We’ve spent June and will continue in July talking about personal branding.
Part 2 of our Ebook “Finding Success Through Personal Branding” will be released in a few weeks, and of course Social Mix 2012 is coming up on July 26th.
But personal branding is a controversial subject in the social space – some people believe in it, and some people most definitely don’t – and we would be remiss if we didn’t explore that side of the coin.
Personal Branding – Real or Perceived?
Take Olivier Blanchard for example. If you don’t know and follow him already – you most definitely should.
As “The Brand Builder”, Olivier is an accomplished marketer and public speaker who “…helps companies develop, build, integrate, manage and measure social media programs, manage their reputation online and offline, and develop sustainable brands in an increasingly complex media landscape.”
In other words, he’s whip crack smart, and his blog posts always generate fiery debate and scads of comments.
Olivier stands firmly and quite publicly in the camp of “personal branding is a whole lot of hogwash.”
As he wrote in a post on this subject back in January:
People are people. They aren’t brands. When people become “brands,” they stop being people and become one of three things: vessels for cultural archetypes, characters in a narrative, or products.
He goes on to list a number of ways you can avoid falling into the trap of “personal branding” and instead ensure that you’re a real, honest, human being. Here are his top three:
1. Talk less, do more (let your work speak for you)
2. Be relevant, not just popular (give back, do good for the community)
3. Reputation is more important than image (be who and what you say you are)
While I am grossly oversimplifying his eloquent and thought provoking post, which you must go and read by the way, I don’t entirely agree with his argument.
Personal Branding as a Reality
I stand in the “…can’t one work on their ‘personal brand’ and still be a good, honest, transparent and relevant person?” camp. I believe you can be, and that it ultimately boils down to the individual and their inherent personality traits.
Are you a tool in real life and/or in business? Chances are you’re going to be one in your ‘personal brand’ life as well.
I don’t consider myself a “brand”, as Olivier describes one, by any stretch of the imagination, but as I wrote awhile back, I found it helpful when I was changing up my life to focus on ‘the brand that is me’. Who was I? What did I stand for? What did I want to achieve?
Perhaps we shouldn’t even label such things as ‘personal branding’, etc., and instead just talk about ways to engage online as the person you would want to be engaging with yourself. ‘Do unto others’ and all that dross.
Don’t pretend to be something you’re not. Have empathy for others. Produce great work. Give back. Respect the space. Respect other people. Ultimately, you’ll be creating a positive and powerful “personal brand” – even if you want to call it something totally different.
Now, as I mentioned above, get yourself over to Olivier’s site.
Read his posts and definitely read his comments stream. One thing I love most about social media is the myriad brilliant minds I follow who are producing content that make me stop, think, and then rethink.
Healthy debate makes the social world go ‘round – and the more contrary the views, the more round the world.
About Lindsay Bell
I agree with you for the most part, but I think that most of the arguments we have online about these things are more an issue of a semantics, than of reality. What exactly do we mean by a brand? I would posit that Olivier himself is a “brand” per se, and the Olivier I see on his blog, Twitter, and Facebook, is my perception of what he wants me to see, either in what he posts, or even in those moments he actually engages with me. Yes, he may be honest, and himself, but while reputation is more important than image in his mind, the two are closely related.
KenMueller It’s true – when I think of you, I think of wig and skirt. Now that’s branding!
Danny Brown And that was all part of a concerted branding effort on my part. But now that you’ve ruined my reputation, I need to go work on my image…
KenMueller That was my point Ken, you’ve summed it up perfectly. I don’t think you can break it down as clearly as “brand” = thing (and only ‘thing’). We all do some creative personal branding every day in our lives – we all have slightly different faces that we put forward depending on where we are or who we are interacting with.
belllindsay and we’ve been doing this since the dawn of time, long before the Internet. Most of the time, I think it just happens. It’s not something we do consciously. At other times, it’s a very conscious effort.
KenMueller Yes, of course! Agree completely.
belllindsay stop agreeing with me! And it’s a holiday! Why are you all working? Oh…..wait……
KenMueller Good point, Ken. Did you see our post from yesterday re: branding? Perfect complement to this, as it makes the point that branding is far more than image – it’s an experience, an ongoing conversation, and an experience. Putting yourself up on social networks does not a brand make, and that’s a key difference between a company brand and a personal brand.
JulieTyios I confess I haven’t read it yet, but I shall!
I think the most valuable application of a “personal brand” is during a job search, when you are presenting yourself as a candidate and trying to sell yourself to companies as the best person for their team. Beyond that, you’re building and maintaining a reputation online. Can people actually be brands? I would argue no for the most part, but we do adopt branding practices when we’re looking to sell or gain something. Am I wrong?
JulieTyios You’re too deep for me.
belllindsay JulieTyios Pee Wee Herman is too deep for you. I think the other time it’s important is when you as a person are very closely tied to your business. For me, I am my business. Solopreneurs and small business owners are often inseparable from their business, that their personal brand often takes on more importance than their business brand. I definitely think that’s the case with my business.
KenMueller Agreed, Ken – partially.
I owned a social marketing consultancy before coming to Jugnoo, but my company had its own brand and experience. Certainly I helped drive that and I was the most visible advocate for my company, but my business was separate from my own reputation (even though they were tied exceptionally close). I built the brand this way on purpose because I wanted my company to have its own identity (especially as I built up a team), but for freelancers or solo consultants, the line is debatable.
KenMueller Your bike, Mueller. http://youtu.be/u2sdPPHIbtY
I have, I must confess, a bit of a problem with the whole “personal branding is a whole lot of hogwash” point of view, especially (only..?) if it is espoused by people who have become just that – a brand in their own right.For the eleventy-billionth time I find myself scratching my head wondering why people insist on trying to cloak this stuff in their own favourite brand of communications voodoo.There’s only one ‘golden rule’ when it comes to social media, in my opinion. It’s the whole “be authentic” thing. Stick with that (and the awesomely valuable words of wisdom in Lindsay Bell’s piece about giving back and respecting the space) and there’s every chance people will come to respect you, admire you, seek your counsel and value your opinion.Until one day… shazam… you find you have become a personal brand.Some are born personal brands (hi Prince William), some achieve personal brand status and some grub about all over the internet in a desperate attempt to have it thrust upon them…I think we all know people who fit into those loose categories and who is worth listening to.This is a great piece, Lindsay… I’m listening.
flemingsean Thanks for such a thoughtful comment Sean! Love the Prince William nod also – perfect example of a “born brand” as you say. I think there’s a disconnect at times between those who’ve already become ‘socially famous’ (i.e. a brand) and the rest of us sloggers out here in the space – I agree, it’s a bit disingenuous to dismiss something that clearly works (and worked for them!). That said, Olivier is an incredible mind in the social sphere, and I would listen to ‘his side of the coin’ any day, for I always come away wiser – and he usually inspires in me a healthy re-think of a subject or philosophy. Which is the best part of social media, IMHO. Cheers, LB
I tend to live in the narrative of real and I try not to over-talk or sound-super-smart in comments, so here it goes: I think exactly what Olivier is attempting to prove his hogwash, is in fact his brand. On a human level, I take ‘brand’ to mean “When I think of ____________ (persons name) I immediately think of ____________ (adjectives and stories describing them, their beliefs, my work with them, their work with others, their blog, etc.)That. Is. A. Brand. A personal-brand in fact. Are we not ‘branding’ ourselves when we are authentic, kind, work hard etc.? The reputation we build is from experience and results — isn’t that the same reason we continue to buy from Apple? Their brand is the best product. My brand is a brutally honest, over-talker, fun-loving and hard-working blonde-hair blue-eyed Type-A. A brand is what we hold ourselves to be, and strive to become. Here is my personal opinion: when really intelligent people (like Olivier, Lindsay, and others) *notice I didn’t include myself because that would be presumptuous* get to talking, definitions of same-word-different-meaning are defined. It’s what makes healthy debate and true intelligence-growth happen. If the entire world agreed on the same exact meanings for the same exact words (on the good side not bad side folks) then we wouldn’t progress as an intelligence-species. We’d flounder in the ubiquity of a factory-line sameness.I think there are two camps that strongly define the word ‘personal brand’ differently. I think that is good for conversation. I think that is good for intelligence-growth. I think that is excellent for marketers and business folks alike. A difference of opinion always sets up for an inward conversation when no one is looking.That is what causes us to stay sharp, think differently and hear different angles of the same story and think more critically.Win.
ryancox Wow. Ryan, you just nailed it. I loved this: “If the entire world agreed on the same exact meanings for the same exact words (on the good side not bad side folks) then we wouldn’t progress as an intelligence-species. We’d flounder in the ubiquity of a factory-line sameness.” it’s exactly how I feel – good God can you *imagine* if we were all the same?? Worse yet, imagine if we weren’t, yet were afraid to talk about our differences (of opinion, for example). What a brutally boring world it would be. At times, I will play devil’s advocate in a conversation, just for the sake of getting a great fiery debate started! It’s so fun! And you learn so much from others, even if you don’t agree 100%. Thanks for taking the time to comment Ryan, enjoy your day! Cheers, LB