14 tips for building an online personal brand for growing your career

Building an online personal brand for yourself is an important part of moving your career forward. When you hear the word “branding,” you may think about it only in terms of a business and not as something you need personally. However, establishing a personal brand can help define your professional path. 

For many people, personal branding is an exercise in managing an online reputation. That could include building a portfolio website of your work, refining your LinkedIn profile, or developing your public-facing social media accounts. To help you get started in building your personal brand, let’s discuss why personal branding is important, along with tips to help you craft distinctive individual branding.

What is a personal brand?

Personal branding is all about creating a reputation — aka, a brand — that represents the sum of your career and professional persona. It’s about who you are, what you do, how you work, how people see you, and where you are headed.

Like a consumer brand, a personal brand not only tells your story, it sets the stage for growth. A personal brand goes beyond the basic resume to deliver a more complete picture of who you are professionally.

Why do you really need a personal brand?

A personal brand is more imperative than you may realize. Here are just a few reasons why you need to develop your personal brand.

Employers search online to research candidates

There are scads of examples of qualified candidates applying for jobs and getting turned down simply because they ignored their online image. More than 60% of employers research job seekers online during the hiring process. This is the biggest reason why a personal brand is so important. Employers do, and will, search for you online.

How social media can affect job opportunities

Regardless of whether you include public-facing social media handles on your resume, prospective employers are likely to look for them. A survey of more than 500 full-time employers found that 90% said social media is important when evaluating an applicant, and 79% of HR professionals have rejected a candidate based on inappropriate social media content. Be mindful of what you post, because old social media comments can come back to haunt you.

Take charge of your message

When potential employers are considering you for a role, having a strong personal brand can ensure that what they find is what you want them to find. You can take charge of the way they perceive you. Employers can learn about your passions, see what excites you, and understand where you would like to be in the future.

Boost your expertise & authority

Building your personal brand will not only show you in a more professional light but also tell your potential employer what you’re about and what you’re an expert in. Once you have developed a clear vision for your brand, the expectation of your expertise and authority in your field will gain momentum.

Taking control of your personal brand is one of the most important things you can do for your online reputation. It may take a lot of thought and more than a little effort, but in the end, you and your career will be stronger for it.

Top tips for creating a personal online brand

Now that you know why a personal brand is important, here are some tips on how you can start developing it:

1. Create your brand

The first step is to determine how you will brand yourself. How do you want your company to be thought of when you come to mind? Are you an expert in your field? Are you one of the best at what you do? Or is it more about the experience of working with you that should stand out? Define these aspects as clearly and concisely as you can. If you need help, ask friends or trusted colleagues how they would describe you.

2. Define your audience

Do you know who you are selling to? Do you know how old they are, what they do in their spare time, what they value most? Having a clearly defined audience ensures that your marketing efforts will be directed appropriately. It will hone your efforts and make them count, both from a time-spent standpoint and from a financial one.

3. Develop your story

A strong personal brand is almost always supported by a compelling story. What drew you to your field? What motivates you to give your best every day? How have you grown in your career? Where do you see yourself going? Imagine that your professional persona is a character in a movie: How would you share that story?

4. Establish a strong, professional social media presence

Choose platforms that are appropriate to your line of business. LinkedIn and X, (formerly known as Twitter), are the best ones to get started with, but newer additions like Threads and TikTok can also be useful. If you work in a visual medium, Instagram is a great platform for sharing your work. 

Keep your content appropriate for the type of platform. For example, you wouldn’t share your vacation photos on LinkedIn, and you probably wouldn’t share an article you wrote about your profession on TikTok.

5. Curate content to share across various platforms

Content curation is a way to encourage interest in your brand on social media. Choose a few influential and/or entertaining sites that you like—hopefully related to your niche—and rebroadcast some of their posts to your audience. Mention influencers in your posts and reach out to them for link-backs and cross-posts. Connect with your audience, and they will keep coming back for more.

6. Register a domain name and get a professional email address

Get a professional domain name and create an email account for yourself. For example, get a professional domain name and create an email account for yourself. (For example, JohnSmith.com.) If the .com version is taken, register the .me version. Create a professional email with your new domain name like john@johnsmith.com so you won’t be tied down to your ISP or a free email service like Yahoo or Gmail. Using a domain name email gives you a more professional image right off the bat.

7. Build a website

Having your own personal website is a great way to develop your personal brand and make you more searchable to employers: 80% of businesses say a personal website is important when evaluating candidates.  A website gives you a launching pad where people can go to learn all about your work. Include your website address — or a QR code linking to it — on your business cards, and don’t forget to connect your public social accounts.

8. Come up with a memorable tagline

A tagline or personal slogan should be short and to the point. You should be able to tell the world exactly who you are in six words or less. Erika Kullberg, best known for her “I read the fine print” tips on TikTok, is a master of personal branding taglines. On her website, podcast, and YouTube channel, she describes herself in five words: “Attorney & Personal Finance Expert.” In her social media videos, she includes the tagline, “Erika taught me! She’s a lawyer and she read the fine print.”

9. Invest in a cool logo

Get a unique logo that you can use on your website, printed materials, social accounts, and email signatures. You can use a platform like Canva to create a logo, even if you aren’t familiar with design software, or you can hire a graphic designer from a freelance site such as Fiverr, Freelancer, or Upwork. 

10. Write your bio and upload your headshot

If you haven’t got one already, write a bio and take a professional headshot for yourself. If this is not your forte, find a bio writer on one of the freelance sites mentioned above. For your headshot, make sure it represents the image you are trying to convey. Your bio and headshot will come in handy not only in the job-seeking phase but for speaking opportunities and networking, as well; these are standard items that organizers request from speakers and presenters at conferences and meetings.

11. Find outlets for showcasing your expertise

Blogging is no longer the sole outlet for creating shareable, professional thought pieces.  Writing an article on LinkedIn, for example, may be a smarter choice if you don’t want to maintain a regular publishing cadence. You could also consider creating a weekly or monthly newsletter or blog using a platform like Medium or Substack.  However, you decide to publish, focus on highlighting your credibility and subject matter expertise.

12. Make sure your information is up-to-date

Make sure everything you have posted online — e.g., listings, reviews, articles, guest posts, resumes, CVs — has the appropriate links back to your home website and/or social accounts. Remember: When you publish an article as a guest with another website or organization, you may not be able to update your biographical information or website in the future. (This is another reason why it’s important to establish and maintain your own professional website.)

13. Actively listen to news in your industry

Find out what the competition is doing and keep up with your peers. Follow thought leaders in your niche and connect with others who are doing similar things, even if they are in other cities or states. You’re not required to share a hot take on every new development in your field; simply reposting stories about recent developments can demonstrate industry knowledge.

14. Join groups and volunteer to help others

Share your advice, comment on posts that you find a personal connection to and find ways of helping others in your field. Ask and answer questions and encourage your audience to reach out whenever you can. The more active you are, the more relevant you become to your peers.

Developing a strong personal brand is important for most careers. Potential employers will search for you online, and when they do, you need to be able to control what they are able to find. Whether it’s through a personal website, blog, or social media, make sure that your message always comes across loud and clear.