A brief introduction to the topic of personal branding and why it is important
Welcome to Brand New You, a high school student’s guide to personal branding. I know what you may be thinking – personal branding is for established professionals, not high school students with no experience right? Well actually, it’s never too early to start thinking about what your content says about who you are. In fact, Ilieş (2018) suggests that the best time to start developing your brand is when you are a student because you have the benefit of time for self-development and access to many free resources to do so. Think about it, the YouTubers and TikTok stars you follow are establishing their personal brand with every post, and many of them may still be high school students themselves.
You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a personal brand? Essentially, it’s the way that you demonstrate your value, your image, and your reputation. In the digital age, most people leverage social media, a blog, or a personal website to build their brand.
Wright (2009) says it best: “Personal branding involves managing your reputation, style, look, attitude and skill set the same way that a marketing team would run the brand for a bag of Doritos or bottle of shampoo.” The truth is, everyone has a personal brand, whether or not they have intentionally taken the time to develop one. However, the most successful personal brands are ones that are designed to be tools for personal and professional development (Ilies, 2018).
So, why should you care about personal branding? For starters, your personal brand is one of the best ways you can set yourself apart from other students – these are the people you’ll be competing against for university offers, internships, and later, landing your dream job.
According to a 2018 CareerBuilder survey, 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process, and 43% of employers use social media to check on current employees, so your Instagram posts may have more impact than you think. Even more importantly, developing your brand means expanding your network which can open you up to all kinds of opportunities, both personal and professional – more on this later (Viţelar, 2019).
Now that you know what a brand is and why you should have one, we’re ready to get started! Check out our next post to learn how.
References:
Ilieş, V. I. (2018). strategic personal branding for students and young professionals. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, XX(1), 43-51.
Viţelar, A. (2019). Like me: Generation Z and the use of social media for personal branding. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 7(2), 257-268. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/10.25019/MDKE/7.2.07
Wright, C. (2009). Personal branding. The Least You Need to Now. Retrieved from http://exilelifestyle.com/ebooks/personalbranding.pdf.
Brand New You 