The world is changing, and so is the way we work. Remote work has become increasingly common, thanks to the rise of technology, and the current global circumstances. More people are choosing to work from home, and businesses have been compelled to transition their employees to work from home. The work-from-home trend has been around for years, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it more prevalent.
One challenge of working from home is building a reputation and brand. When you’re not present in an office, it can be difficult to establish a strong presence and make a name for yourself. Building your brand from home takes time, patience, and effort; however, it is essential in today’s world, where digital workplace plays an important role.
In this guide, we’ll take you through tips on how to build your brand and reputation from home.
Establish Your Online Presence
Establishing a strong online presence is a critical component of building your brand and reputation. Your online presence can put you in front of clients, potential employers, and people interested in what you do.
Create Professional Profiles
The first step in establishing an online presence is to create professional profiles on prominent social media platforms. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are good platforms to begin with.
For LinkedIn, make sure you create a complete and professional profile. Include comprehensive information about your education, professional experience, skills, and achievements. Add personal touches that align with your brand, such as a customised background image to your profile.
Twitter is excellent for fast access to new trends and real-time updates. Follow relevant thought leaders and join in the conversation via retweets or original tweets. Use a clear profile image and a Twitter handle that professional and consistent with your other profiles.
Instagram can be a powerful tool for building your brand. Use it to showcase your work and brand voice in a visually attractive way. Use consistent thematic colours and filters that align with your brand.
Maintain Consistency on All your Online Profiles
Ensure that your online profiles are consistent across all platforms to maintain a cohesive personal brand. Use the same professional picture across all your profiles, use the same bio information and try to be consistent with appearances and writing style. The more people see the same details across different platforms, the more established your personal brand becomes.
Create a Website or Blog
Creating a website or blog can add to your online presence. A blog is an excellent way to showcase your expertise in a particular field. You can create posts and articles about topics that interest you, relevant to breakthroughs in your industry or solving common customer or client problems. Write these articles regularly, to enhance your visibility and attract more readers. Additionally, bloggers may eventually monetize their content or explore new opportunities.
Your website is the perfect way of showing potential clients who you are and what you offer. Use your website as a portfolio as well, through which potential employers or clients can see examples of your past work and the services you can offer. A website should also be easy to navigate, visually pleasing, and mobile responsive.
Network Effectively
Networking used to be done physically at social or business events. Nowadays, with the surge of technology, networking can be done online or virtually. Building professional relationships need not be face to face anymore.
Join Online Groups or Professional Networks
Joining an online group relevant to your field is an excellent way to start building your network. If you’re in marketing, for example, find and join a marketing group that you can engage with. You can interact with like-minded people, ask questions and share ideas. However, you must be an active member of the group to realise the benefits of online networking.
Attend Virtual Conferences
Virtual conferences have become increasingly popular, making it possible to engage with professionals from all over the world. Attending virtual seminars allows you to stay up-to-date with trends and advances in your field, and meet new contacts without travel or lodging expenses. Amongst the registration fees, it will sometimes offer a chance to chat and connect with attendees virtually.
Engage in Online Discussions
Engagement with online discussion is another way of getting involved and interacting with professionals. You can participate in discussions groups on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or LinkedIn about particular topics. Engagement participates in online discussions generates organic traffic to your profile, and helps you get noticed as more active in your industry.
Seek out Mentorship Opportunities
Online mentorship opportunities are another way to build your reputation while also learning from someone more experienced. Mentorships opportunities offer a chance to shadow a professional remotely, avoid many pitfalls and learn valuable new skills.
Join Online Mastermind Groups
Joining a mastermind group is another way to network. These groups consist of people who share common goals and exchange ideas, advice and feedback. Mastermind groups help members tackle common challenges through scheduled meetings, brainstorming and problem-solving sessions.
Deliver Top-Quality Work
Delivering quality work is vital to establishing your reputation as a remote worker. Your work quality would speak for you, ensuring clients keep coming back to you because of your reliability. These tips can help you deliver quality work while working remotely.
Understand Client Project Requirements
When you’re working on someone else’s project, it’s essential to understand their requirements. Take time to ensure that you understand what the client hopes to achieve and how they define success. Clarify any ambiguities in the project to avoid making assumptions that might lead to miscommunication or unsatisfactory deliverables.
Communicate Regularly with Your Team
Effective communication is essential to ensure timely and quality deliverables. Working remotely, you must communicate clearly to avoid misunderstandings and align with team goals. This includes organising and attending regular virtual meetings, sharing progress reports, and providing updates on any significant developments.
Measure Performance
Set weekly, monthly or quarterly achievable deliverables, and track your progress, ensuring you meet imposed deadlines. Showing consistency with completing deliverables promptly helps to earn progress reports, which in turn help build your reputation for dependability.
Develop Technical Skills
Remote work requires a certain level of technical skills. You’ll need to have the technology and resources necessary to work remotely efficiently. Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest software and technology relevant to your field. Identify your weaknesses, such as communication or data analysis, and use online courses or webinars to improve on them.
Learn How to Use Online Project Management Tools
Working remotely typically requires online project management tools like Asana, Trello, or Slack. You need to stay up-to-date and understand how to use these tools to maximise your productivity.
Communication
When working remotely, communication is essential, and proper etiquette is necessary. A small mistake might make you look unprofessional or create misunderstandings.
Seek Out Feedback
Feedback is essential to improving your skills and building a reputation as a remote worker. Ask for feedback regularly from your clients, colleagues, or the supervisor overseeing your progress.
Ask Specific Questions
Ask the right questions that prompt helpful feedback. For example, when your client or supervisor provides feedback, instead of asking, “What do you think?”, try to ask open-ended questions like, “How can you suggest I improve that?” This approach can generate actionable feedback, provide possible solutions to problems and prevent repeats of past errors.
Use Feedback to Improve Performance
When you receive feedback, don’t be discouraged or defensive; rather, try to use it to improve your future work. Embrace your feedback with open arms and incorporate it into your work approach.
Stay Visible
Staying visible is essential, as it puts you in the forefront of people’s minds and establishes you as a professional. Work-from-home can sometimes result in becoming invisible, which can hurt your brand. Here are a few ways to keep yourself in the spotlight.
Share Your Projects on Social Media
Share the projects you’re working on via your social media profiles. Share your personal blog posts and even your collaborations with other professionals. Share photographs and short descriptions of what you are working on to create excitement around your work and take advantage of the exposure.
Celebrate Milestones
When you hit important milestones, such as completing a significant project or launching a new product, celebrate it on your social media platforms and blog. Put it out there and check off each of your accomplishments. Celebrating these accomplishments helps create visibility and emphasises the hard work you put in to get there.
Consistent Branding
Ensure consistent branding across all your profiles. Use the same design elements, colours, and bio information. This makes it easier for potential clients or employers to recognise you and reinforces your brand identity.
Conclusion
Building your reputation and brand while working remotely is different from the traditional office work. However, it is crucial if you want to establish yourself as a professional and stand out in your field. By establishing your online presence, networking effectively, delivering high-quality work, developing technical skills, seeking out feedback, and staying visible, you can enhance your reputation.