Dan Schawbel says, “What makes you special” is at the heart of personal branding. Dan is the author of Me 2.0: 4 Steps to Building Your Future. He is also a personal branding guru and a member of Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30.

Personal branding is finding what’s unique in you and communicating it to others in your target audience. Branding is “tangibilizing” key strengths.

Dan gave some remarkable tips. For example, brand yourself for the position you want, not the position you have.

Simplify personal branding by focusing on branding on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Keep this simple rule in mind when using social media: contribute value to the group 80% of the time and self-promote 20% of the time.

Branding happens first online and leads to offline networking. It’s a long-term process.

The ante to play in the personal branding game today is to have a website with your name.com, or as an alternative your name.net.

Listen to the entire interview below: