The term ‘personal branding’ has always intrigued me. A couple of weeks ago, I was interviewed by Brand-Yourself.com and one of the questions I was asked was “What’s the difference between personal branding and social branding?”. Here’s the answer I gave:
People have different definitions for it, but when I hear the term personal branding I think of individuality and self-improvement. While self-promotion is an important aspect of branding/packaging one’s image, I like the idea of a social brand better.
If you have a social brand, you have a network of friends that become a part of your personal brand, and you can build healthy relationships with like-minded people in your field. If the idea is to get noticed, I would consider growing a community over a personal brand any day.
Since then, I’ve been giving this question a lot of thought. While thinking about it, I’ve come to realize that I’ve never really considered what I do to be personal branding. I came up with the term ‘social branding’ because it always felt like a more direct way of portraying what I’m all about.
To further illustrate the point I’m trying to make, view these definitions of the words ‘personal’ and ‘social’ from Dictionary.com:
Notice any differences between these two words?
I believe in transparency.
When I think of personal branding, I think of a method of branding one’s self image the way he/she would want to be perceived by others. You’re essentially telling others who you are, rather than showing them.
If you go about building your brand socially–through engagement, content creation, and consistency–your “personal” brand will be defined by the relationships you make with people. In my opinion, this is a more effective way of building your brand because it allows you to be yourself and others to form their own opinions of you. Let your actions define who you are. Be transparent.
What do you think about personal branding? Do you have anything to add to the discussion? If so, leave a comment below!