Revisiting My Thoughts On Personal Branding

My first attempt to do webcast is on 2010, and “Personal Branding” is the first one I produced.

Check this out

Personal note: I’m a proponent of personal branding bec. on 2008, an opportunity to become an Asst. Vice President presented itself.  A head hunter discovered my blog via search engine, and my linkedIn profile.

Read: Use About.Me to Showcase Your Personal Brand

Personal branding is about you, and how you are known by people. It was not a biggie then, but with the advent of social web, it has become a marketing tool for professionals. Social web made it convenient  for both professionals and headhunters to find each other. With a little SEO, content marketing, digital presence on key social networking sites,  you can position your brand the way you want to. However, branding, is open to deception. A brand can project an image that is not accurate. It  takes character to keep your image on the realm of integrity. So what are my observations 2 years (2012) after I made the slidecast/video?

1. More people get into personal branding now, specially freelancers and young professionals to be discovered for  a high paying job or project.
2. Early adopters of social media and those that use personal branding made it big in their career and/or freelance biz.
3. Late adopters misconstrue spamming for strategic posting.
4. You can’t avoid tooting your own horn (unless you have a PR firm doing it for you)
5. The numbers game became one of the barometer for popularity,  though numbers (likes, followers) can be bought.
6. The offline component, at least in the Philippines, still holds weight because majority of decision makers are not “online”. They rely on the old school background checking and referral.
7. The brand that appeals to the millennial generation, can be a social media rock star, and receive endorsement offers
8. The brand that targets corporate requirements (consultancy and training), need a mix of online and offline strategy.
9. Those who were noticed are in the forefront of every hot issue.
10. A brand can lose its credibility for sponsored content, on certain occasions.

I will update this post to keep it relevant to the times. Are you into personal branding too? Care to share your personal experience?