It’s your reputation!

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Many buzz words have appeared since the explosion of social media and one of the most popular is personal branding.

When I first heard the term I pulled a face  ‘Personal what?’ I thought. ‘Seriously, why not just call it your reputation?!’

 

Your personal brand is you. It is what everybody thinks of you. Online. Offline. Everywhere.

It affects everyone.

Wiki defines it as:

…a description of the process whereby people and their careers are marked as brands…. Further defined as the creation of an asset that pertains to a particular person or individual; this includes but is not limited to the body, clothing, appearance and knowledge contained within, leading to an indelible impression that is uniquely distinguishable

Differing in opinion with this slightly, I feel the lines between personal and professional are now so blurred that it would be foolish to see it as career specific.

Your personal brand is affected by your behaviour and your attitudes. Your offline actions can end up online but it’s often the ill thought through online actions that linger and gather momentum. That can go viral. That the press can take hold of it. That can be misconstrued publicly.

An action without thought can have big consequences.

…and if you’re thinking, ‘but I am not online anyway,’ I’d recommend reading this post But I’m not on Facebook…

 

Illustrating my point with Twitter…

You may have heard the news that the 17 year old author of those malicious tweets, aimed at Olympian Tom Daley, has been arrested. This is a perfect real life example of personal branding going tragically wrong.

A flippant remark. A careless 140 character tweet has damaged this boy’s reputation.

How does his retraction tweet make you feel? ‘please i don’t want to be hated I’m just sorry you didn’t win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset.’

(To my pedant readers, I really did want to correct his punctuation but, as it is all part of the impression he makes, I left it untouched.)

Yesterday, a footballer was also arrested for abusive messages sent to Tom Daley, in this instance it appears the tweeter left his phone unattended, to serious consequences.

Not that Olympians are above reproach either, a careless tweet from Voula Papachristo, cost her her dream of competing this year, and today ex-Google China head, Kaifu Lee, was forced to apologise for his emotionally fueled post, in defense of Olympian Ye Shiwenon, published on China’s micro-blogging site Sina Weibo .

 

How to get it right:

  • As you would before you speak, think before you tweet, comment, post…
  • Don’t broadcast. You wouldn’t walk into the pub and yell, ‘Give us a job!’ or ‘Hey, I’m hiring one of these!’, so why do it online.
  • It’s OK to be controversial but think about the consequences. Can it be misconstrued? Will it cause long term damage? Is it discriminatory?
  • Be thankful, be polite, be considerate, offer helpful advice and generally add value.
  • …and don’t leave your phone unattended! ;)

 

Katie McNab, European Talent Acquisition for Pepsico, is always generous of her time and advice. She has a “be yourself” policy, and her tweets highlight her company and share insights, with a twist of humour.

 

 

Kerri-Ann Hargreaves, of rec-to-rec company Qui Recruitment, also gets the balance right. She offers advice, gives thanks and they even run a weekly question time called #AskQui

 

 

Matt Fryer, QlikView Consultant, gets the balance right by sharing articles of interest that highlight his expertise and posting very helpful blogs.

 

You’ll see from their Twitter streams that they can only be seen in a positive light because they have the right attitude.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t have an opinion… and I can hear those of you who know me well having a chuckle at that… I am simply saying, beware the permanency of online and think before you hit enter.

Do you agree or do you think I’m being melodramatic? Have you had a post backfire? What’s the best piece of advice you can tell us?

 

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Twitter feedback:

 

This entry was posted in Candidate Attraction, Employer Brand, Human Resources, Jobseekers, Personal Brand, Social Recruitment, Twitter by Katrina Collier. Bookmark the permalink.

About Katrina Collier

I train, speak & write on the use of social media in recruitment and job search. My blog contains my musings (and an occasional rant) and I aim to empower and illuminate. Please add a comment or share an opinion, they're all gratefully received.
  • http://www.quirecruitment.co.uk Kerri-Ann Hargreaves

    Fabulous post Katrina and thank you for including me. I don’t think that you are being melodramatic at all.

    My tip would be to check your spelling! I sent out a tweet this week which, due to me rushing, contained a spelling mistake and, if I’m honest, I was embarrassed. Thankfully it didn’t offend anyone but it could have done so easily.

    KA

  • winningimpression

    Great tip, thanks Kerri!

  • Billie G

    Great Post Katrina and while I agree with pretty much everything you’ve
    said, your following point I disagree with “Don’t broadcast. You
    wouldn’t walk into the pub and yell, ‘Give us a job!’ or ‘Hey, I’m
    hiring one of these!’, so why do it online.” I think if you know your
    audience and you were in a pub talking to someone looking for a job,
    it’s fine to slip into the conversation. I don’t like tweeting jobs,
    there are few things that annoy me more than a Twitter feed being a job
    feed, BUT we have followers who are looking for jobs and that’s the sole
    reason they’re following us. So every now and then, depending on your
    audience, I think it’s fine to Broadcast a job :)

  • winningimpression

    I completely agree with you… I was trying to keep my blog short and there is definitely a post just on “don’t broadcast”

    What I meant was “don’t immediately broadcast” You’re right, know your audience, and as you also say, once they’re warmed up, it is perfectly fine to slip it into the conversation.