Brands were originally developed as labels of ownership: name, term, design, symbol (Wikipedia). Branding is the art of developing brands, which sounds simple, but if you have noticed, it’s evolved quite a bit this century. No longer are we just concerned about product brands, which are items we purchase either for need or luxury. Corporate brands are the embodiment of those product brands, so we tend to care about the total perceived value and reputation of them as well. Oh wait, then you have personal branding (of course), which forces us to consider each individual person who represents a company.
In December of 2007, 20% of the entire world had an internet connection. That is over 1.3 billion users, which is simply incredible, especially because the growth was over 250%. As advertising dollars and attention is drawn to the internet, our personal brands are now digitize and in online form, which we consider an eBrand. An eBrand, as discussed a few posts ago,represents the face you want to show to the world online, whether it is a blog, traditional website, existence on a social network or all three.
In order for organizations to recruit online in this new web 2.0 world, they have to switch gears and provide their own eBrand in the form of an employment brand. Employment branding is complicated for companies, especially Fortune 500 companies who are used to traditional methods, such as offering jobs through portals. This type of branding is about providing an online experience for potential candidates, employees and everyone else. It is used to attract talent, retain it and shine the entire organization in good light. Smart companies are successful in this area by providing a unique experience, consisting of video’s that showcase what it’s like to work there, a Facebook network and group, a Ning network, a blog written by an HR executive or team and others.
I would like to introduce everyone to what I call “social branding.” A social brand (social branding) is one that thrives and connects through social media and networks. It may be a quick instance, such as a “Tweet” on Twitter, a blog post, or even writing on someone’s wall in Facebook. Social branding is how you are judge as you hold conversations using social media platforms. It starts with your avatar (which should be a picture of you), and then the messages you type and your about page, along with your color scheme and overall design.
Personal branding takes into account professional branding. Professional branding is how you display yourself in a work setting. We all act somewhat differently when we are at work because there is a corporate culture and you know what you can and cannot get away with based on a few days at work. Startups and marketing/PR firms typically allow you to wear jeans and a dress shirt and if you are an engineer like my roommate, you can even wear a t-shirt to work. If you work for a Fortune 500 company and are customer-facing, then it’s required that you wear a suit and tie.
Lastly, and yes I’ve posted about this before, there is human branding. Human branding isn’t related to personal branding, but I mention it so people don’t get confused. Human branding is when you burn a symbol on your skin as a way of showing loyalty (some fraternities) or love for a particular group (band) or symbol (skull).
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Just a thought.
Do you think the branding process is the same for all the different types of brands? If not, how do you think they vary?
The same strategies can be used across the board. The great thing is that no matter which type of branding your dealing with, they all resort back to the individual personal brand.
From branding to ?
A friend reminded me last week that branding is so 90s. I agree that personal ? is important. WIll it be personal tribe management instead of branding. The complete social graph – all connections?
Typical branding was “so 90s” but not personal branding. Tribe management is an interesting concept, but in actuality, by branding yourself properly, the tribe will follow.
Dan – culture is often a brand struggle (actual vs. marketing). Recruiting towards the vision not present is why it matters in co. We work on culture brand, is that the same as the employment brand in your mind?
I’ll add that our brand manager friends out of Kellogg, politicians and independent owners/service providers will argue “branding” has been around longer than us and will always be an important strategy. Don’t make that mistake and loose your brand strategy folks…
Hello.
Great site. I read the first post and got addicted. You’re definitely staying in my bookmarks after this. But on to my message..
I’m Wayne, founder and leader of the LinEq Music Project. The project basically revolves around me collaborating with numerous professional musicians (locations range from Malaysia to UK to Germany) on various songs. Progress looks pretty good for now.
But basically, I’m hoping we could exchange links. http://house-of-jupiter.blogspot.com is mine, so get back to me at linkinwayne AT msn.com if you wish to exchange links. =)
Thanks.
This a good post, Dan.
One of the things that is not clear on most branding blogs is that each of the different types of branding here are all mixed into one subject and each area of branding is, in fact, different. Even if it follows the same process for building the brand, the end result wanted is a bit different.
It will be interesting to see as we all continue on this journey if the process for each of the branding types is really the same or if significant differentiation starts to come through.
[...] The Branding Galaxy: Product, Corporate, eBrand, Professional, Personal, Social, and Employment (tags: artículo personalbranding) [...]
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