Social Media and your personal brand

In this current world of transparency and social media, personal brand is so important.

Social media effects your organisation’s brand but also your personal brand and vice a versa. Always be aware of what you are posting and how it may be perceived. It is important to not pretend to be someone else, as people buy from people, however, you still need to be professional and relate to the organisations brand. As the old adage goes “act one level up and think 2 levels up” don’t put something on social media that you wouldn’t’t feel comfortable saying or emailing to your GM.

A profile Picture is really important, make sure it is of you! not your kids, not an arty picture of you looking over the ocean with a beer in your hands. Choose a professional looking headshot, look at this cheeky chappy here. This is me, not me at the beach or with my kids, those photos are saved for instagram and facebook.

This picture should be consistent across different social media. As a Recruiter/ networker/entrepreneur my job is to network and yours probably is too. I want people to know what i look like, so that they can approach me and say “hey… you’re the bloke who puts pictures of himself on your blog and website…. a bit arrogant…. where are you going…come back…don’t run away!” Let people know what you look like, they are far more likely to want to engage with you on a business level if they have made an emotional connection.

Position title/Company details

Its the first thing a candidate/client/vendor/partner will see, make it obvious what your role or company is. “exec search and talent strategy client liaison” what is that. I worked at a company where we had job titles like “client liaison, lobby ambassador, director of first impressions” mate, this person works on reception! If you are a recruitment consultant or recruitment business partner, make sure that the reader knows what you are and that you do what it says on the tin.

Content is for your audience…. not to make you feel better

As mentioned in my previous blog, remember that the content you post and share is to be read by people in the real world and will need to be tailored depending on where you share it. Think about your Personal Brand

“I’m stuck in traffic, soooo annoyed, why do cyclists take up so much room…. this person driving ahead of me is 150, and it would be quicker if he walked”

This may be okay for a personal instagram profile with a photo of the road of doom and driving miss daisy, as instagram is often used as a window into peoples lives. However, it isn’t appropriate for linkedin. Your audience will engage with you based upon your profile, content and Personal Brand. Don’t share the same content to different audiences. It is important to not pretend to be someone else, as people buy from people, however, you still need to be professional and relate to the organisations brand.

Stay up to date and make sure you are active

Dont let your social media profile fall into radio silence. People don’t engage with profiles that look dead. I looked to approach someone a while ago, and he hadn’t posted anything for 18 months on his social media, so i didn’t bother. Maybe he was still reading things on there, but to me it looked a waste of time. Maybe he missed out! This means  Share, tweet, comment, post, like, follow, befriend…. keep your Personal Brand alive. 

I’ve got more friends than you…i’m well popular

Social media is all about networking and building our communication web. This is especially important on twitter and Linkedin, and slightly less so on facebook, unless you are a business profile. If you are a recruiter on linkedin, and you have less than 750 connections, you are shooting yourself in the foot! Everyone you engage with, you should ask to connect with on LI.

Use Engaging content and what is fashionable now.

Videos and images work well with Millennials as do emoji’s on certain platforms i.e. twitter where character count is limited, however, car, annoyed face, clock, building may not be ideal for linkedin. Emoji’s also bring a little humour.

 How does Social Media affect EVP and Brand