Your identity becomes more and more visible on the web and therefore also more and more important. Think of a job-interview. How do people you know encode the verbal and non-verbal digital messages you send out through the web? Think of pictures, topics you comment on, your brands on Hyves, friends on Twitter and on and on.
Some interesting stuff to read:
The Three laws of online personal branding
The Difference Between Marketing, PR, Advertising, and Personal Branding
Quicksprout - a blog about Branding yourself for success
Personal Branding Blog, by Dan Schawbel
To be clear: everyone has his own personal brand. It contains thoughts from others about you. Branding is about recognize these thoughts and work (strategy) towards a more positive image of you on particular levels (segmentate/target!!) and at a particular target group.
The most difficult part of personal branding is discovering your personal brand. What position do you actually want to take in the minds of your ‘brand community’? For what projects or tasks are you the only one solution? It is about finding out your talents and strenghts and making choices and focus on core qualities. One of the things that can help you is the www.personalbrandassessment.nl . If you want a (free) trial, just let me know.