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This past weekend, Brenna and I went down to Orlando, Florida for a social media and blogging conference – IZEAfest.

I must admit, as a conference virgin, I didn’t know exactly what to expect…but I learned a lot of really great stuff there…and now in the spirit of what I learned, I want to share it with you : )

Below are my top 10 takeaways from the event. If you’re looking to build a personal brand online, these are some great tips to keep in mind.

1. Know what your mission is and what you’re trying to accomplish. When building your personal brand and your social network, you need to have a goal in mind. What do you want to accomplish? Sarah Evans told us how one of her missions was to better the communication lines between journalists and PR pros, and so she started #journchat on Twitter. Liz Strauss talked about just needing to keep a blog goal in mind to force herself to focus and stay on track. What’s your mission? Do you have goals in mind for where you want to go? It might be a good time to sit down and outline these.

2. Keep it consistent. Once you start building your personal brand, keep all the elements consistent. Find your tone, your goals, etc. and stick to them! The internet is a big place, so you need to own your online identity. Don’t let it get lost in the clutter! Ted Murphy even discussed the importance of logos and design elements to tie everything together. Why not treat your personal brand just like a company brand?

3. Do it because you love it. If you’re trying to become “internet famous” then you’re in it for the wrong reasons. Work to become an influencer because you love to enrich lives, teach and empower others, to champion a cause, etc…NOT to get rich. Be genuine. As Aaron Brazell said, influencers are unsung heroes. They do it because they love it, not to get famous!

4. Be the same online as you are off. Transparency is equal to trust, and trust is the key to being successful. This was a topic numerous speakers hit on and is truly one key to building a successful personal brand. Think about it: if you’re awesome online and terrible in real life, who really wants to be your friend? Just be who you are – online and off. And when you’re beginning to build your personal brand, keep that in mind. As Chris Heuer said, “If you have to change yourself to fit the brand you created, you’ve failed already.”

5. Give, give and give some more. This was a recurring theme throughout numerous presentations at IZEAfest. If you’re trying to build your network, give to your followers more than you are looking to receive back. Everyone wants to know “what’s in it for me?” If the answer is “nothing,” then why would they want to follow you? You will be successful in your personal brand by continuing to create value for others. So share interesting links, promote other in your network and continue to give as much as you can.

6. The best time to build a network is when you don’t need one. Another great piece of advice from Sarah Evans, and this one kind of ties into the notion of “give, give, give.” If you jump on Twitter today and immediately try to start selling me something, I don’t really want to connect with you. However, if you provide value to my network now and truly become a part of my community, down the road when you do need me, I’ll be more likely to want to help.

7. Create relationships. Social networking is all about relationships and this point ties in with the above two. I mean, “social networking” says it in the name, right? Build a community around you by empowering others. Connect to people…and not just people in your industry but people in other industries as well. Chris Brogan had a good example for this one: if you’re a banker and you only know other bankers, when the banking industry tanks, what are you going to do? But it all goes back to building a network before you need one…

8. Find a cause you believe in. Ted Murphy started day 1 of the event talking about causes, and Sarah Evans and Aaron Brazell touched on them as well. If you have a powerful network, you also have the power to champion a cause and potentially inspire others to do the same. Sarah told us about her work with Crisis Overnight and how she was able to harness her network to raise enough funds to keep a crisis center from closing its doors forever. To me, that’s one of the most compelling reasons to build a strong network and amazing proof about the power of social media. So don’t just build your network for you, build it for a cause you’re passionate about.

9. Respond. Don’t react. Be thoughtful in what you do online. While we all may want to flip out in the heat of the moment, a true influencer steps back for a second and comes back with a response, not a reaction. After all, the internet never forgets – always remember that!

10. Move forward. Set goals, achieve them and then move on. Chris Brogan used a good example in his presentation: if you beat level 1 in Super Mario Brothers, you move on to level 2. You don’t want to just play level 1 forever. The same is true for personal branding and life. Assess your goals often. Sit back and take a look at where you’ve gone and decide if it’s time to move on to the next goal.

Thanks to the presenters at IZEAfest for this great list!

Do you have some tips of your own to add? Let’s discuss in the comments section!