I’m going to keep this note short and to the point. However, it has been on my mind for a while.
Here is why almost every personal brand and employee advocacy effort fails:
Employees that are most interested in personal branding are rarely interested in doing it in such a way that it is beneficial to the company. On the other hand, those who truly want to help their brand and are working hard for their company rarely have time to spend learning how to become good at social media and using it in a way that is meaningful for their brand.
Case in point: Over the past month I have asked about 10 of my trusted circle to name just 5 people who are not CEOs or entrepreneurs that are doing personal branding in a way that is both creating a powerful personal brand AND creating meaningful growth or visibility for their company.
Guess what? Not one of the 10 people I asked could name 5 people. Most couldn’t name one. (That isn’t to say there aren’t good ones out there. But it is interesting, because perhaps those who are doing it well may just be doing it in a way that isn’t so obvious?)
So, is this a problem?
Heck, yes it is a problem. There is this cult of stupidity running around telling people they need to build personal brands while telling companies it is important for employees to build personal brands.
Yet all of this is really about educating employees to use social channels more effectively, so they can create a more compelling brand image. Here’s what I recommend:
Personal Brand Experts (Wannabes):
Cut the crap, already. Just acknowledge that your systems for people using social to build their personal brand isn’t really about building brand visibility for their current employer. Rather, it’s for their personal benefit, so they can start a business, get paid to speak, or become some type of influence marketer.
Companies (Employers With a Stake in All This):
If you are financing peoples’ personal brand development, make sure their brand development is beneficial not only to themselves, but ALSO to your business. In most cases, when I’ve seen an “employee” develop a strong personal brand, they soon turn around and leave the company or they’re forced out because they lost sight of why they were doing it.
Why Bother?
When done well, employee advocacy can help make work more exciting for employees, and make brands more appealing for customers. However, to this date, whomever the folks are that are out there teaching employee advocacy are missing the mark by a mile. It is really as simple as this…
If it isn’t good for BOTH the individual AND the brand, then it isn’t employee advocacy.
AND…If the employee is out speaking at conferences every week, yet nobody knows what company they work for, then you can be sure they are NOT building a brand for your company. #CutTheChord.
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A version of this was first posted on themarketingscope.com
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