and how it

works.

Notification – This is where you are notified about how other Twitter users have interacted with one

of your updates, or have followed you.

Direct Messages – If you follow a user they can send you a direct message. This is a private message

between you and the user. Frustratingly, you cannot send someone a direct message unless they

follow you, even if they have sent you a message.




Suggested Tweets – This is suggested content put together by Twitter based on your interests

Search Twitter – This is a standard search used to find content that you are interested in. For your

personal brand, use search terms connected to your industry. Use it to find updates (tweets) and

people to follow.

Profile Settings – Upload a suitable picture and let the world know who you are and what you do by

updating your Twitter bio. You may want to put in a suitable background photo shot, too.

Trends – This is what is popular on Twitter right now, often referred to as ‘Trending on Twitter’.

Main Feed – This is updates, often referred to as tweets from the people you follow. Here you can

share the tweets to your followers (retweet) like the update (favourite) or reply (comment).

Suggested Followers – These are suggestions for people to follow based on your interests.

Updating Twitter

The easiest way to update your Twitter account is to type your update in the ‘What’s happening?’

box . You can upload a picture by clicking on the camera icon .

Key points of updating Twitter:

You are limited to a 140 characters. So keep your message simple.

You can insert links. It is best to shorten links using a link shortening service such as ow.ly.

(This is built into Hootsuite). Remember shortened links take up around 22 characters.

# Hashtags are tags which make your Tweets searchable. So if you want someone to find

your content on engineering, put in #engineering. They can either form part of the tweet –

“Read my latest #engineering post. Click here” or they can go after the main message. “Read

my post on deep-sea pipeline repair” #engineering. The trick is to keep your Tweets

readable.

As with LinkedIn, share your own and others content to network effectively

Facebook To promote your personal brand on Facebook, it is a good idea to devote a page to it. You can create

a page quite easily:

http://ow.ly/url/shorten-url




Once you have chosen your page it is best to select Company, Organisation, or Institution, and then

type in your name.

Page Messages Notifications Insights Post Statistics

Likes Status Update Window Picture Location Mood Video




Page – This is the page for your personal brand. Although we have our own company page here,

your page will be similar in functionality. Ensure you complete the About page to give people an idea

of who you are, and put in background and profile shots.

Message – Where you receive messages from other Facebook users.

Notifications – Like other sites this is where you will be notified of an interaction with your page.

Insights – This gives useful information about interactions with your page.

Posts – Allows you to schedule posts to go out at certain times.

Statistics – Gives you a snap shot of your page visitors and reach.

Likes – How many people have liked your page. On Facebook, this is the number of people who will

receive an update from your page when you update it.

Status Update Window – Here is where you post updates. You can include pictures, videos, and

links.

Picture – Post a picture to your page.

Location – Here you can use the location button on an update. Facebook will work out where you

are in the world and you can update your post to show your followers this. This is useful if you are

attending a conference or trade show.

Mood – Happy, sad, etc. you might find a use for it.

Video – Post a video to your page. Your thoughts on the tradeshow or conference possibly?

Facebook also has a good array of groups to join. Again, ensure a group is active before joining.

Key points of updating Facebook

You have 2000 characters to play with on a Facebook page update so go wild

The audience is broader than on LinkedIn so share more variety of updates

Ensure your Facebook posts about your personal branding blogs have a link taking the

reader to your blog




Google Plus As with Facebook you should create a Google plus page for your personal brand. From your profile

page click profile and then pages:

Then select Get Pages and then brand.




About Pictures Photos Videos Reviews

Status update Picture Link Video Event Poll

After completing your About page including your background and profile picture, it is time to start

utilising your page. Here are brief descriptions of the function of each section:

Photos – Any relevant photos should go here. Think about good infographics you might have seen,

as well as pictures you have taken yourself. You can also put pictures into status updates.

Videos – Exactly the same as photos, put them here. You can also put videos into status updates.

Reviews – If people want to give you a good review let them do so, though LinkedIn will probably be

more beneficial.

Status Update – Like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. this is where you put your words of wisdom. Google

Plus let’s you put in events and polls as well. Polls have a simple yes or no answer to a question.

“Would a personal branding guide be useful?” Yes or No.

Links – As with the other social networks links can be inserted as well.




One of the strengths of Google Plus is its targeting capabilities. After you have written your update,

you then have options as to who can and should see it.

As you can see, you can target Extended Circles. This is highly beneficial and here’s why:

Google Plus uses circles. Circles are followers, and when you add someone as a follower you put

them into a desired circle.




When you come to post, extended circle is all the followers of the people in your circles.

Subsequently, the reach is potentially quite huge. It is the equivalent of automatically Tweeting to all

of the followers of your followers on Twitter.

As well as sharing updates of your own and others, Google Plus also has an array of useful groups to

join. Again ensure they are active.

Key points of updating Google Plus

Ensure you share content from others as well as your own

Ensure you link back to your site

Ensure you join relevant groups and be active in them

Make sure you follow your own page with your personal account and vice versa. You can

then share your page content with your followers on your personal account which is good

practice on Google Plus. Don’t forget to select extended circles.




Hootsuite Hootsuite is not a social media network in itself but is a social media management app. It has a range

of features which will help you manage your social networks. Although the user interface is not the

best, given that you are a busy executive, Hootsuite will make life a lot easier.

Hootsuite has a range of features. In this guide we touch on the most useful ones.

Account to update Posts scheduled Social Networks Update box

Once you have created an account and added in your social networks you should be able to select

which account you want to update.

Adding a Social Network to Hootsuite To add a social network, it is a good idea to log into the network initially in one web browser tab,

and log into Hootsuite in another. In the example below we have logged into both Twitter and

Hootsuite.




To add a social network to Hootsuite follow these steps:

Click add social network

Select the social network you want to add on the left. In this case we’re going to add Twitter




After clicking Connect with Twitter you may be asked to login again to Twitter and authorise the app.

Click Authorise App.

You will see the word ‘Success’ in green. You can then add the stream of Twitter into your Hootsuite

Dashboard. Click Add Stream




We want to see Tweets from our followers so we can share and comment on them from the

dashboard, we want to see our Tweets, so we’re going to add this simply by selecting which social

network we want to use, and then clicking the relevant icon.




Once this is done, the dashboard looks like this:

We added in new followers as we want to see the updates of new connections too.

Once you have tailored your dashboard, you can now interact with your followers. Doing this from

Hootsuite saves time and makes social media networking manageable.

Engagement

To interact with your followers’ updates, simply hover the mouse over the update and a range of

options becomes available.

This includes comments, likes, and shares. You can also keep track of messages, and followers you

have acquired.




Updating Social Networks via Hootsuite Once you have selected the account you simply type out the message in the update box. To shorten

the link, paste the link into this box, and click the shrink button. Then click ‘send now’ and Hootsuite

will update the social media account you selected.

Scheduling

As well as being able to update your accounts from one spot, you can also schedule your accounts.

You can either do this in bulk, or you can do it using the AutoSchedule feature.

AutoScheduling

To use the auto schedule feature you select Autoschedule from the settings menu




You will then be presented with this screen:

From here you can select what days you want to publish updates, how many messages per day and

what time over a twelve hour period.

Once this is selected, simply hit the calendar icon and turn on auto schedule from the update box.

Then after typing out your update, click AutoSchedule.

Calendar AutoSchedule on switch




Hootsuite will then select the best time to publish your updates based on when your followers are

online.

Bulk uploading

To start bulk uploading, you need to open a spreadsheet. Column A features date and time, the next

column will be your update, and column C will be the URL of where you want the update to link to.

It should look something like this:

Note there are no headings. The date has to be in either one of the following formats.

mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm or dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm

The minutes must end with a 5 or a 0. Neither time nor the message can be identical. Once you have

your spreadsheet completed save it as a CSV file.




CSV spreadsheet selection Date/time format Social media account updater

If you switch off auto schedule you will have an option to access the bulk uploader. On clicking

through you will be presented with this screen. After selecting the date and time format that

corresponds to your spreadsheet, hit submit.

Providing there are no clashes, the spreadsheet will upload and your updates will be scheduled. You

can schedule several networks at once, providing the character limit is not exceeded for the

network.

The advantage of both this and the AutoScheduling is that it lets you target an audience while you’re

asleep, and indeed while you are working.

The last word on Social Media

To make the most of social media effectively, you have to stick at it and take the time to share

content. It normally works on a something for something basis. So perseverance is key.




How Strong is your Personal Brand?

Do I need a Personal Brand?

Take our test and determine how strong your personal brand has become:

1. How often do you blog about your accomplishments, your industry, and provide

useful tips for others in your field?

A Once per week or more

B Once per month

C Once per six months

D Have never blogged

2. How well do you understand your value proposition?

A I completely understand it and how my skills and experience fulfil gaps in the job market

B I understand it but do not have a positioning statement

C I understand it a little but have nothing down on paper

D Value proposition?

3. Do you have a set of brand values which you adhere to rigidly?

A Yes and I adhere to them every day

B Yes I have some written down but it is hit and miss as to how strictly I follow them

C I have some in my head, but have not written anything down

D No

4. How many LinkedIn Contacts have you made?

A 500+

B Between 151-499

C Fewer than 150

D Fewer than 10

5. Who wrote your CV and LinkedIn profile?

A professional career coach or CV writer

B I did

C A friend

D I have a CV but I do not have a LinkedIn profile

6. How often do you update your LinkedIn Status

A Over three times per day

B Three times per week

C Once per month

D Never

7. How often do you Update Facebook, Google + or Twitter in relation t your career

A Over three times per day




B Three times per week

C Once per month

D Never

Scoring: For every A give yourself 10 points

For every B give yourself 5 points

For every C give yourself 2 points

For every D give yourself 1 point

50+ Your personal brand is well under way and you are engaging your audience and building a

network of contacts. Your social networking is excellent, and no doubt your blogs are being read

avidly. Your value proposition is clearly well defined and you have a set of brand values you are

adhering to. The chances are that you are catching the eye of the people that matter and no doubt

you have been approached by headhunters and or recruiters within the last year.

30-50 You’re getting there with your personal brand, but you need to step it up a bit if you want to

become influential like the executives that are scoring 50+. No doubt you are doing some things

extremely well and others not so well. Possibly you are a little hazy on your value proposition and

your positional statement may need work.

20-30 It is difficult to find the time to attend to your personal brand and this is evident from your

scores. The personal brand is a must have in today’s C-level world, and unless you can somehow

find a few hours a week to devote to getting your name out there, you will struggle in the job market

and professionally.

Under 20 Clearly your personal brand has yet to begin. Your chances of being found via headhunters

and recruiters are almost non- existent. You probably have few LinkedIn contacts and ones you do

have are fairly obscure. You’re not influencing anyone unless they know you personally, and the fact

that you probably have the knowledge to make a name for yourself in the outside world but not

showcasing it, is a real waste of potential.

Your lack of personal branding is seriously damaging you professionally.

Mentor EU Personal Branding Service Our three month Personal Branding service has been designed to take some of the work off your

shoulders, and help shape and guide your brand into a fine tuned, and professional marketing

instrument of your skills, experience and capabilities. Executives who have a fully developed

personal brand tend to:

Receive better job opportunities




Receive better media opportunities such as TV appearances, public speaking opportunities

etc

Are thought of as a leader and are more successful professionally

Have access to the hidden job market

Are considered influential and knowledgeable in their field

Have a better and more useful network of contacts

As part of the service you will receive:

Clear guidance to make your personal brand professional – we help you define your value

proposition, positional statement, and brand values

12 professionally written blogs based on your industry. Featuring your opinions, your

projects, industry tips - Your blogs will showcase you as an authority in your field and

showcase your knowledge to a wide audience. This keeps you in the minds of the people

that can make a positive impact on your career

Increase the value of your reputation on social media channels though providing social

media updates based on your blog post. We also provide general social media updates

based on industry thinking. Build your reputation through providing insights to your

connections

Two hours of social media training - Become professional and enhance your reputation

through better social media use

LinkedIn Training – Learn how to target the right contacts and groups to enhance your

career. You will enhance your professional brand, increasing the chances of landing the jobs

you want, being found by headhunters and recruiters and in turn accessing to the hidden job

market, and being thought of as an authority in your field increasing your reputation as a

thinker

Your personal brand importance cannot be overstated. If you do not have a personal brand, the

chances are your competitors do. This will result in your career stagnating and great opportunities

will pass you by.

Visit Mentor EU and schedule your free consultation. It is time build your reputation as a leader, a

thinker, and an influencer of your peers. Success awaits.

http://www.mentoreu.com/




Meet the Team

Beata Staszkow - Managing Director and founder of Mentor EU

Beata Staszkow is an accomplished MBA-calibre Global Careers

Management Consultant and Executive Manager, with international and

UK experience in managing professional services, higher education and

membership organisations. The Founder and General Manager of

Mentor EU she has been working on multiple career transition and

outplacement projects with Workstream Consulting, KGHM Ecoren or

Career Intelligence. With 20 years of a fulfilling management and

consulting career in Europe and profound expertise in the global market

place, she has been successfully helping senior executive clients across the globe, looking for more

rewarding careers.

Profound multi-industry expertise and experience of working with executive clients combined with

learning and development background allow Beata to empower her clients to take necessary actions

to achieve their careers goals quickly and efficiently.

Prior to her move into careers management consulting, Beata joined KGHM Polska Miedz - Polish

Copper, a blue chip company, a top producer of copper, silver and rhenium with 30,000 employees.

Promoted to Deputy Director of Employers' Organisation of Polska Miedz, Beata successfully

represented extractive and metal industry in Poland and Europe.

From September 2001 until March 2006, she successfully managed The Institute of Personnel and

Development - a start-up consultancy which successfully delivered training and consulting services

to blue-chip and medium sized companies across industry sectors. They successfully assisted

corporate clients going through most dramatic business transitions including privatisations, mergers

and acquisitions as we as redundancies. Beata has expertise in managing successful turnarounds and

managing private higher education institutions. Apart from academic lecturing and managing the

English Department of the Polish Open University, in 1995 she took over an ailing campus of the POU

and transformed it into a leading business school in Poland.

Outside her professional interests, Beata is a voracious reader and a classical music fan.




What our Clients Say

Dilip Savaikar Vice President ( Operations ) at Ansell Beata is a highly respected coach and career consultant with a strong reputation for achieving excellent results for her clients. Her deep insights about the market and what exactly are corporates are looking for is absolutely spot on. Interacting with Beata has helped me focus more on my strengths and he helped me to work on some of my weak spots. She is professional, diligent, positive, well qualified and offers extensive experience combined with first-class communication and interpersonal skills. September 8, 2013, Dilip was Beata Staszkow, MBA's client

Jaroslaw Szalinski CEO at Orlen KolTrans I have worked with Beata on several occasions. The service provided by her is on the highest level. It's clear that the process of the job search has changed dramatically in the last few years. Beata provides the full service related with that process. It is highly efficient and effective. She is very creative, enthusiastic and she loves her job. Beata worked in executive roles herself before becoming a coach, so she has a great understanding of how corporate world works. It is my pleasure to recommend Beata.

Ramzy Maalouf Director of Sales at DAMAC Properties I had been in my job for a couple of years and I felt that it was high time to make a move. I had no experience of looking for a job since I had been always headhunted for my previous positions and I was worried that I would waste a lot of time before I start getting interviews. I did some research and I thought that I need to find an experienced careers management consultant to accelerate my career transition. I started working with Beata and she made it clear that a career transition at a senior executive level is a complex project and we need to combine her expertise and my hard work and commitment in order to succeed. We started from reformatting my CV, learning how to apply

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for jobs efficiently and ensure that my CV is actually noticed and read. We looked at all aspects of career transition including building relationships with recruiters and executive search consultants, networking and direct approaches. Beata helped me to improve my LinkedIn profile and build my personal brand through social media. The honest and sincere feedback that Beata provided, helped me achieve a position with the one of the most recognizable corporation in my line of work. Within three months of working with Beata, I achieved my goal; however, her helpfulness and feedback with my professional career didn’t end. January 25, 2014, Ramzy was Beata Staszkow, MBA's client

Emad Kabeer (MBA,CISCP,CISCM,PMP,SIX SIGMA) Country Manager - Kanoo Logistics - UAE & Oman “Beata has the remarkable ability to take all of your skill sets and position them on your CV in a powerful way. After working with Beata your prospective employer will see your strengths jump right off your CV and set you apart from the crowd. Interview calls increased immediately after I had changed my CV and Beata guided me how to tailor to particular positions. Beata can help you get the promotion or new opportunity that you’ve been waiting for. Emad (Alauddin) Kabeer (MBA, CISCP, PMP, TROT) January 15, 2014, Emad was Beata Staszkow, MBA's client

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Contact Mentor EU Phone: +44 77 3858 5207

Email: [email protected]

Skype: Beatastaszkow25

Site: www.mentoreu.com

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Mentor EU Personal Branding for C level Executives

Career

Transcript of Mentor EU Personal Branding for C level Executives