Doug Haddix, Assistant vice president, Editorial Communications at The Ohio State University, with 2014 KipCamp Fellows.

“People have an image of you, whether you like it or not, said Robin J. Phillips, digital director at The Reynolds Center for Business Journalism and co-founder of #wjchat, a weekly Twitter-based community of web journalists.

“ (Your brand) is not just about telling people what you’ve done and how great you are. It’s about anticipating what you can do for them and sharing that,” she said.”

It’s also about relationships. Your personal brand has a lot to do with how people feel having a relationship with you.  I was honored to attend the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs again this year.

Personal Branding: Finding Your Social Media Voice | Kiplinger Program

Some of my tips for extending the Fellows’ brands included:

• Secure your own domain name; this makes finding your work much easier. A website for checking available domain names is WHOis.net.
• Google searches for common names can result in many individuals, so determine how to make yours unique. Phillips goes by Robin J. Phillips to differentiate herself.
• Try to maintain just one account for each social media platform: It’s easier for the public to locate a journalist’s work.
• Balance your personal and professional lives, excluding private information. The private can include personal relationships and opinions on almost any matter, which should not be shared because this compromises objectivity.
• Look at other journalists online. Many have already developed their brand. A few that Phillips considers to have a strong presence:
  Twitter: Mark S. Luckie, @marksluckie
  LinkedIn: Yumi Wilson
• Do not rely on links, which are owned by other sites and could disappear. When sharing work online, use PDF files to ensure they are easily accessible.
• Look for individuals who have portfolio websites and model something similar. Portfolio sites allow a journalist to bring together various media outlets into one portfolio.