Over the past week or so, I’ve been working on my own “personal brand” design elements. And now I want to know what you think!

Do you like my new logo? My blog design? Twitter background?

I’d love some feedback!

Oh yeah, and if you’re a fan of PRetty Social, I’d love for you to subscribe!

And of course, thanks to all of you who continue to read my blog post after post! It’s much appreciated and I’m hoping to reach a point where I’m blogging a bit more often…so stay tuned for some exciting things to come : )

“Personal branding” is a buzz phrase I hear almost daily. We all know it’s important to have one, especially in a world where jobs can be hard to come by. For those of us who have jobs, building a personal brand is still important — particularly for those of us in an agency environment. After all, I’ve gotten new client referrals based on my own personal brand.

Not only does it help you, but it also helps the company you work for — But how do you build your personal brand?

Here are my top 6 tips for building a personal brand and putting yourself in the social media spotlight:

1. Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish. What’s your mission? When building your personal brand and your social network, you need to have a goal in mind. What do you want to accomplish? Are you hoping to champion a cause? Find a job? Become a thought-leader in your field? Make friends in your community? Your goals can be large or small – it’s just best to really know what they are. So if you aren’t sure, it might be smart to sit down and outline them.

2. Keep all the elements consistent. The internet is a cluttered place, so it’s important to keep your online identity consistent. Register the same user name on all networks you use and own your own domain! If someone loves you on Twitter, make sure you make it easy for them to find you everywhere else too! Once you find your tone, goals, etc. — keep them consistent as well! And if you have the extra cash, consider grabbing your own logo and keep all design elements consistent. Why not treat your personal brand just like a company brand?

3. Be the same online as you are off. Once you decide who you’re going to be online – make sure that’s consistent with who you are in real life! Transparency is equal to trust, and trust is the key to being successful. Think about it: if you’re awesome online and terrible in real life, who really wants to be your friend? Just be who you are – online and off. And when you’re beginning to build your personal brand, keep that in mind.

4. Love what you do. If you’re trying to become “internet famous” then you’re in it for the wrong reasons. Work to become an influencer because you love to enrich lives, teach and empower others, to champion a cause, etc…NOT to get rich. Plus, what’s the point of wasting time doing something you hate? And remember what I said about transparency! It all goes hand-in-hand!

5. Give, give and give some more. IMO, this is the most important tip rule for building your following on social networks! If you’re trying to build your network, give to your followers more than you are looking to receive back. Everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me?” If the answer is “nothing,” then why would they want to follow you? You will be successful in your personal brand by continuing to create value for others. So share interesting links, promote other in your network and continue to give as much as you can!

6. Build and foster relationships. Social networking is all about relationships. I mean, it says it in the name, right? Build a community around you by empowering others and giving as much as you can. Connect to people — in your industry and outside of it. Make friends and stay in touch! And when you can, try to attend tweetups, Social Media Club meetings, conferences, etc. to stay connected and meet some of your social media friends in real life!

Do you have some tips of your own to add? Let’s discuss in the comments section!

Today, while waiting on some YouTube videos to upload for a client and browsing though my blog reader trying to find a good blog topic, I started thinking – I don’t really know where the line is drawn between work stuff and personal stuff.

What do I mean by this? Well, Pyxl is huge into social media and the digital revolution. So I’m encouraged required to keep up with everything hot and new in the space. I have to blog…for myself and for our ReadPyxl blog. I have to continue to work at becoming a thought-leader in the social media space. I have to use Twitter, to tweet on behalf of the company, and for myself. I have to read blogs. I have to Facebook. Etc. Etc. Etc. And granted, I LOVE doing this stuff. It’s my passion…and also my job…so I guess I’m pretty lucky : )

But what I realized is that there’s no clear line between what I’m doing to better myself at my job and better myself…well, just for myself. But maybe there’s not supposed to be a line…because it’s an equally beneficial relationship.

Is anyone else experiencing this? What do you guys think?

I’m a big believer in the idea that having employees with strong personal brands thus contributes to the company’s brand. Do you agree or disagree?

Yet, some companies are still outlawing social media in the workplace while Pyxl encourages it. It’s such a different vibe from one company to another.

Does that make one company right and another wrong? Of course, it could depend on your industry…but what are your thoughts?

Let’s discuss…

This past weekend, I went down to IZEAfest in Orlando, Florida. (It’s a social media and blogging conference for those that don’t know.) While there, I learned a lot. You can check out my top 10 takeaways over on the ReadPyxl blog if you’re interested : )

One reoccurring theme throughout the event was the idea of giving.

Give to your followers more than you’re looking to get. Share with them. Provide value. Promote others. Give, give and give some more.

Everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me?” So show them what’s in it for them!

No one is going to join your network if you just talk about “me, me, me”. Who cares about you?!

So give to your followers and your network will grow. Someone at the event said, “the best time to build your network is when you don’t need one.”

If you jump on Twitter today and immediately try to start selling me something, I don’t really want to connect with you. However, if you provide value to my network now and truly become a part of my community, down the road when you do need me, I’ll be more likely to want to help. See? The power of giving…

Lauren Fernandez wrote a post today on the PR Breakfast Club about the fall of the community and the rise of the selfish individual. I think we all need to take a step back to look at how we’re reaching out to our own communities and figure out if we’re giving enough and if we’re promoting others enough. Perhaps we all need to start trying a little harder.

I give to my followers by sharing interesting links, by promoting their blog posts, by trying to provide information through my own blog posts and by engaging in conversation with them.

How do you give to your followers? What are some other ways we can provide value to someone else’s network?

We all know about brand loyalty. We either like Coke or Pepsi, PC or Mac, Google or Bing…but are social medium fan-bases divided by brand loyalty as well? Or will they become divided as networks like Facebook and Twitter continue to evolve?

Last week, Facebook bought Friendfeed and launched Facebook light – two things which somehow seem to be moves made in an attempt to “beat” Twitter. Each week, we see articles on Mashable, TechCrunch, and others about which medium has a better real-time search, which is growing faster, etc, etc, etc. But are these two social mediums on a crash course which will one day force users to choose one or the other?

I can’t say for sure, but with millions of users and ad dollars at stake, I have to think that the creators of these popular networking sites are hoping to be the best, and thus win out in the “brand” loyalty battle.

What do you think? Are you more loyal to Facebook? Twitter? …or any of the other popular networking sites?

Me personally – I’m more of a Twitter girl than anything else. While I use many social mediums for different reasons, Twitter does get the majority of my online networking time. I have to admit that I can barely go a day without writing a tweet. On the other hand, I only check Facebook a few times a week.

Your thoughts? Is there social media brand loyalty? If not, will there be one day?

I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about how Starbucks is testing out a company rebrand. Unlike what I consider to be a corporate rebrand, the company is actually rebranding each store individually to make them appear to be “hometown” coffee shops rather than the international corporate giant shops that they now are.

Of course, the new shops will offer some differences other than new names: alcohol, live music, poetry readings, and maybe even a few new manual espresso machines. Already, one store has opened under the name “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” in Seattle.

Of course, there’s been a lot of talk flying around about this. Some people hate it, others love it. Some say it’s genius, others say it’s desperate. My personal opinion? It’s deceitful.

I personally love to visit Downtown Knoxville’s Remedy Coffee because it truly is a neighborhood shop, and I know the money I spend on my chai latte isn’t going into some multi-billion dollar corporate bank account. (In fact, if you visit Remedy – their profits go to charity). However, if a Knoxville version of 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea happens to open, the money spent there is still getting sent straight into Starbucks’ corporate account…even if not all of its customers know it.

I’ve always been one to try and support “the little guy”…so I don’t want Starbucks posing as such in my city. If I go to Starbucks, I want to know it’s a Starbucks.

What do you think?

Wanna know what I think about this ad? Head on over to Sasha Muradali’s Little Pink Book to read my guest post about Burger King’s controversial new ad…