This guest post is by Crissie Fuller of Independent Fashion Bloggers.
Think about your resume. You stress over making it perfect, sweat every little detail—from the wording, to the layout, all the way down to your “Special Skills.” It’s your ticket to your dream job and you know it needs to be good. But hold on! Your resume might not be the be-all-end all of potential employer wooing anymore. We heard it over and over again: The Blog is the New Resume.
It makes sense when you think about it. When you’re applying for a job in the digital world, your new boss is going to want to know what your digital life looks like. How do you stand out from the crowed of others scrambling for an open position?
Brand yourself.
It’s not as scary as it sounds. You don’t need billboards or even crazy design skills! Let’s start small.
- Choose a color scheme you love and few fonts you can’t get enough of, and use them across the board: on your blog posts, your Twitter profile, business cards, letterhead—even your traditional resume (the list goes on and on!). That wasn’t hard, right?
- Streamline your profile pictures. You want your Google + page, Linkedin profile, Twitter profile, and Pinterest account to all have the same image, so that people who don’t really know you still know they are looking at the same person across all digital channels. When your future employer see this, they’ll spot your attention to detail, dedication to your craft, and above all, your understanding of the digital space. It’s a simple technique, and yet very, very effective. For example, when I applied for my current job, I sent in my resume and cover letter, both of which linked to my web page. The font on my web page matches the font on my resume, and I use the same background image across all my spaces (my blog, Tumblr, Twitter, even my Facebook page, which might be a little over the top, I admit…).
- Standardize your user names. This is an area in which I am seriously lacking. In some places I’m Crissie Fuller, in others Fuller.Cris and sometimes just the name of my blog, Chicasaurus-Rex. Ideally you want to use the same name across all platforms, but whether you choose your name or the name of your blog is really up to you. However, Erica Domesek of PS – I Made This suggested using your blog name during IFB’s semi-annual blogging conference (and really, if you want to see great branding, check out her blog, Twitter account, book, etc.!) But whichever you choose, keep it consistent. And don’t forget: you want to have exactly the same handle on Twitter and Instagram (if you can)!
- Besides the look of your brand, you want your voice to be consistent as well. You should always sound like you. It’s fine (good even!) if you are slightly more formal on LinkedIn and in cover letters, but you should never use big words and fancy phrases just to sound smart; your employer (and especially one hiring in the digital space) wants to hear your voice, not some regurgitated version of “the ideal cover letter” you found on Google.
To summarize, there are four easy steps to creating your personal brand:
- Use uniform fonts and colors for all your online and offline collateral (blog, Twitter, business cards, etc.)
- Streamline your profile pictures. Use the same one for all your online accounts.
- Make sure your user names all match!
- Find your voice and always write in it. Alter the tone to fit the audience that you are speaking to, but be sure you always sound like you!
What other tips can you add?
A University of California Santa Cruz and Fashion Institute of Technology graduate, Crissie Fuller is the Digital Strategist at Independent Fashion Blogger (IFB), a collective mentorship dedicated to enabling bloggers reach their social media goals. When she isn’t busy writing and developing digital content for IFB, Crissie spends her time exploring New York and documenting her personal style adventures on her blog, Chicasaurus-Rex.
