Building a strong personal brand also means avoiding the mistakes that can ruin a personal brand. Here are 5 kinds of mistakes that could cost your personal brand dearly.
Personal branding mistakes I hope you never make
1) Lying on your resume
You’ve heard it before and I’ll say it again. Whether to embellish your track record or stretch dates to cover periods of unemployment, lying on your resume is just a bad idea. The impression that ‘everyone is doing it’ and the fact that it seems so easy to do are the reasons why so many people feel they can get away with it, but it will come back to haunt you.
In 2006, then-CEO of Radioshack David Edmondson admitted that he lied about his academic record and was forced to step down.
2) Posting incriminating content online
Everything on the Internet can be found if someone really wants to find it. Google caches websites for months and the Internet Archive caches webpages for years.
As more and more employers Google your name after receiving your resume, any past shenanigans can come to light and make you look silly, taking you out of the race for a job before you even realize it. Worse- imagine if someone decides to expose that content to a larger audience without first giving you the chance to remove it.
3) Breaking the law
Posting an embarrassing old picture of yourself acting stupid is one thing, but actually getting arrested and even convicted is another thing altogether. Unless your brand is strengthened by illegal activity like a gangsta rapper’s, the sight of your mugshot or the news of your crime can hurt your image beyond repair.
Roger Clemens was adored as one of the most successful pitchers in Major League Baseball history until it was discovered he had been on steroids. He is now being investigated for having lied about it publicly, in testimony to a Congressional hearing no less
4) Stop doing whatever you are known for
You’ve spent years building a personal brand as an expert in your domain and then one day decide that you’ve had enough/you’re tired/have found a new passion, to the frustration of your network of followers and admirers.
Trent Reznor, lead singer of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, had a loyal following on Twitter in part because of his swear-laced rants. Then he fell in love and started tweeting about it. The backlash was so strong that he eventually gave up Twitter altogether.
5) Faking it and being found out
If you’re building a brand as an authority in your domain, imagine what would happen if people found out that it was never really you after all. Why should they respect you anymore if the advice “you” gave actually came from someone else? It’s that someone else who deserves their respect.
Guy Kawasaki was one of the first power Twitterers to admit that he used “ghost twitterers” to help update his Twitter account. The immediate reaction was fast in coming but Guy managed to defuse the situation and perhaps even save his brand by quickly updating his Twitter profile to give credit to the “assistants” no one had known about.
Do you know of other kinds of ways people have ruined their personal brand?
Author:
Jacob Share, a job search expert, is the creator of JobMob, one of the biggest blogs in the world about finding jobs. Follow him on Twitter for job search tips and humor.
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Lots of wise advice, Jacob.
Sometimes we too hastily post things online and it’s not always possible to undo any damaging info or photos you put out there.
Another insidious way to destroy your brand is by being snarky or vicious in your blog posts or blog comments. I think, especially when commenting on other blogs, people forget that they’re not having a one-on-one conversation with the blog author – the whole world can read it.
If you’ve written an angry post or comment, especially one that names names and may also discredit someone else, think before you hit “publish” or “post my comment”. Once it’s out there, even if you can take it down yourself or beg the blog author to take it down, the damage is probably done. Think ahead to possible repercussions. Let it percolate overnight. Next day, you’ll probably see more clearly.
Unless part of your brand is about being a mean-spirited back stabber, you’re going to permanently damage your brand reputation.
-Meg Guiseppi
C-level / Senior-level Executive Branding, Online Identity & Job Search Strategist
Another way is to not have an Internet presence, graduate from college, sue the college because you are unable to find a job, and then get 50 Google pages of bad publicity tied to your name…ouch!
Lying is a sure way of destroying your brand and your career. Whether it is on your resume or “faking it” you can avoid unfortunate consequences by simply NOT LYING! Also, your point about pictures and information online is a very real problem people do not often enough realize. Everything written and posted online can be found and dug up again. So, in other words, be careful and aware of what you are doing online. Altogether, good advice in this post!
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Guy Kawsaki ruined his personal brand by constant noise (some might call it spam) about All Top and other links.
He forgot what made him interesting which was his insightful blogs. Something Robert Scoble has recently become aware of and is looking at changing how he present himself online.
Great advice! i would never do any of those. Stay true in everything and to yourself! keep on doing what you are great at which should be what you love! Some times we find out by pursuing something else like book promotion, that what we really love is T-shirt designing, Whew what a journey.!
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[...] By Natasha Lai UPDATE: Came across this article on Dan Schawbel’s Personal Branding Blog, “5 Ways to Destroy Your Personal Brand” by Jacob Share. Really useful info. [...]