If you have had any kind of pulse on the sports world in the last 30 days, I’m sure you heard about or know of ‘The Decision,’ with LeBron James announcing his departure from Cleveland. I could debate the entire debacle until I am blue in the face, but it got me thinking about personal brands and just how fragile they are.
Tom Clark from Fast Company wrote about personal branding almost 13 years ago, and much of what he talked about still holds true today. I may be getting ahead of myself, so let me take a quick step back and provide a brief introduction to personal branding. Well, I’ll let Mashable do that: “Personal branding, by definition, is the process by which we market ourselves to others. As a brand, we can leverage the same strategies that make celebrities or corporate brands appeal to others. We can build brand equity just like them.” The average person comes in contact with roughly 70+ brands throughout the course of any given day, most of which are overlooked. The one brand that people tend to overlook as much as others is easily the most important, their own. Personal branding has been around for quite some time, but with the onslaught of technology and social connectivity, it is important to be aware of your brand now more than ever.
See, in the past personal branding was more face-to-face networking and the depth of your resume. While those are still contributors, there are many more pieces that factor into one’s personal brand these days. That little thing called the Internet, for one, has made your personal brand easily accessible for the entire world to see. With a few clicks or a Google search you can be on display for just about anyone to see. Social Networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn (and to a lesser extent MySpace) have also made it easier to quickly and easily tap into your personal brand. If you’re tagged in 200+ photos doing keg stands or dressed, um, inappropriately at a party (hey it happens to the best of us), that’s probably not the best image you want to portray for yourself or to potential/current employers…. let alone customers.
I’m not saying don’t be you, but the key here is to just be smart about how you present yourself, both in person and online. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars sculpting and defining their brands and ensuring they remain intact (as well as protecting themselves from brand hijacking). But if you don’t have that kind of money sitting around, you could spend an hour or so a day just staying on top of, well, yourself. Take a look through your various profiles, but look at them through the eyes of the most conservative person you can think of. Are there any pictures on Facebook that should probably come down? Are any of your updates on Twitter a little too personal or specific? Could you bolster your LinkedIn profile more than just your summer job from ‘03?
Can you think of any other places your brand could potentially be vulnerable?
