Need Personal Brand Management Tips? DON’T Learn From Sarah Palin

Article provided by Brand-Yourself.com
Personal Brand Management Mishap: Sara Palin failed to look ahead
Sarah Palin’s personal brand is in trouble. Sure everyone knows who she is, but she exhibits poor judgment when it comes to personal brand management. In fact, the Examiner posted an article this week using Palin as an example warning politicians to pay closer attention to their own personal brand management efforts. Most notably, the author knocks Palin for keeping her twitter handle (@AKGovSaraPalin) despite resigning from office last week. He also points out she will have trouble reaching her fans and supporters under a new name, because most variations of her name have been taken. While this is a shame given she has such a strong following, at least we can identify and learn from her mistakes.

Sarah Palin’s Biggest Personal Brand Management Mistakes

• Building a personal brand around a single job title. By this time, Palin must have realized her mistake. Although we all know Sarah Palin as the sassy Governor from Alaska who ran beside John Mccain in 2008, she should have anticipated that eventually her job titles would change. Even though they played major roles in her rise to fame, her twitter handle (@akgovsarapalin) now proves short-sighted. She would have been better off emphasizing a trait or qualification that applies exclusively to her.
• Failing to claim her own name on social networks. Even if Palin wanted to create a new user name, what would she use? @SarahPalin, @RealSarahPalin and @TheRealPalin are all taken by squatters. She’ll either have to buy those names or worse, choose a more complicated one. If she chooses the latter, casual web-surfers will have difficulty finding and connecting with her.

What Everyone Can Learn From These Mistakes
You don’t need to be a famous politician or big-time celebrity to learn from Palin’s mishaps. The messages are clear and universal.

• Concentrate on personal qualities and skills when building your personal brand. Yes your work experience is an important part of who you are, but don’t limit your brand to a single title. Instead, determine the most valuable skills you’ve learned from each and emphasize those. Use specific positions only as references and reinforcement. For example, you aren’t just a sales rep, you’re someone who is great with people with excellent communication skills.
• Make sure you claim your name on all social networks. Even if you don’t plan on using them. You probably aren’t famous enough to have people squatting your name, but if you have a common name, you still want to protect it. You work hard to build your personal brand so when people Google you, they will see all your impressive efforts. The last thing you want is someone with the same name popping up before you with embarrassing content or content entirely different than yours. If you haven’t done it already, claim your name on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube and any social network you can think of.

Sarah Palin is victim of a classic personal brand management mistake: She failed to look ahead. Personal branding requires you to evaluate your key strengths and weaknesses, and apply them to long term goals. There is no need to make the same mistake she did.
Article by, Patrick Ambron and courtesy of Brand-Yourself.com for actionable tips to put you in a position of power in the job market

Originally posted by Candice A