What is Personal Branding? 5 Reasons Why It Becomes So Important in 2020
If you believe only businesses, companies, or corporations should focus on branding. You might want to think again. In the digital world, everyone has a personal brand. No matter you like it or not, this trend won’t go away anytime soon.
Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization.
Wikipedia
Photo by Jeremy Bishop.
Before a job interview, it is common to google your recruiter’s online presence: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. They might do the same. What about Tinder dates? A little research doesn’t harm anyone.
Your Personal Brand Matters in the Business World
You, my friend, are a unique combination of skills, expertise, background, culture, perception, and personality. You are more than just the person that you are.
However, people do judge the book by its cover. First impression matters.
In the past, people gave out business cards as a form of self-positioning. It was a way of saying “This is who I am and what I do as a professional”.
Today, it becomes more digitally sophisticated: LinkedIn and your own personal website.
Source: Jobvite.Com
Your Personal Brand Establishes Your Thought Leadership
Know your worth, stand for what you believe, showcase your expertise, and excel at what you’re doing. Make a way to become a thought leader in your field.
The advent of social sites and the gig economy has made personal branding become fundamental.
With a solid self-positioning strategy, you will stand out from the rivals, have your own unique selling proposition, and build accountabilities with your promised employers and clients.
Manage Your Digital Reputation Leads to More Success and Opportunities
People crave for authentic experiences. They want to feel, to be heard, and to express themselves as a part of a community.
Originality, realness, and vulnerability will attract true engagement.
Massive brands and corporations now try to go small to reach out to various groups of consumers.
Consistency Builds Personal Brand Awareness
Having a clear strategy right from the start is vital. Make sure your social media accounts synchronize: name, font, color, personal information, email signature, etc. Even if you use old-school business cards, match them with the color and overall theme of your personal website.
Be consistent from online to offline. Once it represents your values, people will start “perceiving” the conception of your personal brand.
Act “you”, be “you”.
Photo by Vadim Sherbakov
It Helps Examine Your Conscious Thoughts and Feelings
By self-reflecting, self-discovering, and self-analyzing, you indirectly access your own introspection. To achieve the best results, combine it with external observations, mental observations, and spirituality.
Create the voice that you want others to listen to and bring values to the world.
Help others to achieve their dreams and goals using your personal branding strategy.
Make Sure You Are Yourself and Not Pretending
Connect with others by being authentic and vulnerable. It is how we develop friendships with strangers. You relate, communicate, and be true about it.
People can sense when someone is false and flaky. Don’t fall into this trap.
Have a look at the most successful brands on earth, there are real people behind it: Steve Jobs as the face of Apple, Elon Musk is better known than Tesla, Jeff Bezos is as popular as Amazon, Facebook has Mark Zuckerberg, etc.
It Lands New Connections and Increases Your Visibility to Potential Clients
If you are a social creature, chances are that you might encounter a lot of people in events, webinars, conferences, parties, and other types of gathering.
It is handy to have your business card ready to present, a digital portfolio, a personal website, or an Instagram nametag to scan to connect.
Opportunities come when we are least unexpected. Having a strong personal brand will highlight your passions, strengths, and professionalism. You’re always in a ready mode.
Learn How to Narrative Your Own Story
Personal branding isn’t narcissistic. It’s a strategic summary of you as an intellectual. Storytelling is the most solid way to attract the right audience.
Be innovative. Create visual content, written articles, podcasts, infographics, case studies, etc. and publish them on different paid, owned and earned media.
Smartphones are still underestimated. Take advantage of the power of the internet and increase engagements with your clients, or the audience.
Photo by Tim Marshall
Bottom line
According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process, and 43% of employers use social media to check on current employees.
Personal branding is beneficial to the employer’s perspective. The average person switches jobs every 2 to 3 years, and by 2020, freelance and contract workers will make up 43% of the U.S. workforce
Personal branding is a journey, not a goal. You should update your digital legacy real estate very often.
Keep it transparent, authentic, unique, and fresh.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
George Bernhard Shaw
3 References
This article was created by combining personal experience and sourcing from different published books, related articles, eBooks, and digital libraries.
Influencer Marketing Hub. (n.d.). What is Personal Branding? Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://influencermarketinghub.com/what-is-personal-branding/
Wikipedia Contributors. (2020, March 6). Personal branding. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_branding
Castrillon, C. (2019, February 13). Why Personal Branding Is More Important Than Ever. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2019/02/12/why-personal-branding-is-more-important-than-ever/#463f9fa42408
