Personal Branding
Parallel to skill and knowledge development, personal branding is also a beneficial segment, which aids in personal progress throughout the professional career. It illustrates an individual’s qualities, capabilities and vision. As stated by Waller (2020) that it is the conscious decision to make know attributes of a person’s identity in the form of a clearly defined branding proposition, personal branding also assists in influencing others about one’s ideas or suggestions.
Part A;
As I am advancing towards my professional career, significance of personal branding is getting clearer to me, and now I realize that what impression the other people would perceive of my current online presentation. Till to date I have been using common social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and WeChat for my online presentation. While creating my online presentation I had no idea of the importance of personal brand and what image of me, the known and unknown viewers of my online pages would conceive. My present online presentation can be termed as a simple informal intro of myself, it does not include the factors that are considered essential in the professional fields, like my achievements, goals, or vision. In simple words, my current online presentation reflects my immaturity.
Before I started US3DIG subject, I was satisfied with my online presentation, however, as stated by Ewell (2012) that a well prepared brand allows you to identify, define and distinguish yourself by reflecting in a concise manner who you are, what you stand for, and your purpose in life, also as I learned more about the effectiveness of personal branding, I have realized that my present online presentation is not impressive and not capable of influencing my future employers or employees. Thus, I do not want to maintain the same presentation of mine, online.
I would completely modify my personal online profile by deleting any such information, which would adversely portray my personality. Secondly, I would add information about myself, like my skills, characteristics, level of knowledge, and ambition. As employers, do consider online profile of the applicant prior conducting an interview, also the same online profile would assist the employees to comprehend the expectations of the manager, so I will make sure that all information I will be adding is authentic and true.
Part B;
Through my learning in this semester I have discovered the actual purpose of personal branding and its impact on one’s professional career. I was under the impression that personal online profiles are just for making friends or socializing among the community, and you can show fake or unnatural qualities of yours just to influence others. However, now I have learned that portraying fake characteristics is highly unethical. Any intentional fabrication in your profile will restrict your professional career.
My view about social media sites on which I had been placing my profile is also changed now, now I believe that the same sites which majority of the users are employing just for socializing plays a significant role in your career development. As the advance technologies has modified almost all practices among the corporate sector, employers prior to hiring any candidate go through the profiles of the candidate on varied social media sites to evaluate his level of maturity, mindset and future goals. As such, carefully designed online profiles irrespective of their online placements, is a major support for a successful professional career.
As a personal brand is the illustration of one’s personality, characteristics and mode of thinking, for its development all such factors which are associated with the lifestyle, knowledge and behavior of the individual must be considered.
For developing my personal brand, I will conduct analysis of my existing online profiles, for the flaws in it. I will delete any post or content which is in defiance of my personality and mindset. Involving into any discussion regarding politics or unethical practice might adversely portray my personality, so would avoid any such discussion. Even will not share anything online that would affect someone’s integrity or beliefs. I will search for professional groups online, associated with my academic learning, and would join the same groups. Joining professional groups would aid in further improvement of my personal brand and my online appearance. Moreover, any post, comment, idea or saying related with my subjects, after confirming its authenticity will be shared on my personal online pages.
Action Plan;
The entire process of designing and inscribing personal branding will be a step-by-step procedure.
- Firstly, I will gather all relevant information regarding my actual personality, knowledge, capabilities and planned goals. Also, will compile in series all my academic achievements, working experiences and social works. To make sure that nothing is missed and any irrelevant information is included, I will discuss all my accumulated content with my close friend or a family member.
- Next step will be to check, how my profile is appearing online and on which platforms. For this process I will simply search Google for my particular name. One by one I will thoroughly assess my profiles on each online platform for adding authentic information regrading my personality. I will make sure that same information is added into my profile on all online platforms, and the updated profile illustrates my professionalism.
- Third step will be to update my online profiles by adding all compiled information, along with my academic achievements and working experiences. Before posting online final version of my profile, I will take the help of any experienced professional or my tutor for re-assessing my profile incase if all the details are not aligned professionally.
- My main preferred online platforms for posting my profiles will be Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Once my profile is online, I will invite and join senior professionals and professional groups. It will not only enable me to enhance my knowledge about the professional world but will also highlight me among the corporate sector, and I might get a good career opportunity.
- Developing a personal brand is not simply posting a personal profile on online platforms, the contents and ideas you share, also other people’s comments on your online pages further improves your personal brand. For this process frequently or at least weekly, I will be posting ethical and informative contents related with my subject or career.
Self-Assessment of my online Personal Brand;
For this process I will constantly checking online platforms that I will be using for my online profiles, to ensure that only relevant contents from reliable sources or senior professionals is present on my online pages. Any post or content that is unethical or is in defiance with the professionalism will be deleted or blocked immediately.
References:
Ewell, P. L (2012) Reaching for the Gold. Author House: USA.
Waller, T (2020) Personal Brand Management. Springer: Switzerland.
