It’s World Cup season, and soccer has taken over the airwaves, television and Internet. The FIFA World Cup only occurs every four years, so naturally it draws a lot of hype and attention from soccer and sports fans alike. On Saturday the much-anticipated England – United States showdown captivated Facebook, Twitter, and Web forums for the duration of the match. Fortunately, this one can teach you personal brand strategies that will help you come out out on top (and hopefully not tied.)
All About Teamwork
Everyone is raving about USA’s teamwork. They seem to communicate well with each other and team up as much as possible—even if their defense is rather weak and their offense often seems to be off, but that’s another topic entirely. Your personal brand strategy needs to follow USA’s example. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are behind you, helping you promote yourself positively and efficiently should you take the time to learn how to do it right. Pass the ball to these social media outlets so you can build a real team of followers and connections, and hopefully score more than one goal in an hour and a half period. If you don’t have the time to be a team player, at least keep up on one of these sites and update the others here and there when you have a minute. In the time it takes to dribble down the field, you could have tweeted out some articles, posted updates on Facebook, and answered some questions in your LinkedIn groups.
Proactive Offense Wins Out
If you let your profiles on these sites just sit there, they will be as useless as soccer balls sitting in the middle of the field, untouched. Just as England was able to score in the first four minutes of the game from quick thinking and fast execution, with the right personal brand strategy you can score helpful connections with effort and a little bit of time as well. Retweet and reply to people you would want to connect with and who could potentially help you with your career in the future. Though they’re not going to just hand you a job—unlike Green did for the USA; thanks!—networking and making connections is never a waste of time or energy. It doesn’t take a lot of work to keep up to date on those you’re connected to and engage them in worthwhile conversations.
If You Find an Opportunity, Run with It
USA came close to taking the lead when Altidore broke away and his shot deflected off both the goalie and the post. Had he not taken that opportune moment to really turn up the heat, fans wouldn’t have the rush of excitement or much anticipation for later games. Everyone complained about how England was so much better than the USA team, but with some maneuvers like Altidore’s, he proved their team still had a lot of skill to work with as well. Don’t miss out on good opportunities because you’re too afraid to take a risk. Not all of them are going to work out, but you should never give up or get discouraged. Had USA or England stopped shooting just because they missed so many before, the scores would never have moved past 0-0. Taking risks makes things interesting, and can produce unexpected, exciting results.
In It to Win It
Even if you dislike soccer, your personal brand strategy should model after some of the main themes in this soccer match: teamwork, risk-taking opportunities, and taking action. No one wants to watch a boring soccer game where the players just idly pass the ball back and forth across the field without any effort, so don’t allow your personal brand to fall between the cracks online. Be a scorer like Clint Dempsey, an opportunity-seeker like Josey Altidore and more careful than England’s Robert Green. Before you know it, you’ll have an unstoppable personal brand.
