Personal Branding in a Digital Age
In our digital age, who you are, your interests, what you do, and your beliefs matter more than ever. We post our favorite photos, music, and what we like, and these and more ideas that we post go into “personal branding.”
ChatGPT defines personal branding as “the story people tell about you when you're not in the room. It’s the mix of your skills, personality, and online presence that shapes how others perceive you—whether you’re a job seeker, creator, or entrepreneur.”
Speaking for myself, I wear many hats. I am a photographer, social media content creator (300,000+ followers on TikTok), and writer. Personal branding is a big part of what makes creators, whether they make lifestyle videos on social media, photographers or videographers, writers, and more who they are. Creators want a style to make their content unique, an artistic flare. Whether you like to use humor in your writing or videos you post on TikTok or use specific colors or editing styles in your videography, if people can see or hear about your work and know you posted it, that is because of personal branding; it gets you hired.
I have been searching for a post-college job since August 2024 (I had a summer internship right after graduation). My brand is a big focus of my ongoing job search. I often think about what I can add to my job applications and online presence to make me more desirable to potential companies and/or organizations that want to hire me full-time or for freelance opportunities.
I am also expanding my writing, photography, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) skills to help me in my job search. The more skills you can add, the more you will grow as a worker in any career path. You learn and gain soft and hard skills to grow your brand. Skillsets, passions, your work style, and your creative endeavors are great examples of personal brands.
In college, I was a photographer for the athletic department. All student-athletes loved my photos, and I still go back to college to do this for free to give back to my college and have content to post on social media to promote my work.
I’m open to working for free to create opportunities for future employment. I’m open to working for free to create opportunities for future jobs. Free work is excellent if you’re a creative (ie, someone who creates content), but don’t do too much free work, no matter what your work is, because it lessens the value of your work. Just use good judgment.
My branding has many aspects that help me in my job search, career path, and life. These aspects make me and my services more desirable.
I have gotten PR packages from Crocs, MyMochi, and Homage because of my branding. On social media, spreading love and positivity is my brand. I get acknowledged for it when brands want to send me packages to promote them. In photography, I love using vibrant colors in my editing to make my images pop. In my writing, I love doing many things for my brand. Most notably, I use highly vivid details to tell the story.
Branding is so much more than for companies that sell products. We all have a personal brand, whether we know it or not, as people living in this digital age. You do not have to be a creator of any type; you must be authentically you, do what you like, and post what you want.
I challenge you to think about what makes up your brand- the personality or the creative side.
