Laura Gainor discusses how she used social media to land her job at Comet Branding as the PR + Social Media Strategist. Gainor gives tips on how other professionals can use social media to create their personal and business brand through social media.

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2. How To Create Your Personal Brand
Through Social Media
Laura Gainor
PR + Social Media Strategist
Comet Branding + PR
comet marketing + public relations evolved

3. PERSONAL BRANDING |
Chapter 1: About Laura Gainor
Chapter 2: How I got hired at Comet Branding
Chapter 3: Timeline of Results
Chapter 4: How to create your own personal branding strategy
Chapter 5: Questions?
comet marketing + public relations evolved

4. PERSONAL BRANDING | About Laura Gainor
About Laura Gainor
• Social Media Strategist for Comet Branding + PR.
• Professional background in creative photography &
design, client services management, and personal &
business branding strategies.
After landing my job at Comet by showcasing my expertise
using various social media tools, I enjoy discussing tips
and strategies on how to create a successful brand
through social media.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

5. PERSONAL BRANDING |
Chapter 1: About Laura Gainor
Chapter 2: How I got hired at Comet Branding
Chapter 3: Timeline of Results
Chapter 4: How to create your own personal branding strategy
Chapter 5: Questions?
comet marketing + public relations evolved

6. PERSONAL BRANDING | How I Got Hired at Comet Branding
Faced with a challenge:
How do I network and nd a job when living in a
different city?
comet marketing + public relations evolved

7. PERSONAL BRANDING | How I Got Hired at Comet Branding
The Gainors Got a feel
Used Twitter Quickly found Followed Joined in on
moving to for the MKE
to network MKE social media daily the
Milwaukee social media
professionals conversations conversations
02/01/10 culture
Continued
#LauraGainorToMilwaukee using social
media tools
strategy created
Trip to Produced Created Comet Tweeted
Developed SquarePik
Milwaukee introductory large Comet they were
idea to creatively launched
02/12/10 YouTube video logo poster hiring!
grab attention. 02/11/10
02/11/10 02/11/10 02/11/10
All of this occurred over a very short period of time:
We found out we were moving to Milwaukee on February 1, 2010
First trip to Milwaukee to nd a home on February 12, 2010
comet marketing + public relations evolved

8. PERSONAL BRANDING | How I Got Hired at Comet Branding
Toured Milwaukee with the Comet Branding Logo Poster.
February 12 - 14, 2010
Used Foursquare, SquarePik, Twitter, YouTube & TwitVid, capturing photos and videos of my Comet Logo
tour through Milwaukee
comet
Pushed content to @CometBranding through Twitter.
marketing + public relations evolved

9. PERSONAL BRANDING | How I Got Hired at Comet Branding
Laura Gainor Utilizing Social Media
SlideShare Presentation Created on
Monday, February 15, 2010
Click HERE to view the full presentation.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

10. PERSONAL BRANDING | How I Got Hired at Comet Branding
The purpose of the SlideShare presentation:
• Told the full story of #LauraGainorToMilwaukee.
• Turned a standard resume into a story that incorporated my life experiences, social media and my
creative talents.
• Served as a means to demonstrate my specialties, instead of solely writing them on paper.
• Provided Comet Branding the opportunity to see my personality through photos and videos.
• Showed real-time feedback from Comet Branding.
• Published the presentation on SlideShare to share with other professionals on how to brand
themselves and get the attention of a potential employer.
• Promoted Comet Branding.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

11. PERSONAL BRANDING |
Chapter 1: About Laura Gainor
Chapter 2: How I got hired at Comet Branding
Chapter 3: Timeline of Results
Chapter 4: How to create your own personal branding strategy
Chapter 5: Questions?
comet marketing + public relations evolved

12. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
Immediate response to the
#LauraGainorToMilwaukee
Twitter activity.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Link to the SlideShare Presentation: “Laura Gainor Utilizing Social Media”
Tweeted to @AlKrueger & @SaraMeaney
Monday, February 15, 2010
Email was not sent. Paper resume was not sent.
Just a tweet including this link:
http://www.slideshare.net/LauraGainor/laura-gainor-utilizing-social-media
comet marketing + public relations evolved

13. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results Skype Interview with
Comet Branding Partners
Al Krueger & Sara Meaney
Skype interview scheduled on the Friday, February 19, 2010
same day through Twitter direct messages.
Monday, February 15, 2010
comet marketing + public relations evolved

14. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
Gainor Road Trip Moving
from Charlotte to Milwaukee
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Started Unpacking in our New Home
in Milwaukee.
Friday, February 26, 2010
In-Person Interview at Comet
with Al Krueger & Sara Meaney.
Monday, March 1, 2010
comet marketing + public relations evolved

15. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
Immediately following the in-person interview,
having lunch @Water_Buffalo, I was offered the
job as PR + Social Media Strategist
Monday, March 1, 2010
Hired 10 days after the initial Skype interview
After only meeting once in-person, I was hired the same day.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

16. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
My rst day at Comet Branding
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
1.5 days after being offered the job.
20 days after seeing @CometBranding’s Tweet about the position.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

17. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
SlideShare featured my
presentation in
their March Newsletter
Number of presentation views jumped to over 20,000.
Today the presentation has over 38,000 views.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

18. PERSONAL BRANDING | Timeline of Results
The Milwaukee Business
Journal featured my story.
Monday, March 15, 2010
“Online Efforts Make Job Hunter Stand Out”
Read the full Milwaukee Business Journal Article HERE.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

19. PERSONAL BRANDING |
Chapter 1: About Laura Gainor
Chapter 2: How I got hired at Comet Branding
Chapter 3: Timeline of Results
Chapter 4: How to create your own personal branding strategy
Chapter 5: Questions?
comet marketing + public relations evolved

20. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
comet marketing + public relations evolved

21. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Choosing a name for your social media channels.
• Website Domain
• Twitter Pro le The rst important step is to choose
the correct name to represent
• Facebook Pro le yourself throughout all of your social
• YouTube/Vimeo Channel Pro les
media channels.
• LinkedIn Pro le
Example:
@LauraGainor vs. @LMG12
Choose unique URLs for all of your social media
channels and keep them consistent.
LinkedIn.com/in/LauraGainor
Facebook.com/Laura.Gainor
Twitter.com/LauraGainor
comet marketing + public relations evolved

22. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Google yourself.
• It’s the
rst place potential employers go
to nd more information about you.
• What are the top search results for your
name?
• What content is on those links?
• Social Media channels give you the
opportunity to create your brand on Google.
• Top results are typically your social media
channels.
• Be aware of the content you’re publishing
on these channels.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

23. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Your brand identity. Logo and personal photo.
• Your pro le photo is your personal branding logo.
• First impression.
• Use the same photo on all of your social media channels.
• People share your photo to present you to others. So make sure it’s how you want to represent
yourself.
• Use a good quality photo. Avoid using blurry or pixellated photos.
• Don’t be stiff in the photo. Show a little of your personality, but not too much.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

24. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
What is your message?
• Know your message. Know your audience. Stay consistent throughout.
• Don’t be afraid of Twitter. It’s an excellent source for current events and networking.
One of the rst questions when starting to create your personal brand is, What do I tweet about?
• You do not want to be a salesperson on Twitter.
• Engage in conversations. Don’t just tell people about you.
• Don’t tweet, just to tweet. Have a little substance.
• People will recognize what you talk about and will want to follow you.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

25. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Think of your personal brand as a business.
• What are your goals with social media?
• Promote yourself as a brand. Customize your pro les. Design a Custom Twitter Background
• Keep track of results. How many people have you connected with each week?
• What have you learned that you feel could bene t others?
•Publish content regularly.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

26. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Engage in conversations.
• Twitter is one
of the best ways to network
and meet new people.
• People won’t get the chance to know who
you are, unless you talk with them on
Twitter.
• Make it apoint each day to engage in a
Twitter conversation with someone other
than posting information.
• Expand your network. Find/Follow people
of interest to you.
comet marketing + public relations evolved

27. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Get creative. Play with social media.
• Every daynew social media tools are being created,
opening up creative opportunities to nd ways to utilize
them for your personal branding.
• Spend 10minutes each day browsing blogs, such as
Mashable and TechCrunch.
• Use Twitter to see what your network is talking about.
•Play.It’s very important to not be hesitant on
experimenting with new social media tools.
@Stickybits
@MicrosoftTag
comet marketing + public relations evolved

28. PERSONAL BRANDING | How to Create Your Own Personal Branding Strategy
Most importantly...
be yourself!
comet marketing + public relations evolved

29. THANK YOU |
Thank you for the opportunity to talk with you about
personal branding.
Connect with me.
Laura Gainor Blog
Comet Branding Blog
comet marketing + public relations evolved

30. QUESTIONS? |
Questions?
comet marketing + public relations evolved