Mich Joel over at Six Pixels Of Separation has written a magnificent article about The Key To Your Personal Brand. He makes it very clear that building your personal brand in this day and age takes more than just talking about yourself. A brand needs to be about community:
Personal Branding is not about me. Personal Branding is not about you. Personal Branding is about us.
The real benefits of personal branding flourish when like-minded individuals have a place to congregate. The amazing thing is that we don’t need a physical location anymore for this to happen (although nothing beats real-life meet-ups – like Brand Camp). That’s the true power of the online channels and the many online social networks that we all propagate. Suddenly, like-minded individuals can socialize, share and connect. In doing so, they can bring real change to their physical communities as well. The trick is in not being selfish. The trick is in not making it all about you (as an individual). The trick is to give abundantly and expect nothing in return.
If you can build a community around your brand, if you can change things from me to us, then you will have a stronger company for it.
What do you think?
