The Dilemma of Personal Branding

I wrote my last post for fun, but it sparked a few thoughts that I believe have some serious implications for those interested in personal branding.  If you take a look at the most well known blogs out there, it’s easy to identify what type of category they fall under.  There’s a certain audience they’re speaking to, a finite set of subjects, and certain intentions that go into their authorship (introspection, promotion, thoughtleadership, reporting, etc.)

I concluded that I was a hybrid blogger, someone who had yet to establish a clear sense of purpose in my writing.  What I’ll admit to is the challenge that I face every single day – the struggle to answer, “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?”

It’s so much easier for us to answer the latter question because we can all fantasize about the best version of ourselves.  However, what most of us lack is the self-actualization it takes to admit to who we really are.

In the world of personal branding, those that do it best are consistent, confident, and concise.  They manage to fine-tune the complexities of their character and simplify.  We are all multi-faceted creatures, yet self-marketing pros can usually get themselves down to 2-3 key words.  It’s all about keeping it simple.

The Online Dilemma of Gen-Y
What the world needs to realize is that for young professionals like myself, many of us are still grappling with self-identity issues.  I’ve had this talk with other peers and pals like Maria Thurrell, Amanda Gravel, and Sandy Kalik before and we constantly ask, “How the heck can we market ourselves when we barely even know who we are?”

Ask yourself what you were like when you just graduated college.  Did you have any clue as to what you wanted in life and what you were doing in your career that would lead to where you are today?

I envy a lot of adults who managed to make the transition from student to professional without having someone Google them.  I miss the days when I could log into my blogs and write randomly about my life and what I was feeling on a particular day.  The internet used to be a place of self exploration for me and now it’s evolved into a place of self-assertion.

Creating a Fluid Online Identity

We live in an unforgiving world of web histories and share this links.  The concept of context is virtualy shattered when we exist online and as a result, our personal brands must stay with us from one web property to the next.

It is my hope that the professional world understands that we are the first generation to have what I’d like to call a fluid identity.  We have a legacy of High School MySpace profiles, college Facebook accounts, and post-college LinkedIn resumes.  We can attempt to sell ourselves under the guise of a personal brand, but at the end of the day, that brand will shift and evolve with every new experience we have as people.

As the Graduating Class of 2009 descends upon the working world, I encourage them to embrace the uncertainty of their identities, revel in the technologies they grew up with, and dismiss this notion of conformity.

I challenge them to answer,”Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?”, but more importantly, to repeat this process time and time again.

Photo credit: Obensen