YOU ARE A BRAND ALREADY, ARE YOU AWARE?

Better be. Social Media has become the platform for personal branding. Business is getting harder to separate from personal due to social media and this can be a tremendous advantage or disadvantage.  Many workers put up family pictures in their cubicles or offices and while they might do it for the joy of being able to see it, they also project an image of who they are and what their values might be.  Social Media has now become that platform that projects your image to an ever growing amount of people in the social sphere who are connected and connecting to you on a constant basis. Now many can be aware of and experience how you spend your weekends, your favorite hobbies, your family, your recent purchase and the list goes on and on.

So why is this important as a business owner, worker or manager to have a social media strategy in play? It psychologically affects the way people deal with you personally and professionally.  You are pretty much judged on the image you project.  You could simply lose a contract or business opportunity if you post what could be deemed offensive to some of your social media contacts. Likewise you can get business opportunities or great connections by posts that reveal your, expertise, volunteer causes etc.  A young professional seeking to grow and take on more responsibility in the company he or she works for would need to consider if constantly posting party pictures, binge drinking photos and negative posts (no matter how logical) would project  a sense of responsibility to be considered for a promotion.  While the HR department or your manager might not be friends with you on Facebook, there are people you are connected with that are connected to them and therefore have a tendency to be aware of your brand.

Welcome to the new age!  You are a brand already and if you don’t know, now you know. So before you post, share a photo or take any other action on social media, stop to consider what you are advertising on your personal billboard, because that’s the purpose social media serves in the current times. Many will say, I have a business or public page that’s different from my personal page and while it might limit the exposure, it doesn’t eliminate it entirely.  The logic is to post wisely as we live our lives freely, being mindful of the consequences of our social media communications.

By Dr. Mayo Adegbuyi