Personal Branding - key to professional success

One of my manatees who is a fresh graduate and new comer to the IT Industry in India asked me last week about whether he should spend any time on social networking websites like facebook and linkedin and if yes then why and how much. I found the question very valid and wanted to post my answer to him for my readers. Use of social networking software varies from person to person. Some find it useful to keep in touch with friends and share whats happening in their life. Others use it to make network and create and promote personal branding.
Personal Branding has never been more important for students who are looking to get into workplace or for professionals who are looking for better opportunity or simply want to climb the corporate ladder.
You must have heard many career development gurus suggesting YOU to treat as a corporation (Me Inc.) and think of Personal Branding as a way of developing and marketing yourself. Personal Branding is more than having a profile on social networking websites. It is about:

• Being Authentic about who you are, what your accomplishments so far and what are you passionate about. If you can't find answers to these questions, you should ask your best friend or relative.
• Introducing yourself to the world with confidence; Tell me about yourself is a tough question unless you practice it and communicating it with confidence is even tougher. 
• Developing the Personal Branding material - Just like a company needs various mediums to market its product and services, you need to utilize all the available tools to market yourself. This includes your online profiles, blogs, user group forum contributions, personal webpage etc. Only thing to make sure is that message is consistent across all mediums.
• Building professional online image - You are being googled by your friends, recruiters, everyone so its very important that your online reputation is not compromised. You should be very careful about what your post online, as it is likely going to remain forever online even if you take it out. Build your strong linkedin profile and keep it updated.
• Reassessing your online profile regularly - Just as your experience, personal goal and aspirations are going to evolve with time, your Personal Branding strategy also need to evolve. 

I will continue on Personal Branding in my next post. Any ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome !