When I first heard the words ‘personal brand’ a few years ago, they meant absolutely nothing to me.
Today, I realise that I’ve been in the process of creating my personal brand for a long time. But I don’t call my journey ‘personal branding’ in my mind.
Honestly, I have a problem with the words ‘personal brand’ because it can convey an artificial façade or a false image.
In fact, a personal brand should be about unearthing your genuine self (often hidden behind any pain, trauma or negative beliefs) in order to attract jobs and relationships that are the best fit for you.
This doesn’t mean putting your heart on your sleeve for all the world to see. Far from it.
In fact, what a personal brand should do is expose your true personality and identify your uniqueness: the traits and characteristics that make you you.
What I want to focus on in this post is self-discovery and self-awareness as the path to curating an authentic digital personal brand.
The Importance of a Personal Brand
“You will accomplish what you have been put on Earth to do.”
In the last millennium, personal branding was not a ‘thing’ for most people. And there were many reasons for this. Slavery in some form, poverty, war and famine has consumed much of human history. People who are trying survive are not too concerned with figuring out who they are or trying to find a fulfilling job. Any job or behaviours for obtaining shelter and food will be the only course of action taken.
However, the wealthy in different societies understood personal branding, although they didn’t call it that. They usually expressed their brand in fashion. For example, Queen Victoria was known for her ever present black dress and severe hairstyle after the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert. Along with her severe countenance, it became her signature look i.e. her personal brand.
But in this millennium of knowledge, technology, higher education and greater abundance in food and shelter, as a society, we have become more concerned with self-actualization à la Mazlow.
Enter personal branding.
The fulfillment you receive is directly related to what you give. Social media is one of the main ways in which we ‘give’ ourselves to the world. In fact, most people turn to social media as a way of announcing major life decisions or events. For employers and clients, search engines are now the primary research tool.
In this context, I think that it is important to curate an authentic social media presence which demonstrates who you are. This digital expression of your values and passions will become your personal brand.
However, you must be intentional.
Remember friends, beauty fades but the internet is forever.
Who are you?
“You are beautifully and wonderfully made.”
Honestly, I think that a personal brand benefits you much more than prospective employers or clients because it requires self-discovery.
Who are you? Who do you want to be? Why?
FYI, I’ve talked about the importance of understanding yourself before when discussing what’s holding you back from a career that you love.
For the purpose of building a personal brand, I would encourage you to understand yourself primarily in terms of passions, values and virtues. For example, values and virtues are honesty, loyalty, kindness, gentleness, generosity etc.
On the other hand, your passions are activities that you love to do and may also be good at. Examples of passions are your love for dogs or hair.
As your career path unfolds, you may supplement representations of your values with posts highlighting your technical development and competence.
Obviously, having struggled with self-discovery myself, I know first-hand that this may not be an easy matter.
Use the form on this page to download some questions that I’ve asked myself which have helped me in my own path to self-discovery (if you’re interested in that sort of thing).
[email-download-link namefield=”YES” id=”3″]
However, before you complete this exercise, I would recommend reading this.
Note to self: This exercise should also help with your resume summary.
On your journey to self-awareness, you may become aware of trauma or brokenness from experiences in your past, particularly your childhood. I’m a massive believer about the impact of our childhood on our adulthood (from personal experience). These matters cannot be fixed by a few simple questions.
As a mental health advocate, I really encourage you to seek the counsel of a qualified mental health clinician or practitioner to help you heal and move forward in your life. The old adage of understanding history to make sense of the present is especially true for our inner selves.
Simple Steps for Curating a Personal Brand
“You are meant to live an abundant life without worry.”
As I’ve said before, I really believe that you get what you give. And while it is scary to dig into the past and heal from it, it is worth it.
Once you’ve done the work on yourself and your mindset, actually shaping your digital footprint to reflect your new self-awareness is relatively simple.
Let’s get into it.
Google yourself.
A Google search is a great starting point because it gives you a baseline. You will be able to understand what content (good and bad) is associated with your name or other people with the same name. As a result, a Google search extremely useful.
For example, if an internet search reveals that you are easily confused with someone who doesn’t match your values, consider using your initials in professional correspondence.
Create a Google alert for your name.
This is very simple and massively effective for the same reasons I identified above. Just go here to do it.
Clean up your current social media feeds.
Especially if you are, or plan to be, in a creative field, ensure that the layout, post content and photographic style used emulates your special artistic flair.
Pay attention to your privacy settings.
This is extremely important, especially for platforms like Facebook that are able to collect massive amounts of personal data. Social media platforms update their privacy policies regularly. Ensure that you stay on top of the latest updates and adjust your privacy settings to suit what you hope to gain from the platform.
Purge if you need to.
Even if your social media is private, once it’s on the internet, it’s not private. Therefore, make sure that the posts you have and the people you follow align with your values.
Delete old pictures or posts that don’t represent your values today as far as possible. I know that a screenshot could always trip you up before deletion but you can only do your best at any given moment.
Consider using your social media platforms to engage with and learn from other professionals.
If your profile is not set to ‘private’, I think that it is best to use your chosen social media platform as a professional interaction. Consider applying the usual YouTube spiel (comment, like, subscribe) when beginning to interact online with both established and up-and-coming professionals.
Pay attention to your contract about social media usage and confidentiality.
This could cause you to lose your job/gig and/or get sued. As a result, you need pay attention to the details friends. And, please, don’t display the location of the secret facility to your contacts.
Think before you post.
I would recommend being intentional about the words and pictures that you post. If it doesn’t personify your values, it’s a blip. Don’t post it.
One negative thought does not a pessimist make. We all may have thoughts or feelings that are out of character sometimes. That’s okay. What may not be okay is for that one thought to become fossilized in the internet for eternity.
Not everything that you think needs to be expressed.
Be intentional with your social media friends. It has great power and therefore needs to be used responsibly (just like Uncle Ben said).
Do not use your social media when drunk, high or experiencing any extreme emotion.
This advice ties in to the previous point and seems obvious, but it’s clearly not.
If you remember nothing else from this post, please remember this.
As I like to say, decisions made in haste are usually regretted.
Get a great profile photo that plays into your value system.
Using social media to create a personal brand requires an awesome profile photo. I’m not talking about airbrushing and editing and that sort of nonsense.
You are beautiful just the way you are.
I’m talking about simply taking a great photo that highlights your beauty for your profile picture.
What makes a great photo is often a great photographer and a little maquillage magic. A great photographer can emphasize your best features and capture expressions that are pleasing to the eye.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t take a great selfie (in fact, I know some selfie queens). But whatever your selfie looks like should exemplify the values with which you want to become associated.
If you know that you can’t take a good picture, consider investing in a session with a reputable photographer and maybe even a make-up artist/stylist. It really makes a difference. You may even surprise yourself!
Be yourself.
Highlight the good things about you, such as your love for dogs, your eclectic travel mug collection or your gardening attempts. You are not seeking perfection here with curation.
Who you are is enough.
While your actions may not always be good, you, my friend, are good.
In summary, I think that a personal brand should be your digital expression of curated and authentic self-awareness. And it’s simpler to achieve than you think. You just have to put in the work on yourself.
Friends, what do the words “personal brand” mean to you? Do you think that a personal brand is important? Where are you on your self-discovery journey?
Let’s talk about it in the comments below.
Until next week, go forth and be awesome.