Chapter 3 Reading

This week in Principles of Social Media we were assigned to read Chapter 3-Personal

and Professional Branding. Each chapter begins with an interview from someone who

has experience working in social media.

The interview for this chapter was with Chris Strub. One of the quotes from him that stuck

with me was “Your brand isn’t what you say it is; it is what the public perceives it to be.”

This is a powerful statement for both personal and professional branding. The statement

puts a lot of pressure on you as an individual or on brand’s to stay on top of working on

maintaining and building a positive public image. While I do agree with this statement to

an extent, I believe that part of your identity is what you the individual or what the brand

says they are to be. Ideally the brand’s image of what they picture themselves to be should

be reflected so that the public pictures them in the same light.

Especially when browsing through personal accounts/brands on Instagram, it is important

to not lose track of what is real life. Instagram is a place where brands post the best snapshots

of a person’s life. It can be easy to get caught up in the mix and compare yourself and your life

to these seemingly “perfect” lives of influencers and account holders. Instagram brands typically

are filled with posts from the best parts of the operator’s life and that is perfectly fine. But when

making a personal perception about someone just based off of their Instagram account, it is

crucial to keep in mind that those posts are only snapshots of their life.

I believe one of the biggest challenges in creating a personal brand is standing out from the

crowd by being unique but also relevant and consistent to your voice. There are so many

social medias brand vying for the attention of viewers and followers that it can be difficult to

stand out. This reminds me of when I have trouble with content creation on this blog. Sometimes

I do not know what to write about because I do not know what will be unique and still interesting

to viewers. It will remain a challenge for now but it is something I am constantly working on,

much like other personal and professional brands are working on every day.