No one can say that there aren’t many benefits of having a strong personal brand on social media. After all, your LinkedIn profile is where practically everyone goes to check you out if they’re considering doing business with you in any way, shape or form.
But the benefits of personal branding on social media aren’t limited to the owner of that brand only.
Everyone around those who are popular online, the “corporate all-stars” of the business world, as Edelman’s Steve Rubel so astutely labelled them in 2009, enjoys the fruits of their labor, from direct reports to supervisors, colleagues to clients, partners to employers.
Here are just a few ways a personal brand on social media works to the advantage of the corporate brand behind it:
1. Reach. A small company may not have a big audience on social media, but it may have a handful of people among its ranks with their own extensive networks. Riding employees’ coattails makes sense if they can help get the word out to a broader, perhaps even better, audience. Like a good ripple effect, the more help brands can get from the people who work for them, the further and faster their messages will travel.
2. Thought Leadership. Social media makes it possible for almost anyone to establish themselves as a renowned expert. All you need is the time, talent and tenacity. Write a blog post. Record a video. Comment here, there and everywhere. Leaders within an organization should be leaders in their industry. From a selfish standpoint, that may be how to ascend the corporate ladder, but that’s also how to generously increase the visibility and credibility of the corporate brand behind you.
3. Education. Anyone who spends more than a modicum of time on social media knows what a treasure trove of educational resources can be found there. Never mind attending conferences and signing up for webinars. Log in to this channel or that one and boom, you’re privy to all the news and information that’s fit to share. Social media is a living, breathing education on demand, and more often than not it’s on the house.
4. Camaraderie. Imagine having access to a circle of like-minded professionals, connections you can count on to keep you up to date and in the know, wherever you are, whenever you want. That’s social media. People may not pick up the phone when you call or respond to your email, but if you mention them in a tweet or tag them on Facebook, suddenly you have their attention. That’s influence. That’s clout. That’s a big benefit to both personal and corporate brands.
5. Social Proof. People are more likely to trust and support other like-minded people, not distant, impersonal corporate logos and brands. When you earn likes, shares and comments as an employee, not only does it go a long way toward establishing a great reputation for your own personal brand, it benefits the corporate brand behind you. Your influence and authority on social media reflects positively on the products and services you represent and can be leveraged by those who employ you.
The bottom line is that it takes a village to come out ahead on social media. Both personal and corporate brands should take great pains to work together. It pays for employers to not just activate their employees on these channels, but to join them in the conversation.
To read the original version of this post, where I listed not just five, but 10 different ways a personal brand on social media helps the corporate brand behind it, follow the link included in the note below.
Note: The original, full-length version of this post, “10 Ways a Personal Brand on Social Media Helps the Corporate Brand Behind It,” was published on ClickZ on March 24, 2016. To read the post there, click here.
