The Importance of Personal Branding and the Role Social Media Plays
Werner Geyser describes Personal Branding as ‘how you promote yourself - the unique combination of skills, experience, and personality that you want the world to see’ (Geyser W 2021). Personal branding is about taking control of how you want to be perceived, vs allowing your personal brand to develop organically and possibly chaotically.
Why is Personal Branding so important?
o Human connection. We do business with people we like. Is this a factor
behind Eton Musk becoming the most wealthy person ever? (Ansari T, 2021)
o Standout from Competitors. Freelancers are expected
to make up the majority of the US workforce by 2027 (Basu T, 2021). Having a
strong personal brand will be key to success in such a competitive landscape.
o Authority and Trust. Positioning yourself as an authority in your field helps
build trust with your audience. Someone
may have potential but if others don’t perceive this potential, it can be challenging
to realise (Tracey B, 2017).
o Attract new clients. Maintaining a strong Personal
Brand will keep you top of mind for existing and potential clients.
Personal branding done well is
o Focused. ‘Carve a niche, then carve a niche within your niche’ (Chan G 2018). The narrower and more focused, the easier it will be for people to remember you.
o Authentic. Genuine and reflecting your personality.
o Distinctive. Stands out from the crowd and is memorable.
o Consistent. Same messages across all platforms, including offline.
Creating and nurturing a strong Personal Brand requires consistency in all forms of communication. Social media has a strong role to play
o It’s where people are. In total 60% of
Irish adults used social media during 2019 (Taylor C 2019).
o It’s possible to reach a very wide audience regularly, with
little budget.
To
maximise success of Personal Branding using social media
o Choose the platforms where your target audience are.
o Use a variety of media to educate, engage and entertain.
o Adjust content by platform. Each varies in terms of
audience and how followers interact. Richard Branson uses Facebook broadly and Instagram
for more personal posts (Branson R, 2021).
o Be consistent. Bantry photographer, Deirdre Fitzgerald,
consistently uses social media to highlight her love of the town and her photographic
skills (Fitzgerald D, 2021).
o Use insights to understand what content resonates and apply
learnings to future posts.
Bibliography
Geyser W (2021) – ‘What is Personal Branding [Free
Personal Brand Health Checker]’ – Influencermarketinghub.com (online). Available at https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-personal-branding/ [accessed 31 October 2021]
Ansari T (2021) – ‘Elon Musk Is the World’s Richest Person. He Likes to Brag to Jeff Bezos About It, Too’ – wsj.com (online). Available at https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-is-the-worlds-richest-person-he-likes-to-brag-about-it-too-11633976893#:~:text=Musk%20overtook%20Mr.,biggest%20rivals%20against%20one%20another [accessed 31 October 2021]
Basu T (2021) – ‘How to Build a Personal Brand (Complete Guide)’ – thinkific.com (online). Available at https://www.thinkific.com/blog/personal-branding-guide/?tstamp=ab5dc8bacfddbdafbe21f64186f0d3cc000360ce [accessed 31 October 2021]
Tracey B (2017) – ‘The Importance of Personal Branding’ – youtube.com (online). Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3B7OeEHGRo [accessed 31 October 2021]
Chan G (2018) – ’10 Golden Rules of Personal Branding’ - forbes.com (online) https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/11/08/10-golden-rules-personal-branding/?tstamp=ab5dc8bacfddbdafbe21f64186f0d3cc000360ce&sh=6e99cde558a7 [accessed 31 October 2021]
Taylor C (2019) – ‘Some 90% of Irish people aged between 19 and 24 use social networks’ – irishtimes.com (online) https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/some-90-of-irish-people-aged-between-19-and-24-use-social-networks-1.3944424 [accessed 31 October 2021]
Khali A (2021) – ‘Fresh juicy oranges and grapefruit served on table (photograph) on Pexels (online). Available at https://www.pexels.com/search/stand%20out%20from%20the%20crowd/ [accessed 28 December 2021]
Richard Branson Facebook page (2021) – (online). Available at https://www.facebook.com/RichardBranson [accessed 31 October 2021]
Richard Branson Instagram page (2021) – (online). Available at https://www.instagram.com/richardbranson/ [accessed 31 October 2021]
Richard Branson Twitter page (2021) – (online). Available at https://twitter.com/richardbranson [accessed 31 October 2021]
Richard Branson LinkedIn page (2021) – (online). Available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbranson/detail/recent-activity/ [accessed 31 October 2021]
Deirdre Fitzgerald Facebook page (2021) – (online). Available at https://www.facebook.com/deirdre.fitzgerald.359 [accessed 31 October 2021]
Deirdre Fitzgerald Twitter feed (2021) –
(online). Available at
https://twitter.com/DeeBantry [accessed 31 October 2021]
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