In today’s digital economy, if you don’t exist on social media, you don’t exist. Personal brand management is sometimes a tough concept to get your head around. Many of us work for corporations and do not run our own businesses. Personal brand management is a bit like “you, incorporated.” The irony is, most of us hate sales and marketing. That’s why we work in enterprise technology, you know, so we don’t have to do that annoying stuff. But alas, in today’s economy, a little sales and marketing for “you, incorporated” is exactly what we need to do.

Last week, I wrote extensively about all of the compelling reasons why social media is an exciting opportunity for technology leaders. In this article, I will explain how to get the most out of these tools, and will share some tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years. Personal brand management is a broad topic, so I’m going to focus specifically what we can do in the context of social media tools.

LinkedIn

For most technology professionals, LinkedIn isn’t much more than your resume in the sky. That’s not a bad place to start, but don’t stop there. First of all, please make sure your LinkedIn profile is at least as good and current as your resume. Then you can make it better from there.  The majority of active users seem to be sales people looking to make a sale, or recruiters looking for talent. Since my audience is mostly technology professionals that don’t recruit or sell things, that makes us a minority on that network. Sure, we’re there, but just as lurkers. LinkedIn becomes fun and interesting when we use it to share interesting articles and memorable quotes. There are plenty of resources available to help you improve your LinkedIn profile, but what I want you to do is start generating some content and commenting on other people’s content. That’s what makes it valuable. The more you do that, the more you show up on other people’s news feed, which enhances your personal brand. So the next time you read an article and think it’s interesting, go ahead and share it on LinkedIn.

Twitter

Twitter is a hard place to build a personal brand. It seems like you need to be a celebrity for anyone to notice you exist there. There are certainly tips and tricks to get more followers, but I honestly find those methods to be somewhat disingenuous and artificial. Since Twitter stardom is beyond my grasp, I will instead tell you how I use it.

First, I follow interesting personalities and companies to get their updates. Shortly after I started my job at CHS, I passed along a piece of interesting and relevant breaking industry news to one of my tech leads. When he asked where I learned that, I told him Twitter. He was shocked to learn that I used it. Apparently, I broke the stereotype of how technology leaders consume industry news. I’m not the type to sit by my fireplace in my tweed jacket perusing the latest issues of Harvard Business Review and CIO Magazine. Twitter is a great way to stay on-top of what is happening.

I also follow hashtags for conferences and events I attend. This is particularly interesting, as it gives you additional insight on what cool things are going on and what is most impactful. Also, tweets I write during technical conferences using the appropriate hashtag always garner lots of interactions, which is fun. This was the compelling reason why I first created my Twitter account back in 2010. If you are in the mood to make me feel like a Twitter superstar, go ahead and give me a follow here: @mr_zach_hughes

Facebook

I think it is probably a stretch to use Facebook for your professional life, but I think it is important to maintain a Facebook presence that is compatible with your professional life. The lines between personal and professional can blur, so don’t post anything that could potentially embarrass you at work.  I use Facebook heavily to stay connected with family and friends. Some of those family and friends like to read my blog, so I setup a Facebook Page for Zach on Leadership. Check it out if you are so-inclined.

Your Company’s Enterprise Social Media

Chances are good that your company has an Enterprise Social Media platform like Jive or Yammer. Chances are also good that it doesn’t get a whole lot of use. Be an Enterprise Social Media champion and drive adoption. It will allow you to collaborate with people outside of your immediate team and geography like nothing else can. It will also elevate your personal brand within your company. Finally, this would be a good place to share and write about issues that are specific to your organization and not appropriate for public social media platforms.

Blog

Why not start a blog like me? I don’t mind the competition. In fact, it feels a little lonely out here. I think it would be very cool if more technology professionals started blogging. I started my blog for a lot of reasons, one of which, was to enhance my personal brand. Write about what you care about and be consistent. I committed to write one article per week for a year. Regardless if anyone reads it, I’m still going to write it and publish it. A few quick how-to steps: I setup zachonleadership.com on Bluehost using WordPress. I had the site up and running in about two hours. Don’t want to spend the time and money on that? There’s even easier solution: LinkedIn Publishing. I opted to do both.

Podcast or Video Blog

I chose to write a blog because that’s easiest for me. Many of you hate to write. Fortunately, there are other options. Podcasting is another great way to reach people, and arguably more trendy than blogging right now. Comfortable in-front of a camera? Start a video blog on YouTube or SnapChat.

To Share or Not to Share

When you work for a company and post on social media or write a blog, you are writing as yourself, not on behalf of your company (unless you work in the PR department). It’s sometimes appropriate to explicitly call out editorial comments as your own and not representing your company. It’s certainly very important to keep all proprietary information within your company. If you are actively developing intellectual property, you can’t write about it. Don’t use this paragraph as a reason not to engage on social media. Instead, find public-appropriate subject matter to discuss.

Those are my how-to tips for today. Follow these and you will stand out among your peers with an a better-managed personal brand. If you need a reminder on why social media is so important in the first place, read this article. If you need to polish your personal brand in the real world instead of the digital world, read here, here, and here. As always, please share this with your colleagues and comment below!