Boolean logic is part of our day to day lives, driving computers or smartphones and I suspect that I'm not alone when I confess that I'd never even heard of it until relatively recently. Maybe you've never heard of it either and if you have, do you know how you can use it as part of your personal branding toolkit?
The origin of Boolean
...thanks to the folks at TechTarget!
Boolean logic refers to a system of logical thought developed by George Boole (1815-1864) in 1854. He was an English mathematician and philosopher as well as one of the pioneers of mathematical logic that set the stage for modern computing. His goal was to combine certain concepts and exclude certain other concepts when searching databases for information. In computing, the term Boolean means a result that can only have one of two possible values: true or false.
What Is Boolean Search?
I'm going to start with the basics before exploring how you can apply Boolean Search to your personal, career of leadership brand. If you're already in the know, scroll on... IYKYK :)
When you're not tech-savvy or even if you are, discovering new things, even simple concepts can sometimes feel confusing or overwhelming so here is Boolean Search in the simplest form I can manage.
With Boolean search, you can combine different keywords and operators to narrow down your search results
- Keywords: words and phrases that you type into search engines to find what you are looking for
- Operators: simple words and symbols that connect your search words together to either narrow down or broaden your set of results. AND, OR, and NOT are the three main Boolean operators
How To: Knowing how to use Boolean operators can save you time so it's worth wrapping your brain around the how. There is a super-simple, quick guide (with examples and tips) over at Scribbr that I'd recommend taking a look at: Boolean Operators | Quick Guide, Examples & Tips
6 Benefits of Boolean Search for Personal Branding
Whether you've just learned about it, or you knew it already, let's look at the different areas of personal branding where Boolean Search has the ability to either add value or save you time by simply adding operators such as "AND" "OR" and "NOT" to your search.
1. Audience Targeting
One of the key pillars of personal branding is understanding and connecting with your target audience. Boolean search can help you identify conversations and discussions happening online that are relevant to your audience.
I recently shared thoughts around social media platforms becoming the new search engines: Is LinkedIn set to become Google for Business? which you may find useful when it comes to understanding the direction in which search is heading.
By using specific keywords and operators, you can find social media posts, forum threads, or blog comments where your target audience is actively engaging. This allows you to participate in these conversations, share your insights, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field.
2. Networking and Thought Leadership
By approaching audience targeting from a different perspective, you can use Boolean search to identify and connect with industry influencers, experts, and peers. By searching for keywords specific to your industry, such as "leadership" OR "finance" AND "networking," you can find relevant social media profiles, groups, and online communities where you can engage in meaningful discussions, share insights, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your field. You can also find industry events and aligned offline communities that can help you to grow your professional network.
3. Content Curation
Sharing valuable and relevant content is an integral part of personal brand building. Not all content that you share has to be created by you, sharing content that you've curated can be just as effective in strengthening your positioning around the things you'd like to be known for. And the curation part is where Boolean search delivers a value-add in a combination of efficiency, precision, relevance and saved time. By combining keywords and operators, you can quickly locate articles, blog posts, videos or individuals that cover specific topics or perspectives.
When it relates to personal branding for leaders and people in careers, I feel it's safe to say that most of us don't have time to create one or two original pieces of content outside of LinkedIn posts each month, let alone multiple times each week (she says whilst pulling this article together on a chilly Sunday morning in Cornwall!)
A corporate leader may use Boolean search to stay up to date with industry trends and latest developments. By combining keywords related to their industry, such as "finance" AND "technology" they can find relevant articles, research papers, and thought leadership pieces to help them stay informed and make more informed decisions. Some of this content will be articles they can then share on their social channels.
4. Competitor Analysis
Career, leadership and personal brand strategy isn't all about you! You should also have an understanding your competition, which can be time consuming and depending on the nature of the individual and competition, this is an activity which could evoke feelings of insecurity, intimidation or a general sense of not feeling good enough. Boolean search can't help with removing the feelings side of things, but it can reduce the time you have to spend conducting your competitor analysis!
By adding combinations of "AND" "OR" and "NOT" or QUOTATION MARKS "", PARENTHESES (), or ASTERISK * operators to your search when looking for mentions of other individuals or brands in your industry, you can monitor their online presence and stay updated on their activities. You may also be able to spot gaps where you can differentiate yourself or find opportunities to position yourself uniquely within your niche.
5. Online Reputation Management
Personal branding isn't a one-off, standalone activity - it is an ongoing process that should continue throughout your entire career, and in some cases beyond careers and even fewer cases, beyond a lifetime. Personal brand building should also involve managing your online reputation effectively, and this is where Boolean search can be used to monitor and assess your online presence.
By regularly (although not too regularly when it comes to your personal brand, because Googling yourself daily isn't something I'll ever encourage!) searching for your name, variations of your name, or specific keywords related to your brand, you can identify and be aware of any online mentions. With awareness comes opportunity. You can either amplify those positive mentions on social media or address them promptly if they're on the opposite end of the scale, ensuring that your online reputation remains intact.
6. Talent Attraction and Acquisition
This is not so much aimed at your personal brand but rather the personal brands of others. Whether you're a corporate leader, business owner, entrepreneur, recruiter or working in a role where you're responsible for attracting talent, Boolean search can assist you in finding the right talent for your organisation. By combining keywords related to job roles, skills, and qualifications, such as "consultant" AND "finance" AND "green technology" you can discover profiles of potential candidates who possess the desired skills and qualifications.
Boolean search is a valuable tool for personal branding, and I hope this has sparked some thoughts or ideas of how you can use it to refine your search. By using operators and keywords strategically, you can not only enhance the precision and relevance of your search results, but you can also target your audience more effectively, conduct competitor analysis, curate content, build your network and manage your online reputation.
Do you have any Boolean tips, knowledge or resources to share? What other things are you doing to build your personal brand? Reach out to Sallee on LinkedIn or follow Brandable & Co. on LinkedIn for regular people-brand insights and updates
Author: Sallee Poinsette-Nash, one of the UK's leading people-brand strategists and founder of Brandable & Co. an award-winning people-brand consultancy specialising in personal brand strategy that closes the gap between professional brands and commercial success. Sallee is also the founder of Speakable & Co. where human expertise and AI technology come together to support people, companies, conferences and global events with public speaking.