Personal branding is hitting a bit of a brick wall as of late.  To say the least, personal branding is running into branding issues.  If you ask a  lot of people what comes to mind when you mention personal branding and you’re likely to get a lot of responses centered around the typically ridiculed “social media guru” identity.

You know, someone who speaks at great length about social media, is well known online for their knowledge of it, but doesn’t have much real experience at much of anything save for talking about themselves.

Recently a journalist for CNN sparked a back and forth on the subject, discussing the lack of value in personal brands inside an article featuring Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company.

The journalist portrayed Scott as:

“Someone whose personal brand doesn’t take a back seat to anyone else’s - not even that of Ford Motor Co., his employer”

Of course a slew of people jumped in to defend Scott, and it’s not the first time that debates have erupted over personal branding - where believers take up arms against skeptics who are hurling rocks.  I doubt it’ll be the last time something like this occurs, and it raises an important questions:  Is personal branding legitimate or is it just a method for people to catch their overflowing ego?  Obviously I’ve spent a fair amount of energy and time working on my own personal brand here on this blog while managing my positions in a number of businesses that deal specifically with social media and I’ve had to wrestle with this question myself.  The whole concept can fall into 6 main assumptions between Truth and Fiction:

The Fiction of Personal Branding

Personal branding is about ego, not reputation

Ego is an ugly word and carries with it connotations of arrogance, narcissism and a boat load of pomp.  Guess what?  We all have it.  We all carry an ego to some degree.  It’s likely rather easy to shift into Ego mode if a person doesn’t check their position but personal branding isn’t about ego.  It’s about reputation.  When you develop that reputation, people know who you are when they see you coming.  You just can’t develop a positive personal brand on ego.

Personal brands come at the expense of corporate brands

The previously mentioned article was set to vilify Scott Monty, that by boosting his personal brand he was doing more for himself and less for Ford.  Instead we know when we talk about Scott it’s in our mind that Scott works for Ford.  Through his blog he shows his knowledge and through the success of Ford he proves it.  There’s no separation, and he certainly isn’t using his corporate identity to elevate who he is.  Instead, I believe that Ford is gaining a boost because of what Scott knows.

Only certain people have personal brands

Personal brands are about reputation.  The same goes for corporate brands.  In that regard, we all have a personal brand.  Some are stronger than others but we all have one.  Consider the new reach that digital media has given us and those simple personal brands get even larger.  The web has made it possible for anyone to get their 15 KB of fame, some just understand how to apply their experience and knowledge in order to take it to the next level.

The Truth About Personal Brands

It all starts with me

The funny thing is, a lot of personal brands start from a point of egotism.  A lot of people start in social media by talking about themselves - more from egotistical side.  It’s not that they are arrogant, self-centered or boiling over with arrogance.  They’re just a little naive.  When we first get started with this whole social media engagement thing, it’s just easier to talk about ourselves but we have to remember that like customers who don’t care about products, our followers don’t care about us personally.  Good personal brands break out of this mold and go on to talk about more important things.

Like golf.

Tension will continue

We’ve heard some stories already about individuals that built up a large personal brand and then had some issues maintain a corporate or work position.  There have even been individuals terminated or asked to resign over such positions.  Personal branding isn’t always to blame, I think it’s more likely that these people simply outgrow the positions they have in many of these cases.  Though on the reverse of that, the growth leads to a desire for personal branding which can cause people to want to spread their wings.

Personal branding is important because people are important

Personal branding puts a face to the people that exist within a corporate entity (or any business).  When consumers and clients of a company can see the personality of the people that work within, they can become more attached and comfortable.  That deep emotional connection is comfortable - and achievable.  The concept of the faceless company is going the way of the Dodo.

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