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Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself
Deckers, Erik, Lacy, Kyle
283 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2010
84 people are currently reading
438 people want to read
About the author
Erik Deckers
16 books29 followersErik Deckers is a professional blogger and ghostwriter. He is the author of Mackinac Island Nation, his first humor novel, and is the co-author of Branding Yourself, No Bullshit Social Media, and The Owned Media Doctrine.
Erik has been blogging since 1997, and a newspaper humor columnist since 1994. He has written several radio and stage plays, and numerous business articles. Erik was the Spring 2016 writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, FL, and now serves on their board of directors.
Erik has been blogging since 1997, and a newspaper humor columnist since 1994. He has written several radio and stage plays, and numerous business articles. Erik was the Spring 2016 writer-in-residence at the Jack Kerouac House in Orlando, FL, and now serves on their board of directors.
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May 15, 2022If you read enough ‘developing an author brand’ blog posts you’ll eventually be referred to the library to find some more in-depth information on personal branding. The day I visited the library the only personal branding book I could find was Branding Yourself: How to use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself by American authors Erik Deckers and Kyle Lacy – so I checked it out and got stuck in.
The book is aimed at job seekers, people wanting to establish themselves as experts in a field, business owners, creatives and professionals wanting to supercharge their careers.
The edition I read was published in 2010 (a second edition was released in 2012), and although some of the specific social media tips no longer apply, the principles that underpin the book still hold true.
The book is divided into three sections – ‘Why do I care about self-promotion’, ‘Your network is your castle’ and ‘Promoting your brand in the real world’. In other words, in the first section you learn how to develop your brand, in the second section you learn how to share your brand via social media and in the last section you learn about relationship management.
Each section is broken into useful tips, such as ‘Be bold – it’s okay to talk about yourself’. This particular tip may be of special interest to New Zealanders, as we’re not known for talking ourselves up. Deckers and Lacy contend that the difference between self-promotion and bragging is your motivation. Sharing information about your interests because you’re passionate about them? Self-promotion. Sharing your successes because you’re pretty sure they’ll make other people jealous? No one’s going to appreciate that.
The stories of four theoretical people are woven through the book to you show how personal branding can benefit anyone, whether you’re trying to enter a new field or hoping to nab that Chief Executive role one day. Along the way there are also plenty of dos and don’ts, for example, ‘don’t post pictures that would shock your mother’ and ‘do invest in other people.’
The authors recommend blogging as key to establishing yourself as an expert in your field. They offer some platform options, but you’ll probably want to hop online yourself and see what other choices are out there in 2015 (personally I use Weebly). Their blogging dos and don’ts? Don’t make your blog one big commercial. Do write from the heart.
The book provides hundreds of handy tips that you can immediately put into action. Branding Yourself: How to use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself is an interesting and useful read that’s still relevant today.
The five tips I took away from each section of the book:
Why do I care about self-promotion?
• You have the power to establish your own brand
• It’s ok to talk about yourself
• Discover your passion
• Write your story and share it with others
• Create relationships (they lead to opportunities)
Your network is your castle – build it
• Start a blog
• Get a decent headshot
• ‘Givers gain’ is your social media mantra
• Use a tool such as Hootsuite to manage your social media updates
• Check your analytics so you know what’s working
Promoting your brand in the real world
• It’s not all about you. ‘Givers gain’ is your mantra in the real world too
• Follow up after you’ve met someone – send them a thank you note or email them a link to an article they might find interesting
• Share opportunities
• Join Toastmasters and seek out public speaking opportunities
• Become an author. Write articles and submit them for publications in journals and magazines
The book is aimed at job seekers, people wanting to establish themselves as experts in a field, business owners, creatives and professionals wanting to supercharge their careers.
The edition I read was published in 2010 (a second edition was released in 2012), and although some of the specific social media tips no longer apply, the principles that underpin the book still hold true.
The book is divided into three sections – ‘Why do I care about self-promotion’, ‘Your network is your castle’ and ‘Promoting your brand in the real world’. In other words, in the first section you learn how to develop your brand, in the second section you learn how to share your brand via social media and in the last section you learn about relationship management.
Each section is broken into useful tips, such as ‘Be bold – it’s okay to talk about yourself’. This particular tip may be of special interest to New Zealanders, as we’re not known for talking ourselves up. Deckers and Lacy contend that the difference between self-promotion and bragging is your motivation. Sharing information about your interests because you’re passionate about them? Self-promotion. Sharing your successes because you’re pretty sure they’ll make other people jealous? No one’s going to appreciate that.
The stories of four theoretical people are woven through the book to you show how personal branding can benefit anyone, whether you’re trying to enter a new field or hoping to nab that Chief Executive role one day. Along the way there are also plenty of dos and don’ts, for example, ‘don’t post pictures that would shock your mother’ and ‘do invest in other people.’
The authors recommend blogging as key to establishing yourself as an expert in your field. They offer some platform options, but you’ll probably want to hop online yourself and see what other choices are out there in 2015 (personally I use Weebly). Their blogging dos and don’ts? Don’t make your blog one big commercial. Do write from the heart.
The book provides hundreds of handy tips that you can immediately put into action. Branding Yourself: How to use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself is an interesting and useful read that’s still relevant today.
The five tips I took away from each section of the book:
Why do I care about self-promotion?
• You have the power to establish your own brand
• It’s ok to talk about yourself
• Discover your passion
• Write your story and share it with others
• Create relationships (they lead to opportunities)
Your network is your castle – build it
• Start a blog
• Get a decent headshot
• ‘Givers gain’ is your social media mantra
• Use a tool such as Hootsuite to manage your social media updates
• Check your analytics so you know what’s working
Promoting your brand in the real world
• It’s not all about you. ‘Givers gain’ is your mantra in the real world too
• Follow up after you’ve met someone – send them a thank you note or email them a link to an article they might find interesting
• Share opportunities
• Join Toastmasters and seek out public speaking opportunities
• Become an author. Write articles and submit them for publications in journals and magazines
April 15, 2023
hahaha this book was just not good. i hated the weird dad jokes sprinkled throughout each chapter. and i feel like i didn’t learn a ton from it? not cool, man.
October 9, 2019
Depending on your profession, this book can be very helpful or just meh. If you’re in the arts or creative space with limited knowledge on how to use social media, then it’s for you. Otherwise, you may not find the first half of the book very helpful e.g. learning ‘how to blog’, vlog, etc. It does get better much later part though, when they cover topics like networking at events, elevator pitches etc.
March 7, 2018
This book may work better or worse according to different professions and different countries. In Denmark, self branding seems to be in its infancy except for a growing number of bloggers, and as a Project Manager, I do not feel that I have valuable insights frequently enough to interest a large number of people.
May 18, 2018
Adding this one to the "You Must Read This" list! This book is easy to read and apply. Any professional who is looking to establish their own personal brand and is as lost as I was on HOW to do that, must read this book.
It provides you with step by step instructions on how to define, create, and launch your personal brand.
This book is a must have for the successful professional.
It provides you with step by step instructions on how to define, create, and launch your personal brand.
This book is a must have for the successful professional.
August 31, 2024
En bog med nogle gode pointer omkring, hvordan man anvender forskellige sociale medier til at fremme sit eget brand. Noget af bogens indhold omkring enkelte sociale medier er lidt forældet, og jeg var personligt ikke så vild med alle de humoristiske indspark, der fremstod lidt malplacerede. Desuden en meget Amerikansk bog, der indimellem gør den lidt svær at perspektivere til det Danske marked.
July 3, 2019
It's fine. Review available at MisterPlough.com
January 20, 2020
Great, helpful book! Will probably get me to finally tweet.
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February 9, 2020Reading this for school, marking complete now
August 3, 2020
I bought this book years ago and just found it recently. The principals are the same but some of the info on the various platforms is slightly outdated. Still good info.
December 3, 2021
I hated having to read this. I hate the idea of branding myself. This class was pretty much torture.
October 1, 2025
Great book to start branding your self..
May 20, 2017
If I could have given this book more than 5 stars, I would have! This is possibly one of my favorite books in the area of self improvement. This book is full of nuggets...too many to list out, but here are a few:
-How to take command of Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Facebook
-Building your brand and what the long-term benefits can be
-For the socially awkward - how to network and meet others
-Great advice on publishing, becoming a speaker, and finding a job
This one will remain on my reference shelf as the go-to on promoting my brand.
-How to take command of Twitter, LinkedIn, Google +, Facebook
-Building your brand and what the long-term benefits can be
-For the socially awkward - how to network and meet others
-Great advice on publishing, becoming a speaker, and finding a job
This one will remain on my reference shelf as the go-to on promoting my brand.
March 1, 2018
Although some parts of this book are now somewhat outdated, due to the ever-changing and evolving social media platforms, this is still a very good book to read if you are trying to improve your professional image and social media presence.
February 26, 2012
I enjoy reading this book. I went to the library and checked out all the books they had on topic between 2010 and 2012; this amounted to about 8, I think. Out of those 8, this is one of few that I did more than skim through and the only one I actually took the time to read.
To be honest, I didn't need them to tell me to get a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blog, etc. I already have those things. However, they did offer valuable insight on how to use these tools and as more seasoned users, they were able to further explain aspects of each service that I'd been confused by as well as give me enough tips that I feel confident that I have a leg up over anyone using these social networks but who has not read this book.
I am reading this book because I am trying to establish myself as a leader in my field, one of the best aspects of this book is that they create four profiles of the people who will probably be the general readers of this book, but who are easy to relate to even if your motives are different.
For each section of the book, they discuss how the profiles would benefit from the information just delivered and how they should use it. Again, even if its not your profile, its easy to get into the habit with them of say "how does this relate to me" and "how can I go about implementing this in my life".
The only thing that turned me off about the book and that almost made me stop reading it at the beginning was that the authors have decided to do this weird thing where they stop in the middle of sentences and paragraphs to have text message style conversations that are supposed to be humorous but are as funny as a Full House joke.
I managed to get past this and i guess that speaks to the quality of the material in the book but if the author or any affiliated with this book should ever happen to stumble across my 2 cents, please do me a favor and write your books like they are books. Have faith in your content and you don't need a gimmick.
To be honest, I didn't need them to tell me to get a Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blog, etc. I already have those things. However, they did offer valuable insight on how to use these tools and as more seasoned users, they were able to further explain aspects of each service that I'd been confused by as well as give me enough tips that I feel confident that I have a leg up over anyone using these social networks but who has not read this book.
I am reading this book because I am trying to establish myself as a leader in my field, one of the best aspects of this book is that they create four profiles of the people who will probably be the general readers of this book, but who are easy to relate to even if your motives are different.
For each section of the book, they discuss how the profiles would benefit from the information just delivered and how they should use it. Again, even if its not your profile, its easy to get into the habit with them of say "how does this relate to me" and "how can I go about implementing this in my life".
The only thing that turned me off about the book and that almost made me stop reading it at the beginning was that the authors have decided to do this weird thing where they stop in the middle of sentences and paragraphs to have text message style conversations that are supposed to be humorous but are as funny as a Full House joke.
I managed to get past this and i guess that speaks to the quality of the material in the book but if the author or any affiliated with this book should ever happen to stumble across my 2 cents, please do me a favor and write your books like they are books. Have faith in your content and you don't need a gimmick.
September 28, 2013
I picked this one up at the Hong Kong airport. I was looking to fill the 14 hour flight with something and the title interested me. I read the book cover to cover in about 5 hours. I found the materials covered to have been so well thought out, conceived and presented that even a seasoned and skeptical SM user like me learned with every page turn.
The section of Blogging, the “Dos” and “Don’t” in each chapter, the entire portion over Linked in and Facebook are all priceless. I am not one to mark or highlight a book, but this one has ink all over it. I dog earned at least 40 pages marking something important. I covered the inside of the front and back covers with notes.
These guys talk about stuff I had considered but didn’t understand enough to deal with. Like “reverse” SEO, or managing your name when there is a bad guy out there trashing his name, that you coincidently share. They cover tools, and applications, they talk about metric and how to manage data. They talk about REAL networking and network events.
Oh, did I mention that each section has a “Do and Don’t” part. They also use a writer’s aid and show how the ideas could be applied by fictional practitioners. The book even goes into the areas of becoming published. Both medias, electronic and paper, while explaining the rationale behind this. Speaking careers are also walked through. I would be remiss in not referring back to the title of the book here. “Branding Yourself.” The authors Erek Deckers and Kyle Lacy just happen to make an outstanding effort to cover WEB based SM in outstanding detail.
This is unquestionably the best book on Social Media I have ever read, and I have read a number of them. With one small disagreement over the length of person’s paper resume, I can’t say enough good things about this book. The Art of Racing in the Rain is the only book I ever bought for my people to read. This will be the second, because it is that good.
The section of Blogging, the “Dos” and “Don’t” in each chapter, the entire portion over Linked in and Facebook are all priceless. I am not one to mark or highlight a book, but this one has ink all over it. I dog earned at least 40 pages marking something important. I covered the inside of the front and back covers with notes.
These guys talk about stuff I had considered but didn’t understand enough to deal with. Like “reverse” SEO, or managing your name when there is a bad guy out there trashing his name, that you coincidently share. They cover tools, and applications, they talk about metric and how to manage data. They talk about REAL networking and network events.
Oh, did I mention that each section has a “Do and Don’t” part. They also use a writer’s aid and show how the ideas could be applied by fictional practitioners. The book even goes into the areas of becoming published. Both medias, electronic and paper, while explaining the rationale behind this. Speaking careers are also walked through. I would be remiss in not referring back to the title of the book here. “Branding Yourself.” The authors Erek Deckers and Kyle Lacy just happen to make an outstanding effort to cover WEB based SM in outstanding detail.
This is unquestionably the best book on Social Media I have ever read, and I have read a number of them. With one small disagreement over the length of person’s paper resume, I can’t say enough good things about this book. The Art of Racing in the Rain is the only book I ever bought for my people to read. This will be the second, because it is that good.
April 25, 2011
Branding Yourself is an awesome book on using Social Media to Invent or Reinvent yourself. The book is a practical, hands-on guide for creating your online presence and augmenting it with real world opportunities.
Erik and Kyle walk through the reasons self-promotion are important in today's job markets. From there they discuss how to set up Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts as well as the best ways to get started blogging. Then, using these as a starting point, they cover public speaking and writing for publications to enhance one's personal brand. Finally, all these techniques are put together to land a dream job.
With a wonderful sense of humor, Erik and Kyle weave a strategy for success. Each chapter is concluded with four case study examples that show how individuals can use the chapter's content to their advantage.
As an independent software entrepreneur, I must market myself to potential referrers and customers. This book is full of awesome tips, hints and tricks to maximize my time spent branding what I do.
Erik and Kyle walk through the reasons self-promotion are important in today's job markets. From there they discuss how to set up Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts as well as the best ways to get started blogging. Then, using these as a starting point, they cover public speaking and writing for publications to enhance one's personal brand. Finally, all these techniques are put together to land a dream job.
With a wonderful sense of humor, Erik and Kyle weave a strategy for success. Each chapter is concluded with four case study examples that show how individuals can use the chapter's content to their advantage.
As an independent software entrepreneur, I must market myself to potential referrers and customers. This book is full of awesome tips, hints and tricks to maximize my time spent branding what I do.
April 15, 2012
When you are interacting on Facebook or tweeting your buddies, what image are you portraying? Do you stand for something specific and express your best qualities or do you randomly put out information that could come back and haunt you?
No matter whether you work for someone else or own a business, it’s important that your actions (including online content) reflect who you truly are and what you want others to know about you. Branding Yourself takes you through the process of defining your brand and then using social media to promote and strengthen that brand.
Branding Yourself is presented in a semi-informal way, almost as if the authors are tweeting and conversing online. It’s a great example of real meaningful conversations that engage readers. I hope newbies take note. Far too often, when people are introduced to social media they try to strong-arm their way trying to reach as many people as possible but providing very little value. It’s rather like those annoying guys at conferences who think that the aim is to get rid of a pile of business cards.
No matter whether you work for someone else or own a business, it’s important that your actions (including online content) reflect who you truly are and what you want others to know about you. Branding Yourself takes you through the process of defining your brand and then using social media to promote and strengthen that brand.
Branding Yourself is presented in a semi-informal way, almost as if the authors are tweeting and conversing online. It’s a great example of real meaningful conversations that engage readers. I hope newbies take note. Far too often, when people are introduced to social media they try to strong-arm their way trying to reach as many people as possible but providing very little value. It’s rather like those annoying guys at conferences who think that the aim is to get rid of a pile of business cards.
Currently reading
May 25, 2012How do you use social media to promote yourself without sounding like an arrogant ass? How do you social media at all? I believe in socia media but I hardly know how to use it and I often dont post because "who the hell really cares about my life".
Branding Yourself is beginning to shed some light on this and helping me get over the fear of bragging when what I really am trying to do is promote myself.
GreenGraffiti® is a business I set up and I am passionate about it but I am also passionate about how I believe advertising can help change the world and I have a very clear opinion about the state of the advertising industry these days - A big joke and an industry more concerned with its own best interests as opposed to the best interests of its clients. Social media could be a great platform to learn more from others while being able to speak my mind not only as the founding partner of GreenGraffiti® but also as a guy who wants to see the advertising industry become more sustainable instead of becoming obsolete.
Branding Yourself is beginning to shed some light on this and helping me get over the fear of bragging when what I really am trying to do is promote myself.
GreenGraffiti® is a business I set up and I am passionate about it but I am also passionate about how I believe advertising can help change the world and I have a very clear opinion about the state of the advertising industry these days - A big joke and an industry more concerned with its own best interests as opposed to the best interests of its clients. Social media could be a great platform to learn more from others while being able to speak my mind not only as the founding partner of GreenGraffiti® but also as a guy who wants to see the advertising industry become more sustainable instead of becoming obsolete.
December 4, 2018
The wonderful thing about this book is that it got my writing and blogging engines restarted. For that, I'm grateful for all the minutes I've spent with this book.
September 5, 2014
Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself (2nd ed)
Gives the process, tools and techniques to find what your business must do to be heard in this noisy tech world.
Explains what, why and how of each tool, i.e. twitter, facebook, linkedin, to enable you to use it with confidence and skill to advance your needs.
They provide examples that cover a broad spectrum of businesses so you can see your needs portrayed.
They included a clear explanation of what SEO looks for NOW and before.
Their humor adds a laugh when the list of what to do gets overwhelming.
Gives the process, tools and techniques to find what your business must do to be heard in this noisy tech world.
Explains what, why and how of each tool, i.e. twitter, facebook, linkedin, to enable you to use it with confidence and skill to advance your needs.
They provide examples that cover a broad spectrum of businesses so you can see your needs portrayed.
They included a clear explanation of what SEO looks for NOW and before.
Their humor adds a laugh when the list of what to do gets overwhelming.
July 17, 2012
The fact that I completed a Media degree at Adelaide Uni (2009-2011) with only several references to social media (as opposed to entire courses) appalls me. So I'm teaching myself.
I was searching for information regarding corporate use, not individual, so I skimmed some of the info that wasn't relevant to me (I also skimmed some waffle because the authors write like two smarmy motivational speakers). But there were some super helpful basic tips on social media strategy in here, which is what I wanted.
A good intro to online brand marketing.
I was searching for information regarding corporate use, not individual, so I skimmed some of the info that wasn't relevant to me (I also skimmed some waffle because the authors write like two smarmy motivational speakers). But there were some super helpful basic tips on social media strategy in here, which is what I wanted.
A good intro to online brand marketing.
April 20, 2013
This is the first time I am rating a book this low. I bought this book to learn about social media and to effectively employ it for my professional career. If you have engaged in social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) then this book has nothing to add to your repertoire of social media skills. If however, social media is an enigma to you, and you get intimidated by the very word "LinkedIn" then you should buy this book, it will walk you through the scary jungle of social media.
This book lacks a mature and focused approach. I am afraid I didn't find it useful in the very least.
This book lacks a mature and focused approach. I am afraid I didn't find it useful in the very least.
March 6, 2013
I found this book to be extremely helpful. For anyone wanting to gain a better understanding of the Social Media world...this book is a must. The authors, Erik Deckers and Kyle Lacy, do a great job of taking even the most inexperienced social media newbie step-by-step through the process of setting up online accounts. In addition, the authors discuss self-promotion, branding, the relational nature of social media and how social media tools can help get your message to the masses.
November 25, 2011
I really don't know why I read this book but I didn't like it. Read like a series of blog posts bound into a book. Nothing really special at all. I would have gotten more out of Googling for an hour. But if you don't know much about branding it might be a good place to start but not anything complete.
August 16, 2012
The subtitle "How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yourself" is very clear about the contents. The authors encourage you to network, tweet, blog and use facebook to promote yourself. But they go further and encourage public speaking (with a nice mention of Toastmasters) and getting published. All in the hopes of, course, promoting your brand.
April 4, 2013
Not bad at all. A few things were not that useful for me, e.g. opening up a new blog, registering on LinkedIn and Facebook etc., but of course the book has still much to offer.
I'm only giving it four starts because my experience with social media-related books are limited, and at the moment I still feel that this book could have more to offer.
I'm only giving it four starts because my experience with social media-related books are limited, and at the moment I still feel that this book could have more to offer.
July 31, 2023
Great read - the author provides viable concepts to apply when learning to rebrand yourself and remain relevant in today's changing job market. Many of the principles are for entrepreneurs and branding their business but these can also apply when working on to reinvent your career or making a career transition.
Currently reading
January 9, 201101/09/11 - I like what I have read so far. I am still on the first chapter (I bought it last night on my way to work), and I have already found out three things I am doing wrong. I will update as I go along.
December 26, 2012
Good book, learned a lot. Now to go implement it! Glad it expanded beyond social marketing tools but the section on getting published was a little off topic. Or maybe, I wasn't prepared for a writing career in order to brand myself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews