Individual Branding Through Social Media
Posted by Sandy Fitzgerald on Tue, May 10, 2011
Ever wondered what your “brand” is?
If you're on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any of the many social media websites out there, you have a brand.
It's true! Even if your social media sites are being used just to keep in touch with your high school friends and current-day co-workers, you have a brand of some kind or another.
You might be a mother with young children who is interested in crafts. You might be a pet lover who volunteers at the local animal shelter.
On the other side, you might have a branding message that's not so positive. Are you branding yourself as a party animal? Or is your brand even darker – are you using your social media contacts to pass along messages of hate or violence?
No matter what you do with your social media profiles, you've created a brand.
Is your brand working for you?
Blogger Lee Odden has an interesting article about personal branding on his website. He questioned 140 professionals, mostly in marketing and public relations, about the tools they find most useful when it comes to creating your online brand.
The favorites, in order, were Facebook, personal and professional blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, networking, writing a column or getting media coverage. There were no votes cast for posting webinars, sending out e-mails or commenting on other people's blogs.
He noted that while many of those questioned didn't believe in personal branding, “My take on that is that if a person is active in their industry, engaging, sharing opinions and promoting themselves/their ideas, that it results in awareness and growing a network. Whether they believe in it or not, the outcome of becoming known and talked about by others is a personal brand.”
How true that is!
Even presidential candidates are starting to “friend” social media websites as part of their campaigns, According to a story recently released nationally, almost all of those wishing to one day prop their feet up on that Oval Office desk are joining the rest of us on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites, and they're all too happy to friend all of us – with the hopes of swaying our votes.
For example, Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty announced his 2012 presidental plans on Facebook. How's that for a status update? Kind of beats my own “eating a Fudgsicle” update from a couple of days ago, that's for sure!
Mitt Romney, not to be outdone, tweeted his candidacy. And President Barack Obama is in on the branding game, announcing his re-election bid in a digital video, which was sent out to the 13 million people online who backed his 2008 campaign.
Of course, most of us don't have high political aspirations. Most likely, we just want to get our message out there – whether we're selling a product or a service or even if we're just establishing ourselves as the go-to person for the high school reunion plans.
So, what is your brand? Here's what to remember when creating your own:
- Be honest. Don't put up a bunch of lies about yourself in order to give yourself a better brand in the public's eyes. Liars always get caught.
- Be ethical. If you make a public profile that encourages criminal activity, that profile will follow you – even if you want to go straight.
- Be careful with the information you put out there. Do you want to be seen as being professional at your job, or do you want people to come to know you as the person who complains loudly about they job you already hold?
- Get your message out there. Don't be shy about promoting yourself and your services, if that's why you've decided to jump into social media. Make it clear who you are and what you offer.
- Be careful who your allow on your site. A business owner I know was mortified recently when she discovered that one of her connections had posted a hate-filled diatribe against minorities right onto her wall, for all her clients to see. You are who you associate with.
So, what sites have you found to be most effective in creating your own personal brand? If you can't name any sites – what are you waiting for?
In these competitive days, any business that does not have a strong online presence – particularly in social media – is going to just be left behind.
Without any brand at all.