Description
This week we’ve explored the new trend of building a personal brand.
Where do you stand? Do you think it’s a good idea or just a passing fad? Will it become the industry standard, as more and more people become independent contractors and change jobs frequently?
Your post should cover the following areas:
- What are your opinions on this current trend?
- What components of personal branding do you think you’ll use? Some? All? None?
- What is your rationale for your choices?
- What do you think are the most effective ways to establish a compelling online presence?
- How would you brand yourself?
Respond to Your Peers
After you have done with your initial post. Please respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts in a substantive way. Remember to keep your input constructive and positive, particularly if you disagree with someone’s position. Solutions live in constructive conversations in the middle, not in screaming matches from opposite sides.
Peer’s post #1:
”
-
What are your opinions on this current trend?
Honestly, for the average person, I believe it?s largely self-indulgent. When the HR department receives a metaphorical stack of resumes, they are looking for quick way to
disqualify
you for a job. Unless you are in marketing related fields, I see self-branding (as described in this week?s material) as more of a liability than an asset.
-
What components of personal branding do you think you’ll use? Some? All? None?
Very little. I understand the value in controlling the narrative. Maybe I don?t want random tidbits of my life to be the top search results. I may create a LinkedIn profile because in today?s digital world, it?s suspicious if an individual does
not
have a digital footprint. I want my future employer to look at my profile and say,? She looks boring?.
-
What is your rationale for your choices?
At the end of his post-doc, my friend with a PhD in a STEM field was looking for a new job (reader beware of shitty PI?s and listen to your gut). Being the incredibly talented scientist he is, he recorded his job search data. Last year he filled out over 400 job applications, received three call backs and one in person interview. He is currently employed based on a personal recommendation. It doesn?t matter how awesome you are on paper, you still need that personal network to get your foot in the door.
While not as extreme, my husband?s job search mirrors the story above. An individual will stay employed based on what they can do; they will get the job based on who they know. Focusing on personal branding feels foolhardy when it?s still all about your personal, offline social network.
-
What do you think are the most effective ways to establish a compelling online presence?
As stated above, I believe self-branding is useful in marketing related fields. When a regular person is vetting a person or a business, it?s important to visit their website and read reviews. For example, when I hired a wedding photographer, I went to her website to see her work. If I was married today, I would also check her social media accounts. A website and social media accounts are effective ways of maintaining a positive online presence.
-
How would you brand yourself?
I won?t. At least not in an officially orchestrated way. In my desired line of work, I see my lack of online visibility as an asset.
Peer’s post #2:
“What are your opinions on this current trend?
I personally don?t see the trend as an issue, today a majority of influencers brand themselves using social media apps and people will buy into anything on the internet. If you create a name, a persona and present yourself as confident/celebrity like individual you automatically build your name using personal branding tactics throughout social media. Personal branding can influence future business opportunities for yourself and using the internet is the best place to do it.
What components of personal branding do you think you’ll use? Some? All? None?
For my future job I would probably use a lot of social media tactics for personal branding, such as sharing my work or business information using programs such as linkedin to share current resume and goals for my business.
What is your rationale for your choices?
I?ve noticed a lot of people with great businesses, companies all use their name and logo and brand their work. Social media is so widely accepted and used to build your personal brand, and specific resume building software makes it so easy to market to your specific audience.
What do you think are the most effective ways to establish a compelling online presence?
I think the best way to present yourself online for business opportunities is in a clean and proper manner to suggest professionalism. But this also can depend on your career interests if you want to be highly booked photographer for travel shoots, you?d want to present all your photography in the best way possible. If you?re an aspiring fashion designer you?d want to showcase your artwork and designs and target an audience who will buy into your online presence for self-promoting and brand promotion.
How would you brand yourself?
I would probably create a website to showcase my work and resume, this would also include having a proper social media appearance on social media sights like Instagram. I would create a linkedin profile to share the link to all my socials, business contact information and website link. I would also need to focus my personal branding towards my specific audience to make a profit.”
THIS WEEK MATERIALS:
– What is a Personal Brand? (pdf file attached below)
–
Tell me about yourself: Chapter 2-3 (pdf file attached below)
–
Personal Brand Creation in the Digital Age: Theory, Research and Practice by Mateusz Grzesiak (2018)
For an overview of the origins of personal branding, read Chapters 2 and 3 from the following resource:
Chapter 2 – Personal Branding: Its Essence Goals and Classification
https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezp.lib.cwu.edu/ehost/…
Chapter 3 – Personal Branding and the Challenges of the Information Revolution
https://web-s-ebscohost-com.ezp.lib.cwu.edu/ehost/…
– Leveraging the WWW for Career Advancement (Pdf file attached below)
What is a Personal Brand?
I’ll save you the trouble of asking Wikipedia:
“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.”
Your personal brand and your digital footprint are linked – permanently intertwined. Every
component of your footprint, whether a social media account, a review, a guest blog post, or a
backhanded comment on a YouTube video form part of your brand representation.
It’s easier to understand though, if we look at a few examples:
Robby Leonardi (Links to an external site.)
He is a freelance designer, illustrator and animator living in NYC. Instead of a traditional
portfolio or online resume, he channeled his skills and talents into creating an interactive resume
“game”. It showcases his talents while conveying information.
Sean Ogle (Links to an external site.)
Fair warning – this site is going to come with lots of pop ups and “deals”. Why? Because Sean
has made his personal brand his livelihood. He wanted to travel the world and own his own
business. Now he does. What is his business? Teaching people how to start freelance and/or
lifestyle businesses.
Ash Ambirge (Links to an external site.)
Founder of “The Middle Finger Project”, she is probably the epitome of being oneself.
Oprah Winfrey (Links to an external site.)
She is an extreme example – but if you think critically about her career, what she’s really done is
build a rock solid, consistent brand. And billions of dollars. Seriously.
As with any tool, personal branding can be used for good or evil.
It can be enacted with sincerity and purpose, or it can come off as fake and contrived. It can also
be a chore to maintain over time, demanding consistency, frequent content construction, and an
ever-evolving strategy.
CHAPTER 2
Personal Branding
This chapter at a glance:
? Why are personal brands important?
? Definition of terms
? The evolution of personal branding
? Online social entertainment
? How to develop and maintain your brand?
? What makes a personal brand successful?
The Blonde Salad
Real Name: Chiara Ferragni
Country: Italy
Social Media: Blog and Instagram
Her Story: Chiara Ferragni, a 28-year-old Law student at Bocconi
University in Milan, is one of the most successful bloggers to transition from amateur to professional. Starting The Blonde Salad in 2009,
a fashion blog where she broadcasts her interests in fashion, photography, travel, and lifestyle, Ferragni quickly became a success online and
currently receives over 110,000 daily hits on her site. However, that
was only the beginning. Her blog generates only 30 percent of her revenue. Ferragni started forming partnerships with fashion brands and is
expected to earn a total of 8 million dollars this year. She now has her
shoe brand which has become unbelievably fortunate.
(James 2018)
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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
Why Is Personal Branding Important?
To begin our investigation into the development of personal branding
in business, we need to first examine specific key and relevant theoretical
constructs. This chapter provides an understanding of how branding theories can be extended to include humans. Moreover, this chapter explains
how social media has had an immediate impact on the development of
personal branding.
Personal branding has evolved as an essential strategy for working ?individuals. The proliferation of social networking websites such as
?Facebook and YouTube allowed online users to develop stronger brands
to display their skills and passions. Greer (2010) writes that ?in a business
world that?s increasingly dominated by social media, mastering the ability to sell [oneself ] in cyberspace has become one of the most important
skills a worker can possess? (p. 30). In simple words, an online personal
brand is someone?s resume with unique personality characteristics.
Personal branding can offer a vital competitive advantage in today?s
job market. The competition for finding a good job is fiercer than ever
before, and the chances to stand out from the crowd are limited. Too
many candidates hold university degrees and other kinds of credentials.
Formal education does not seem to offer the competitive advantage as it
used to in the past.
Nowadays, companies look for talents and natural-born leaders who
will move the business forward. The pool of candidates is not limited to
geographic locations. Any candidate from anywhere in the world can look
for available jobs and apply online. Academic scholars investigate the best
practices of personal branding to explain the means and methods people
use to advance on their career (Gandini 2016; Gehl 2011; Harris and Rae
2011; Khedher 2015; Lair, Sullivan, and Cheney 2005; Rampersad 2008;
Schawbel 2011). In today?s globalized business environment the need to
differentiate ourselves demonstrates personal leadership skills.
One?s online image and reputation can be a differentiating factor
among other job candidates (Gandini 2016). People are aiming for personal and professional success, and the notion that ?if you do not brand
yourself, others will? (Kaputa 2006, cited in Shepherd 2005, p. 590)
?appears to be an inconvenient truth. It seems that if you do not have an
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online account, recruiters get suspicious that you are hiding something.
Personal branding is not only a YouTube channel or a LinkedIn account.
It is everything that can be found online and relates to your name.
Social media is a powerful tool for personal branding. Users are willing to upload too much personal information online. The intention primarily is to communicate with their friends and to keep up with what?s
going on in their social circles. Nevertheless, any news, images, and comments they share online become their digital footprint that anyone can
see. If a recruiter was to search for a potential candidate, any available
information could be used either for or against the candidate.
Personal branding is not a fad, and we should not neglect it. The
knowledge of how brands are created could be used toward someone?s
professional success. People should know the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to their brand name. We try to impress a recruiter
during a job interview by expressing the best of ourselves. So, why aren?t
we doing the same when we share information about ourselves online?
In broad terms, personal branding is how the audience perceives us.
Which search keywords lead to our name? In what follows, we quote several brand-related terms to further our knowledge of personal branding.
Definition of Terms
Brand: An emotional association with the image or name of a particular company, product, or person.
Brand image: How the marketplace perceives the product/service.
Brand identity: The marketing strategy to achieve a unique brand
image.
Brand positioning: How marketers position the brand by the market
competitors.
Brand personality: A set of human characteristics that are attributed to a
brand name such as sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication,
and ruggedness. Consumers see and treat the brand as a human being.
Personal branding: The effort of individuals and entrepreneurs to
?differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether
professional or personal and then leverage it across platforms
?
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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal?
(?Schawbel 2010, p. 6).
Self-presentation: A personal effort to communicate information
to other people by displaying our skills and qualities (Labrecque,
Markos, and Milne 2011).
Self-promotion: ?Promoting one?s self, events, accomplishments,
?victories, defeats, problems, and lessons learned to increase one?s visibility to and awareness by others? (Deckers and Lacy 2012, p. 5).
The Evolution of Personal Branding
Personal branding is about expressing your authentic self by allowing
you to be the person you are meant to be. The process of personal branding
will help connect with your unique promise of value and employ it in
the world. Your brand acts as a filter to help you make decisions that are
congruent with who you are and what you stand for. It identifies what
makes you unique and communicates your individuality to the people
who need to know about you. (Chritton 2013)
Personal branding is about telling your unique story through words,
visuals, tweets, and shares. It promises that people have equal opportunities to market themselves through the Internet and social media.
?Marketing strategies and theories that have been employed to brand products and services can now be extended to brand humans. This is not a new
concept though. Kotler and Levy (1969) discussed how marketing efforts
could be applied not only to products but also to services, persons, and
ideas. Today, the notion of humans being a brand is recognized among
researchers because humans ?1) can be strategically managed and 2) have
additional associations and features of a brand? (Khedher 2015, p. 19).
The idea that humans can brand themselves became popular in the
late 1990s. Initially, several authors started publishing self-help books
(Shepherd 2005). These books wanted to boost their readers? confidence
to communicate and express their views publicly. Peters (1997) was the
first to mention the term personal branding as a sign of distinction among
people. He claimed that as a result of the industrial revolution, people
started to look alike, having the same level of education and professional
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skills. Therefore, as Peters (1997) argued in an article titled ?The Brand
Called You,? we are living in the era of personal revolution that all people
could be their brand and CEOs of ?Me, Inc.?
However, the mass adoption of social media developed a new mindset
in personal branding. Nowadays, social media users take advantage of
the unlimited possibilities that social networking websites offer to express
their views, skills, and qualities publicly. In other words, social media
developed an online environment where personal branding is not an exclusive privilege for a select few, such as famous CEOs and celebrities and
their luxurious lifestyles. Instead, personal branding promises that every
person deserves to be heard by others, so they can decide whether to support the individual or not.
Today, online users share their passions on social media. They publish content and personalize their digital profiles to connect with people
who have the same hobbies and interests. In the past, the need was to
connect with classmates, colleagues, and generally people we knew. Now,
the trend is to share content with anyone in the world who likes what
we like.
Is social media the only technology that ever promoted personal
branding? Of course not. Traditional mass media such as newspapers,
magazines, radio, and television cultivated the notion of personal branding as well. The mass media world includes journalists, actors, singers,
and other types of celebrities who used the traditional channels of communication to become famous. Nevertheless, social media simplified the
development process and thus expanded the notion of personal branding.
With social media, humans of all age groups and nationalities can promote themselves and their ideas.
Online users aim through personal branding to communicate their
uniqueness and increase their popularity. Although there is no secret recipe to build a successful brand, such efforts require a well-implemented
plan and a great deal of luck. Arruda (2009) argues that users need to
follow the three-stage process??extract, express, and exude??to develop
a unique and attractive brand to a mass audience. The three-stage process involves (i) identifying one?s unique value proposition, (ii) expressing
views and opinions that either trigger curiosity or provide original information, and (iii) using the best technical means to display the message.
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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
First, we need to find out what makes us unique. What is the one
thing that our audience would benefit from following us on Instagram or
YouTube? As soon as we identify our value proposition, the next step is to
work on how best to express our views. We should master our communication skills to express our thoughts openly. Finally, we should choose the
channel that best suits our needs. For example, successful personal branding stories could be found on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, or
regular blogs. There is no one-size-fits-all solution in successful personal
branding.
Arruda (2009) also argues that personal brands need to express their
messages with clarity, consistency, and constancy. Clarity is an essential
quality of personal branding because
it is critical to be clear and authentic about who you are, and what
you are not. You must understand your unique promise of value,
and how this promise enables you to influence people who can
help you achieve your goals. (p. 409)
Our brand should be consistent and easily recognizable by the audience. Just like the legendary music band Rolling Stones that has a unique,
transparent, and consistent sound, humans should maintain a steady and
constant relationship with the target audience.
What about constancy? Arruda (2009) mentions Oprah Winfrey as
an example of a successful celebrity who turned out to become a widely
recognized brand name. He writes that
one of the most successful, visible, and constant personal
brands, both commercially and personally, is Oprah Winfrey.
With her weekly television show, book club, magazine, numerous media appearances, and casual appearances in grocery
stores and restaurants, Oprah is consistently visible and has
maintained an incredibly strong brand over a very long career.
(p. 410)
We are just like brands. We want our friends, followers, and connections to find and like our content whenever and wherever we post it.
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We become social entertainers, and social media is our stage. We feel
that our posts have an impact on people. We want to please and engage
them more in our interests. For example, online users who play video
games want to share their passion with other gamers. Other users decide
to unbox the new iPhone or to review a new gadget. Social media users
have to prove they are genuine and worthy of following consistently. They
ask for approval from likes, views, and thumbs-up signs. Welcome to the
era of online social entertainment.
Online Social Entertainment
Viral videos such as the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the Harlem Shake,
the #HuhChallenge, the Mannequin Challenge, the Kiki challenge, the
Hot Pepper Challenge, #SoGoneChallenge, the Sausage Rap, and the
Cinnamon Challenge have something in common. They all became online trends involving millions of people who uploaded their videos to
YouTube. Due to these and many other similar patterns, people started
dumping a bucket of ice over their head, dancing next to moving cars,
standing still, dancing with funny costumes, or tasting unusual foods.
Overall, these trends entertained people on social media. Nevertheless,
the term online social entertainment means much more than that.
Online social entertainment includes ?playing collaborative online
games, reading email, chatting online (e.g., MSN), maintaining a personal
website or blog, and joining discussion forums or virtual communities
(e.g., MySpace or Facebook) on social networking sites (SNS)? (Lee and Wu
2013, p. 169). People use technological features such as live video streaming, instant messengers, online gaming platforms, music streaming services,
and social networking websites to have fun and increase their popularity.
Today?s online environment requires more interaction with the online community and consistent content sharing. While social networking
websites aim to build and maintain relationships among the online users,
social entertainment defines people?s effort to create and share content
that will please the online community and generate more views and likes
(Panigrahi 2018). In other words, social media provides a whole new environment where users get entertained and entertain others by posting
content online.
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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
There are many online social entertainment services. The most famous
social networking website that offers entertainment services is YouTube.
The following are some interesting facts and numbers about the number
one video streaming platform, and the second most popular search engine
in the world after Google.
YouTube Statistics?2018
? YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005 by Steve Chen,
Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Now it is the second most visited website in the world after Google.
? The very first YouTube video was uploaded on April 23, 2005.
? The total number of people who use YouTube is 1,300,000,000.
? As much as 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every
minute!
? Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day.
? YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day.
? In an average month, eight out of ten 18- to 49-year-olds watch
YouTube.
? By 2025, half of the viewers under age 32 will not subscribe to
a pay-TV service.
? Six out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV.
? The total number of hours of video watched on YouTube each
month is 3.25 billion.
? As many as 10,113 YouTube videos generated over 1 billion views.
? As much as 80 percent of YouTube views are from outside of
the United States.
? The average number of mobile YouTube video views per day is
1,000,000,000.
? The average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes.
This is up by more than 50 percent, year over year.
? Female users are 38 percent and male users are 62 percent.
? User percentage by age: 18 to 24 years?11 percent, 25 to
34 years?23 percent, 35 to 44 years?26 percent, 45 to 54
years?16 percent, 50 to 64 years?8 percent, 65+ years?3
percent, unknown age?14 percent.
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? More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.
? YouTube?s mobile revenue is up to two times year over year.
? YouTube overall, and even YouTube on mobile alone, reaches
more 18- to 34-year-olds and 18- to 49-year-olds than any cable
network in the United States.
? The number of hours people spend watching videos on YouTube is up by 60 percent year over year, the fastest growth we
have seen in two years.
? You can navigate YouTube in a total of 76 different languages
(covering 95 percent of the Internet population).
? YouTube has launched local versions in more than 88 countries.
? As much as 9 percent of U.S. small businesses use YouTube.
? Approximately 20 percent of the people who start your video
will leave after the first 10 seconds.
(YouTube 2018)
YouTube is not the only social entertainment platform though. Other
social networking websites and mobile applications offer features for
community users to post content for entertainment purposes as well.
The most popular social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, and Instagram added features to increase user spontaneity to
post live videos and stories and to create trends in music, photography,
video gaming, and television. Mobile applications, such as UStream and
Livestream, allow users to record anything from their phones and stream
it online. Nowadays, we notice that even the most advanced television
networks use content from live stream services.
With the use of technology, everyone can be famous. We see online
TV series made only for YouTube TV. We know singers who become
famous after successfully covering a favorite song and video gamers who
post walkthrough videos. We see rising star athletes who display their
skills so that recruiters and talent scouts will notice them. Is it always
about talent? Not at all. People post their fail videos displaying their silly
or severe accidents or share their pranks with their friends to get more
subscribers to their YouTube channels. The list of success stories in personal branding is endless.
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TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF
Online entertainment is a social phenomenon. The industry experiences a rapid growth by replacing traditional media and entertainment
services. The mass adoption of online streaming services such as ?Netflix
and Spotify, as well as the illegal torrent websites that allow unlawful
downloading of movies and music albums, resulted in the shutdown
of video clubs and music record shops. Since March 2017, YouTube
launched their new streaming service YouTube TV, which is a cable-free
TV streaming service that collaborates with major broadcast and favorite
cable networks.
The new social entertainment landscape provides opportunities for
people to promote their skills and interests through their media channels. Personal branding is a new form of communication that people use
to get in touch with others while aiming to stand out from the crowd
and increase their popularity. The modern workplace includes new job
titles such as influencers, content developers, social media curators,
?community organizers, Snapchatters, YouTubers, viners, vloggers, trend
spotters, reviewers, and social media evangelists. The workplace of the
future promises even more niche jobs that we have not heard so far. So
think again. Does personal branding matter? Here is what you should
know to develop your brand.
Develop and Maintain Your Brand
The modern labor market is more demanding and competitive than ever.
The positions available in the job market are very limited in number,
which makes the need to differentiate even stronger. Today?s jobseekers
aim at having a distinct personal brand to offer them with more opportunities for work anywhere in the world. Horton (2011) argues that the
development of our brand ensures that we have an active role in the job
selection process and are ready to develop our career as professionals.
Modern organizations take the opportunity to use the social networking websites to search for talents. Personal branding turns to be an essential part of the hiring process. Labrecque, Markos, and Milne (2011) write
about the importance of online tools in everyday marking since ?everyone
has the power to be their own brand and a person?s main job is to be his or
her own marketer.? The concept that everyone can brand themselves is a
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game changer in job seeking. People can now brand themselves according
to their desires and build their fan base, before even finishing high school.
Social media has become an online database of all sorts of resumes.
People set up their online profiles to share their passions and interests.
Employers admit that they check online to hire talented people, especially
in fields such as sales, advertising, entertainment, and design. Sometimes,
spotting a rare talent can happen accidentally while a recruiter is spending some time online. Hiring is now a process that can take place anytime
and anywhere.
The story of the famous 19-year-old DJ Alan Walker is a good example of spontaneous talent spotting and career building. Based on Walker?s
video biography on YouTube titled ?Unmasked (Episode 1),? it was 2012
when the Norwegian amateur video gamer Alan Walker got fascinated
while watching a YouTube video on how to create music using nothing else but his computer. Having a basic background in music theory,
Alan Walker watched online video tutorials to learn how to play electronic dance music (EDM). Two years later he released his first EDM
piece ?Fade? via the record label NoCopyrightSounds. The piece quickly
became a top hit among the EDM fans and attracted the attention of
Gunnar Greve, who became Walker?s manager. Now, Alan Walker?s transformation from a 19-year-old from Bergen, Norway, who was writing
music in his bedroom, to be one of the most popular DJs in the world can
be considered a stellar example of personal branding.
It is no secret that employers and recruiters look to p
