Personal branding

“We adapt our content on social media”

If we take the example of my social network (Social media of an 18 yo French student in the communication), I use Facebook to be aware of parties organized by associations or to research someone because, in my opinion, Facebook became a “virtual identity card”.

I use twitter to debate on the news, Snapchat to chat with my real friends and Instagram to really express my personality.

There is also a question of “privacy on social network”. Nowadays, you can have a profile on different social media where you don’t share or upload the same type of content. You won’t also have the same followers on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or twitter or LinkedIn.

As my colleague Emma explained in her article “how internet enables intimacy”, the vision of the social media and personal life in agencies / at work has changed.

The question of privacy on social network introduces an important and trendy notion nowadays: Personal branding.

For those who don’t know what personal branding exactly means, here is the basic google definition: “Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands.”.

“It is the bridge you are going to create between the vision of yourself and the vision people have of you”.

To be clear, personal branding gives you the opportunity to:

- “Sell yourself” to potential or future recruiters for future jobs.

- Become a real influencer. (Here, an influencer is not someone who is paid to promote products. Remember that before making product promotions, influencers are followed by real people. Plus, thanks to personal branding, you create attachment. People follow them because they share interesting content and because you are who you are. The importance of personal branding for sociology).

- Move your personal reflections forward and faster, create more content and be more productive.

Personal branding became really important and we understand that people are recruited thanks to their skills but also their personality. (Notice that this affirmation depends also on the fields you are working in. Here, we think more about communication type of work or modern startups functioning). That’s why personal branding is becoming even more important nowadays. This is the future.

For example, everybody knows that Steve jobs in the founder Apple and a lot of people follow him on the social networks because he shares interesting things about new technologies. Notice that personal branding is also useful for the brand, people are part of the brand identity they are working in, they represent the brand and its image.

“More than buying a product, you buy an image”.

Nowadays, when people buy products, they also buy the image of the brand.

When you buy a product, you buy it because you want to look like the models who are wearing it.

If we analyze personal branding in a sociological way, we can see that it federates people because it shows that we are all productive and active.

Why personal branding is moving the collectivity forward?

Simply because we see that people are productive and it is really cool to follow people who are doing things you are passionate about too.

Logically you are attracted by a lot of things and fields on social media, but you are also happy to see that in your field, you are not the only one who “galere” and spend a lot of time working.

It also federates and creates a link between people because it is a way to make a private joke and laugh about a common subject that you can’t laugh about with your family for example if they are not working in the same field.

If we take the example of the “communication world”, account on social networks specialized in communication and do private jokes. French account is called “jaiunpotedanslacomm”.

View the Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/jaiunpotedanslacom/

Personal branding also gives you the opportunity to do a bit of personal development. We know that effective works come from us. This is a way to improve ourselves, become a better person, and learn even more about us.

People often forget it, but it is a great way to remember why you do what you do. Fix your goal and put yourself onto the question.

Personal branding would be a way to expend your personality, your knowledge and it is a way to help you and others, it is a Win-win tool.

So, hit two targets with one shot: Make personal branding on your social network!

There is also a question of “privacy on social network”. Nowadays, you can have a profile on different social media where you don’t share or upload the same type of content. You won’t also have the same followers on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter or LinkedIn.