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The Following Post was originally posted at Venture Level; A Content Partner and has been re-posted with permission.
Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook or Facebook founded by Mark Zuckerberg? It is a question of branding one’s self or their empire. Personally, I’ve had this experience before. I have been a part of ventures, but when I sell them, I am no longer associated with them and there is no brand for myself, just the business. In the business world, companies are well known, but the people behind them are not as well known. So why do you need to brand yourself and how do you do it?
Originally when Facebook launched, Mark Zuckerberg used to have a tag on the bottom of each page that went something like “A Mark Zuckerberg Production.” This definitely spiked the curiosity of who Mark Zuckerberg was as Facebook grew. Facebook being his first large venture, many who know Mark today, did not know him in the pre-Facebook era. Today he has a brand not only connected to Facebook, but he has a self-branded image out in the world as well.
It is important to brand yourself not only as whom you are, but what ventures you are a part of. I was previously involved with some online ventures, that I played a small role in, but did not brand myself as a part of them. The connections made through a venture can be connections that you can use in the future with other ventures that you may be involved in. Once you create your own brand, people will look for where you are involved in other ventures, not the other way around.
Creating a LinkedIn profile is wonderful to help you create your own identity online, while networking with others at the same time. Unlike Facebook or MySpace, it’s more of a professional social network. There are straight forward connections to each person’s industry, showing who they work for, kind of like an online resume. LinkedIn is the best professional social network out there, which is why it has the most users out of any other professional social network. If I had to recommend one social network to anyone for networking, it would be LinkedIn.
Making your own website is also a phenomenal way to brand yourself. People have access to (YourName).com over the web, which you can turn into a blog about yourself or a website that explains what you are involved in. Some people even redirect their name to their about section of another one of their websites. Sometimes, your name might not be available, in which case you might want to try hyphening your name and see if that works. Creating a website can be awesome, but you should always remember to keep it professional and try to go for a different look or concept that what others do. For example, Neil Patel has a unique website NeilPatel.com which has a different concept, than any site I have seen, of walking visitors through who “Neil Patel” is.
Creating your own name- as your brand is always great, but you should try to stay away from naming products after your name. Sometimes people create a blog off of their name and brand off of that. I don’t like to personally take this approach because I feel it is less creative. Both of my blogs have unique names, instead of having RomilPatel.com as a blog URL. Blab Web is known as its own brand as well as Venture Level known as its own brand. RomilPatel.com is known as my brand, but I am known as the founder of all the brands. I think an independent URL expresses a sense of a unique brand image for that particular blog. Having a "FirstNameLastName" blog, can give yourself an name in the world, but I feel that it is best to come up with unique names for blogs because it gives a sense of bold style.
(I don't know what I want to currently do with RomilPatel.com, but I'm thinking about making it into a personal type of blog.)
