Magic won’t bring your personal brand to life, but managing it will

It’s mystifying how we can be so organised in many parts of our life – exercising regularly, managing our workload, or researching the best whitegoods to buy – yet we expect our personal brand to develop magically without any effort.

Even worse, there are those who don’t think about personal brand at all. I’ve had sceptical executives sit in front of me and say: “I’m OK. I’ve been successful at work without needing to think about my personal brand, so I don’t need to worry about that stuff now.” 

I can understand this thinking if you want to disconnect and disappear or you work for a spy agency. But, if you’re pursuing something that really matters to you, whether it be a career goal or a passion project, your personal brand matters in this digital world.

Like it or not, people are looking you up online and forming an opinion of who you are and what you stand for, even before they’ve met you. It means the tone and substance of your online presence is more important  than ever before.

If you’re invisible in our connected world, it gets worse. If others search for you online and can’t find anything about you, then they control your narrative. Not you.

If you accept that magic won’t bring your personal brand to life, here are ways you can take control and build your impact and influence online:

•  Stay in your lane – Stick to sharing insights, opinion and advice related to your subject matter.  The things that you think are common-sense, based on what you know, may be a revelation to someone who knows less about your subject matter than you do. Resist engaging in things you know nothing about.

•  Show up regularly – Choose a social media platform based on where your audience is hanging out and turn up there on a regular basis. One executive I’ve coached comments on posts in his LinkedIn feed for 10 minutes every day. Find an operating rhythm that works for you and join the conversation.

• Share in an engaging way –  Consider the best format to showcase your expertise and content. If you’re going to blog, then write the way you speak and avoid sounding like a textbook. Interviewing someone? A video or a podcast will work. Found someone else’s content insightful? Don’t just ‘like’ their post. It’s much more engaging to share your thoughts in a comment and even draw others in to the conversation.  

• Behave like a decent human being – Although it’s in an online world, engaging in social media is about people dealing with people. Be open and generous in sharing what you know to help others. Don’t be aggressive. Have empathy for others, but don’t hug your trolls. Save your energy and let them be.

Just like anything else in life, building our personal brand takes planning, work and time. If you’ve been waiting for magical intervention, stop it immediately and get moving.

If you’re absent from social media or your profile is unprofessional, how does this reflect on your value proposition and personal brand? If you’d like to build your credibility as a socially engaged leader, get in touch.

All work and no play makes you dull and boring on LinkedIn

Set in the snowed-in Overlook Hotel, the movie The Shining features winter caretaker Jack Torrence holed up in his study, day after day, attempting to write a book.

Making a buck looking after an empty hotel while churning out a book seemed like a win-win. But, as in all decent horror movies, it wasn’t meant to be.

Fast forward to the iconic scene featuring Jack’s wife Wendy approaching Jack’s typewriter with great trepidation, wanting to see what he’s been writing. Instead of finding a well-progressed manuscript, she’s horrified to see hundreds of pages featuring the same blurb typed over and over again:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Most certainly an horrific display of writer’s block in the movie, it’s an old proverb that means working all the time and not making space for things that bring you joy is unhealthy.

This is a great lesson for how I believe we should show up on LinkedIn.

Many people assume because LinkedIn is a professional network we should only present one dimension of ourselves: the ‘work’ self. The trouble is, being all work and no play is boring and doesn’t set us apart from the crowd.

Further, journeying through the pandemic made us appreciate the value of showing up in a genuine and transparent way. Kids, cats and dogs appeared in Zoom meetings. So too did beards and gym gear. We picked up new hobbies. We may be venturing back to the office, but people’s wellbeing still matters.

We owe it to each other to show up in a balanced way on LinkedIn instead of pretending we have nothing else going on but work.

Here’s what you can do to go beyond your ‘work’ self and show up with a life in LinkedIn:

• Tailor your background banner – The grey banner behind your head is customisable. Instead of a picture of you presenting at a conference or a company logo, pop in an image that resonates on a more personal level. It could be where you like to holiday, the city you live in, or where you like to ride your bike.

• Make your headline more than your day job – Are you a recruiter who is a life-long learner? A consultant passionate about animal welfare? A kick-boxing banker? You can go beyond your job title to reinforce the things that matter to you by extending your headline with a second sentence or additional key words.

• Tell me what you care about – In addition to covering your areas of expertise in your summary (About section), explain why you enjoy doing what you do and describe the difference you’re trying to make. This could be a work-related passion or a contribution you make in your community, such as volunteering, or participation in a professional association.

• Mention your personal interests and hobbies – I promise your IQ will not be diminished if you mention that you like to surf, sing or dance the tango. In fact, it will make you more interesting. Noting hobbies and personal interests in your LinkedIn summary is a great way to set yourself apart. It could even act as a conversation starter in a connection request.

• Don’t sound like a textbook – When you post, write the way you speak. Use informal language, rather than textbook or corporate speak. When sharing content, point out its value. Tell me a story. Ask questions to encourage a conversation. Save 10% of your bandwidth for sharing a personal achievement or milestone.  All these things will make you more interesting, interested and relatable.

Did you know our “all work and no play” proverb has a second part?

All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.

In the context of LinkedIn, I take this to mean: don’t go overboard on the personal stuff and seek balance in how you show up. After all, LinkedIn is still a professional social media network.

So, go on and open up a little more. Tell me what you like to do on the weekends. You’ll be way more interesting to me if you do.

Don’t be a passenger. Get in the driver’s seat with social

My first car was a 1986 first generation Hyundai Excel. It was blue, with a clunky gear box and a 70-horsepower, 1.5-litre motor. It could go from zero to 100kph in around 13 seconds (my best guess).

Yes, it was an underdog in the motoring world, but I loved it. The first time I jumped into my car as a licensed driver, I was excited and I imagined all the road trips I'd go on with my mates in the future.

Having wheels gave me an incredible sense of independence and control. No longer a passenger at the mercy of public transport or my exceedingly chatty chauffeur (my dad), I was in the driver’s seat and in charge of the car.

Managing your social media is just like being in a car. If you stay in the passenger seat, you’re at the mercy of the driver. The only way to truly stay in control and manage your impact and influence in social is to jump in the driver’s seat.

The only way to truly stay in control and manage your impact and influence in social is to jump in the driver’s seat.

 I’ve written about the importance of being social before.  In particular, I believe women need to get over the self-talk that making themselves visible is not a ‘nice’ thing to do. Let’s park that for now (sorry – bad pun).

The key to not feeling overwhelmed by social media is to engage in it thoughtfully. Here’s a model I like to use when I’m helping clients learn how to get in the driver’s seat and take control of their social media engagement.

My insights. Think about what it is you want to share and why. What subject matter are you an expert in? What are you trying to achieve? Remember, using social in a purposeful way can be about your work agenda or something personal.

My voice. How will you share what you know and create value for your followers? Finding your voice is about identifying where your audience is and the right channels to engage in generous, open conversations about your subject matter.

My brand. Think about how you want to be perceived. Even before someone meets you, your social media footprint will tell a story about who you are and what you stand for. Consistency is key. Keep this in mind when you’re working out what you’ll share on social and how you’ll do it.

Working out what you want to share, how you’ll create value and how you want others to perceive you will give you the beginnings of a roadmap in how to navigate social.  

The most important step of all in social, however, is to stop being a passenger and jump into the driver’s seat.

Plan the trip, invite your community along for the ride and then get behind the wheel and drive. When it comes to being social, the journey is just as much fun as arriving at your destination.