Social Media and Building Your Brand
Last week, Katie and Krista were invited to Blanchelande College to deliver a presentation to year 11 students about social media and building your personal brand.
What is a personal brand?
Branding is very important to us here at Black Vanilla. We strive to ensure that each of our clients is received positively by the public through traditional print media, events and social media, to name but a few.
Not only do companies and corporations have a brand, but each one of us has a personal brand too. With every tweet, Instagram post and conversation we have, we are allowing people to make their own decisions and pass judgement on our reputation.
Our brand is a combination of our self-image and the reputation we put out there for people to see.
The negative impact of social media
Your personal brand can be affected by your social profiles in a number of ways.
1. Your profile picture – this is the first thing an employer will see when they look at your profile, so keep it clean. Although a final decision cannot legally be made based on your profile picture, Rick Martin, owner of Source Recruitment, suggests, “Don’t post anything your grandma wouldn’t like!”
2. The way you word your posts can also tell someone an awful lot about you – we’re all subject to a typo, but try to be as accurate as possible. Fact and spell-checking your posts can positively affect how you are perceived.
3. Sometimes our friends can be our worst enemies, especially on social media. You can change your privacy settings to ensure that your tags must be approved by you before they end up on your timeline, which can be a real reputation saver.
The positive impact of social media
Social media can also be proactively employed to your advantage, helping you build an effective personal brand.
A strong personal brand can lead to interviews, job placements, promotions and partnerships, ensuring that potential clients and employers see you as an expert in your area, and don’t scroll past and choose someone else!
1. Staying connected – In today’s society, our social media profiles are one of the most important ways for us to stay connected to one another. We use them daily to talk to our peers and our loved ones, but social media can be used for a lot more. Platforms such as LinkedIn act as an online CV, allowing potential employees and colleagues to check out your skills, interests and accomplishments all in one place.
2. Your social media profile says a lot about you and how you want to be perceived by others so the content you share online should reflect you and your values. Post unique and interesting content that will add value to your social media presence and personal brand.
3. Promote yourself – Social media is one of the best tools to promote ‘you’ and put yourself out there to potential employers. There is a space online for you to showcase and shout about anything from causes you have a special interest in, to sporting achievements.
We hope that this has made you not only aware of what to avoid posting on your social channels but also how they can be a powerful tool in helping you achieve your goals and even land that dream job.