#personalbranding. David M. Scott explains that “An important thing to consider is how
your online actions are a reflection of your personal branding (the image that
you project to the world)” (Scott, 2013, p. 260). He further argues, “Most
Twitter pages don’t say enough and most have crappy design. While that’s fine
if you’re just communicating with friends, if you care about your personal
brand, you need to do better. Much better” (Scott, 2013, p. 260). This is a very
important concept to consider when configuring your personal brand online.
Concurrently, an individual should also understand how search engine marketing
may impact a personal brand. As Mark Schaefer examines, “much of social media
happens in broad daylight for the world to see. And much of this information is
findable in search engines (Schaefer,
2012, p. 183).
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A key part of my professional work is not
only developing business, but more importantly, building relationships within
the financial community. Therefore, my personal brand is a key factor to my
success. When creating my personal brand campaign, it will be important to
stress my strengths in a professional manner. Thus, posting political,
inappropriate, or personal opinions via social media is not a wise move, as
prospective employers or clients may be put off by these actions. Additionally,
it will very important to have a consistent theme across all the media
platforms that I am engaged on (even personal sites).
In order to manage the effectiveness of my
personal brand, it is critical to measure its success. As highlighted in An in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of a social media campaign, it will be important
to first evaluate what stage of the Social Media ROI Cycle my brand is in
(Launch; Management; Optimization) (Turner, n.d.). Once I understand what brand
stage I am in, it will be essential to test my current strategy, as well as use
metrics to optimize my brand presence and stimulate change (Turner, n.d.).
To raise awareness of my personal brand, it
will be important to highlight how my capabilities and business approach are unique, as well as personalized, to prospective clients. Personally, I have worked in various
capacities within finance, including on a trading desk; therefore, I have a keen understanding of what motivates prospective clients, as
well as what their potential pain points are and how to solve these issues.
Shama Hyder suggests in her article, 7 things you can do to build an awesome personal brand, to “find ways to produce value” (Hyder,
2014). This is fantastic advice. By consistently
creating respected and thought-provoking content, I will be able to connect
strategically with my clients.
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Ultimately, when creating and
managing a personal brand campaign it comes down
to: design consistency, timeliness,
relevancy, valuable content, and professional demeanor. This may sound more challenging than it has to be. However, each day, we are finely crafting our personal brand through our style, behavior, demeanor, appearance, opinions, thoughts, and speech. So, why wouldn't you finely craft your personal brand online?
References
Hyder, S. (2014, August 18). 7 things you can do to build an awesome personal brand. Forbes. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/shamahyder/2014/08/18/7-things-you-can-do-to-build-an-awesome-personal-brand/
Schaefer, M. (2012). Return on influence: The revolutionary power of klout, social scoring, and influence marketing. [Kindle Version] Retrieved from Amazon.com
Scott, D. M., (2013). The new rules of marketing & pr: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, &viral marketing to reach buyers directly . (4th ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Turner, J. (n.d.) An in-depth guide on how to calculate the ROI of a social media campaign. The 60 Second Marketer. Retrieved from: http://60secondmarketer.com/blog/2013/11/17/in-depth-guide-calculating-social-media-roi/
Catherine,
ReplyDeleteThe Real Definition of Personal Branding explains that, “personal branding describes the process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence. The term personal brand is believed to have first appeared in the August 1997 issue of Fast Company Magazine, in an article by management guru and author Tom Peters, who wrote, "We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."
As you mentioned an important aspect with regards to our work life involves networking with others to help develop relationships that are beneficial to our job or company. Therefore the way we present ourselves in work situations, and online, this is now can be seen by the world is important to that networking success. Patel highlights that “branding on a business-level is common, but today branding is becoming just as important on a personal level. After all, you might work for business that works with other businesses, but its people working with people and that’s what makes business relationships valuable.” I agree that the idea of consistent messaging applies to the image we present as an employee of a company, our personal image should align with the reputation and mission of our company we represent. These areas of consistency are what help build trust and a valuable reputation among the public perception. As the Career Center specifies, “you must think, act, and plan like a business leader. With the surge of social media, you have not only the ability, but you now have the need to manage your own reputation, both online and in real life."
Kelly Apfel
References
Patel, Neil. Quick Sprout: The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal Brand
http://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-building-your-personal-brand/
The Career Center, “4 Must-Reads For Developing Your Personal Brand”
http://careercenter.umich.edu/article/4-must-reads-developing-your-personal-brand
The Real Definition of Personal Branding
http://personalbrandingwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/16005465/FrontPage
I completely agree with you, Kelly. We all need to make a conscious effort to manage our personal brand, both online and in-person, for the sake of ourselves and the organizations we represent. As our society becomes more social, it is important for us to remember that what we say online is as public as what we say at a cocktail party. Be mindful of your actions and your words. For the most part, everything online is searchable and permanent, therefore, as my father would say, use your words wisely!
DeleteCatherine,
Delete“Your Klout Score is a measure of your impact online” (Klout.com). The very idea of an algorithm defining online impact is at once disturbing and makes perfect sense. The very idea that someone or something is “better” than you goes against the very grain of what makes a strong, centered individual. How do you stack up? Where do you stand? If I were to ask a child to rank themselves amongst a group of 100 of his/her peers, I would be very disturbed if the answer were to be “I come in at around a 40.” Isn’t this what we’ve been working against as a society? To end social ranking, to end who is better than who, to end the have’s and the have not’s?
“There is nothing that presses people’s hot buttons more than an appearance of preferential treatment, and that is exactly what social scoring systems are meant to accomplish – reward the elite, or at least the perceived elite. And, that makes people angry” (Schaefer, 2012, p. 126).
I don’t currently see a trend that Klout and other online algorithms are popular amongst teens. Currently, the trend that I see is simply quantity – the number of Instagram followers or the number of snapchat followers. (Forget Facebook – that is old news to the teen set.)
It is my greatest wish that social ranking stay amongst adults, brands, or companies – and far away from children. Teens are adept at moving from one social media platform to the next with lightning speed, always trying to stay ahead of the trends, and in turn, setting social media trends. What is popular, could be passé tomorrow. Given their fickleness, it is my hope that social ranking amongst platforms does not trickle down to teens – they have enough to deal with.
Reference
Schaefer. (2012). Igniting Epidemics and Appendix A. In Return On Influence (1st ed.,
p. 126-127). McGraw-Hill.
That's so true! My little cousins refuse to have a Facebook account - what does this mean to the future of marketing? Will Facebook remain relevant?
DeleteI tend to believe adolescents and teens are safe from social algorithmic scoring, to a degree. These age sets tends to have their own means of calculating popularity and influence.
I do find the concept of rewarding influential bloggers, Instagramers, and other's as a very interesting tactic. To be honest though, it's the same old concept that was used with public figures and other trend setters, it simply has math to back it up now! :)
In 2002, I ran into a friend from middle school and she asked me if I was on Friendster. I looked quizzically at her and asked what it was. She said, "100% shameless self promotion and you have to do it!" Thirteen years and as many social networks later that is still how I view the phenomenon. The fact that her words are still with me and they were the same ones I used to recruit other friends to the early network is why I am so selective about what I share on any of my social media profiles—my shameless self‐promotion ended in 2007 when I closed my MySpace account.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I now am acutely aware of the repercussions of what I share. However, given my field of work I am expected to share left-leaning and liberal political content as it helps to reinforce the contracts I take and work I do. In a book from a previous course the authors stressed through numerous examples that people want to know a little be more about the consultants they hire beyond where they went to school and what positions they held (Deckers & Lacy, 2011) so it is important to give them a snap shot of a complete person.
You provided a great framework for creating a sustainable social media brand.
Deckers, E., & Lacy, K. (2011). Branding yourself. Indianapolis, Ind.: Que Pub.
Love your friend's quote. It perfectly summarizes the digital social experience. Professionally, I understand the valuable tool that these social platforms provide. Like you, and most of Group Two, it's the personal side of socializing that seems to be 100 percent obsessed, self promotion.
DeleteHopefully, by using frameworks similar to this, and the one your provided privately, individuals can have a clearer understanding of what-to and what-not-to post.
Great topic, Yana!