An online personal brand recipe book: The introduction
I am not known as a great cook. My culinary creations are either designed for shock value (as demonstrated by my past cupcake attempts) or utilitarian in nature. I look on with appreciation and slight envy at the work of my MasterChef-worthy colleagues. It seems second nature for them to combine ingredients into something that is easy both on the eye and on the pallet, whereas I tend to follow a recipe by the numbers.
I do, however, seem to easily grasp most things in the digital space. Just as I struggle in the kitchen, I chat with many who feel they should be doing something online, but may be uncertain what, why, how, or where to start.
Many of these interesting people with whom I have the honour of having conversations are entrepreneurs and leaders creating their own business, individuals working through degrees and other higher education, activists and innovators creating positions for social change, and people shifting careers into new directions. Given my propensity for the online space, at some point many of these conversations come around to how to establish or expand their online “personal brand”.
Just as my wife points me to our bookshelf of cookbooks, I am starting this series as a cookbook to point people towards as a personal-brand conversation follow-up. I started this as a single reference post, but realised I had better split it into a series when I hit the 2,000 word mark and had not yet mentioned Facebook. I also thought the cooking metaphor might help people relate to what can be technically daunting for those not so inclined.
I plan on adding to this series over time as new technologies are introduced and existing technologies are updated. Before I begin, a few caveats to keep in mind…
What I am not talking about
I was reticent to write this series for a few reasons:
#1: It has been said
There are already volumes of material on the topic. Many break the approach into steps. You can learn about three steps here or a different three steps here. There are eight steps from Inc., five steps from The Boss, nine steps on CIO.com, eight steps from WikiHow, nine ways to personally brand in nine minutes and, if you have the patience, a massive 50 steps here. As if part of their own personal branding exercise, everyone has advice on the matter, including Telstra, The Huffington Post, CNN Money, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Business Insider, Forbes, and pages and pages on Social Media Today.
There are lists for CEOs, lists for Brits, lists for dummies and lists the unemployed (leaving space perhaps for a list for unemployed British CEOs who fear they are dummies). You can learn about personal branding 101 and pay $40 for a 21-lecture series course. PwC has an entire micro-site on the topic where you can use their online calculator (apparently I am digitally distinct). There is even a targeted “personal branding blog”.
I may add my own flavor to what has already been said, but for now I will focus on practical how-to recipes rather than personal branding cooking theory.
#2: Self-promotion and narcissism
I share concerns about the inherent narcissism associated with talking about personal branding. The concept of personal brand risks placing a false sense of meaning on the inappropriate celebration of self-promotion. This position is perpetrated by the media in a circular reference of satisfying our need for consumption about ourselves. Social media can cast a slimy shadow that obscures the most proven form of personal brand: that of doing your job well and helping others in the process.
Personal brand is not a goal in itself, but a means to an end or a natural expression of who you are. Digital expression is a powerful tool to affect the change you want to see in the world, but I expect the use of the term “personal brand” will still leave a bad taste in a few people’s mouth.
#3: Understanding motivations
I believe any discussion on the phenomenon of social media is richer with an understanding of the underlying psychology and social science theories that explain our behaviour. These principles include philosophies of meaning and why we feel compelled to promote, social exchange principles on how those actions are perceived by others, goal theory about what we are trying to achieve, and identity theories related to developing multiple forms of self-image while maintaining our authenticity. These are topics that drove my social science studies and that I will share about here on Sideways Thoughts over the course of my lifetime.
That said, many want a cookbook just because they want dinner and are not too concerned about cooking theory. Just as cooking always comes back to sharing food, personal brand always comes back to people. I will continue to share about theories because I am fascinated about what makes us all tick, but my main focus of this series will be a practical “how-to” with an end goal of people achieving an end goal that makes the world a better place.
What to expect
Examples of recipes you can expect include how to set up a blog, setting up a Facebook profile or a Facebook page, and why and how to use the likes of Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. I do not propose to have all the answers and my posts will be straight-forward and not for digital power-cooks.I also do not begin to position myself as the end-all be-all on the topic, but rather someone who has some knowledge and experience that may be of benefit to others.
What I hope to achieve is share some of my experience and help those wanting a single-source with a simple step-by-step process.
If you are hungry for such things, feel free to drop me a note below on recipes you would like to see. You can also share in the social channels below if you feel others may be interested. Finally, you can add your email in the subscription box in the upper right panel of the blog to be notified of new recipes as they are posted.