In this great forbes article by William Arruda, article here, he talks about the importance of a personal brand.
He said
"2022 marked the 25th anniversary of personal branding. Fitting that it was the year that moved rapidly toward making business more human. Ironic as well that more and more technology permeated the workforce. Or maybe not ironic. Perhaps it was a reaction to the tech or a counterpoint to the loss of human connection at work thanks to the virtual workplace."
So what do I think and what advice do I have for the coming year?
I certainly feel the term "personal brand" as a term has become overused and it tends to be used by influencers and creators and for the average person it's something we just cannot attain.
A "personal brand" seems like a lot of time and effort and as a salesperson or an individual contributor (IC) I don't want or need to go from zero to hundred, I just want to go from zero to one.
1. The Emergence of the Post-Covid Leader
It's critical for all leaders today to be able to lead from behind screens and we know that in this post covid world that our buyers, our employees, our future employees and our investors are online. Which is why as a leadership team we have to be present and digitally relevant both as an individual and as a company, online.
2. LinkedIn Gets Personal
Following on from that, being able to walk digital corridors and have digital conversations is a key skill for leaders and sales people alike. Your Linkedin profile is a shop window to the world and your job is to get the 875 million people (on LinkedIn) who walk past you everyday to say, that person looks interesting, I think they can help me.
This is transformation. As currently, I bet when your buyers look at your Linkedin profile and think "I don't know you, I don't trust you and you are going to try and sell me something I don't want." Afterall, the internet is a great place to avoid your salespeople.
3. Your Company Needs You . . .
The problem that brands are still trying to grapple with today is that I'm not interested in you as a brand. I'm interested in your employees. We all know that brands say the same thing "buy my stuff because we are great". Where as, we can build a relationship with an employee, we don't do that with a brand. But, brands can turn this to their advantage by empowering their teams to be present on social. But this does not mean your employees want to share a "buy my stuff because we are great" message. they don't. They want to be authentic and they want to be empowered to share, what they want to share. Your business has to be digitally relevant today.
4. Personalization of the Employee Experience
This is where, employees want to be given structure, a methodology, guide rails, so they know what they can post. Just like we are given health and safety training. Being on social needs to be structured.
5. Relationships (in fact conversations) Will Rule
The mistake that many businesses are still making is they forget that social media is social ...... media.
It's about conversations.
What you sell and what I sell needs a conversations. Conversations drive sales.
When we come to social media, we should be driving conversations. After All research shows, here, this is why we come to social. We don't come to read brochures.
Coming to social media and posting, which is what most brands and employees do, is pretty much a waste of time. Posting to get conversations, we drive sales.
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2022 marked the 25th anniversary of personal branding. Fitting that it was the year that moved rapidly toward making business more human. Ironic as well that more and more technology permeated the workforce. Or maybe not ironic. Perhaps it was a reaction to the tech or a counterpoint to the loss of human connection at work thanks to the virtual workplace.
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