Today saw an outbreak of the Personal Branding contagion.  In other words a rash of links to articles on the topic were swirling around the Twitter-verse.  First 1 link and then another, and before you know it another 20 have passed you by in your tweetstream.

Many a merry blogger touts the benefits of taking control of your online space and making sure that you are on message with who you are and want to be online, but to me that’s a rather 1-dimensional view.  Personal branding is more than just being ‘on message’ and being ‘in control’, it’s about wholeheartedly investing in yourself, enjoying what you do and expressing that online and off, though of course that’s always easier said than done!

To my mind it is more than a mere web site or blog, and of course it has to be yours.  I perennially ask myself: “Why would I write for a company blog, when I can and should really write my own, in a free and unencumbered fashion?”

Both Last.fm and Stink Digital, for whom I have worked over the last 3, almost 4 years now, have operated blogs, but conditions are always preset on what you can and can’t write, and although I understand the reasoning, I disagree with the unwarranted restrictions.

To me, they simply place a hurdle in front of your potential, which ultimately are for the company’s own benefit.  When, in this day and age, your personal time is at a premium, it makes little sense to spend it writing ‘on message’ for your employer when you can unwind, vent, and out pour, as you see fit on your own blog, and ultimately do it with the benefit of promoting yourself.

Above and beyond ‘online’ and the networks you have built, it’s always good to move that personal brand into the real world.  Twitter, Facebook et al, all provide you with ways to connect to people, and I don’t mean simply to hawk your wares, but as many a social media maven will tell you, it’s a way to flaunt your personality and build links of real substance, online and off.

By way of example, prior to Christmas, a nice Christmas card with personal message rocked up on my desk at work.  It was completely unexpected, and a nice surprise from a Twitter-friend.  How did she know my address? Well I suppose it’s not too hard to connect the dots, but more importantly, it leaves a lasting and positive impression and one that only raises her profile in my eyes, much to her credit.

Another great example, and perhaps a decent example for bridging the offline and online worlds.  A while back, having completed work on a couple of projects for one of the clients at Stink Digital, said client sent us a box of gorgeous cup cakes, with a cutesy thank you note.  Needless to say: “what did we do?”  We snapped a pic, and posted it, with a glowing response, on the Stink Digital blog.  Kudos to them for garnering positive public feedback!

These two examples show that it is not hard to build a brand around yourself, and to make a personal investment in yourself.  It’s your life and if you don’t look out for yourself who will?  Keeping up-to-date is like trying to hit a moving target, but it is always good to keep updating the world, because you are always more prepared when you need it to draw on that brand you have invested so much time and energy in already.   More importantly, if you don’t invest that time in building a profile, then ‘others’ will do it for you and who knows what ‘they’ will present you as.

Of course, ultimately, everything you do comes back to personal identity, branding and effectively promotion in the form of how you present yourself to the outside world.  From the way you dress to the way you talk and think, and how that appears in photos or written form.  You should always use the online sphere to reinforce the offline perception of you. It therefore makes sense to stop and think somewhat about each and every step you take, but at the same time you need to also ‘just be yourself’, and whatever you do, just remember, it is always an investment in yourself.