Two heads are better than one. That was the takeaway for me tonight at Social Media Club Louisville. When SMC Louisville partners with another great organization, like our event tonight with the Young Professional Association of Louisville (YPAL), great things happen. We had just under 90 folks in attendance to talk about personal branding in the social media era. Thanks to all who attended.

The slideshow I presented is below, complete with the additional slide showing my computer wallpaper as the last slide as requested by Teresa Good from Louisville’s Choice Realty. The main takeaways will vary from person to person, but my thoughts on what’s important to remember are below the presentation.

Your Social Media Brand
View more presentations from Jason Falls.

The book and blog I reference in the presentation is that of Dan Schawbel. His blog is The Personal Branding Blog. The book can be found at Amazon (disclosure: my affiliate link) and is called Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success.

My thoughts on what you should remember include:

  • Treat your personal brand/professional path/job search like it’s a product or service and market it as such.
  • The more active you are in social media with blogs, social networking profiles, etc., the more you control search engine results for your name.
  • Clean up your online profiles. Your employers, enrollment officers and potential employers are Googling you. Make sure you like what they’ll find.
  • Be consistent with your name, identity and avatar across social networks. It makes you easier to find.
  • Understand that unless you’re independently wealthy, you need your employer as much if not more than they need you. You work for them. Abide by their rules and work with them to help them understand their benefit in your personal brand.

If you have more to add, please do so in the comments.

Thanks to The Catering Company, Cumberland Brews, Louisville Visual Art Association and YPAL for a great evening.