EGO AND PERSONAL BRANDING: THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEING AND APPEARING

With the spread of personal blogs, social media and other means of online communication, there has recently been a recent increase in the number of people who are building, or trying to build, a substantial online reputation. However, many companies do not consider and do not use social media as a useful platform to develop their own brands, but rather as a channel to reach more customers.

Often companies or people get confused and use personal branding in ways that are inadequate, losing sight of the real goal of personal branding: to strengthen the brand from a business perspective. Companies tend to use it just to sell and people just for personal reasons, reinforcing their egos without creating a strategy of synergy between the company and the customer.

Here are two simple tips have a balanced and appropriate online reputation:

1.    Check your ego online

The ego must not prevail above all else in the social business of a company or an individual. It is important to stay humble and focus on the value that you want to give to others without thinking only for popularity’s sake.
Two good examples are Mark Zuckerberg or Steve Jobs, who while achieving great personal popularity created a great personal branding without compromising the success of their respective companies. But these fantastic examples are not easy to replicate. It’s necessary to maintain a delicate balance between personal branding and success of the company you represent.

2.    Personal Branding vs. Company goals

Today, customers are looking for a real face behind each brand. They are looking for a human touch. Only the employees themselves can give this human touch. That’s why companies should be encouraged more and more to build their own personality online and express their voice through blogs, social networks and content sharing sites and to talk about the company’s services and values.
But, for individuals who are approaching the concept of personal branding for the first time, it really is important to establish what they hope to achieve and define their communication objectives. It is important that employees take utmost care of their personal branding and consequently they will enhance the corporate brand. But sometimes, some people let themselves get carried away, out of a mere desire for visibility by giving space to their ego. This problem is most visible in the case of high-profile managers. There is a fine line between narcissism and a genuine attempt to help a company to spread its message. When the real goal of personal branding is forgotten and it becomes a campaign of self-promotion, the only thing that happens is that the company loses value.

People who use personal branding by building on the success of the enterprise must learn to master online and social media tools and the most current communication strategies and avoid talking only of themselves. Only when that happens can they be seen as real supporters and market influencers for their organizations.

But how do you know what to do? Who sets the boundary between ego and personal branding? How can you learn what is good and what is not to do online? It is important that your strategy is defined in considerable detail because sometimes it only takes a few nuances and small errors in communications to generate large stylistic errors for important brands and it is difficult to repair damage to your image once it’s been done.

That’s why contacting our team of professionals will protect you from committing these errors, help you to better understand how to position yourself and obtain for you great visibility while preserving your image.

PS If you want to know more, if you want to see firsthand our strategies and their results, if you want to be supported by a whole team dedicated to you that will help you bring out the best in you and really express your talent as you deserve, make an appointment with us for a free consultation and soon you’ll have the tools to soar. Fill out the Contact form on the home page, follow us on our  Facebook Page  Stand Out Communication  and on our  Twitter profile  StandOutAgency  to become part of our community dedicated to personal branding.

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