My Personal BrandBy Brent Thornhill

The Light at the end of the tunnelThe goal of my personal brand is to convey

myself in a mature, professional manner while providing some insight into my personal interests such as sports, news and corporate social responsibilty

I want to be googleable while still maintaining a degree of anonymity surrounding my private life

ObjectivesTo have my blog and/or twitter appear

within the top five results when my name is typed into Google’s search engine

To have 100-150 followers on twitter by the end of fall semester

To engage in professional dialogue through social media applications with PR practitioners

My Outlook on ThingsMy biggest strength as well as my biggest

weakness is my newness to social media applications. The strength in being new is that I have no biases or loyalty to any particular application. However, not being familiar with the online forums means I will have to do extra work to be brought up to speed on how to use them most effectively

The social media mentors provided on Ning present an excellent opportunity to develop a comfort level with the social media world

Key messagesI want my brand to illustrate my broad scope

of interests as well as demonstrate my value to potential employers

The training and opportunities provided by the PR program at Humber will allow me to convey these ideas in a concise, effective manner

That I am a versatile, capable learner that can fill a variety of communications roles in numerous industries

Channels TwitterRSS readerNingBlogspotfacebook

StrategyMy strategy is to build relationships with

groups that share mutual interests in the PR community

These interests include sports, entertainment and corporate affairs

For this to be most effective, I am currently following various organizations and individuals that interest me on twitter; due to my wide variety of interests

I also plan to connect with a PR mentor to advise me on the strengths and weaknesses of my personal brand

Strategy cont’dWhile my professional focus will be on the PR

industry, I also plan to contribute to discussions on my areas of interest to promote myself as someone with a degree of knowledge in that field

This involves furthering the development of my personal blog as well as enhancing the group blogs which I am a part of. Following more relevant parties on twitter will also be of value as my professional area of focus becomes more clear

My Go-to-marketsSports:Point of both

personal and professional interest

I have a passion for several sports that I am able to easily convey through social media groups

Current Affairs:Being up to date and

applying contemporary knowledge is vital in the PR industry

Demonstrating this on social media applications would enhance my brand and value to potential employers

How I’m Going to Do ItIncrease my number

of tweets to a minimum of 10 per week

Tailor my blog “Thorny’s Tidbits” to build a relationship with my target audience

join and contribute to online publications that interest me

State of the UnionThis personal brand will be a hybrid of

professionalism and fun aimed at being both entertaining and informative.

Brand DeadlinesDate Task Completed

November 10 •Post first brand related blog on thorny’s tidbits•Have 10 more tweets and gain 15 more followers on twitter

November 15 •Start new discussion on Nutthinbutnet•Find PR mentor on Twitter or Ning

November 17 •Hot topic presentation formed and presented on thorny’s tidbits•Make contact with PR mentor

November 20 Have number of twitter followers increase by 10 again/be up to 50 tweets

November 22 •Have RSS feeder reflecting brand•Join and promote dual2duel blog to colleagues with same interest

Deadlines Cont’dNovember 30 Meet with mentor either

online or in person

November 4 Blog about findings on thorny’s tidbits

December 8 Use lessons from social media and apply them to volunteer opportunities

April 2010 Use lessons learned from social media experiences and apply them to employment opportunities