Personal branding yay or nay? – By Kimberley Stewart

You either love it or hate it.  

According to Montoya (2002) personal branding is defined as “creating the externally facing identity that you as a business project.”

Either way it’s here and it’s getting bigger.  By using social media, anybody can advertise themselves and make their own image.  Rampersad (2008 p.34) states that “everyone has a personal brand, but most people are not aware of this and do not manage it strategically, consistently, and effectively.”

Why would you want to develop a personal brand?

There are huge amounts of motivations to have a solid personal brand, and intermittently the reasons rely upon your own objectives, however here are 3 additional things to consider such as:

1. Connecting with like-minded people and networking.

2. New opportunities  could arise from show casing skills and abilities.

3. Being discoverable in a professional manner,  when being searched by potential employers.

Check out my previous post on why i would like a career in digital marketing…

Likewise it permits you to control your online image and is particularly valuable for chasing your dream job on the grounds that you can showcase your skill set and show your talents.   Montoya & Vandehey (2002, p. 16) suggest that person branding “is simply managing a process that’s happening anyway and turning it to your advantage.”  The Internet is a digital archive of everything that we have ever shared, said, posted, liked etc. and sometimes it can have a negative effect on our image therefore Personal branding and self promotion can either work in your favour or against you.  It depends on your strategic approach and most importantly how you come across online.

“Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t want plastered on a billboard with your face on it.” Erin Bury

At some point in our lives i think that we will all turn to self promotion.  We do it without even realising it!

Social Media

Even as bloggers, some of us turn to social media, to promote our work to engage fellow readers in our content.  It is an effective tool to use when trying to get your content to reach a larger audience or just to get your content acknowledged.  If you’re interested in Promoting your old blog posts using social media then check out my latest post on the-click.

Quirky Statistics Taken from Pinterest (2015)

By using online networking, you can totally control your online image, brand and shape the way others see your profile.  The most ideal approach to verify that you are conveying the most relevant message, is to…

1.  Make a consistent and steady online brand.

2. Use the most simplest approach and strategy to begin with.

3. Use social networking and link all your profiles together.

The best tools to develop a successful personal brand is with focus and a good brand technique.

You can find me on the radio…

As well as being a blogger, I try and make time to present a radio show at a local community radio station called ALLFM 96.9 in Manchester.  On my last show the topic of self promotion was discussed, it was a nice light hearted conversation about the subject.  The main thing that was said was that everyone promotes themselves, it’s natural now, look at apps like instagram where people post pictures of their life daily.  Take a listen below…

Author George Bernard Shaw suggests that;

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.”

What do you think about self promotion?  Is it something that you do?  Please share your thoughts below…

Thanks for stopping by…

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References

Montoya, P. & Vandehey, T. (2002). The personal branding phenomenon : realize greater influence, explosive income growth and rapid career advancement by applying the branding techniques of Michael, Martha & Oprah. Santa Ana, CA: Peter Montoya Inc.

Rampersad, H. K. (2008). A new blueprint for powerful and authentic personal branding. Performance Improvement, 47(6), 34-37.

Montoya, P., & Vandehey, T. (2002). The personal branding phenomenon. Santa Ana: Peter Montoya.

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