When I was about 10 years old I played on a baseball team. I was a shy kid (we all know that changed), but at the time I wasn’t confident enough in my ability. I complained to my Dad that none of the kids on the team even knew my name. I didn’t go to school with any of the kids, and felt like an outsider. I knew that I loved playing baseball, and my coach Mr. Hart was a great guy that encouraged me, and gave me more than ample opportunity to shine. 
One afternoon I was playing a game, and I was missing my Dad. He was working long hours at the time, and was having trouble getting to some of my games. It was a sunny afternoon toward the end of the game. I was in the on deck circle when my Dad showed up. He has obviously rushed directly to the game from the train station – he was still in his suit, and I couldn’t be happier. He came over to me, gave me a piece of trident gum, and encouraged me to swing away – “hit it just like we practiced in the backyard”. I got up to the plate and hit my first home run. The game ended and as we walked back to the car, Dad said “I think they know your name now”.
This lesson was invaluable. Before I was just a player, now I was Chris Dessi, the kid who hit the home run. In business, as in life there’s a time to be noticed. Today, more than ever social media allows you, as an individual executive to be noticed. Imagine if I hit that home run and nobody was there to witness it? That’s the equivalent of knowing your business, but not sharing your knowledge with your community.
When developing your personal brand, Drive Action Digital recommends that you keep it simple, unique and focused. Provide great content, and express your unique opinion on topics associated with your area of business. Be unique in the content you generate. Perhaps find posts about your industry, then offer your opinion in a blog post. Focus on your area of expertise and own that niche. Become a thought leader, and position yourself as a thought leader.
Once you’ve set up your social places, make sure that you have synced all of your content via services like Networked Blogs, or Hootsuite so you have some scalability and can quickly post content to each social place at once. Offering great content via your social places, and being able to track the interactions with your content, and iterate off the reactions from your community.
Over and Out.