“Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” from the article: “The Brand Called You”, Fast Company, Dec 18, 2007.

Whether you are a job-seeker, a budding CEO or an MBA graduate, in the Web 2.0 world, it is very likely that Your Name is being Googled. This person is either a prospective employer who wants to know what you can bring to an organization or a VC who is curious if you really have those connections in your business domain. As an online brand, these people are your customers and they are always looking to see what you are upto. It is not simply smart to be a part of Linkedin (and the likes) but rather essential.

Here’s a list of 5 must-have profiles that will boost your brand to bring you on top of search engine page results (SERPs) and help you in your career/business/profession:

Linkedin:

Often Linkedin’s power is underestimated but unfortunately, this is only because it is either use inappropriately or not used at all. The point is simple: If you have a Linkedin profile, people will know that you are serious about your career. But you got to keep your profile updated and complete because when people search your name on Google, it’s very likely that your Linkedin profile (i.e. your online resume!) will appear on the SERPs.

One rule of thumb to make the most out of Linkedin: Do at least one activity on your profile per week so people know that you exist! Some examples: add people you met through the week to your network as you meet them, get endorsements/recommendations, answer questions (like you care about them), put up opinion polls, ask questions that you need answers to (trust me, you will never run out of questions). Most of all: be professional, sincere and leverage your network (meaning don’t just keep on adding people to your network for the sake of it!) and people will pay more attention to you - THEY WILL HELP YOU.

Facebook:

“Hey! I’m not uploading my personal albums just to stay ahead in my career”. What if I said that employers want to know what your favorite vaction spot is? Your customers want to know what you are doing in your life other than your career. NO THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR LIFE SHOULD BE AN OPEN (FACE)BOOK :D! It only means that Facebook is a unique opportunity to show the world ‘you are great person to be around’ - you are the sort that they can discuss politics with, cheer/fight about basketball games and most of all tolerate at the workspace. You don’t need to publicize your Facebook profile but if you have one, you should not be hesistant to add co-workers to your network. Of course, there’s the fine print: You don’t want to be offensive in general and express your opinions using appropriate language. Behave as you would when you are around with your friends (when not drunk) and your friends will look forward to your updates! :D

YourName.TEL:

Does that happen to you? If yes, this could help. If you forget your business card you could just give them your .TEL URL. Since it’s launch in March, it’s likely that your full name is available. Some advantages: 1) Easy-to-remember 2) Optimized for mobile phones 3) Add tags such as ‘finance major student, entrepreneur or marketing intern’ 4) Costs only 15 bux a year and does not require hosting 5) Your info is directly submitted to the DNS thus reducing the lag time to NIL between the updates you make and the changes that appear 6) People can directly call you from your website

Google Profiles:

If you are one of those who has more than one website/blog/profile on the net, this is a useful profile page which brings it all together and makes it more search engine friendly (very likely to show up on the first SERP when someone types in your name). It can list all your links such as Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, etc. along with your interests, positions you hold and contact info. This also allows people to send you a message without having to know your e-mail ID. A safe way to let people get in touch with you. The best part is the Google Maps widget which lets you show the places you have lived in and the ability to share your Flickr albums.

YourName.mp:

I came across the Chi.mp service at one of the Twiistup events I attended earlier this year. If you are like me, you read RSS feeds, use Twitter, Facebook and have a Wordpress blog/blogs. With YourName.mp you can bring together all your updates across various websites for your friends/co-workers to see. The best thing is that you can create different personas - for work, friends, general and other custom personas for your different target audiences. Check mine out here: dhaval.mp. Again this ranks well on search engines.

Go ahead. Dominate ‘Your Name’ on the search engine page results by using these profiles!