Why Building a Personal Brand is Important

In today’s internet-based society, building a likable personal brand on social media is just as important as building relationships in the real world. Personal branding can simply be defined as the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. Personal branding is the means by which people remember you so how you present yourself on and offline to potential clients and customers is very important. One of the biggest examples of personal branding in society today can be found in the presidential election system. Every four years, two candidates develop a personal brand around their name that they then proceed to “sell” to the American public. Presidential candidates use personal branding to connect their names with certain businesses and social issues that they think voters will respond to. By the end of the campaign, both candidates will have developed a highly distinct and specific personal brand that high lights everything that the candidate is passionate about.

Personal branding is not something that is reserved for celebrities or other high-profile members of society. In fact, personal branding is something that many people are engaging in through their use of social media in their day to day lives. Because personal branding is something that should be used by everyone on social media, there are certain things everyone should know about personal branding before they start implementing it into their lives.

The number one thing a personal brand should do for the user is to communicate and express the user’s values, skills and personality. The personal brand is just an extension of the user and should be used to enhance the person's presence on social media and in real life. A strong personal brand can also have a strong impact on your ability to get the best jobs and promotions in your career. In the 21^stcentury nearly everyone has established some sort of personal brand on social media so it is very important that you create a strong personal brand that is unique to you and the things you are passionate about in life. This will help you stand out against the crowd of other personal brands that are flooding the internet. 

Personal branding also allows users to find others who are passionate about the same businesses or social issues. When you publicly align yourself with certain issues such as birth control, others will be more likely to associate themselves with you or your social media profile. While building your personal brand it is extremely important to be honest and authentic when choosing which businesses and social issues to align yourself with. If you pick something that you are not truly passionate about others will easily be able to pick up on this and you look like an idiot on social media. For example, it would be OK for someone who is passionate about weight lifting to share motivational quotes or workout videos, however, it would not be OK for that person to share information that they have no expertise in such as the best way to apply your make up in the morning. When building a personal brand its best to just stick with what you know and this will allow you to create a meaningful personal brand that represents yourself in the best way possible to others.