Online Personal Branding - Report Example

ONLINE PERSONAL BRANDING Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 0 Introduction: 3 2.0 Analysis: 4 2 Search Engine and Social media optimization: 42.2 The importance of search: 5 2.3 Keyword Research: 8 2.4 Personal Brand Online: 14 2.5 Influencers and competitors’ analysis: 16 3.0 Search and social media marketing strategy: 18 3.1 Short term objectives: 19 3.2 Long term objectives: 19 3.3 Monitoring and Measurement: 22 3.4 Legal and ethical implications of being online: 23 3.5 Risk Assessment: 24 4.0 Practical Plan Implementation: 26 5.0 Conclusion and Improvement Actions: 31 References: 32 Appendix: 35 1.0 Introduction: In the words of Schawbel (2010), the existing scenario of the global market makes it difficult to identify the source of change in the marketing process of organizations. This statement has developed a dual point of view considering the influence of external forces such as economy, technology, environment as well as the internal factors such as consumer behaviour, consumer needs and expectations, management process on the marketing process of the firms. With the advent of the 21st century, marketing processes of the business houses has undergone huge changes, first with digital marketing and then social media marketing became an element of the management process of the business houses (Labrecque, Markos and Milne, 2011). As a result of these changes in the marketing activities the process of operations of the business firms also changed. Beginning from monitoring and employee communication to recruitment and selection process, each functional aspect of an organisation is being restructured in accordance with the technological changes in the environment. New concepts and models are being framed in order to align the business objectives. One such concept is that of personal branding that allows an individual, group or an organisation to establish its online profile for reflecting themselves to the target audience in the expected process. Analysing and understanding the variables of personal branding such as social media marketing and search engine optimisation will frame the core of this report. 2.0 Analysis: 2.1 Search Engine and Social media optimization: Search engine optimisation (SEO) is now an inseparable part of the marketing process of the business firms. The growth of consumer interactions in the cyber world has brought the concept of SEO into limelight. The variety in the usage of SEO by sellers and buyers has also increased the variety in the definition of the concept. Shepherd’s (2005) definition of SEO focuses on its ultimate aim i.e. ensuring high traffic in the desired web page which is known as search engine optimisation whereas Kadushin (2012) reflected the process of SEO by stating that being in the top results of a SEO increases the visibility of the website to its target customers. From both these definition the aim and characteristics of SEO can be gathered. However, Branthwaite and Patterson (2011) highlighted the negatives and positives of SEO and opined that SEO is a continuous process and its contribution can be measured in long-term perspective but the results are not predictable and the results cannot be controlled by the organisation. After the internet boom of 2000, the usage of internet has multiplied many folds in both corporate and social spheres (Shepherd, 2005). The outcome directed the focus of the business houses towards SEO and gradually the concept became a necessity for online existence. Another 21st century input towards the growth of the cyber world came with the introduction of social media networking. An online platform for enhancing communication among the global societies is how He (2012) defined it. Social media became a long-term phenomenon when Google product Orkut entered the online market and social media optimisation (SMO) started. However, with the entrance of Facebook in the social media industry a new level was set for the existing social media networks. Facebook presented the users an entirely new experience for communicating. According to a report by Mintel, Facebook currently holds 47% of the market share of the social media networking industry (Mintel 2014). Social media started attracting huge volumes of users and this also formed a readymade communication platform for the business houses. He (2012) explained that the acceptance of social media by the global population inclined the corporate sector in promoting their products and services in websites such as Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. As social media profiles were being enlisted in the SEO process, it allowed the searchers to find and analyse profiles of individuals and business houses. And this initiated the connection between SEO and SMO. This relationship will be used in the paper for the personal branding of the researcher. Brodie et al. (2013) empathised with the relationship between SEO and SMO, as SMO has increased the usage and efficacy of SEO while SEO has reflected the importance and demand for SMO to the wider market. However, some researchers such as Back et al. (2010) and Harris and Rae (2011) have also termed the relationship between SEO and SMO as that of competitors. Supporting this, Dutta (2010) predicted that social media will act as the future search engine for the consumers as well as the corporate houses. The growing influence of social media in improving search engine functions and changing business functions can very well shape the future of the upcoming generations. 2.2 The importance of search: The term “Search” in the context of internet usage and online applications portray the requirements of the users (Back et al. 2010). This definition has enormous contribution in shaping the consumer communication and marketing models prevailing in the contemporary scenario of the business world. The ability to identify and connect back to the search source has provided the business houses with a wide market place and innumerable scopes for enhancing consumer relationship. According to Waters and Jamal (2011), SEO has reduced the size of the world and developed a compact place for information sharing and gathering. The largest share holder of Search Engine market, Google Plc also reflects the same sentiments in its mission statement that is to systematize the global information base and made it accessible to the users (Google, 2014). Considering the issue of personal branding, any online search related to career should begin by identifying the necessary elements of the queries. For instance, job specification that explains the available vacancies and eligibility criteria for the concerned job profile that encompasses educational and professional experience. However, pursuing a career as an online content developer for marketing processes of business houses requires not only technical and field knowledge but the knowledge base must be regularly upgraded with the changes in the online marketing process. According to Harris and Rae (2011), online marketing experts should have a clear knowledge and expertise on understanding consumer psyche. Content marketing is one of the most hyped marketing techniques being implemented by corporate sector with the increase in internet usage all over the world. As the demand for attractive and engaging content is gaining, the organisations, technological tools such as Google Adwords, WordStream, etc are being used in order to simplify the work factors of content marketers. This software allows the users to identify the most researched keywords in any particular search engine and reduces the scope of mistakes in the content development process. In short, it can be stated that the primary objective is to bring the relevant results in Search Engine Results Page (SERP) first page. Branthwaite and Patterson (2011) noted that content should not only be familiar but should be engaging so that consumers can be hooked upon by the organisations. Considering the finer details of the selected job profile, some key skills can also be focused on such as the appropriate vocabulary, grammatical expertise, creating easily understandable content, enlightening as well as pleasurable content etc are some of the fundamental obligations. Waters and Jamal (2011) opined that as consumer needs and expectations change rapidly, their search patterns and keywords also correspond to the changes and hence the exploration results also vary accordingly. Thus, an online content writer needs to be updated regarding the consumer activities which can be done with the help of software such as Google Adwords or Google Trends. Figure 1: SEO Content Writer and Social Media Marketing Search Trends (Source: Google Trends, 2014) The above results reflects the search trends for two of the most commonly terms used for searching online consultants or digital marketing experts. The key words used were SEO content writers and social media marketing. It can be observed that although content writers is the most commonly used term for web marketing experts but the results suggests that social media marketing as the more prominently researched term in the past 10 years. 2.3 Keyword Research: Key research here refers to the process of selecting the keywords that should be tagged in the online profile of the researcher. Meta-tagging is an important tool for ensuring the desired response to the webpage (Waters and Jamal, 2011). As there is a limit of 60 characters in the meta-name and 160 characters in the meta-description process of a webpage, the keywords used in the meta tagging process needs to be accurate (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). Thus, in order to develop an online profile, it is necessary to understand and identify the most searched keywords and the process used by the consumers for searching. This helps in designing and developing the online profile in alignment with the market requirements and can boost the online branding process. However, the meta-descriptions can be changed and so the webpage developers need to keep a constant vigil on the search trends and keyword patterns being used by the target audience. From the above given graph (Figure 1) it can be observed that long keywords with relevancy to the queries generate more results. On the other hand, Harris and Rae (2011) explained that short keywords can generate huge number of results but again the validity and reliability of the results are not guaranteed. Figure 2: Keyword Search (Source: Google AdWords, 2014) Keyword Avg. Monthly Searches (exact match only) Competition Competition Status SEO Consultants 140 0.91 High Search Engine Optimization Consultants 10 0.82 High Digital Content Writer 10 0.8 High Digital Content Marketing Consultants __ __ __ The above graph and table has been developed on online software Google AdWords which shows the results for various search terms that are relevant for the profile of online content writers and digital marketing. From the results it can be seen that the terms digital content writer and digital content marketing consultants have lower results in comparison to SEO consultants or Search Engine Optimisation Consultants. The graph shows that on an average the search volume per month in London and Northampton remains quite high, in case of the considered keywords, the search volume reached its peak in the month June 2014. The research patterns of the users change rapidly and thus the keywords should be varied in nature. Apart from this, the keyword variations should also consider word ordering and plurality. However, the bottom line is that the keywords should be relevant to the search field and designated target audience. Figure 3: Keyword Search (Source: Google AdWords, 2014) Keyword Avg. Monthly Searches (exact match only) Competition Competition Status Social media 5400 0.26 Low Online Marketing 720 0.92 High Digital Marketing 2400 0.88 High Content Writers 40 1 High Content Writing Services 40 0.89 High SEO Expert 170 0.93 High Web Content 50 0.67 High Digital Marketing Experts 10 0.82 High Digital Consultants 10 0.6 Medium SEO Agents 10 __ __ Relevance Search Volume Specificity Competition Offsite Optimisation Primary Keyword Pinyapat Kobkhunphaisan Relevant as the primary aim is to establish an online personal brand Most of the searches are related to social profile identification and search volume is very low Extremely Specific Appears on first page of SERP but has limited competition Secondary Keywords SEO Expert SEO being the desired field of work for the researcher is highly relevant. Monthly local searches is high Very broad field of research The competition is high as the field of search is wide scoped Content Writers Directly reflects the designation in the selected career. Search volume is moderate The term is broad but has been narrowed down to the specific work nature of the researcher The competition is high in this field. Content Writing Services The term highlights the selected industry of work of the researcher The search volume is moderate considering the specificity of the keyword. Specific for the desired audience: searching for online marketing experts through content writing High Competition Onsite Optimisation Primary Keywords Digital Marketing Digital Marketing encompasses all the online promotional and marketing processes and hence is highly relevant for the designated target audience The search volume is extremely high as it represents numerous fields. The search term is directly related to the field of interest of the researcher The competition is very high in this field. Online Marketing Online marketing is similar to digital marketing with high relevancy but differs according to the choice of keywords. The search volume is high for this keyword The search term is often used by customers or audience not having technical knowledge about the digital marketing process and is specific. Again there exists very high competition Secondary Keywords Social Media This is an all inclusive keyword and is relevant to the target audience The search volume is extremely high for social media as the SERP provides results of various functions. The keyword mainly relates to the largest user or consumer base for online marketing and hence is specific. The competition is low despite the high number of searches mainly because of high variations in SERP. Web Content Web content is a relatively narrower keyword used for defining the online content writing segment. The average search volume is moderate for this keyword The keyword is specific to the nature of search and the designated career of the researcher. The search competition is high in this keyword. Digital Marketing Experts Digital marketing experts is often used in search for identifying online content marketers The average search volume is pretty low for this keyword The keyword is specific to the job nature of the researcher The competition is pretty high in this keyword but the search volume is low. Digital Consultants The keyword is often used as a synonym for searching content experts and is relevant The average search volume is low for this keyword The keyword highlights the future career choice of the researcher The competition however is high in this keyword SEO Agents This term also is another process for searching online content experts specialised in SEO contents which directly reflects the career industry of the researcher The average results is low The key word is specific to the nature of the job There is no competition in this keyword. 2.4 Personal Brand Online: Personal brand online is one of the most rapidly evolving online concept that is being accepted by the global consumer base. As most of the corporate and social activities are now being conducted on the internet, recruiters from various industries are focusing on developing a target oriented search process for conducting recruitment and selection. Also, increased online activities have created a better scope for professionals by bringing into limelight the freelance segment of workers. Since 2008, a tremendous growth has been observed in the search patterns related to personal branding in UK (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). Branthwaite and Patterson (2011) mentioned that as online activities have increased in the past decade, internet has evolved into a platform for reflecting and promoting the skills of many passionate experts. According to Waters and Jamal (2011), online personal branding is also based on the basic marketing framework of 4Ps where the objective and skills are considered as the product, the target audience and the process of communicating with them refers to promotion, the value to be charged for the skills sets the price for the products and finally the online platforms such as social media networks, blogging sites, etc forms the place of the marketing process. Researchers such as Gehl (2011) and Harris and Rae (2011) have considered social media to be one of the most influencing tools for promoting online personal branding. It can be observed that since the launch of Orkut (Google) and Facebook, social media has transformed into the largest hub for consumer communication and gatherings. Harris and Rae (2011) on the other hand argued that social media searches although provide relevant results but the similarity trend is very high and also increasing fake accounts have condensed the authenticity and accuracy of SMO. Branthwaite and Patterson (2011) reflected that the success of social media network in gathering online audience has prompted other major web organisations to remodel their online profile. This has enhanced the space for SMO activities and the consumers also are having more options for conducting their search. New online platforms such as Linkedin, Twitter and Google+ are attracting large volume of online population. This has also increased the alternatives for individuals looking for a career in SEO and Social Media Marketing profiles. The personality attributes for searching also includes keeping updated about the changes in the network features, knowledge regarding SEO and SMM trends, growing follower base and high participation in online profiles and activities. 2.5 Influencers and competitors’ analysis: Influencing the desired audience group is the basic concept of social media activities. Gehl (2011) stated that online activities have a major disadvantage in the form of absence of physical image which has to be nullified by building a trustworthy relationship between the two parties. People should be able to create an online profile that not only attracts customers but also helps reflects the authenticity and validity of their online existence. For instance, the below given screenshot is of Twitter, where the suggestions box “Who to Follow” shows famous personalities while on the right hand side of the screen, the tweets from the existing followership of the account can be seen. The influence of online profiles are developed as more and more online activities are performed such as participating in events, creating campaigns, enhancing follower base and staying in touch with the online community. Blogging in this respect has evolved as one of the most preferred tools for increasing online influence. Figure 4: Twitter Profile Suggestion (Source: Twitter, 2014) Competitors in the online profile development process have a similar effect as that of the influencers. Harris and Rae (2011) emphasised that competitors can be the source of relevant information gathering regarding the target audience nature and behaviour. Many times it can be observed in the corporate segment that the strategy of competitors are used creating the market value of the opponent firms. Similarly, in online profile development also the activities of the competitors can lead to evaluating suitable means for communicating with the target audience. As the personal profile of the researcher is not having high competition, it is not getting highlighted in the consumer search zone. On the other hand, the essentiality of developing a unique aspect to differentiate from the competitor offerings is also necessary which in this case will be achieving good remarks and updates on the SEO and SMO. Some of the benchmarks that can be achieved for thriving in the competition are reflected below: Regular participation of social network in order to increase online visibility. Participation in multiple social networking sites for increasing the scope of profile. Creating blogs and linking it with relevant keywords. Sorting out specific keywords and promoting them through blogs and website contents. Reflecting the reviews of the service users. Improving offline image for ensuring online word of mouth suggestions. 3.0 Search and social media marketing strategy: The process of developing SEO and SMO tasks is a complex and time consuming process as every change in the online trends or activities of the users creates the scope for changing the strategy being used (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). The development of personal brand in the virtual world is primarily based on the utilisation of the resources and appropriate understanding of the target audience behaviour (Gehl, 2011). The process of designing a SMO and SEO strategy begins by identifying the skills and the target markets where the skills will be reflected. As the researcher wants to get established as an SEO content expert, the target market selected for the process is the digital marketing activities happening in the London and Northampton area. The primary skills that will be reflected to the consumers will be the ability to attract and engage online consumers with the help of digital marketing techniques and explicit content development. Apart from this, the strategy should also include optimisation, conversation, promotion and participation on the part of the researcher for achieving the desired results. The researcher will segment the aim of the personal branding strategy into short-term and long-term aims in order to develop a steady direction for the strategy. 3.1 Short term objectives: The short term objectives for personal branding will mainly focus on developing the proper framework and platform for the researcher in the digital marketing arena. Signing up for profiles in the most visited social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc and updating them on a regular basis should be the preliminary objective. The objectives can be further analysed with the help of SMART technique: To bring the name of the researcher in the first page of SERP in Google and Yahoo: Pinyapat Kobkhunphaisan SEO. Signup and develop online profiles in at least 5 most visited social media networking sites. Regular updates and blog entries in all the enlisted online social platforms for at least 1 month. Generating third party promotions on the basis of the services being provided by the researcher. To connect and develop link with the primary Personal Online Branding page of the researcher. 3.2 Long term objectives: The short term objectives mainly focus on creating an influencing online presence in the web but the long term objectives will be focused on the development of the Personal Branding Online. Relating self with SMM and SEO is a competitive task considering the high usage of these tools in the business world. The long term objectives can be segmented in the following manner: Relationship: The researcher has to identify the crucial and most needed sectors of the target audience such as the recruiters and develop a good relationship with them in order to promote the personal branding process. Apart from the recruiters, influencers and competitors will also form a part of the relationship build process which will boost the visibility and also inform the researcher regarding the trends and changes in the SEO and SMO process. Blogging Activity for audience engagement: Blogging will be one of key tools used for personal brand building. The initial strategy will be to improve the relationship with the recruiters and other recognised stakeholders of the plan and then connect with them. Linkedin profile has been considered as the best online arena for developing professional relationships. On the other hand, once connected with the desired stakeholders, the researcher will have to keep in constant touch and provide the stakeholders something to engage themselves with. Quality blogging and content will help the researcher reflect the skills to the recruiters and improve the PBO process and get better SERPs. Skills reflection in the market place: The researcher has to ensure that stakeholders recognise him/her for the right reason. Most importantly, the blogging processes included should reflect the skills of the researcher and the achievements that will serve the purpose of measuring authenticity and dependability of the company. But this recognition process is a time taking process and can be realised only after two-three years of active online operations and experience. To sum up all the objectives in one, the primary .objective is to generate reader engagement with the blogs of the researcher. Online Personal Branding: Time Schedule Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Results Report Structuring Reading and Learning Learning about SEO and SMO Tools such as meta-tagging and other HTML functions Analysis Writing Plan Writing Reflections Plan Implementation Creating Online profiles in selected social media platforms Creating Online Profiles Status updates, blogging, optimising SEO and SMO, Professional activities Activity Monitoring and Measurement Measuring activities each month with the help of selected platforms Practical Implementation of knowledge gained Possible recruitment chances 3.3 Monitoring and Measurement: Tracking and monitoring of activities in the SEO and SMO processes is a complex process as all the visits and clicks on the links cannot be identified and the influence of the content on the visitors also cannot be monitored as there is not direct source of contact. The basic problems will be to assess the Return of Engagement mainly because the reverse influence of the stakeholder feedback on the researcher is coming from various sources and tracking the individual contribution becomes complicated. The monitoring process has to be measured with the help of the online profiles in the social media sites such as Linkedin, Blogger and Facebook. The number of visits, likes and comments on the posts will help in monitoring the capability of the content and posts made by the researcher. Also profiles such as Linkedin also reflect the probable recruiters which in turn will also highlight the direction of PBO for the researcher. The best option for measuring the efficacy of the PBO building process will be to identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) of the profile development process and hence also recognize the authority of the online activities over the selected audience group. Based on these considerations, the researcher has selected Linkedin, Twitter and Blogger for measuring the online activities and its significance towards the aim of the researcher. Figure 5: Recruiter Information Provided by Linkedin (Source: Linkedin, 2014) 3.4 Legal and ethical implications of being online: As online activity is increasing all over the world, the laws and regulatory bodies are also developing a strict approach for overseeing the ethical contemplations in the use of social media networking sites (Abratt and Kleyn, 2011). Strict monitoring processes have been implemented on social media sites with high access and consumer involvement. Some of the most common problems in social media websites that can also create problems for the researcher are the fake accounts and profiles. This may result in loss of reputation for the researcher as unprofessional activities can be reflected in the researcher profile. On the other hand, activities such as hacking and phishing may result in loss of information and data gathered. In context of PBO development, the researcher has to keep in mind the information that is being revealed of shared with the target audience. Any sort of contents that may seem unprofessional or indecent can hamper the brand image and also hamper the future career prospects. Countries such as UK and US have permitted their citizens to the right of free speech but this should not be used in an inappropriate manner which can result in legal complicacies. The contents published and shared by the researcher should not be plagiarised or copy right materials, the researcher should take confirmation for publishing any data from external agencies and also ensure inscrutability of the information wherever required. 3.5 Risk Assessment: The risks associated in the personal branding process mostly relates to the content being shared with the target audience group. The risks associated with the Personal Brand development in online arena has been assessed in the following table: Risk Identification Probability Impact Assessment Mitigation Inability to create 5 Online Profiles by the assigned deadlines 1 4 4 Manage the shortfall in number of accounts in the long-term objectives. Inability to generate first page SERP for all the 5 accounts 3 5 15 Began from the start and redo the optimisation process for all the profiles Unable to maintain all the social media profiles created 4 5 20 Creating a proper time management schedule for all the profiles and segment the time provided on the basis of their requirements. Unable to post blogs and updates in all the social media profiles in the given deadlines 2 5 15 Continue pursuing the account build-up process even after the assignment deadline for career prospect improvement Not being able to optimise the social profile activities 4 5 20 Improve the quality of content by gaining knowledge of SEO content and customer behaviour and also measure the performance of the contents by studying the feedbacks of the consumers. Inability to develop relations and contacts with competitors and influencers 3 5 15 Identify the relevancy of the blogs being posted on the social media platforms and modify them according to competitors and influencer needs. Social profiles hacked 2 4 8 Have to ensure that the online activities are related to relevant and authenticated sites only and sharing the content with relevant stakeholder groups. 4.0 Practical Plan Implementation: As the primary keyword selected for profile development was the name of the researcher, the SERP results improved. The highest reflection was given in the Google+ and Facebook meanwhile the first SERP search result was that of the Salford University. The performance of SEO and SMO activities needs to be improved to a higher level as the secondary keywords are not reflecting the desired outcome for the researcher. Figure 6: SERP in Google with Primary Keyword (Source: Google, 2014) Figure 7: SERP in Yahoo with Primary Keyword (Source: Yahoo, 2014) Figure 8: Facebook Blog Page Optimisation (Source: Facebook, 2014) Figure 9: University Blog Page (Source: http://blogs.salford.ac.uk/business-school/international-students/, 2014) Figure 7: SERP in Google Image with Primary Keyword (Source: Yahoo, 2014) The above screenshots have reflected that the SEO and SMO activities of the researcher have not yet provided the expected outcome. The results derived from the primary search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook are only based on the use of primary keyword. The researcher was unable to ensure proper utilisation of all the social media profiles selected. On the other hand, limited activity in context of blog creation has also resulted in below average result for the researcher. 5.0 Conclusion and Improvement Actions: The process of personal brand building in the online platform is a time consuming task which needs to be continuously monitored and upgraded according to the changes in the online activities of the desired consumer base. As observed the results of the SEO and SMO were not satisfactory for the researcher. The reasons that can be pointed out are limited time management and time distribution towards all the social media profiles, irregular online activities and response to the influencers and competitors were not present. In order to change the outcome and develop a better PBO, the researcher should first stop using the profiles that are not being managed which will create more focus towards the successful platforms. The activity of the researcher has to increase by posting more blogs with pictures and videos. The content of the blogs has to engaging and attractive for the customer which includes writing on current topics suggesting personal views and also criticising factors that are not being appreciated by the target consumers. Finally, the researcher has to update the knowledge base regarding SEO and SMO usage for online profile branding and recreate the entire process. References: Abratt, R., and Kleyn, N., 2011. Corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate reputations: Reconciliation and integration. European Journal of Marketing, 46(7/8), pp. 1048–1063. Back et al. 2010. Facebook Profiles Reflect Actual Personality, Not Self-Idealization, Psychological Science, 21 (3), pp. 372–374. Branthwaite, A., and Patterson, S., 2011. The Power of Qualitative Research in the area of Social Media. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 14(4), pp. 430-440. Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., and Hollebeek, L., 2013. 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Social media and personal branding: Adapted from me 2.0. New York: Kaplan Trade. Shepherd, I. D., 2005. From cattle and coke to Charlie: meeting the challenge of self marketing and personal branding. Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5-6), pp. 589-606. Twitter 2014. Profile. [Online] Available from: [Accessed on 26th November 2014]. Waters, R. D., and Jamal, J. Y., 2011. Tweet, tweet, tweet: A content analysis of nonprofit organizations’ Twitter updates. Public Relations Review, 37(3), pp. 321–324. Appendix: Appendix 1: Techniques and tools for personal branding Appendix 2: SMO and SEO Aspects Read More