There is no question that social media is the most useful innovation or tool for the public relations industry. It has leveled the playing field and allowed easier access to reporters for public relations pros. This has also served as the catalyst for more meaningful relationships between journalists and flacks. That is great for the industry and clients hungry for coverage, but social media also has a dark side.
You see, aside from the improved coverage and relationship angles for companies, social media gives PR folks an easy way to insert themselves into the story.
Over the past few months I’ve been disgusted seeing an increase in blog posts and even a PR chat surrounding that very notion, often called building a personal brand. These posts have championed the mercenary mentality of caring only about yourself and giving your services to the highest bidder.
Having a good reputation, both online and off, is vital to every professional, so what I find interesting about these folks touting of the personal brand is that they are ironically offering advice to tarnish your professional brand. While it is great to have aspirations of getting your name on the door of the corner office, it does not happen overnight. The folks sitting in those chairs worked their asses off learning hard lessons along the way to get there.
So to me the notion of jumping from job to job, simply because you aren’t moving up fast enough is laughable to me, especially coming from the social media echo chamber. This is mostly because the advice given out there is peer-to-peer coming from folks that for the most part have not reached the ripe old age of 30 yet.
While having 10,000 Twitter followers or 25,000 subscribers to your blog’s RSS is nice, they are meaningless unless you can produce meaningful results for your company. And if you can’t produce results and continue to improve, no amount of job-jumping can help you more than it can hurt you. Not only does it look bad to recruiters, it also can burn bridges within the industry.
At the end of the day, PR practitioners went into the field to promote businesses or clients. The job entails being in the background, a puppet master if you will, not to be Will Smith or Tom Cruise with your name up in lights.
So before you go burning a bridge in putting yourself first, think about how much being your own publicist pays compared to your current 9-5.
Image – slworking2
Great post, Jeff. This also begs the question: how much time are you spending working on your personal brand that you could be spending working on your clients’ or employers’ brand?
@tonia_ries If you are building your own, it should be after work hours and not on the company dime.
@tonia_ries If you are building your own, it should be after work hours and not on the company dime.
@tonia_ries If you are building your own, it should be after work hours and not on the company dime.
@tonia_ries If you are building your own, it should be after work hours and not on the company dime.
@jeffespo yes – but not always easy to draw those lines, right? It’s a question of 1. where are you directing your energy and focus? and 2. what do you want to be known for? doing a great job of taking care of your employer? or talking about yourself?
@jeffespo yes – but not always easy to draw those lines, right? It’s a question of 1. where are you directing your energy and focus? and 2. what do you want to be known for? doing a great job of taking care of your employer? or talking about yourself?
@tonia_ries So here is the question for you. By doing a good job and ensuring a paycheck you are in theory taking care of yourself. I think that in the SM space we as a collective whole worry too much about becoming the next big thing in the space like a Solis, Brogan or Falls have done in the past. Problem is that many folks are just about the ME. Working at a job will also allow you to see where you suck and need improving instead of an over-inflated value of self-worth.
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Agreed. Wrote about something similar on my PR blog last year–if you crave the spotlight then you’re in the wrong line of work. http://www.alexgpr.com/2010/03/its-not-about-you/
@a_greenwood Thanks for dropping by Alex. I’ve written or chimed in on posts on the topic for the past year as well. It just baffles me how many people lose focus of what the industry is.
Very true. When the whole “personal brand” thing started out, it was a much purer, altruistic message. The current bastardization is shameful and self-serving. Whenever I worked for another company, I did my best to align with the company, but that was because I always picked places I believed in – MGM Mirage, Saturn, Starbucks – even as a barista, I had pride in the company that last until this day.
Yes, you have to take care of yourself. But why be disloyal to the people who’ve brought you to the point where you are? Even if there are issues there, how often is venom the way to fix something, really? The problem with being cuttrhoat is that by the time you realize your neck is also exposed, it’s too late.
@Tinu I agree with the overall concept and it is something that everyone should have to be positive. The problem when I see is that folks aren’t content sharing the limelight with brands they represent and feel that they are bigger than the brand itself. So now we have another thing in common, I was a barista at Starbucks while needing some extra coin while working in Baltimore in the offseason.
Great post Jeff – and timely! I’m going to be participating on a panel next Monday for PubClub New England: a group of PR professionals. I’m curious as to your take on someone like Scott Monty. His personal brand has increased as has Ford’s social media brand. Of course he hasn’t bounced from one job to the next – and – when I’ve seen him present he has talked about programs at Ford. Also, any other advice you have for PR pros – I’d love to hear!
Great post Jeff – and timely! I’m going to be participating on a panel next Monday for PubClub New England: a group of PR professionals. I’m curious as to your take on someone like Scott Monty. His personal brand has increased as has Ford’s social media brand. Of course he hasn’t bounced from one job to the next – and – when I’ve seen him present he has talked about programs at Ford. Also, any other advice you have for PR pros – I’d love to hear!
@nealschaffer Thanks so much for your RTs! How was your Monday?
@SallyWGrotta Thanks for the RT, Sally!
Jeff ,
I couldn’t agree more. It is not appropriate to use your company’s time and resources to promote your brand. Do you think this is a generational difference between Gen X and Gen Y?
@jeffespo@tonia_ries
@AnneWeiskopf To be honest, Scott is a different beast and was brought on to be the spokesperson and face of their social. He has also stepped into more of the background of sorts and is less out there. He also promoted executives there and is always Ford before Scott
@ToddBartlett@tonia_ries I think the biggest thing for this is that its more on the person than generation. The economy has caused some of it, but a lot has to do with folks want to be more than they are or current teaching curriculum as well.
@ikepigott ty sir
@StaceyHood TY sir.
@jeffespo de nada el jefe
@StaceyHood que? No habla si senor
@jeffespo “no Problem, boss”
@StaceyHood word up