Southampton Solent University

Personal and Professional Development

THE IMPORTANCE OF
PERSONAL BRANDING TO
STUDENTS AND EMPLOYERS
Fareen Bhatti

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................... 2
Current Research................................................................................................... 2
Current Issues........................................................................................................ 3
Implications........................................................................................................... 4
Conclusions and Recommendations......................................................................4
Appendix 1............................................................................................................. 6
Bibliography........................................................................................................... 7

This report will cover the importance of personal branding to employers and
students, and how current research conducted by a group of people, looking at
gap between personal branding online from a personal perspective plays a
significant role for potential employers both in the industry and academically.

Introduction
Everyone including students and employers, have a reputation for the way they
make things happen for their companies, for themselves. Guiseppi (1999),
describes personal branding as
Personal branding links the key individual characteristics, strengths and
passions with value proposition in a clear message that differentiates the
uniqueness of the promise of value with the target audience.
Information found online, via social media sites for instance provides a digital
footprint that subtly brands people. Most of the information found cannot be
changed, for instance what others may write. In todays era, businesses are able
to recognise the importance of branding, and are posing tactical advice on how
to present an individual specific personal brand identity, through the use of
online marketing. (Safko & Brake, 2009).
Signing up to social media sites, gives the power to individuals to handle their
online branding by regularly disclosing information that keeps employers and
others involved in their thoughts through the various means of online
communication. However, in the constant change of online settings, people are
unaware of the level of information that is available online and the long-term
impact it may have on their reputation. (Solove, 2007)
According to research conducted on 12 people, the results conveyed that
individuals will engage in various forms of personal branding, but often this can
be lead astray or unsatisfactory. Personal branding can be difficult, particularly
when there are life changes, or when required to manage large audiences.
Labrecque et al (Online Personal Branding: Processes, Challenges and
Implications, 2011) investigated the research gap of branding online from a
personal viewpoint, despite its growing importance:
1. What processes are used by individuals to brand themselves online, using
either implicit or explicit methods?
2. When considering feedback, what challenges do these individuals face
when they put the effort to brand themselves?
In summary, the results showed that the majority accessed sites such as
Facebook. Consumers actively engaged in social media sites to brand themselves
online. Some participants also had personal web sites in addition to their social
media profiles. Some of the evaluations differed between participants, due to not
understanding the social norms of Facebook, and therefore found the material
posted inappropriate and unprofessional.

Current Research
The Brand Called You, written by Peters (1997) first popularised the concept of
personal branding, which today is increasingly popular. Branding was first
considered a tactic for elite people in politics and business and with the new era
of online tools, personal branding is now an important advertising tool for people.

The evidence found for personal branding shows that every individual has the
power to control their own brand and a person's main job is to be their own
marketer (Peters, 1997) This mentions that not managing ones brand gives the
power to someone else to do so - chances are that their brand description won't
be what you have in mind (Kaputa, 2005, p. 8).

The theory behind branding is similar to that of personal selling, nonetheless in

personal branding no evidence for employer attachment is found, but somewhat
one is marketing themselves and not a brand related to a company (Shephard,
2005). Using the World Wide Web (www) to self-brand includes maintaining and
developing public profiles, setting up blogs and personal web sites, in addition to
making use of browsing procedures to allow the access of information.

Personal branding requires an individual to present and promote their strengths

and uniqueness to a target audience. Whilst trying to engage in employment is a
prime goal of personal branding, it is not the only reason. People will brand
themselves for many purposes which include, establishing friendships, dating or
simply for self-expression (Shephard, 2005). There are many challenges
associated with personal branding, which are developed from glitches found in
online environments.

Whilst the digital age encourages the freedom to explore multiple selves
(Turkle, 1995). A direct message should be clear and consistent as highlighted by
many supporters of personal branding. Additionally, sharing personal stories
avoids the risk of failing in branding, by diluting the branding message. Failures

or weaknesses are at risk of becoming visible whilst in face-to-face interview, if

the individual does not meet the perceptions created by the employer. (Frost,
Chance, Norton, & Ariely, 2008)

Current Issues
Based on the research conducted, personal brand identity is reliant on how one
presents themselves as characteristics are formed in computer setting
environments, which use various means of online profiles. Most of the 12
participants had a branding strategy to control what they put online, and were
highly conscious of their efforts. Many, when asked were quick to name existing
brands to identify themselves, others were not so confident. Therefore,
suggesting that self-branding is important for some. (Labrecque, Markos, & Milne,
2011)
Positioning a brand is the communication of an individuals personal brand to a
target market, in this scenario employers. Brand positioning is used to show
individuals the attributes that are of value to their market, whilst being
distinguished from others at the same time. Brand positioning occurs through
impression management for personal online branding.
A key struggle for most of the participants was finding the correct information to
put online, which included basic demographic information and lists of interests
such as what they do in their spare time. Social media sites permit third-party
plug-ins that gives access to the users to provide more information. It is noted
that brand image is highly dependent on the information displayed online, by
others, by the response of the audience to accessible information based on both
visual and nonverbal behaviour and by the focal person. (Ambady, Hallahan, &
Rosenthal, 1996). When the participants were positive of achieving their agreed
goals of branding, they found that the gaps amongst their personal aims and
judgements represents branding failures, which is categorised as insufficient
branding.
As described by one of the participants, Pamela (Labrecque, Markos, & Milne,
2011) it was acknowledged by her that
the internet gives the liberty of portraying an online brand image, but considers
the complications involved in managing brand perceptions for the vast number
of potential viewers, it makes you much more aware that in society there is more
than one person and the internet is more than one person.

Implications
The choice of disclosing information online resulted in insufficient branding, from
which the desired use for social community and the participants age played a
major role. The majority of the 12 participants were older than the student whom
evaluated their profiles, show in Appendix 1. The students were very critical
when evaluating and highlighted that the number of friends that the participants
had and the low number of wall posts on Facebook drew implications to their
branding. This suggests that there is a high pressure to conform. Cocos view on
this opinion was that she also felt forced to keep up, even though she was
actively encompassed in social media. (Labrecque, Markos, & Milne, 2011)
4

For most, it was found that because they did not effectively communicate their
brand, it resulted in insufficient branding, therefore there was no match between
the participants image and brand identity.
Mentioned by one the participants, (Labrecque, Markos, & Milne, 2011) I dislike
it when people label me average. I do not want to be perceived as average,
which is upsetting. One thing I did say is that want to avoid making it appear as
if I am a typical person even though I do the typical thing such as enjoying
music, but people should not associate this with typical.
The participant was adhering to however an exact branding approach and he
thought that his minimalistic approach portrayed his identity, even though he
had a high selection of disclosure choices. This failed which led to his frustration.
The findings of this research challenges a tension to use various stages in order
to promote personal brands and to be able stay in contact with others, but to
also reduce the possibility of violations that can jeopardise their brands.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The research conducted by Labrecque et al, (2011) offers a key insight into the
concept behind online personal branding. Whilst popular social media sites
deliver significance to people, others are likely to be dissatisfied if these actions
cause detriment to their branding tactics, such as new features and the control
of displaying information.
The research shows that the significance of usually popular social media
becomes threatened and users are likely to avoid using their sites, and rather
move to new accounts where mechanisms cooperate with their branding efforts.
The investigations highlights that the majority of the participants brand using
social media, which is was also popular amongst the students, hence their
critical judgments of users profiles.
The research put forward the following points:
1. When participating in an online environment, it is inevitable to brand.
Whilst the majority were familiar that they are encouraged to create
profiles, there is always the possibility that in a situation as such, there is
the lack of ability to understand is chance of displaying negative
outcomes. When dealing with large audiences including employers, users
can easily lose control when trying to represent their message accurately
to their target audience.
2. Online personal branding requires data to be available to a range of
sources, which includes employers, hence the importance of branding
correctly and sufficiently online. This however, puts people at the risk of
misdirecting and branding insufficiently, which potentially has a great
chance of promoting implications when trying to create a professional
status.
3. Managing multiple online personas is difficult, and being able to separate
professional and social worlds is near enough impossible, if there is no
suitable management. The desire to grow a reliable brand entails the
method to communicate a sole outlook that can exceed professional
versus social distinctions.

Social media is the main tool that people use for branding themselves. The
information shown including work experience and education history is crucial to
a range of target audiences, which determines the image of the individual.
Initially, what is displayed online is perceived as the personality of people
through the eyes of the employer, therefore it is crucial to sufficiently brand to
avoid misinterpretation of information.

Appendix 1
Investigation of
Research Gap:
Participants profiles
evaluated by younger
students. Conducted by
(Labrecque, Markos, &
Milne, 2011)

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