Personal Branding

Personal branding is something that companies and self-employed individuals have to be aware of, because that is how others will see them. This is something that I have given a lot of though, because I will graduating university soon and will be on the job market looking of a job in the games industry as a character artist. I don't have the financial capability as a company that has an entire marketing department that is branding the company and selling the company as to what they have to offer and I don't have the connections in industry like people that have worked there even for 1 year, but everybody had to start from the beginning.
Through my research and what I have seen as examples of how other artist have used social media, like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to create there own brand and make their mark in the job market. Some artists like Torfrick and Maciej Kuciara, have created a Facebook page or profile on which they post images, tutorials etc of their finished work and work in progress. They also share information on projects they have worked on and might mention other artists that they have worked before. This is a very useful way of creating connections and getting yourself noticed in my opinion and is something that I would like to try.
What I think is the best thing to do, is to create a Facebook page on which I will post weekly or monthly updates of my work in progress and images, research and videos of my previous work. This is useful, because people that will like my facebook page will begin to follow me and receive updates from me, which they can share and their friends can see that and also like my page, that way I can build a small community of followers, who can be casual people, other artists, requiters and industry professionals. Another way of using Facebook is by joining an art group on which you can post your work and get feedback and reviews form artists in different fields. I think that this way you will have to opportunity to create even more connections, because the more you put yourself out there the better chance you have that people will notice you and you will be contacted by a requiter or art director etc.
In the same way I will approach to use Twitter, to create a professional account on which I will post my work and this way when I follow other artists the people that follow them will be able to see my work and maybe follow me in return. Whenever, I tweet my work on my twitter account, people can retweet that and more and more people can see it and have access to it and my profile, so this way I can also create a small community of people. But the best part is that I can join these two communities on Facebook and Twitter and this gives me an amazing opportunity and chance to be noticed.
Another way that I have approached is by creating a Linkedin profile, but in my opinion this could be used on the more professional side of your brand, a bit of history about you that requiters will like to see. One way that I have found Linkedin to be useful even during my studies is that most of my lectures are ex or currant industry employees and they have connections with people in industry. Therefor, by connecting with them on Linkedin, I can have access and communicate with other people in industry from art directors to character leads to get feedback on my work or advice on a university project.
I made some researched and found that another good way to get noticed is by taking part in online 3D contests, like polycount, autodesk etc. I read an article which was an interview of a character artist in Unreal that got noticed by them after competing in such a contest and he was saying that this could be used to present yourself to other artists and people in this community whether or not you win you will still be noticed.
How I have decided to approach my personal brand is by creating my portfolio in Artstation, which allow me to follow other artists and they can follow me in the directory of the website. On this portfolio I will have links to my Facebook page and Twitter account, on which people will have access to a lot more of my work and see what methods I have used and research I have done in my work in progress. And I will use Linkedin to create a more professional profile of myself to which employers and requiters can have access to my CV, job experience, projects that I have worked on etc and used it to create connections with industry professionals to communicate with them and receive feedback.