Building Your Personal/Professional Brand Through Social Media

We all understand that building your practice brand is important, but have you considered that building your personal brand may be valuable as well? And have you considered that you should

begin building your personal brand now? Your personal brand is what people (specifically your target employers, colleagues, business partners, community leaders, and future patients) will learn about you when they search for your name online.

Now more than ever, personal branding is important to most dental/medical and nonmedical professionals. Perhaps you will be considering an associate position in a private practice or even partnering with a colleague to purchase a practice. Aside from traditional protocol, including verifying credentials and letters of recommendation, you can be certain that your future employer, bank loan officer, partners, and patients are going to Google you! So be proactive now to shape perception by building your personal brand.

What is a brand? Your brand is simply what people (most importantly your target) know about you. Here are 3 brand building questions: What does your target know about you? What is your personal brand “equity” (value)? Is your brand identity a proper reflection of what you want to represent? What will show up if someone searches for you? Your value in Google search engines is referred to as your “Google quotient”. A good way to check your quotient is to refresh your browser and then type your name in quotes into Google. Can you find you? If

Start Building Your Own Brand Now that Will Benefit Your Dental Practice Later

not, I recommend that you begin building your brand intentionally.

increase networking and communication.

Here are some ways to start building your brand with social media:

If your name does appear, take a good look at what comes up and ask yourself – Is your brand identity a proper reflection of what you want to present about yourself? You don’t want inappropriate pictures on social media or any kind of negative content associated with your name. I highly recommend that dental students begin their own brand building with social media immediately. The goal of brand building in social media is to be recognized, to shape perception, and to

Create a personal website or blog. One of the best tools you can utilize is a blog – so start blogging. Blog about what’s happening in your community, any special awards you have received, success stories, and new innovations in the field you are pursuing – basically anything that helps build your personal brand. • Utilize video and image sites to post

online presentations and videos – Slideshare, Scribd, YouTube, Vimeo, etc. • Utilize multiple social media networking: Join Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google +. • Purchase a few domain names associated with your name. I recently heard a story during a new dentist committee workshop where a fellow student had purchased the domain names of all his fellow students without their permission. You should reserve your name if possible (myname.com, myname.net, other) and a practice name that reflects your own name and specialty (mylastnamefamilydentistry.com). Consider the following to help shape your personal brand:

First of all, be intentional. You should have a goal in mind and know where you are going. Each action you take should be intentional. Focus on your personal vision and present yourself towards that direction.

Social media sites are a great place to network, join dental networks, and share achievements. Some examples of what to share with your brand on social media are your involvement in community service, mission trips, and other fun and interesting things about yourself. Don’t share overly personal information, but be personable.

Next, make sure you stand out. You want your social media circle to read and respond positively to your activity. In order to successfully do this, your following must perceive your personal brand in a distinct way. One way your brand will stand out from the competition is by your unique messaging strategy. All of your personal communication efforts should be aligned with your brand and your specific goals. When crafting your personal message strategy, present yourself clearly and dynamically, and in an honest way.

Finally, social media is ever changing as new technologies and platforms continue to emerge. Keep yourself informed on how to stay relevant. Be aware of new social media networking sites, apps, and tools that are relevant to your industry niche (i.e. Pinterest, Path, etc.). Staying up-to-date on the latest innovations on the web and implementing a strong message strategy can help maximize your online presence.

Facebook is certainly the most utilized

social media site. Your presence on Facebook can be key ininteracting with future employers and patients. Take care in how you present yourself on Facebook. First of all, start a professional page or group. Create a vanity URL with your unique name. Post on your page regularly with interesting content, images, videos, and links that encourage interaction from your Facebook following. Utilize feeds to populate content. Consider promoting your professional page to reach more of your friend base. Overall, make sure you are participating in your niche community – both on and offline.

tain some level of personal privacy and be careful not to blur the line between contacts and friends. Control the content that appears on your social media pages – un-tag or remove material that does not reflect the image you want to portray professionally.

Always think before you post, anytime, anywhere. Be proactive in managing your own reputation before something negative occurs. Delete the negatives if possible. If you are not able to delete, address the negatives: acknowledge what has been said, restate your personal brand values, and have a friend or colleague restate positives about you. Monitor your reputation regularly. Check out Google’s “Me on the Web” or Google Alerts to be notified when your personal data appears on the web and take action to remove unwanted content.

Twitter is another valuable tool for brand building through social media. In order to use this tool effectively, you should under-

Now that you have created social media

Here are some tips on how to maximize your presence online:

Keep your profiles consistent throughout each social media platform: brand messaging, images, etc. A useful website for finding available usernames across all of your social media platforms is www.namechk.com. • Include social media links on your email signatures, printed materials, etc. • Include a QR code on the back of your business card that links to your key social media site. • Utilize management dashboard tools such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to simplify posting to multiple social media accounts at one time. • Remember the major goals in brand building on social media – being recognized, shaping perception about your personal brand, networking, and communicating effectively with your targets. ■

accounts that are

stand how it works and know what you want to do with it. Why are you Tweeting? For social reasons, business reasons – or both? You are limited to 140 characters in a Tweet, so make sure you are sharing the most compelling content. Be genuinely interested in others and ask questions about their hobbies, career, etc. Tweet unusual, groundbreaking information and/or links, videos, and images that stand out from the mundane posts.

Facebook and Twitter are not the only social media sites out there. There are multiple other sites you can use to build your brand. Some of these include: YouTube, LinkedIn, Google +, VisualCV, your personal website and Google profile, and blogs. Actively contribute to social media communities within your industry showing that you are up-to-date with relevant trends and news.

Now that you have created social media accounts that are showcasing your personal brand, it is important to manage your online reputation. You should be careful to main-