First impressions have gone digital, and people—whether a headhunter for a Fortune 500 company, curious colleagues, or fellow conference participants—are meeting the digital you even when the real you is otherwise occupied. Within the pages of Digital You: Real Personal Branding in the Virtual Age, William Arruda makes the case for why the digital you “needs to be as magnetic, human and engaging as the real you.” More importantly, he details with great clarity exactly how to make that possible.
When Arruda—founder of Reach and CareerBlast.TV—penned this book, people knew little about personal branding. Even today, many people cannot tell you precisely what branding is about. And if you really what to render someone speechless, ask them to tell you about their personal brand.
Cleanly divided into four parts, Arruda’s thorough guide on personal branding describes the different versions of you: real, virtual, visual, and social. Readers begin the journey to strengthen their virtual presence by gaining a deeper understanding of who they are in real life.
Fun facts, pop quizzes, and brand hacks strategically scattered throughout Arruda’s book facilitate introspection and help make your journey to discovering the digital you an interactive and intriguing experience. By the time you are halfway through this 200-pager, you will have gained insights into your own personal brand and will have been tasked to use those insights to create a bio that’s LinkedIn ready.
Arruda wants readers to see digital branding as an exercise in translation—that is, translating your own real-world narrative into a healthy digital brand. He guides you to uncovering and building your personal brand but takes it a step further by describing how to manage your digital presence in virtual spaces, such as LinkedIn. By offering practical tips from how to make your mark in virtual meetings to how people with common names can stand out online, the book is the prototype of practicality.
Another highlight of Arruda’s read on personal branding is the comprehensiveness of his perspective. He explains how others qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate individuals’ online presence. A struggling virtual presence says much more about you than you realize, Arruda suggests. Lots of content about you online could mean you must have something to say, while little or no content may send the opposite message.
Many will find that this isn’t a one-time read to pass on to a colleague but rather a comprehensive reference tool for professionals who choose not to leave their digital presence to happenstance. In plainly laying out the principles of personal branding, Arruda eradicates all excuses for readers to have digital brands that struggle to represent their true competence or charisma. “All strong brands are clear about their story,” says Arruda. Pop quiz: What’s yours?
Join Arruda on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET for a live session, where he will answer questions about personal branding.
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