Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago · 4 min. reading time · 0 ·

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Why Embracing Personal Branding Seems So Difficult To Many? (And How to Overcome it)

Why Embracing Personal Branding Seems So Difficult To Many? (And How to Overcome it)

Why Embracing Personal Branding Seems So Difficult To Many? (And How to Overcome it) ET —


It has been 2 months since I joined beBee. I happened to come across it when I followed Javier 🐝 beBee on Twitter. I was curious to find out what beBee was. As soon as I signed up, I realized that it was a personal branding and affinity networking site which enabled you to find fellow, like-minded, bees and read relevant articles, so aptly called "buzzes".

I started producing content on beBee and with the encouraging words and great engagement that flowed in from fellow bees, I started coming up with more ideas than I ever thought was possible. 

I am a content marketer by profession. It is my job to come up with stories, blogs, interesting and catchy copies for my clients. Even though I invest so much time and thought into producing content for them, I never did the same for myself. Personal branding was close to zilch for me. My twitter handle was inactive. The only social networking I did was via Facebook and LinkedIn. 

Facebook helped me keep in touch with friends while I used LinkedIn to keep in touch with my colleagues and extend my professional network. Never did I really focus on building my personal brand on it. 

Now that I am on beBee, I have become a strong proponent of why everyone should work upon and build their personal brand. However, I have seen people being very closed to the idea of personal branding. When I asked them why, the usual answer was: Don't have time.

I agree, building a personal brand requires a lot of time and concerted effort, but the returns you gain from them are phenomenal. If someone expects immediate job offers by trying their hand at personal branding for a couple of months, well that's not going to happen. It might, if they are diligent and working wholeheartedly towards the cause, but otherwise, not a possibility. 

One of the questions I face a lot of times is "Why do I even need a personal brand?" 

We have lately had some excellent buzzes on beBee which explain the why and how of it. So when I have to answer my friends, I tell them, 

"We will not be working our regular jobs forever, are we? Even if we are in the same organization we need to skill up and add value to ourselves. That is the only way we can grow and add value to our organization. And if you are entrepreneur then it becomes all the more important to create a mark for yourself. A mark which people will know you by. They will buy your products and services, right; but they will by it from YOU. So it is important to let them know who you are and what can you do for them. The days of being an employee at the organization or the entrepreneur behind an offering, are gone. There are lesser monopolies and oligopolies nowadays. In a free market we need to survive. Whatever we are offering there are thousands of people offering the same. There are only two ways of beating them to it (that I know of):

  • Keep upskilling
  • Make yourself known and heard

How can beBee help you in the path of personal branding?


Get Found...and I mean it


Since I am digital marketer, I take SEO and SERPs very seriously. We need to get found in the sea of literally "everything and everyone". beBee made this come true for me with its expertly tagged buzzes and search engine optimized blogging platform. Like seriously, I don't need to bother about keywords or meta descriptions, it just lets me write from my heart and does the rest. Where else can you find such a platform that makes you appear on search engine results without knowing, learning, or even bothering enough?

Build Your Network

Cannot stress the importance of this particular point, enough. Networking is not always to find the person who can lead you to your next big opportunity. Networking also means finding the right people in your industry and related industries from whom you can learn, exponentially. There is nothing like learning from real people and their experiences. They are there on LinkedIn, beBee, and Twitter, and they are talking about their lives, their successes, and failures. We can all learn from them, and also strike meaningful conversations with them. There is a lot to gain here, and it is not just opportunities.

Tell people about YOUR brand

When we are talking about personal branding, we are not necessarily just talking about what you do for a living. It is not just your job or your career. Your brand also consists of who you are as a person. What are your thoughts, beliefs, ideologies, hobbies and interests. 

It is always a great idea to learn about how a person is beyond their work self. In today's world, we hardly have any me time. The time between our work and personal hours are somehow overlapped. Both are there, thriving and healthy, but they have overlapped, thanks to the dynamic nature of the digital world and working across time zones. Entrepreneurs don't even have weekends. So don't you think it's actually a good idea to not have to segment work and personal, all the time? However, personal means in good taste and for others to enjoy, as well.

If you are wondering how to do the telling part. Well, you can always tweet about your industry, about things that interest you, write blog posts about things that you are good at and believe someone can benefit from, if you do not have time to blog then you can always read up and post curated content from the web and add a line about what you think about the article. That adds a dash of you to an otherwise curated content without having to actually write a post (if you are not much into writing). Make sure you post relevant content and are consistent when it comes to frequency and the message you want to get across.

Make your presence felt by connecting to people on the various social networking platforms. There are so many so you can take your pick. When it comes to personal branding, you can choose from beBee, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, among others. The reason I named the above 4 is because I believe them to bring you maximum return when it comes to creating personal brand. And by return, I mean visibility, which is what someone who is building their personal brand would aim at.  
#Twitter #Personal #LinkedIn #Facebook #Network
Comments

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #31

#36
Those are are some awesome numbers Jim \ud83d\udc1d Cody. It makes me feel like I am on the right track. Need to put in a lot more work to get there, someday. Hoping to learn from your experience in personal branding, in the process. Thank you for your comment and kind share.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #30

#35
Thank you for reading it and for your comment, Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador!

Harvey Lloyd

6 years ago #29

#18
Being of what i think is your generation i do see similarities in the school of thought from yesteryear. I would also think that similar concepts were considered as we transferred from letter writing to phone calls to fax machines. It seems that each time we make a technological leap in communications we develop new ways to do similar things. Gutenberg started this mess. Specifically in this case the "personal brand". I sense that this is the new generational prospects of the resume, differentiating one's self from the herd. This is a game that as more differentiated the more they become the same. I thought our generation's rejection of "the man" was interesting as we embraced our own rules and became "the man". We got what we wanted. Technology comes with both ends of the spectrum, the good and the bad, as you and Phil discussed. I believe the personal branding label is here to stay for a while. I would be more interested in hearing your thoughts on personal brand going forward. How would you instruct your daughter if she was hell bent on personal branding as a viable option? (I had to answer this question, while having a similar viewpoint. So would really like to hear your advice. You can't cop out here, you have to give good advice to a 27 year old daughter that is going to take the path anyway. Thought i would add a little pressure. All in jest, but would like to hear your conversation.) A hint mine started with AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, well, long silence, i'll get back to you.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #28

#4
Thank you so much for your encouraging words, Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #27

#5
Thank you so much Lisa \ud83d\udc1d Gallagher for your comment and for sharing the buzz. I am so happy you liked it. :-)

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #26

#28
Thank you so much for giving the buzz a read and for your kind comment Cyndi Docy. I am.so glad you found it useful and relevant. :-)

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #25

#27
That's true Nathaniel Schooler \u2708\ufe0f Brand Marketer. It takes a lot of time to understand and build on this concept. Thanks to beBee I can now learn from the best. :-) I would like to thank you for the knowledge and experience, in this subject, you share with us through your writings and lives.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #24

#24
Thank you for giving my buzz a read, Nathaniel Schooler \u2708\ufe0f Brand Marketer. It is this point of limited information or not having enough information is what I am trying to cover. Raising awareness about the concept by sharing my story and how it benefitted me.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #23

Thank you for your comment, Harvey Lloyd. You are right about not mixing up social and professional brands together, as they are what personal brand is a product of. People often don't see the thin line between the two spaces. I let myself merge the two, multiple times, but I always remember not to share my personal/social opinions in my work space. That is nothing but detrimental. This is a very strong point and I truly appreciate it.

Harvey Lloyd

6 years ago #22

I can only speak for myself but personal branding seems a little selfish in its definition. Who am i to place myself out there in some formal way while expecting others to enjoy the brand? I have since come to understand that the word brand has morphed into a broader definition than my generation gave. I would say that personal branding as i understand it would be better served if it were stated as professional branding and social branding. The two are quite different. In my professional life i socialize within a purpose and a team. Where my social branding is for me personally to share journeys and gain wisdom. The former i don't have much control over in the who may show up as a customer, employee or vendor, it's based on the purpose/need. My social brand is where i control who i socialize with and gain wisdom from. Two very different scenarios. I am not a fan of merging the two in my determining professional associations. Labels have separated us and i believe is becoming a segregation of professionals. I believe true professionals who operate in a team environment can leave their social opinions in the car before they approach work. The Team, The Purpose accompanied by Goals are the focus. Certainly our social opinions should drive our decisions and choices but they are not to be used to pigeon hole another team mate in a right wrong discussion. Within a team the diversity of opinions from , christians, muslims, democrats, republicans, cultures and atheists can all be heard and presented as part of the success. I may not be able to socially agree with your beliefs, but in the professional world i don't have too, i need you to "apply" your beliefs and strategies towards the purpose and the goal. I don't sell my social within a professional environment. Selling your social agenda here is a good way to extend your career into another job atmosphere.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

6 years ago #21

#20
sadly it does not show.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #20

#15
Devesh \ud83d\udc1d Bhatt I read your buzz, thank you so much for your kind mention. However, I am unable to comment there, I have written it down on a word file and will try again in sometime. Till then, please let me know if you can see my comment on your buzz, I had hit comment almost 10 times, hope it is not appearing there, 10 times. :-)

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #19

#18
Sir, CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit, I understand your point. You are against people being used as resources. Which is absolutely fine. The nomenclature makes the concept seem wrong. It is up to us to make it right. We need to be resourceful, instead of just being a resource. And to be resourceful we need knowledge, power, confidence which will come from more exposure. It is this exposure that I wish everyone has. Instead of working their daily jobs, people should invest in their personal growth. My entire buzz is trying to help people come out of the mindset of depending on one constant. Valuing themselves more, as each and every one of us houses way more potential than what we give ourselves credit for. Society has an ugly way of snubbing down every unique idea or a new thought. I want people to uphold theirs without any inhibitions.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #18

#11
Dear Proma, I do think about your line deeply where you say - "Surely the HR can go for 'safe choices' but is that for the benefit of the person they are choosing?" - because I ask what that really means. Once you see this as a valid questioning you will also see what is troublesome with dogma of personal brand and why it is a belief system perpetuated from the 20th Century for those who see no reason to disturb the status quo. I don't care about the benefit for HR of the person they are choosing, I care about the benefit of the person who did not need to be chosen by HR except for the maladaptive idea that organizations require "HUMAN RESOURCES". Whether it is the words HUMAN RESOURCES or PERSONAL BRAND - if you are comfortable being a "resource"or comfortable being a "product", then this dogma is not going to be of any trouble for you and you are preserving this status quo. Every-time there is a comedy mocking how organizations think and work, every-time there is a Dilbert Comic characterization about the backward nature of modern work, every-time we talk about office politics and corporate BS, and write books about No BS Rules, every-time an author writes about the useless professional job titles that clog up rather than transform the world of work, you have subscribed to all of that and that is fine because you have not seen what can exist beyond the status quo. It is not your fault and you are under no obligation to destroy your career path because you see things fine as they are. For me the concept of the CAREER PATH is just as redundant as the rise of PROFESSIONALISM (which negates rather than enhances managerial responsibility). If you think that personal brand is a benign concept that is separate from all of this, then that is how you see the world. In doing so you support the status quo but this is not 21st Century leadership, it is same old, same old.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #17

#11
Dear Proma, I do think about your line deeply where you say "Surely the HR can go for 'safe choices' but is that for the benefit of the person they are choosing? because I ask what that really means. Once you see this as a valid questioning you will also see what is troublesome with dogma of personal brand and why it is a belief system perpetuated from the 20th Century for those who see no reason to disturb the status quo. I don't care about the benefit for HR of the person they are choosing, I care about the benefit of the person who did not need to be chosen by HR except for the maladaptive idea that organizations require "HUMAN RESOURCES". Whether it is the words HUMAN RESOURCES or PERSONAL BRAND - if you are comfortable being a "resource"or comfortable being a "product", then this dogma is not going to be of any trouble for you and you are preserving this status quo. Every-time there is a comedy mocking how organizations think and work, every-time there is a Dilbert Comic characterization about the backward nature of modern work, every-time we talk about office politics and corporate BS, and write books about No BS Rules, every-time an author writes about the useless professional job titles that clog up rather than transform the world of work, you have subscribed to all of that and that is fine because you have not seen what can exist beyond the status quo. It is not your fault and you are under no obligation to destroy your career path because you see things fine as they are. For me the concept of the CAREER PATH is just as redundant as the rise of PROFESSIONALISM (which negates rather than enhances managerial responsibility). If you think that personal brand is a benign concept that is separate from all of this, then that is how you see the world. In doing so you support the status quo but this is not 21st Century leadership, it is same old, same old.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #16

#15
looking forward to reading your buzz Devesh \ud83d\udc1d Bhatt!

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

6 years ago #15

#14
You know, many have questioned Personal Branding, but you filled me with questions. i have tagged you.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #14

#13
I agree with your perspective of building Brand on the Person, Devesh \ud83d\udc1d Bhatt and I am glad that you found this buzz useful.

Devesh 🐝 Bhatt

6 years ago #13

Personal Branding is a great concept as long as i build the Brand on the Person. Sometimes, time constraints (which are usually self imposed time constraints) result in an inversion, the Brand becomes the core and the Person becomes supplementary. Hence, i love the idea of giving it time, brilliant buzz indeed. You have given me great thoughts.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #12

#5
Thank you so much, Lisa \ud83d\udc1d Gallagher for giving it a read and for the share, as well! :-)

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #11

#7
Thank you CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit for your comment and for giving this buzz a read. You are right, there is nothing new in this story as such. The only new part is that I wrote about my perspective of personal branding - a concept that resonates with many out there who are fans and those who would like to know more about it. I do understand the point you uphold sir, however, I would like to mention that in today's world, people are way more connected and competing across geographies. That makes for a large pool of employees. And now I speak on behalf of an employee trying to find the right opportunity in this vast pool. Surely the HR can go for 'safe choices' but is that for the benefit of the person they are choosing? It is mostly because they can mould the person as per the profile they need filled. I don't think job seekers or rather change seekers are comfortable with that idea anymore. I am not, and neither are my friends. They are uncomfortable with their present work situation. And I am reaching out to them and others like them to tell them how they can leverage who they are in order to find the right job for themselves. You are absolutely right about not drinking the elitist Kool aid part, too (I loved the way you used the analogies here) I totally agree. Like Phil Friedman rightly mentioned this buzz was more on the lines of creating a personal brand on an organic basis, rather than creating a personal brand to mould and hide what their imperfections are.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #10

#4
Thank you so much, Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee. I believe personal branding can benefit people just like it benefitted me. It is something that is not understood well by most, so thought of sharing my perspective. Thank you for reading it.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #9

#8
Completely agree with your way of viewing this a.k.a. "the contemporary notion of a "personal brand" as something one can create and mold on a premeditative basis.". This weekend I watched an HBO documentary about James Brown and this man was meticulous about crafting his brand and what you call a "premeditative basis" I call a dog and pony show. I have absolute admiration for people who both engage the thinking, the craft and the execution of branding with purpose. Not everyone is cut out to be a "James Brown". Yet the "conscious pose" as you describe it is very much the sign of the times within social media dogma. The distinction you have raised Phil is a very important one because it is based on creating the fear of what might happen if Joe Public in social media do not do this. There is a market out there for HR people to make "safe choices" who they don't really want as thinkers but followers so telling people who want conformity that there is a conformist choice is not something that gets me worked up. At the same time corporations are asking people to think and not just act and the future of work is more than just a social media profile, then I am talking about why I don't personally identify with the personal branding as a social media mantra. At times the only comparison of how personal branding is promoted as a modern panacea mirrors that of a 'vocational guidance counselor" in Monty Python https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYqqla3HTyY

Phil Friedman

6 years ago #8

#7
@CityVP Manjit - If I may say so, while I agree in the main with what you say here, I think you gloss over an important distinction. Namely the difference between seeing a "personal brand" as an organically emergent perception of a persona versus the contemporary notion of a "personal brand" as something one can create and mold on a premeditative basis. I know you understand the difference, but I doubt many denizens of social media do. It's like understanding the difference between authenticity as a state of being versus authenticity as a conscious pose. Cheers!

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #7

#4
Dear Ali \ud83d\udc1d Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee there is nothing new in this story other than the same marketing pitch our grandfathers used to know. To treat personal branding as a epiphany is to demonstrate that for the past few decades that if we did not hear about it, was it because it really did not matter, or were we expelled to a distant country where we were not exposed to it or were we sent to prison where the guards ensured we would not know what is going on in the world. There is nothing new about selling yourself that Zig Ziglar or Tom Peters have not covered in the past. Branding is as important as elitism. I don't have a problem with elitism or this pyramid game. Nor do I have a problem with the digital elite that are becoming the new power brokers of the modern age. There are two things that I am saying which is that personal branding is the same old marketing dog food it was yesterday, so I personally am not embracing the future by eating the same old dog food. I embrace human beings, not a 20th Century marketing ideology. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/you-are-what-you-tweet All I am saying is that I do not want to drink this elitist kool aid for there are greater focal points in the present moment that impact the future, rather than regurgitating the past to fall in love with yesterday's thinking. There is nothing strategic about personal branding, there is nothing big picture about it, there is nothing world changing about it, there is nothing new about it. Personal branding is what culminated at the end of the 20th Century. It is a dog and pony show that is not a human dimension of 21st Century leadership. For me there is nothing here to overcome. Personal branding is as new as cosmetic surgery.

CityVP Manjit

6 years ago #6

#4
Dear Ali Anani there is nothing new in this story other than the same marketing pitch our grandfathers used to know. To treat personal branding as a epiphany is to demonstrate that for the past few decades that if we did not hear about it, was it because it really did not matter, or were we expelled to a distant country where we were not exposed to it or were we sent to prison where the guards ensured we would not know what is going on in the world. There is nothing new about selling yourself that Zig Ziglar or Tom Peters have not covered in the past. Branding is as important as elitism. I don't have a problem with elitism or this pyramid game. Nor do I have a problem with the digital elite that are becoming the new power brokers of the modern age. There are two things that I am saying which is that personal branding is the same old marketing dog food it was yesterday, so I personally am not embracing the future by eating the same old dog food. I embrace human beings, not a 20th Century marketing ideology. https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/you-are-what-you-tweet All I am saying is that I do not want to drink this elitist kool aid for there are greater focal points in the present moment that impact of the future, rather than regurgitating the past to fall in love with yesterday's thinking. There is nothing strategic about personal branding, there is nothing big picture about it, there is nothing world changing about it, there is nothing new about it. Personal branding is what culminated at the end of the 20th Century. It is a dog and pony show that is not a human dimension of 21st Century leadership. For me there is nothing here to overcome.

Lisa Gallagher

6 years ago #5

Excellent buzz on personal branding Proma \ud83d\udc1d Nautiyal would enjoy this as well! Sharing. :)

Ali Anani

6 years ago #4

One of the best buzzes I read defending personal branding. I invite Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee to read and may be also add their perspectives.

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #3

Thank you for the share, Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee!

Proma Nautiyal

6 years ago #2

#1
Thank you, Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee!

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

6 years ago #1

Brilliant. Every valuable thing takes time !

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