Personal Brand Audit-The 7 Elements that Need Closer Examination

“We are too close to our own story to see it objectively”-

Michael Margolis, Get Storied

Personal Brand Audit is a systematic examination of perceptions, feedback, and communications (both online and offline) to analyse the overall perception of "Brand You".

The Why

Your personal brand (or your reputation) is one of your most critical professional assets and can turn into a liability if not managed well. Therefore whether you are a professional or an entrepreneur or a celebrity, conducting a regular personal brand audit is a must to safeguard your brand. The main objective is to analyse how you are being perceived by your colleagues (as an employee) or by your stakeholders (as an entrepreneur).

Personal brand audit is a test to answer the following questions;

-       Do you have brand clarity?

-       Are you conveying your brand values appropriately?

-       Are you positioning your brand aptly?

-       Are all your channels communicating same message?

Your audit is likely to result in either of the two conclusions:-

a)     Your brand communication is effective and no major actions are required (except minor tweaks).

b)     You need to take actions to convey a more integrated and consistent message about your brand (or you need to change the tone of your communication to convey your personal style more effectively).

The How

In this article we will focus on the audit of your digital brand (online presence and communications). Let us look at the major elements of a PB audit or how an audit evaluates your brand and online presence:-

Element 1 - The Feedback

According to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, “your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room”. To analyse your feedback a qualitative analysis of the following can be done:-

i)                LinkedIn recommendations

ii)               Comments on your social media posts

iii)              Top 3 skills you are endorsed for on LinkedIn

iv)              Facebook page reviews

v)               What kind of lists you have been added to on Twitter and who has added you to those lists?

vi)              If the content created by you is shared by others with comments (if yes what are those comments) ?

vii)            Is your content linked to by popular bloggers / credible sites?

Element 2 - The Consistency (of your brand positioning and values)

The auditor needs to check whether the brand positioning (and values you have chosen for yourself) is matching the brand positioning (and values highlighted in your content). For example

i)                Are you using some hashtags more regularly?

ii)               The broad themes under which your content can be categorized

iii)              The credibility and expertise of people who are regularly sharing your content (your community)

Element 3- The Criticism

You can ask your social network for honest feedback and constructive criticism. You can do it in a more subtle way by asking such questions as what three words describe you the best, what comes to their mind when they think of you etc. (you can do this exercise on Facebook or WhatsApp)

Examine the feedback carefully and look for terms which are unexpected. Reflect if a corrective action is required. A colleague of mine was told that he is over-confident and when he inquired further he was told that he smiles too often and that was generating the wrong perception.

Element 4- The Social Network

Is your social network the right fit for you? Some key areas which need to be examined in your social network are:-

i)                Are you engaging with your audience or doing only one way communication? Are you taking steps to increase engagement?

ii)               Are you connecting with the relevant people?

iii)              Are you utilizing the mentoring process effectively (mentoring others and getting mentored)?

Element 5- The Engagement (Metrics)

i)                Average likes, comments and shares on your posts

ii)               Online Influence Scores from sites like Klear, Kred etc

iii)              Understanding your audience (age, topics of interest, city, country etc) to serve them better content

iv)              Content analysis- for e.g. what percentage is your own content vs content of others. For an employees a good ratio can be 50 % of your company, 25 % about your industry and rest 25 % good content from your peers / community

Element 6- The Memorability (of your Brand)

Is your brand memorable? Some of the elements which need to be looked at include:-

i)                Are you presenting your content as an essay or as a story?

ii)               Is your story memorable?

iii)              Is there something about your interests, your LinkedIn summary, your social media profiles which resonates with your audience and becomes memorable?

iv)              What are the most memorable parts of your story? Are they being highlighted in the right way in your profiles / content?

v)               Are you good at the use of catchy words and phrases?

Element 7- The Target Audience

Is your content targeting the ideal as well as other prospective clients? The major elements which need to be looked at include:-

i)                Is your content targeting the right target audience and your ideal client in the right ratio?

ii)               Do your profiles and content include effective CTA /Call to Action ?

iii)              Are you easily accessible by a potential customer? For e.g. can your prospective customer reach you easily through email, mobile, WhatsApp etc?

iv)              Other Critical parameters include are you being found for right keywords by the right people, does your name feature for the right keywords on Google etc.

A good coach or consultant asks powerful questions which push the client to introspect and reflect. In fact they say, “A good coach asks the right questions in the right way”.

Are you ready for a cocktail of some powerful suggestions and powerful questions?

No matter how good intentions you may have, people focus on your presentations.

No matter how good presentations you may have, God focuses on your intentions.

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To know more about our Personal Brand Audit services:-

Email- amit@dramitnagpal.com

WhatsApp – 95825 60804