The Magic of Personal Branding
http://www.africaeagle.com/2018/06/the-magic-of-personal-branding.html
With the advent of social media, almost everyone is trying to audit their online presence and build their online personal brand (it is part of the new hustle!).
This strategy and its benefits cannot be over-emphasized. Well, it is too late for anyone to ask if people can be brands. (yes please, they can). Just the way the mere mention Aliko Dangote or Oprah Winfrey would initiate opportunities just because of the popularity built around their expertise, education, career, and business.
A personal brand is a collection of perception in the minds of others which reflects reputation. A brand is beyond logos, trademarks and Google searches, a personal brand is a story people have long after meeting you. It is also the way people feel about you, that top of the mind feeling!
Here is what personal branding is not - a Personal brand is not creating falsified identities neither is it about blowing a make-believe fairytale life.
Personal branding is not about filters, poses or skillful editing on Instagram, personal branding cannot make you nice on Facebook. when in the real world you are cocky. It is the concept of positioning so as to leverage the opportunities that come personally and professionally, as it a given that strong personal brands add value to any cooperate brand.
To discover your personal brand is to uncover your goals, passion, and reason for the brand existence. It is imperative that you know what makes you thick because creating a brand is a value proposition.
Often times, employers insist on employee attaching their social media handles. Visualize an employee whose online search result is entirely negative or character questioning. We can as well conclude the likelihood of employment before the intellectual interview.
Very often, people tell you to be yourself. What personal branding says is to be your best self.
A company needs a brand ambassador to portray them as premium, they certainly would not sign a person who looks tacky, unorganized, lacks presence and ignorant compared to a person who is knowledgeable, savvy, put-together and classy. Building personal brands would bring you credibility, recognition, visibility, influence and increased confidence.
Best believe if you are not branding yourself, someone is branding you for yourself. That is how networking steals the show.
Despite how incredulous it sounds, the concept of networking and personal branding are hands-clasped concepts.
People claim to be experts in certain fields but do not attend industry meetups, exchange complimentary cards and essentially, socialize! You can be all you are, but if no one knows about it how then does that add color to you. Just as the holy book explains, you cannot light a candle and put a cover over it.
Networking is about connecting with people and less about keeping a long phonebook.