Earlier this week, PR News asked readers to share their opinions about personal brands. Geoff Livingston wrote an excellent response. This topic has almost reached the point of beating a dead horse, but it reminded me of a comment I left on another blog a couple months ago. Expanding on my initial thoughts (and then I’m done!), here’s my two cents:
We tell clients all the time that a brand isn’t just what you say it is. Perception = reality. A brand is how others perceive a company, product or person. Those of us in PR may like to think of ourselves as behind the scenes, the reality is that we all have a brand – and leveraging social media to build on that existing identity isn’t a bad thing.
Think about it like this: Are you the PR person who helps reporters even if that the story doesn’t involve your client? Or, are you the type that always provides solid story ideas – not fluff? What about the ones who pitch any and every story idea, regardless of its merit? Whatever type of PR person you are, that speaks volumes about your personal brand.
So, what’s changed? Thanks to blogging, Twitter, Facebook and other tools, these personal brands are now amplified on a much larger scale. Some people even have 20,000+ followers on Twitter, but numbers don’t make a strong brand. And a personal brand should never come before the client.
Pre-social media, many PR people had already developed reputations locally or within a specific industry. The influx of online communication means reputations and brands are aligning and expanding. Instead of being judged by a handful of journalists, the audience has grown, and there are more tools to evaluate someone’s brand. Let’s use Twitter as an example. If you were the PR person who sent dismal pitches, it’s not that hard to imagine that you probably only tweet about yourself or your company. One the other hand, if you built your reputation as a PR person always standing by to help reporters, you’re probably Tweet a lot of valuable information, even if it doesn’t personally benefit you. The way you interact with others and the quality of your final work product influences how people perceive you — and, consuquently, your brand. What’s so bad about that? (Or, feel free to tell me I’m wrong if you disagree!)