Where to build your professional brand?

Following its opening up as a free personal branding platform for professionals in Southern Africa, Who's Who has seen an exponential growth in registrations of more than 470% since opening up its membership to a larger audience in 2010.

Naspers Labs, the division responsible for taking the 100-year-old brand from an information resource about noteworthy individuals to a sophisticated social media platform, is focusing efforts on user acquisition and positioning the brand as the leading personal branding platform for professionals in Southern Africa.

During the development of the Who's Who platform, the company identified personal branding, reputation management and professional networking as key trends fuelling the adoption of social media.

Tech-savvy trendsetters have all realised the value of social media to build their personal brands and this is fast becoming a prerequisite for all who are serious about their professional and social reputation in an online environment.

Ongoing debate

"There is an ongoing debate that social media has reached a saturation point, but what remains evident is that different social media platforms each have a distinct role to fulfil, given most people have different personas for their social and professional lives. With Facebook you can share your life stories with friends, LinkedIn displays your professional background and Who's Who provides a local user-friendly platform, which empowers you to distinguish yourself from competitors by building and managing a personal brand online," says Minette Havemann, chief revenue officer (CRO) at Naspers Labs.

By creating a Who's Who profile, you determine how others see you in the professional arena, and you can showcase your professional history, skills and achievements. The rankings assigned to each profile allow you to see how you rank against other professionals in the network and serve as a yardstick for measuring areas of progress and development.

"Networking is key in the world of business and we are all familiar with the saying it's not what you know, it's who you know. The platform is also a powerful business tool which allows you to message, befriend, interact and connect with like-minded professionals and build a meaningful professional network," says Havemann.

Launching in Kenya

End February 2012, it will launch in Kenya, the first of a number of countries on the continent it plans to expand into over the next few years. Given the record of accomplishment of its foregoer and the rapid growth in social networking and blogging among internet-savvy Kenyans, the platform is also set to become a leading source of information for the media, researchers and the public.

For more, or to create a profile, go to http://www.whoswhosa.co.za/. Individuals who create a profile before 22 March 2012 stand a chance to win a 'Professional Success Kit' valued at R50 000.