Creating your Digital Brand
Dr. Josie Ahlquist stated, "Say it with me – you are a brand. A personal, real and professional one. You represent yourself, your family, your school, and will very soon represent your employer. Your activity on social media mixed in with your actions on the street equate to your brand – what you are known for. How do people describe you? Your qualities, your values, your life purpose? How do all these questions match up with what you do every day, with what you are posting online?" (Ahlquist, 2017)
Embracing your brand doesn’t mean you are leaving YOU behind to sell out to marketing, professional standards, or politically correct measures. You must approach your brand through a personal and holistic lens in order to allow you to get to know the context of each social platform to see how your personality and professional expertise can shine.
Using myself as an example, in the image below is a collage of my social/mobile platforms. From Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, what themes can you find, what about the differences? Can you get a small sense of my personality, interests, or my values? How would you describe the brand of me?
This week, I would like you to try to describe your personal brand. Where can you find it online? Gathering up screenshots of all of your accounts, I would like you to submit a collage of social media platforms and compare them - don't change anything. I am not suggesting that all your cover photos match, or even your bio is different than other platforms - and that's okay! You’ll notice my Instagram bio is much more playful than LinkedIn – however, both are clear that my brand/mission is a higher education professional and educator, as well as one who values family, service, and spending time with others.
Along with submitting your collage, submit a one-paragraph response, sharing what others should perceive your brand and reputation should be. You may have to be vulnerable, but this is where your leadership abilities will expand. Don't worry, we will work to enhance your brand in the coming weeks.