I live in a world of college students. I see them every day. They work in my department, they pass me on campus, they even come to my house for dinner –oh yeah, and my son is a college student. I find it odd that the people in our world that are probably the most savvy on social media are also the ones that violate their own personal brand the most on social media. Hmm…weird.

I may be showing my age here, but I feel that I owe it to society to tell them more about their personal brand and how it can be improved. There are definitely volumes of information written about this, but I do not feel it’s important to make this an epic medical journal. As a marketer, I think about branding every day, that also means I think about my own personal brand every day too. Here are three simple things that are very important not just college students but for all of us to think about as we help, or hurt or personal brand every day.

Social Media

We all know social is growing like crazy and has been for many years. Every year there seems to be several more social networks popping-up that provide something new and different. The value of social is the exposure, immediacy, share-ability and connectedness. The weakness is, you guessed it, the exposure, immediacy, share-ability and connectedness.

Here’s the point, make sure you carefully consider every word, every photo, video, hashtag and comment you post because it will be seen by LOTS of people. Let’s take this even further. Let’s say you are interviewing for a job. One of the first things companies will do is to go on social media to see what kind of person you are. People have actually lost jobs or not been hired because of what they posted on social.

The Internet has now given everyone a voice, what you do with that voice is becoming more and more important to your business success. Customers today are not satisfied to only hear about the products you offer, they also want to know more about you personally and what you stand for. People do business with people they know, like and trust, this is why personal branding is so important. If you are authentic, and they can identify with you, they are more likely to consider your products and services.

                                                       – Kent H. Tewell – CEO L.E.T. Group

Personal Character

Social media transcends the virtual, online world to our personal and even in-person character. When people see that our social media profiles have off-color content throughout, they assume our character is the same way. The power of social can damage your personal brand and make it challenging for you to fix. Of course over time, clean content will eventually win, but not without damage to your personal brand that is costly in your personal and professional life.

If you are unsure where to start or how to alter your social media, contact YourBrandExposed.com. We love helping small businesses tackle digital challenges, all while creating a social content strategy and tactical plan that performs exactly the way you need it to.

YourBrandExposed.com is designed to look at digital with an eye into the future using a creative, innovative marketing perspective. We’re a consultative and tactical resource for companies looking to leverage the power of digital, web, social and content marketing strategies.

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Scott MacFarland

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