Building Personal Brands for Normal People

Sometimes, okay more than sometimes, I joke that something is very “on-brand” for me. What, exactly, does this mean, you may ask? When I say it in this context, I mean that it is very “me.” The color green, hydrangeas, cats, being sarcastic; these are all “on-brand” for me.

All jokes aside, it is very important for a person’s personal branding to be consistent across several different places. When people look at your social networking sites, both personal and professional, are they going to want to get to know you?

Personal branding is important for everyone, but today it is becoming even more important to social media influencers. Now, I know what you are thinking. Emily, you talk about these influencers all the time, and yes, I do. I do this because these influencers are changing the way we go about our daily lives and we hardly even notice that. It is so important for these influencers to have consistent branding across their sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. When they don’t, people tend to question them. For example, an influencer I have mentioned several times, Grace Beverly, has come under fire in the past for her personal branding. She would continuously talk about being vegan on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, but posted several photos in new, leather clothes. Her followers did not like this, and she received quite a bit of backlash in the comments.

While if your “personal brand” may not be the most important thing to your career, it should be something you care about. The actual percentage of employers that use social media sites to research job candidates is unknown, but we do know that somewhere between 50 and 95% do. Some sites say about 70% other say over 90%. While this does not mean that you can’t use social media, it means that it should always be clean. A good rule of thumb that I learned in college is that if your grandma would not be happy to see what you post, then don’t post it. Posting and being tagged in inappropriate posts, photos and comments could make a difference in your job search.

A few of our readings in class this week were centered around creating your personal brand, I felt like those were very specific to creating your professional brand online. For most of us, we are not using our social media sites as a part of our professional branding, unless it is LinkedIn or a professional blog! That being said, it is still very important to keep your social media clean for potential employers, but that doesn’t mean your personality cannot show through and you can’t be yourself.

Just Googling “how to clean up social media for employers” will give you dozens and dozens of articles. According to brandyourself.com, here are a few key things you should look for when cleaning up your social media:

-          Derogatory Language

-          Unprofessional Work or School Behavior

-          Violence or Bullying

-          Irresponsible Drinking or Drug Use

-          Criminal Behavior

Today, there are even apps and computer programs that have been created just to clean up a person’s social media. But brandyourself.com does not recommend using one of those. According to the site, because these “cleaners” clean in bulk, they are not just getting rid of damaging content, they may also be throwing out things that employers may find good as well.

Facebook is the main social media site that people think of when they are told to clean up their online presence, but it is not the only place that needs to be looked at. Most people now also use Instagram so it is important for you to go through your Instagram feed and delete and/or edit photos and captions that may be unprofessional or paint you in a bad light. Twitter is a site that most people don’t even think about employers going on, but it definitely can happen. That means that your Twitter, where you typically post things that are not as polished or important enough to go on Instagram, probably needs the most work. For most people this social networking site is used for random thoughts that might not be appropriate for a professional environment. According to workopolis.com, 93% of employers check social media before hiring, and that includes checking sites other than Facebook. Because your social media might create an impression of the type of person you are, it is important to keep them clean. According to the site, there are usually three main things that employers are looking for on your social media sites: 

1. “More than half of hiring managers (51%) say that they’re looking to see if the candidate will be a good fit with the corporate culture.”

2. “45% are researching potential hires on social media to find out more about that candidate’s qualifications.”

3. “Almost as many, 44% of hiring managers want to see if a candidate is creative.”

The site also lists some of the thins employers are turned off by, and “interestingly, displaying poor grammar and spelling online appears to be more detrimental to your prospects than guns or alcohol,” with 61% of employers by this.

So, while you may not be a social media influencer whose entire world is online, it is still very important to keep a clean presence on the sites. It may seem like a daunting task to clean up your social media, it can and needs to be done. Once you have done the initial clean up, all there is after that is maintenance. Making sure that people don’t tag you in inappropriate photos or posts, and that you aren’t sharing unprofessional posts or articles is just as important as the initial clean up. You never know when a potential employer or current employer may look at your sites. I personally, go through my sites (Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) at least once a month to make sure that nothing has slipped past me. When was the last time you cleaned up your social media?

Keiser, A. (2018, October 2). How to Clean Up Facebook Accounts. Retrieved from https://brandyourself.com/blog/guide/how-to-clean-up-facebook-accounts/

Workopolis. (2016, July 66). The Top Three Things That Employers Want to See in Your Social Media Profile. Retrieved from https://careers.workopolis.com/advice/the-three-things-that-employers-want-to-find-out-about-you-online/