19 Jan 2017

With the future of work dominated by flexibility, casual employment and a freelancing lifestyle, it’s all about your ‘personal brand’ and the image that you project online.

For many, a personal brand won’t matter. You will be in industries where your studies are more important than your image (for example: doctor, engineer etc). But for anyone starting a business, working in writing, music, film, photography, the arts, or media, your personal brand is very important.

But how do you develop it? Because yes, it’s true, you can’t control your reputation. But you can control the direction your reputation will take by what you do online. This doesn’t mean a million Instagram followers and tonnes of likes on your Facebook. Your personal brand is not how popular you are, it’s how you can develop your character online. You stick to it, you keep it fluid, you keep it real.

1. LinkedIn

This is an incredibly useful platform to be active on in the professional space. Make sure you have a professional photo (hold off on the pouty, the revealing, the alcohol-fuelled selfies), descriptions under your job titles, a paragraph about who you are and what you’re interested in, a list of things your friends can endorse you for etc. Make a habit of connecting with people you meet. Once you have the connection on LinkedIn, they will be much easier to reach out to later on- and they, you.

2. Facebook

I would advise making your Facebook private. If you’ve shared something that you would feel happy for a potential employer to see, something that suits your brand’s ‘messaging’ or ‘voice’, then you can choose to make it public. This is like a little taste test into who you are.

3. Instagram

If you don’t care about Instagram much, make it private. If you’re going public, it doesn’t matter if your #instaaesthetic is not on point. It’s not about that. It’s about the personality that shines through your updates. We all know THAT GUY whose Instagram is only selfies. Whether or not it’s true, what’s the conclusion you draw from seeing that?

4. Blog

A blog isn’t for everyone, but if you’re working in the writing space particularly, or anywhere in the media/arts space, it’s always a good idea. Write about whatever interests you, write about your work, your creative process, conversations you overhear on the train… anything!

The point of a personal brand is to sell yourself. You don’t want to be strict and straight and academic unless you are as a person. You don’t want to be loud and fun and quirky and boisterous if you’re not. If you have a drink on a weekend, you don’t have to hide the fact. You need to portray a realistic, authentic person online because it’s so easy to spot the fakes. People buy people, don’t forget that.