Identifying your brand

How many of you think of yourself as a brand on social media? I posed this question to a room full of paramedics yesterday at the Ontario Paramedic Association Paramedicine 2015 Conference. As expected, only a few hands went up.

As a professional paramedic using social media, you should be thinking of yourself as a brand. How?

To begin, branding yourself will require you to sit down and think about the following:

1. What are your values? What do you believe in? What’s important to you?
2. What is your mission? Your mission defines who you are, what you do, what you stand for, and why you do it.
3. What is your vision?  This is a description of you and your brand, as you want it to be.

Things to avoid when defining your vision and mission:

1. Don’t regurgitate a description of your role/job
2. Don’t bore people
3. Don’t fake beliefs or emotions
4. Don’t be a ‘Walter Mitty’

Once you’ve figured out what these are, this will help to inform your brand.

Ok, so now you’ve identified your brand. What next? Create it! Use consistent headlines across your social media accounts, use a common photo, and professional language. Post about items that reflect your values, mission and vision. Engage and interact with your followers – they’re interested in what you have to say.

Next post, I’ll talk briefly about the importance of and how to protect your social media brand once you’ve created it.