Today, we live in a world that is skin deep. Magazine covers, movies, and product commercials are littered with models, celebrities, movie stars and the moving target of what society says is in and is beautiful. Packaging is an important part of personal branding and must be addressed. People are visual and make decisions based upon images, first impressions, and yes your avatar. It is cliché, but true, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

One of the most critical elements of your personal brand is your avatar or as I call it your global ID. It is typically the first visual online impression that people will have with your personal brand.

What is an Avatar?

It is the online visual representation of your personal brand.

Managing your Avatar

o Standardization: Avatar should be branded consistently all of your social networks.

o Professional Looking Image: A professional photo shoot is not required, but a clear crisp headshot is idea.

o Social Network Specs: Follow the specs of the social network your uploading your avatar into.

Benefits of a Great Avatar

o Communicates Trust: Your image can communicate trust and impact perception (enhances or diminishes)

o Branding Consistency: Visual impressions of your personal brand is consistent across the web increasing brand recognition.

o Connectivity: Digital relationships should help build off-line relationships.

o Brand Humanization: It humanizes your brand and helps people connect with you as a person.

Where should your Personal Branded Avatar Exist?

o Wherever you Exist: Press Kit, Blog, etc.

o Social Networks: Consistent across all of your social networks: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.

o Business Cards (Web 2.0 Cards): I am an advocate for avatars on business cards. Your business cards should extend the online and off-line relationship. I recommend www.BrandCardz.com

o Blog Post Comments: Create a profile on Gravatar and it will automatically populate your avatar into any Wordpress (other platforms are being researched) blog comment that you post. As people begin to read your well thought out comments on other blogs the recognition of your personal brand will continue to spread.

o Slideshare Resume: Create a creative version of your resume in a slide presentation formation should include your avatar.

o Mybloglog: Add the Mybloglog widget to your blog and it will allow you to see who is visually coming to your blog.

There are many schools of thought on creating an avatar such as the usage of cartoons, logos, or cool designs. I recognize there are many successful examples of cartoons (@chrispirillo) or logos (@BarackObama) so the chose is yours. I recommend that you use an image of yourself as your avatar because one of the goals is to turn digital relationships into off-line relationships and it helps the visual recognition of your personal brand.

Today (01.19.09) we celebrated Martin Luther King Day, a man whose life spoke volumes. One of his most profound speeches was ‘I Have A Dream’ delivered August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. Martin Luther King is one of the most recognized leaders and personal brands in our country’s history. Consistency is one of the hallmarks of successful brands, his life and message communicated consistency, values, and a clear since of purpose.

As I reflect on the significance of his life. I reflect on the significance of my life and my purpose for sharing personal branding with the world. Part of my purpose is to help people ‘live their dreams’ and I take it very seriously. I don’t mean that as a cliche, I hope my blog continues to be a source of inspiration, education, and motivation, to assist you in reaching your life goals.

I_have_a_dream_speech Originally uploaded by MANY BLESSING TO COME

Hajj E. Flemings on ESPN, originally uploaded by Hajj Flemings.

With the recent incidents with Plaxico Burress, Michael Vick, and Pacman Jones the NFL has become increasing aware of the need to teach their players about personal branding. ESPN recently recorded a session that included the Academy of Protocol & Intelligence and myself (Hajj E. Flemings- Author of ‘The Brand YU Life’) working with the Detroit Lions rookies on Etiquette/Personal Branding.

We spent 5-hours with the team after practice providing information to help them manage their personal brand.  Most of us realize that it is the small things in life that impact the big.  Also had the opportunity to meet Jemele Hill an ESPN columnist that  I follow which was great.  To see the video footage clip or read the article written by Jemele Hill  Lions rookies go to charm school.

Today is November 4, 2008 Election Day in the United States and there is a lot of excitement brewing about the next leader of of America. Let me know drove your decision in the election race, sex, mavericks, values or issues. Vote by leaving your comments.

GapingVoid_I Started A Blog, originally uploaded by Hajj Flemings.

What do you do when your personal brand reputation has been breached? Recently an article was written about me that had statements that could damage my personal brand, so this blog was born. In the world of new media nobody is exempt from user generated content and traditional media sources, your personal brand has to be managed online and offline. As your influence continues to grow and develop your ability to have absolute control of your reputation will diminish, however there are many basic monitoring tools to assist you in management your online reputation.

Basic Monitoring Tools (Free)

o Google Alerts: Set-up email alerts to monitor search engine results.
o Tweet Scan Alerts: Set-up email alerts to monitor twitter results.
o Twitter Search: Set-up RSS feed to subscribe to the twitter results.
o Technorati: Set-up RSS feed to subscribe to blog post results

Definitions

Reputation is an external assessment by others that might be accurate or inaccurate. Reputation can be distorted which means it has to be managed.

Reputation Management: Tracking your personal brand footprint digitally and offline.

Things to Remember

o Your personal brand is your investment. Nobody cares as much as you do about your personal brand it is your baby and you have to manage it. As your influence develops over time it will take on a life of it’s own.
o You can’t ignore the situation. Determine whether a passive or active response is required.
o Be proactive. Don’t wait for the damage to deteriorate the work you done to develop your personal brand.
o Don’t Panic. There are plenty of online reputation management tools: JobMob has an excellent blog post, 150+ Resources and Tips To Help Manage Your Reputation Online.
o Be prepared to defend your personal brand.

Online Media Sources

o Traditional/Mainstream Websites
o Social Networks (e.g. Facebook, MySpace)
o Social News/Bookmarking Sites
o Forums/Discussion Boards
o Blogs
o Microblogs (e.g. Twitter, Jaiku, Plurk)
o Tags
o Images
o Video

Review alerts and monitoring tool results when managing your personal brand. Managing a personal brand is a lifestyle, you never retire from being who you are. First, contact the person directly if this is an option to resolve, human interaction is always the best. Next, develop and execute your strategy, don’t leave anything to chance, you have spent a lot of time and money to position your brand do not sit by idol and be passive. Actively manage and defend your brand.

How important is fashion + style + time to personal branding? Today, I would like to share with you some of my thoughts. I was out shopping over the holiday weekend and I discovered this watch for $95. If you need to get to your next meeting or interview on time and in style, the Fossil JR9641 is a great device to measure time which is the currency of life.

Peter Drucker said, ‘Know thy time.’   Hajj said, ‘Know thy style.’

Fossil Watch JR9642, originally uploaded by Hajj Flemings.