Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success Paperback – 1 April 2009

Ideal for those at the starting point but helpful reminders when you're fully in your stride too. A nice, easy to read book.

Personal branding is described in the first few pages of Me 2.0 as the process of "unearthing what makes you exceptional and developing plans to use that to demonstrate value and achieve your goals." This is precisely the task ahead for individuals engaged in career development, especially those transitioning from one occupation to another. This book is targeted at college students and young professionals, so don't expect scholarly writing in this down and dirty, first-hand account of how one guy creates and uses his brand to reach his ultimate goals. Instead you'll get straight from the gut writing, highlights of branding success, and numerous methods and tips for moving forward with your brand. Schwabel is young, and that comes out in his writing, but that does not diminish the excellent ideas and suggestions he provides along the way. You'll find quite a bit of good advice on developing a personal brand, as well as how to sell your brand using the multitude of options on the Internet. Additionally, you'll learn why and when to use branding techniques. Me 2.0 is well worth the read as you work toward marketing yourself toward a successful future. And for the older readers out there, you'll discover all you you need to know about making the Internet work for you when you are re-entering the workforce, transitioning your career or just getting the next job in your career path.

Great

I purchased Dan Schawbel's book, Me 2.0, in Spring 2009. Since that time, I've diligently studied and implemented Dan's advice particularly in creating and promoting a personal blog. Dan is the lead author and founder of the Personal Branding Blog and Personal Branding Magazine. He's a nationally recognized expert, and I avidly read his blog for helpful insights relating to online personal brand management. Dan also has a number of talented, contributing authors to the Personal Branding Blog such as Chad Levitt and Jun Loayza whose articles I regularly study.Me 2.0's target audience is the Generation Y demographic. The book provides excellent guidance on interview preparation, interviewing skills, and professional networking that I wish someone would have shared with me 20+ years ago. Young undergraduates and graduates competing in today's job market should heed Dan's guidance. These two Wall Street Journal articles provide sobering evidence: With Jobs Scarce, Age Becomes an Issue: More Young Workers are at Risk of Layoffs as Employers Grow Wary of Letting Older Employees Go and The Curse of the Class of 2009: For College Graduates Lucky Enough to Get Work this Year, Low Wages are Likely to Haunt Them for a Decade or More.Furthermore, 40-Something Working Professionals (like me) can tremendously benefit from Me 2.0's advice on online personal branding. According to Me 2.0, effectively creating and promoting a blog are foundation principles in successful online personal branding. Until I started studying Me 2.0 and Dan Schawbel's free eBook, Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success, I had no idea about "the basics" and overall commitment required to effectively create, optimize, promote, and maintain a blog. These two resources educated me on purposefully:* Positioning my knowledge about a subject I'm passionate about (e.g., social media strategy)* Establishing my personal brand online (as evidenced by Google Search Engine Page Results / SERPs on my name)* Optimizing and promoting my blog via search engine marketing and by commenting on other bloggers' blogs* Evaluating and selecting a blog hosting service such as TypePad or WordPress* Claiming my blog on [...] (and other relevant steps to "owning" my online identity)I've been executing Me 2.0's lessons in professionally branding myself as an inbound marketer and social media / digital marketing advocate. In addition, writing my Social Media Reinvention Blog and earning the Inbound Marketing Certified Professional designation are cornerstones of this branding strategy. The online publication of my new blog, catalog of comments on other blogs, and tweets on Twitter will credibly present my personal wherewithal and knowledge in a Web 2.0 world.Studying and implementing Me 2.0's lessons provided me the "hands-on guidance" I required to purposefully build and shape that knowledge.

I appreciate what Dan does in this book. I think his insights are good. He is bringing the topic of personal branding to a new generation -- Gen Y. He uses some good, solid information to back up his claim. Dan clearly gets it in regards to bringing the concept of product branding to one's personal and professional life. In that way, the book is good.However, the book is so poorly written that I had to put it down. In my opinion it's un-readable. I'd stick with his blog, which is much clearer to understand."Personal Brand Guru" -- well, I'm not sure about that. Tom Peters is the personal brand guru. Dan is simply a guy who understands branding and marketing and is able to share his insights with his generation. What Schawbel DOES understand is how to get his foot in the door to get some press and then how to leverage that to get more press. We could all learn something from him in this regard.Sean HarryAuthor,  Career Crossroads Career Management Solutions of Oregon Career Crossroads