The Importance of Personal Branding

David McNally and Karl Speak, authors of Be Your Own Brand, state that "Your brand is a perception or emotion, maintained by somebody other than you, that describes the total experience of having a relationship with you" (1991).

Personal branding has grown in popularity thanks in part by the Internet, as social media and the digital era grow. Those determined to be seen in a certain way to others work tirelessly to maintain their online identity in a way they want others to view them. With the growth in social media, employers have begun using social media tools as a form of background checks before offering applicants interviews. Personal branding has turned to a useful tool for job-seekers to improve their professional standing. As an online open-source, social media has become a place that is fulfilled with highly reliable and resourceful information to target user identities.

Social media exists beyond Facebook and Twitter and now includes the professional world as well in applications such as LinkedIn. With the help of professional networks, self-branding becomes a useful tool in finding a job. Building your brand and creating an online presence through these networks allows for potential employees to network with other professionals, both socially and professionally. Most social media sites, like Twitter, can have a broad variety of audiences composed of professional and personal contacts, creating the potential reach into other professional environments. However, with the explicitly public nature, Twitter itself can become a double-edged sword that can both hurt and harm an individual’s brand in various ways depending on the amount of censorship implemented.

Personal branding is more directed towards self-promotion rather than true self-expression, typically to be seen in a positive view for employers or personal popularity. When branding through social media you need to consider three things: "crafting their physical footprint, creating their digital footprint, and communicating their message" (2015).

Personal branding can be built due to various reasons, from a public embarrassment to a publicity stunt. In the case of Dave Carroll, a Tedx guest speaker on personal branding on social media, his personal brand grew after drawing attention to United Airlines' handling of his personal luggage through his three piece YouTube videos "United Breaks Guitars" (2009). Carroll's video grew to obtain over one million views after only a week (2013).

Many platforms can be utilized for promoting one's cause or even bringing attention to the owner or an incident that occurred. From each instance, it is common to see them focus on a single platform. Dave Carrol utilizes YouTube as a musician, President Trump managing his image via Twitter, and even the Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo on Instagram. Each of these individual have focused their efforts in personal branding to a single platform, making it easier to manage their brand.

Philbrick, J. L., & Cleveland, A. D. (2015). Personal Branding: Building Your Pathway to

Professional Success. Medical Reference Services Quarterly, 34(2), 181–189.

https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1080/02763869.2015.1019324

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