Personal Branding through Social Media with Carlos Gil

May 14, 2015

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Have you paid attention to your personal branding across social media? Curious how one individual utilized social media to build his personal brand to score a highly desirable job at LinkedIn?

This week on the Social Media Social Hour podcast, I’m joined by Carlos Gil, the global senior social marketing manager at LinkedIn. During this episode we will discuss Carlos’ story and how to build a personal brand on social media. 

About the show:

The Social Media Social Hour is a podcast for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to get on the social media fast track. The podcast is an interview format, where each week I get up close and personal with top brands and influencers to talk social media, tech and online marketing. Each week I also share tools that I personally use to help me with social media management, sales, marketing, accounts management, and productivity. The Social Media Social Hour is presented by Scoreboard Social.

In this episode, here is what you’ll discover:

Carlos’ Story:

  • Where he is now:
    • Global senior social marketing manager at LinkedIn
      • Provides as much thought leadership as possible to the professional sales community throughout the world.
    • Corporate social media leader, speaker, and digital marketing strategist
  • His journey:
    • 7 years ago he was working in the banking industry
      • One day, he found out his position was being eliminated and he no longer had a job.
      • That same day, he turned to LinkedIn.
    • He built a profile and immediately joined groups.
      • Discovered early on that he wasn’t alone in the process of looking for a job.
      • He became inspired to help other people find jobs.
    • He started his own company, Jobs Direct USA
      • Ran his own company for almost 4 years.
        • Saw an opportunity to be at the forefront of how to leverage social media to not only connect with people but to promote his brand.
        • Companies started reaching out to him to help them leverage social recruiting.
          • Winn -Dixie offered him a job to be their first ever social media corporate manager.
    • Was recruited by Save-A-Lot while at Winn -Dixie
      • Found himself out of a job on January 5th of this year when his position was again eliminated
        • This time was very different than when he was previously laid off because he had established a network.
    • The day he lost his job he recorded a video and posted it to YouTube asking his network for help.
      • Followed up with an email sent to his professional network.
        • Went to San Francisco for an interview and while in town, he shared an Uber ride with a LinkedIn recruiter.
          • Spent $5 and had 10 minutes with the recruiter
            • The two immediately connected on LinkedIn and the next day Carlos had an email asking if he’d be interested in applying for the position he holds today.

Building a brand through social media:

  • Importance and value:
    • LinkedIn gives you access to a global directory of professionals.
    • A lot of business today is based on perception.
      • Being on LinkedIn makes you appear high on Google search results.
      • Your professional brand lives within LinkedIn.
  • How to:
    • It’s a balance between online and offline.
      • Use social media – the professional branding and networking aspects, but also the offline opportunities.
      • It’s not just focusing on one platform, but spreading yourself out.
        • i.e. carrying LinkedIn presence over to Twitter
    • The key word in social media is social.
  • Three tips for building a personal brand on social media:
    • Get on LinkedIn.
    • Be consistent with who you are.
      • Professional and personal
    • Offer as much value as you possibly can to your network.

Mentionable Quotes:

  • “If it wasn’t for me joining LinkedIn at the time that I did and really using the resource to not only build my professional brand from the ground up but also network and connect and engage with a lot of other people out there, I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing today in my career.”
  • “When you have nothing from a financial standpoint, you’re probably the most humble that you’re ever going to be in life. You start to realize the value of a relationship, of how people can open up doors for you that you cannot open on your own.”
  • “Regardless of what you want to do or what you aspire to be, you have to really have a couple things: a professional brand and you have to be connected.”
  • “Having access to people is value.”
  • “Just being on social media alone isn’t going to do anything unless you use it.”
  • “The key to social networking or networking in general is work. You have to work.”
  • “It’s not a numbers game, it’s all about quality of connection.”
  • “You’re social media network is like a piggy bank…every time that you connect with someone you’re depositing.”
  • “When you are able to meet people in person after engaging with them online it really solidifies the relationship even more.”

Carlos’ Social Media Six Pack:

  1. Have you ever solved a Rubix cube? I have tried but I’ve never solved it.
  2. Can you juggle? Not very well, no.
  3. What’s your favorite song from the nineties? I want it that way by the Backstreet Boys.
  4. What’s the longest you’ve ever grown your hair? When I was in middle school I used to have it pretty long like Nirvana days.
  5. What was the last book you read? I don’t read a lot of books, I read a lot of content online, the last book I opened up was Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
  6. Of these following social networks: Facbeook, Twitter, Youtube, Snapchat and Isntagram, which one do you personally like the least? Definitely Facebook.

Items/people mentioned in the show:

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