Community Managers and Personal Branding in Social Media

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Community Managers and Personal Branding in Social Media “I Work in Social”: Community Managers and Personal Branding in Social Media by Jenna Jacobson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto © Copyright by Jenna Jacobson 2017 “I Work in Social”: Community Managers and Personal Branding in Social Media Jenna Jacobson Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Information University of Toronto 2017 Abstract Welcome to a world of networking, hustling, coffee, cupcakes, and cocktails; a world where social media is not only an interest, but a way that people meet, become friends, make money, and stay connected. Here, social media is both a passion and a profession, but there is also an unspoken tension. My research analyzes how social media managers—those who manage online communities and create content across digital platforms—work in social media (referring to the work practice of social media managers), and also do the work of social media (referring to the curation of their personal brand using social media to leverage a strategic advantage in the job market). Using a mixed method approach, including three years of fieldwork in Toronto and semi- structured interviews with social media professionals, this dissertation analyzes the “social media scene” and identifies elements of the changing landscape of work and self- presentation in an age of social media. The research examines the practice of community ii management across various industries, including marketing agencies, entertainment, not- for-profit, education, government, telecommunications, retail, and sports. The dissertation uncovers an emerging feminization of social media within the profession. I argue that social media management represents the next iteration of the devaluation of women’s work in the tech industry, mirroring the history of women’s labour in technology. I uncover how people are adopting personal branding practices on social media as a strategy to gain control of their own lives and careers against conditions of increased corporatization, job insecurity, and precarious economic times. I explore the influencer economy and introduce the term “casual influencer” to refer to an ordinary person who posts sponsored content on behalf of a brand, and are typically compensated with free “swag” or experiences, which points to the commercialization of community. The dissertation contributes to our understanding of the inherent contradictions and binaries of living and working in a digitally mediated world: the double labour of working on personal branding as an integral aspect of being an employee; the dissolving divide between the personal and the professional; and the visibility of influence and invisibility of disclosure inherent in social media. iii Acknowledgements To this day, I am often asked, “You can get a PhD researching social media?” One of my participants who works in social media explains, “People think I just sit on Facebook all day, which I do, that’s not a lie. There’s just more to it than that.” This is true of both working in social media and researching social media…there is certainly more to it than that! This research would not have been possible without my network of accomplished mentors, respected colleagues, generous participants, and continual supporters who have been part of my doctoral journey. The goal of this research was to take social media work seriously, so a heart-felt thank you to my fantastic research participants and people I met in the Toronto social media scene who generously shared their experiences, opened my eyes to their world, and offered critical insight into their working and personal lives. I continually strived to do them justice in writing their stories and amplifying their courageous voices. I am honoured to have worked with my dream team committee of three brilliant women scholars—Leslie Shade, Rhonda McEwen, and Nicole Cohen—who have not only shaped this dissertation, but also made me a stronger researcher. I wish that every PhD student could have a committee that is as generous with their time and ideas as I have experienced. First and foremost, Leslie Shade, my supervisor extraordinaire, who provided abundant encouragement and rigorous intellectual feedback through every step of the process. Our one-hour meetings turned into endless thought-provoking conversations about research and life, both inside and outside academia. With unwavering support, Leslie was with me on my wedding day, my defense day, and everything in between. Eternal thanks, Leslie, for your guidance, continuous rallying, and care. Rhonda McEwen continues to be an amazing role model and I aspire to emulate her example as an academic. She has been a continual advocate and a real positive influence throughout my doctorate. Nicole Cohen’s attention to detail, rich critical theoretical knowledge, and genuine interest in my research area truly fuelled and immensely enriched my writing. My dissertation is stronger because of her. I would also like to express my gratitude to my internal and external examiners, Dr. Jeremy Shtern and Dr. Tracey Bowen, who played a critical role in my defense. Thank you to the Semaphore Research Cluster—specifically Matt Ratto, Sara Grimes, and again, Rhonda McEwen—for providing me a home and a truly collaborative working environment. Some of my favourite memories are from working in the lab: making the sun rise over the Rio sky in VR with Gabby Resch, 3D printing little selfies with Dan Southwick, and the stimulating conversations and research roundtables with all the lab members over the years, including Sandra Danilovic, Chris Young, Jack Jamieson, Andy Keenan, Matt Bouchard, Hannah Turner, ginger coons, Ashley Scarlett, Isaac Record, and Adam Dubé. Outside of the University of Toronto, the Social Media Lab provided me a home away from home as I grew as a social media researcher. I will forever appreciate Anatoliy Gruzd and Philip Mai for being my collaborators, mentors, and friends. With them, I have had the honour of Co-Chairing the International Conference on Social Media & Society for several years. I also acknowledge the community of researchers who I have had the pleasure of working with and who continue to shape my thinking iv about the impact and use of social media in society—especially Jeff Hemsley, Dhiraj Murthy, Hazel Kwon, Evelyn Ruppert, and Bernie Hogan. I have learned from various brilliant scholars who have offered their advice and wisdom, including Anabel Quan-Haase, Megan Boler, Elizabeth Dubois, Karen Smith, Alison Harvey, Tamara Shepherd, Christopher Mascaro, Meryl Alper, Jonathan Obar, and Marc Esteve del Valle. Thanks to Zizi Papacharissi and Stacey Blasiola for inviting me to serve on the Advisory Board of the Social Media + Society Journal, that provided a welcome break from my doctoral work. I am also appreciative of the feedback I received on iterations of this research that pushed my thinking: at the Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Program from Vicki Nash, Bill Dutton, and my cohort, as well as at the annual PhD Research Days from Greig de Peuter, Sharon Strover, and Christian Sandvig who provided encouraging feedback. Thank you to faculty members at UofT who influenced me and my work, including Jeff Boase, Sarah Sharma, Anthony Wensley, Brett Caraway, Marc Chignell, Kelly Lyons, Brian Cantwell Smith, and Wendy Duff. A special thank you to Barry Wellman who has been a tremendous supporter and also served on my Qualifying Exam Committee. My work and conversations at NetLab with him, Guang Ying Mo, Zack Hayat, and Chang Lin have shown me the power of networks in research and in practice. I also appreciate the help over the years from the librarians and administrative staff at the iSchool—specifically Christine Chan and Amy Ratelle. Throughout my graduate studies I have been fortunate to have a support system made up of various doctoral students who celebrated each others’ successes and were there for one another. Thank you to my cohort who listened to early versions of my research while we debated and theorized “information” in our first years together, and to my colleagues and friends, including Quinn DuPont, Harrison Smith, Eva Hourihan Jansen, Elysia Guzik, Sarah Lubelski, Rhon Teruelle, Glen Farrelly, Michael Dick, Alex Cybulski, Mark Sedore, Christie Oh, Emily Maemura, and many others. I will always look back with a smile on the memories we shared over the years. I am grateful for the research funding I received to support my doctoral work from: the University of Toronto Fellowship; Ontario Graduate Scholarship; Ethel W. Auster Scholarship for Doctoral Research; Hilda Wilson Fellowship in Technology, Information and Culture; University of Toronto Women’s Association Adele Csima Scholarship; and the Doctoral Completion Award from the Faculty of Information. Finally, words cannot express how thankful I am to have a family who has motivated and encouraged me. My love of research and learning comes from my mother; I have so many happy memories from a very early age, of frequent visits to her university office in South Africa. Thank you for being my confidant and inspiration to pursue the PhD. I am grateful for our special bond that only grew stronger during my doctorate. Thank you to my dad, Bradley, for teaching me to stop and appreciate all the small things in life (particularly when life gets stressful) and for providing a daily dose of motivation; and to my siblings, Tamryn and Max, for enthusiastically sharing my journey with me, and at various points providing me a place to stay during my travels. I am endlessly thankful to my husband, Josh Milgrom, who has patiently learned about emotional labour and affordances, while giving me the space and time I needed for this research. Thank you for breaking all the gendered stereotypes, and for being my anchor and true life partner. I am indebted to every person who has contributed to my scholarly journey.
Recommended publications
  • PERSONAL BRANDING CHECKLIST Account Settings” to a Variation of Your Name I.E
    FACEBOOK PINTEREST ¨ Do you have a Facebook account? ¨ Do you have a Pinterest account? ¨ Customize your Facebook username in “General ¨ Fill out your bio and include a link to your website. PERSONAL BRANDING CHECKLIST Account Settings” to a variation of your name i.e. ¨ Create a board for your blog to pin your blog posts. http://facebook.com/YOURNAME. ¨ Create a board to pin articles/resources related to ¨ Update your “About” section and utilize space to write your professional interests/goals. an "Intro." (Be sure to include a link to your blog or JessicaLawlor.com/PersonalBranding website!) ¨ Create a portfolio board to pin your resume, [email protected] accolades and portfolio items. ¨ Check your privacy settings. Be sure posts are set to “public” when you want to share updates broadly. ¨ Use a free tool like Canva to design fun "pinnable" graphics for your blog posts or online content. (Size ¨ Want to grow your blog, land a new job, discover freelance opportunities, Join and participate in relevant Facebook groups for matters! Canva recommends Pinterest's desired your industry. partner with brands and get more attention online? You must have a strong personal brand. dimensions.) ¨ Let your personal network in on what you’re doing - Maximize your personal brand and online presence by following this checklist. don’t be afraid to share personal AND professional content with your audience. INSTAGRAM ¨ Consider creating a brand Facebook page for your ¨ Do you have an Instagram account? WEBSITE/BLOG TWITTER blog, business or personal brand to utilize sponsored ¨ Fill out your bio. ¨ Do you have your own website or blog? ¨ Do you have a Twitter account? posts and create ads.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Branding: a Quest for Digital Identity
    Personal Branding: A Quest for Digital Identity Joe Bean, Doctoral Student, History Naser Al Madi, Doctoral Candidate, Computer Science Joe Bean •Welcome… Naser Al Madi •Welcome… Ajenda • Why personal branding • Brand Power • How to define your brand • Digital Identity • Q&A Objectives • Learn about the importance of personal branding. • Establish personal branding goals for the graduate school experience. • Explore ways to establish an individual digital identity. What is a brand? What is a brand? “Branding is what people say about you when you are not in the room.” -Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO I am a person, do I need a brand? I am a person, do I need a brand? Guess what! you already have a brand, the question is whether you want to manage it or not. Do academics need a brand? Do academics need a brand? “Whether you like it or not, universities have a brand. It’s an image people associate with us.” -The president of the University of Toronto. Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power Brand Power How can you think of yourself as a brand? Brand Power How can you think of yourself as a brand? What do you want associated with your name? Brand Power How can you think of yourself as a brand? What do you want associated with your name? Associate with other strong brands Brand Power What personal branding is NOT… Bragging Someone that you are not False self-image Brand Power What personal branding is… Michelangelo said “Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Your task…is to discover and develop those things that make you unique and that define your personal brand.
    [Show full text]
  • Cal-Liope of Jan-March 2020
    JANUARY- MARCH 2020 Cal-Liope Join CWC MESSAGE FROM THE CALIFORNIA PRESIDENT The Professional WORKFORCE CONNECTION Association By Denise Dobine, President for a changing 21st century workforce. The coming year For Workforce Using the power of decision will be one of positive change Professionals gives you the capacity to get and improvement. I hope you past any excuse to change any will join us by participating in and every part of your life your local chapter’s activities, in an instant. as well as the informative con- CWC – Tony Robbins ferences. CONFERENCE To kick start the New Year PRESIDENT DENISE DOBINE Happy New Year California CWC has some great upcom- CANCELED Workforce Connection ing events for you to attend. weight, improve finances, get By Denise Dobine Members! The CWC Book Club is a new job, stop procrastinat- Dear California Workforce 2019 was a year of change open to all – you don’t have to ing, manage stress better, set Connection (CWC) and transition for the Cali- be a member of the CWC. It is aside time for yourself, begin members, fornia Workforce Connection free – all you do is purchase the exercising, and to eat health- Due to the rapidly chang- (CWC). The major changes book and call in to participate ier. Resolutions are made to ing COVID-19 coronavirus include a new name and new in the discussions. The cur- stop settling for less and create situation facing our state logo, extra funding to our local rent book is: Leader Shift by a life of self-improvement and and nation, the California Chapters for their membership John Maxwell The 11 Essential personal growth.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper Title (Use Style: Paper Title)
    International Conference on Business, Economics, Marketing & Management Research (BEMM’13) Volume Book: Economics & Strategic Management of Business Process (ESMB) Copyright _ IPCO 2013 PERSONAL BRANDING: TOWARDS CONCEPTUALIZATION Manel Khedher Department marketing School of Business of Tunis, University Campus, 2010 Manouba, Tunisia [email protected] Abstract— Personal branding is a new marketing web sites and consultancy services. These discourses of phenomenon related to the marketing effort that a person adopts personal branding become popular because they do something in order to promote oneself in the competitive job market. In useful. Writings on person branding have largely been recent years employer branding has gained popularity in dominated by advice from practitioners who advocate that practitioner venues, but little in the academic arena, this article anyone can develop a successful brand that will enable them presents a theoretical foundation for personal branding applying to compete in the crowded market. This paper presents a Goffman’s dramaturgical theory. framework to initiate the scholarly study of personal branding Keywords— Personal branding, self marketing, impression and proposes a theoretical foundation for the emergence and management, capital, competitive job market practice of personal branding based on the dramaturgical theory of Erving Goffman [9]. I. INTRODUCTION II. PERSONAL BRANDING : THE EVOLUTION OF A CONCEPT Personal branding is a new marketing phenomenon related The business self-help genre of management to the marketing effort that a person adopts in order to communication traces its roots at least back to Dale Carnegie's promote oneself in the market. The popularization of personal How to Win Friends and Influence People [10].
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Brand Week Your Name Is Just the Start
    Personal Brand Week twitter.com/pwc_us_careers facebook.com/PwCUSCareers Your name is just the start. pwc.tv eBook Personal Brand Week twitter.com/pwc_us_careers facebook.com/PwCUSCareers pwc.tv Introduction In today’s competitive environment, students need a way to differentiate themselves from their peers. They need an “X” factor that makes them indispensable. In short, they need a personal brand. Personal branding can be a powerful tool for professional success. Personal branding is not simply a cosmetic exercise but instead a process that helps to develop skills that increase the potential of standing out in the crowded job market. As one of the largest employers of college graduates in the United States, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has unique insights into what makes students stand out. But we’re not keeping those insights to ourselves. In February 2010, PwC launched Personal Brand Week and dedicated each day to a different theme. The response from across the country was overwhelmingly positive. And now we’re taking it one step further and sharing the best personal branding tips and worksheets with you in this e-book. Take time to read through the materials. Leverage the tips in everyday interactions. Use the work- sheets to become more aware of the skills that make you different. And importantly, take actions each day that build the personal and professional skills to create your unique personal brand. We hope that you find the materials as useful as other students across the country. And, as always, we welcome your feedback. Please visit us at facebook.com/pwcuscareers to add your thoughts and comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Designing Brand Identity
    Designing Brand Identity Cover design: Jon Bjornson This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2013 by Alina Wheeler. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with the respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
    [Show full text]
  • Honorees & Finalists
    CUSTOM CONTENT OCTOBER 26, 2020 HONOREES & FINALISTS On October 15th, the Los Angeles Business Journal hosted a virtual private champagne reception to introduce this year’s awards finalists. DIAMOND SPONSOR PLATINUM SPONSORS GOLD SPONSORS Bank of America | Camden Capital | KPMG | L.A. Care Health Plan | Miller Barondess LLP Montage Insurance Solutions | UCPLA | Union Bank | Union Station Homeless Services | Vida Ventures, LLC 029-44__WLS_Winners.indd 29 10/22/20 10:21 AM 30 LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL – CUSTOM CONTENT OCTOBER 26, 2020 Letter from the Publisher his year’s three-part Women’s Leadership Series culminated with the 2020 Women’s Leadership Awards. This year’s event – staged virtually – was a tremendous success. Taking place on Wednesday, October 21st, it was truly a privilege to honor the terrific women leaders within the Los Angeles business community. The awards program was jump-started by a powerful keynote discussion between UBS Wealth Management’s Jane TSchwartzberg and Jennifer Povlitz. After having a chance to listen to their important message on “Owning Your Worth”, we moved into the celebration. With more than 350 nominations this year, our judges were faced with a lot of difficult decisions. In the end, we narrowed this impressive field down to five Finalists, and ultimately, one Honoree in each of six award categories: Entrepreneur of the Year, CEO of the Year, Executive of the Year, Community Impact Advocate of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, and Volunteer of the Year. Many thanks to our sponsors, who helped to reimagine what this event could look like. We took the event from an in-person half-day forum and completely transitioned it into a three-part all-digital series which included a total of six panels, a private champagne toast, a keynote conversation and awards ceremony.
    [Show full text]
  • The Power of Personal Branding
    www.ijemr.net ISSN (ONLINE): 2250-0758, ISSN (PRINT): 2394-6962 Volume-6, Issue-2, March-April 2016 International Journal of Engineering and Management Research Page Number: 840-847 The Power of Personal Branding Prof. Avinash Pawar Rajiv Gandhi Business School, University of Pune, INDIA ABSTRACT includes the utilization of one's name to different items. Personal branding is the procedure whereby For instance, the VIP land big shot Donald Trump utilizes individuals and their vocations are set apart as brands and it his keep going name broadly on his structures and on the varies from notoriety management and impression items he underwrites. management with its motivation. It is straightforwardly Branding has achieved another level of basic due planned to make a benefit and brand value that relates to a to the ascent of the Internet. The development of the specific individual or person. Normally branding endeavors require broad money related backing for advancement to virtual world made the need of overseeing online make brand mindfulness and a short time later brand characters. In spite of being explicitly virtual, social dependability. Online networking, with its ideological and networking and online character can influence this present innovative structure, gives the chance to the general reality. Since Individuals need to depict themselves a population to advance themselves as brands in a moderately specific path to their group of friends, they may work to shoddy and productive way. keep up a specific picture on their online networking Online personal branding means an approach to locales. Therefore, online networking empowers the convey great properties of an individual self in the online making of an online personality that may not be totally stage keeping in mind the end goal to separate oneself from consistent with the genuine self.
    [Show full text]
  • Key Components for Successful Personal Branding on Social Media
    Key components for successful personal branding on social media. Stefani Kirilova 1 DEGREE THESIS Arcada University of Applied Sciences Degree Programme: International Business Identification number: 16540 Author: Stefani Kirilova Title: Branding your personality on social media – the power of pictures, videos and captions combined. Supervisor (Arcada): Christa Tigerstedt Commissioned by: Abstract: The thesis is about finding the key components for successful personal branding on social media. Thorough research of the Facebook, Youtube and Instagram platforms has been performed in order to better understand the essence of presenting a brand as a personality. Research of three already established Finnish influencers Youtube, Instagram and Facebook) is in focus. A look has been put to the power of pictures, captions and videos, a comparison between the engagement rates and posting patterns has been made for all three researched influencers in order to notice any reoccurring themes between them that might help readers with their own personal branding action plans. Attention has also been paid to target language, visual quality and quantity of the content as well as controversial topics such as making viral videos and handling negativity. The findings in the empirical part give readers a more concrete example of how they can make revenue by branding their own personality online. The research is qualitative and the method used is purposive sampling. Three Finnish online influencers on Instagram, youtube and facebook have been chosen and their marketing efforts have been observed for a period of two months during which indicators such as posting patterns, quantity of content, engagement rates and exponential growth have been transcribed with the help of an online software NapoleonCat and the statistics website SocialBlade.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Build Your Best Personal Brand
    How to Build Your Best Personal Brand Erin Martin Kane, University of Rochester | Moderator Jenny Leonard, University of Rochester Emily Hessney Lynch ’12, 15W, NextCorps Tarin Rickett ’18, LinkedIn What is personal branding? “Personal branding is the ongoing process of creating, establishing, and communicating a clear statement or image of who you are to others.” Creating Your Personal Brand LOS ELLIS, 2009 Your personal brand is what people are saying “about you when you are not able to hear them.” — LOS ELLIS Personal branding is becoming less of a “competitive edge and more of a requirement for anyone looking to grow their business; get that dream job; or take their career to the next level.” — RYAN ERSKINE 22 Statistics That Prove the Overwhelming Value of Personal Branding By RYAN ERSKINE Launched in 2005…before there was a native podcast app on iPhones 405 EPISODES 3.9 million+ DOWNLOADS Great personal brands attract corporate brands How do you define your brand? Which social platforms do you use to shape your brand? Are there pros and cons to using different platforms? Marketing Sparkler How can personal branding help you personally or professionally? 22 Statistics That Prove the Overwhelming Value of Personal Branding By RYAN ERSKINE 22 Statistics That Prove the Overwhelming Value of Personal Branding By RYAN ERSKINE Tips for creating engaging content? Instagram posts using at least one hashtag # receive 12.6% more engagements than posts without them (Sprout Social) Instagram drives the most engagement per post compared to any social network (Sprout Social) 84x 54x 10x more than Twitter more than Pinterest more than Facebook Tweets with images are 150% more likely to get “Retweets” than text-only Tweets (Sprout Social) Posts tagged with another user (56%) or location (79%) have significantly higher engagement rates (Entrepreneur) 71% of consumers with a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others (Entrepreneur) Questions for the panel? https://youtu.be/C-1uCgkyw8c Thank you..
    [Show full text]
  • Maintaining the Good Image of a Public Figure Through the Use of Reputation Marketing
    0A,1TA,1,1G THE G22D ,0AGE OF A 38B/,C F,G8RE THR28GH THE USE 2F RE38TAT,21 MAR.ET,1G Anathasia Citra Communication Studies, School of Humanities, President University -ababeNa Education 3arN Email anathasiacitra#gmail.com ABSTRACT. This study aims to look at the application of the application of Reputation 0arNeting Ey a 3uElic Figure in maintaining a good image. How does the use of Reputation 0arNeting in the entertainment industry can affect the continuity of the career of a 3ublic Figure. The careers of a 3ublic Figure who worN in the entertainment industry is very vulnerable, if marNeting strategies and maintain a good self image are not implemented. This study taNes Hilbram Dunar as the suEMect. He worNs as a television host, radio host,MC, entertainer and author who began his career in 1996, while maintaining good image to date. :ith the concept of Reputation 0arNeting, author examined his personal Eranding, personal and social life to his choice of words and topics in social media. This research will contribute ideas to the study of communication with the subMect about the image, personal branding, reputation marNeting and reputation marNeting in the era of internet, and provide practical ideas for public figures who worN in the entertainment industry. This research is a descriptive study with a Tualitative approach. The results of this study found that the application of Reputation 0arNeting is very appropriate to maintain a good image of a 3ublic Figure who worNs in the entertainment industry. With the development of technology, especially the new media such as the various social media such as twitter and path, a public figure must have his own positioning of the image that he wants to convey to the public and must maintain consistency.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Branding
    Personal Branding FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 Introduction to Branding What exactly is… “branding”? FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 What is a Personal Brand? YOU! packaged as a professional product when expressing your honest, genuine professional self and How you market and present this professional self as a commodity to others Why is a personal brand important? • Helps determine “fit” • Distinguishes you from the competition • Gives you control over your impression FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 Where does branding happen? Networking with employers and professional contacts as well as how How you show up in internet searches professionals you have worked with Professional pages, blogs, descriptions view you. of you (LinkedIN) Online Relationships Presence Personal Print Resume/Cover Letter Speech Presentation Materials Business Card Appearance Correspondence Communications FSU Career Portfolio Social Media Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. Blog FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 How to Create/Build a Personal Brand DEFINE MANAGE PREPARE IMPLEMENT FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 DEFINE: Become an Expert on Yourself What are your… Values Passions Experiences Brand Interests Skills Talents FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 DEFINE: Become an Expert on Your Audience • Identify qualities that make you unique and valuable to employers and incorporate them into your brand. Skills . Interests . Values • Research occupations, industries, and employers you want to include in your career path. What do you bring that is special to these? FSU Career Center • career.fsu.edu • 850.644.6431 Prepare: Assess Your Baseline Take stock of current perceptions of you by: • Taking a look at the branding areas we identified earlier.
    [Show full text]