Take advantage of your personal brand to stand-out from the rest. But make sure to do it right.
What does your Personal Brand say about you?
The way we speak and express our opinion is how we choose to differentiate ourselves from our friends or stand out from our colleagues. We dress ourselves a certain way to look good on a night out, impress one another or to fulfill a professional role. We do this because we want to present ourselves a certain way, feel confident and of course, be comfortable in our own skin. We behave this way in hopes of generating the image we want others to perceive – our personal brand. After all, the presentation of ourself is equally important to the work we produce for clients, managers and directors.
Today, personal brand is expressed beyond face-to-face interactions and the accomplishments on your resume. It is more beneficial if your personal brand extends online. By having an online presence, it will aid your personal brand whether you are seeking business or aspire toadvance professionally. Clients and recruiters are easily searching for youronline presence before they decide to contact you. This shows that you areconstantly upgrading your brand in order to grow your initial vision. Accordingto Jobvite’sSocial Recruiting Survey, 94% of surveyed HR professionals use social mediawhen recruiting and 78% have hired candidates through social media (Guiseppi).Your online presence is generated by the activity of all your social mediaaccounts. How well do you go about showcasing your personal brand across social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram etc.?
There is More to Your Brand Than Your Resume
Credibility
The personal brand you build for yourself online should hold true to who you are and what you are passionate about. By showing the real-you online, recruiters and clients can draw social proof and validity to the consistency of your brand. Personal Brand Expert, Meg Guisppi discusses social proof as a personal marketing strategy that lends credibility to the claims you make about yourself verbally and on your resume (Guisppi). Do not underestimate the importance of credibility, as it applies to the content you are producing under your brand. Are you creating authentic content to enhance your unique brand?
Authentic Content
Authentic content on social media is referred as the originality and point-of-view you choose to voice in front of an audience. It is important to have original content that supports the vision of your personal brand instead of copying content to amplify your brand. Having unique content is far more captivating than repeating content that is widely used. Your targeted audience, whether they are recruiters or clients, is more likely to notice your brand if you stand out from the crowd (Agius and Patel). Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion and show your personality if you stand by your vision. At a professional standpoint, your opinions and analysis of industry-related content can show your insights and passion for the industry. It will be to your advantage if you are able to turn your most unique aspect into the backbone of your brand. While social proof can validate you, your content broadcasted across social networks also validates if you are authentic or just a fraud. The last thing you want is for your personal brand to appear as a fraud, where it is a copy of another person’s work. On a less severe case, you will appear to have poor internet etiquette when others are actively willing to share content (Eridon). However, on a more serious note, improper use of content without reading copyright policies of another person can lead to copyright infringement.
Citing Content
Today, there is an abundance of content available online, but if you choose to cite these sources on your social media – there are proper ways of doing it. Hubspot does a great job of breaking down how you can cite sources across various social platforms. Here is a quick cheat-sheet to help you properly share someone else’s content on your behalf.
(Image derived from Hubspot) Trust me, you will be better appreciated when the original author is mentioned properly @Corey_bos.
Copyright and Protect Content
Simply copying content and calling it your own on social media is plagiarism, which is no different than downloading a paper to submit with your name on it. However, there are credible sources of online content that you may want to use to support your content, but remember to give them credit! When creating your own content, it is your duty to protect your own work or create copyright guidelines to give others permission to share your content. After all “The best internet marketers aren’t afraid to share (Eridon).”
The original content you share whether it is a photo, blog post, video etc., falls under the Intellectual Properties Act concerning these 3 main items:
Content in any form
Ideas and Inventions
Symbols (Business trademarks)
Therefore you own the sole rights to:
Use the work,
Allow reuse,
Allow derivatives and
Allow others to make profits out of your work
(Read more on The Windows Club)
There are precautions you can take to prevent yourself from plagiarizing as well as safeguarding your own content (Khanse and Kumar). When incorporating other sources into your own content, be cautious of copyright terms and policies by the creator. There are often sites that encourage sharing under certain permission claims such as posting a direct link back to their site. But keep in mind that copyright laws always exist within social media and online content (Cuddy).
Does your online content reflect who you are? Not to say that personal branding and social proof is here to haunt your private life, but having your personal brand reflect you at a more personal level can allow your audience to learn more about you. It is very likely that your personal brand carries into your personal activities, however this can allow you to show other interests and passions. Besides priding on your industry-knowledge, you may be able to demonstrate other transferrable skills that employers are unaware of from looking on your resume or LinkedIn profile. Always think about what you want your personal brand to say about you on your social platforms.
Bring the 3C's of your Personal Brand Together
If you plan on showcasing yourself online as a your personal brand, be conscious of who you are portraying to your audience. Are you presenting yourself as a realistic peek into your life? Or are you filtering yourself to what you aspire to be in order to impress your prospect employers? If you claim your personal brand one way and present yourself another way, you are defying the 3C’s that were previously discussed. Credibility and consistency of your content go hand-in-hand in order to maximize the influence of your Personal Brand. Always keep in mind who your target audience is when applying the 3C’s to building your brand.
Author: Michelle Luk 31 January 2015
Works Cited
Agius, Aaron and Patel, Neil. “The Complete Guide to Building Your Personal
Brand.” Quick Sprout. n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
Cuddy, Renee Hykel. “Copyright Issues for Social Media.” LegalZoom. Jun.
2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2015.
Eridon, Corey. “How not to Steal People’s Content on the Web.” Hubspot. 3
Aug. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
Guisppi, Meg. “Social Proof: When Online Presence Meets Personal branding.”
Executive Career Brand. 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Jan 2015.
Guisppi, Meg. “How Strong is Your Executive Brand Online for Job Search?.”
Executive Career Brand. 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 29 Jan 2015.
Khanse, Anand and Kumar, Arun. “How to Deal with Plagiarism and Online
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