Hello everyone, thanks for tuning into my blog for this week! My name is Nick Godfrey, and I am a junior marketing major, as well as a member of the Wilkes Men’s Ice Hockey Team. This summer, I was able to work at the Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship as a marketing intern, specializing in maintaining all different aspects of social media. I have had a great summer in gaining hands-on experience, and can’t wait to continue my work for the upcoming semester. For the 2021 Fall semester, I will be changing roles from the marketing intern to the marketing scholar.
After working in social media and understanding its interactions with its users, I have realized how social media can immensely impact your own personal brand. But, for starters, what does a “personal brand” mean? It can be described as your public perception and how you can influence that perception in a positive or negative way.
Every college student has a plan for what they want to do once they graduate. However, I have learned from personal experience how college students can either lose scholarships academically or athletically or even be denied a job position, just based on how their personal brand is viewed off of their social channels. For example, I have seen other hockey teammates of mine lose offers from schools based on one post they had on their social media. From that point on, it was tough for them to build their personal brand back up to the way it used to be.
To simplify this even further, here are a few do’s and don'ts that I have learned on how to handle your social media that involves the perception of your personal brand.
The Don’ts...
#1 - Be careful of what you post.
The most obvious but yet most important factor that I wanted to bring up is what you decide to post on your profile. Being able to show what your life consists of on a daily basis and how to interact with your followers is why we use social media. However, your followers do not need to know certain things that go on in your life. College life comes with having a huge responsibility in how to handle the fun outside of the classroom. Plain and simple, keep the fun of college off of your social media. The last thing you need is to get denied for a job just because of one “cool” Instagram picture.
#2 - Watch your comments and reshares.
Even if you do not post a picture, tweet, or TikTok video, how you interact with others can also affect your personal brand. Comments you put on others’ posts and the content you reshare highly reflects on the type of person you truly are. For instance, what you say or reshare can be a joke between you and a friend. However, others may interpret it out of context and have a negative reaction.
The Do(’s)
#1 - Be yourself!
Once I began this blog, I intended to have a couple of “do’s” that I wanted to touch on. But the longer I thought, the more I realized there is only one important rule to follow. The only “do” that I have covers all aspects of your personal brand, and what social media truly stands for. This is a phrase I heard often while growing up, but I never applied it to my life. A while ago, public perception was something I sort of cared about. How people would look at me and what they thought of me was something that rubbed me the wrong way. At one point in my life, I realized that as long as I was true to who I was that nothing else mattered.
The content that best reflects my life and who I am is important in my social media world. I did not need to come across as somebody I was not to impress others. What you post expresses who you are. So, when a job recruiter or any other significant person stumbles across your social media pages, they know exactly who they are interacting with. Let your character shine in whichever way you want it to. Be supportive of others and be the best version of yourself!
(P.S. Share any accomplishments that take place in your life and do not be afraid to let people know about it. Be proud of what you do!)
Thank you for reading my blog, and I can’t wait to be back on campus soon!
- Nick