WPblab EP92 – Maintaining your personal brand while building another.

This week’s guest Isaac Irvine, a personal branding expert, will talk to us about how we can balance the promotion of our employer’s brand (or clients) without neglecting our own. Be sure to tune in for this show, which will be sure to have tweetable nuggets. Join the live chat for an opportunity to ask Issac your questions, too!

Isaac Irvine

@theisaac

https://isaacirvine.com/

Social and Community Manager at GoDaddy. I love talking about #PersonalBrand | #EmployeeAdvocacy | #StarWars. #Podcast host. Opinions are mine.

 

Bridget: Sometimes working for a brand is like a marriage – if you get divorced, then what becomes of your identity?

 

Shawn Pfunder told Isaac his personal brand is ‘cheerleader (for the company)… no one really knows what you’re about’ – he was devastated at the time, because he realized he didn’t have an identity outside of what his personal facebook friends saw

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/isaac-irvine-the-unexpected-personal-brand-coach_us_59371d69e4b04331b6694a4d

 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dad-teaches-9-year-old-son-important-lesson-about-bullying/

 

Ask yourself “what do I really want to be known for” … talk about what you are passionate about! If it lines up with your brand, that’s great, but don’t hide who you are! Bridget: “Don’t be a paper doll.”

 

Sometimes we forget, as people, that it’s okay to talk about ourselves

 

A good place to start – Google yourself and see what comes up – ask if those are the things you want to be known for … if not, it might be time to start giving more attention to your personal brand

 

Think about a few things that you’re passionate about and make a list – then go from there, pick a few topics that float to the top and ask yourself “Can I come up with 10 articles/blog posts about this subject?”

For Isaac, the thing that stood out to him that he loved was ‘Star Wars’! He could come up with articles, videos, cosplay etc.. endlessly – it takes 0 effort for him to talk about it! If he is going to be authentic, he is going to talk about Star Wars and engage with others about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB0wzy-xbwM

 

Naturally people will want to talk to you on social media about your job because they perceive you as an expert, but you need to remember to open up and be yourself too

 

If you run an agency/business, it’s a really good thing to have your employees active on social – if people are connected to your employees, then they are more likely to trust your business – because they trust their friends and their authenticity.

 

People can immediately tell if someone isn’t being authentic – you can’t fake that sort of thing. The more employees talk authentically about what they’re passionate about, the more it reflects positively on your brand.

 

If you want people to share your content… 1) make it good and worth sharing 2) be authentic

 

Don’t talk about your official job/roles too much on your social accounts, no more than 20% – talk about what makes you – YOU!  What are you interested in, what do you care about?  That’s what people need/want to see! Get comfortable sharing your stuff! Don’t self-censor so much that you’re no longer who you are.

 

His son started growing out his hair so he could donate it. He was having some trouble getting bullied at school.  Isaac asked him what was going on and asked him to talk about it – he only agreed when Isaac offered to record it and share it! (he loves the idea of becoming a popular YouTube video personality).  Isaac posted the video and didn’t think anyone would watch it, but the next morning, his phone was overflowing with notifications – the post went viral! Over 14,000 views in 8 hours!!! By that night, there were 2 news trucks outside to interview his son.  By the next day it was on CNN, Fox News and Yahoo! By the end of that week it was all over the globe.

 

A lot of people suggested he should start blogs / video series about bullying – there was the temptation to think “this is part of my brand now”.  But he’s not an expert on bullying – he’s not going to capitalize on that because it’s not authentic to his brand – it was a great parenting moment, but it’s not a passion of his.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dad-teaches-9-year-old-son-important-lesson-about-bullying/

 

When building your brand, ask yourself “is this something I can really carry forward – am I passionate enough about the subject to keep this going?”

 

A lot of people will give you advice about what you should share or how you should communicate – be sure to be true to your own brand – if it doesn’t feel right for you, don’t pursue it.

 

Isaac’s biggest advice is use what feels natural to you – don’t force it. Find the platform that works best for you. It doesn’t have to be Facebook or Twitter, etc…. If you’re comfortable with it and you’re engaging with your followers then stick with it.

 

Don’t be afraid to share who you are on LinkedIn too!  People may be following 100 other people in their industry and they are all posting/sharing the same things – if you post something different / unique – you stand out!

 

Jason’s dog instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lincydincydoo/

 

We live in a world where people change jobs on average every 2 years, so your personal brand matters more than ever!

 

Try asking yourself “If you could do anything – what is it that you’d really want to do?” Listen to that and pursue those passions, make that part of your personal brand

 

“Make your content so good that they want to share it!” – Isaac

 

“Find your tribe, hang out, and make yourself welcome!” – Isaac

 

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Cool pick of the week

 

https://www.ILovePDF.com  – tools to help you do everything you need to do with your PDFs

https://Unsplash.com  – free stock photos for creative use / blogging, also have a wallpaper app

Instant Images plugin – One-click Unsplash images for your blog!

https://droplr.com/ – lets you capture and share instantly what’s on your screen

 

Show notes contributed by:

• Greg Shaw – @greg1usa
• Cheryl LaPrade – @YayCheryl
• Sherie LaPrade – @HeySherie
• James Tryon – @JamesTryon