By balancing the requirements of a corporate job with your personal brand, 'you can become an ambassador for your workplace, rather than those two things crashing [together],' says Manuela Bárcenas, who has more than 14,000 followers on LinkedIn.Roger Lemoyne
Before she became the head of marketing at tech startup Fellow.app, Manuela Bárcenas felt that she had “nothing to lose” by posting her thoughts and insights on LinkedIn.
Today, Ms. Bárcenas has more than 14,000 LinkedIn followers. Her posts about leadership, career and workplace culture have led to opportunities that she says she never imagined, such as emceeing major tech conferences like SAAS North and INNOVATEwest.
“People see my posts, and I’m top of mind for them when an opportunity comes up,” Ms. Bárcenas says. She adds that her employer is supportive of her promoting her personal brand alongside posts about what’s happening at her company; as an AI meeting management platform, Fellow.app’s services align well with her content.
If you are able to balance the requirements of a corporate job with what you want to communicate through your personal brand, “you can become an ambassador for your workplace, rather than those two things crashing [together],” Ms. Bárcenas says.
Not all companies are on board
Developing a personal brand on social media can produce numerous benefits for the individual, from attracting job offers to promoting a side hustle to inviting speaking opportunities.
There are also upsides for corporations that allow employees to have personal brands: According to U.S. research, 70 per cent of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs who are active on social media and 72 per cent feel more connected to brands whose employees share information on social media.
However, not every company views personal brands as good for business, says Sonia Kang, professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management at the University of Toronto. Some organizations want employees to solely embody the corporate brand in their social media posts.
“They don’t really care that much about people being unique,” she says. “So [their perspective is], why do you need a personal brand?”
Another challenge might emerge if an employee is very outspoken about political or social issues and their company wants to remain neutral on anything contentious, says Dr. Kang.
“Let’s say you sell stuff on Etsy as a side gig,” she says. “That is probably much more acceptable to corporations than something like, ‘This is me, and here’s my view.’”
Her advice for employees dealing with employer restrictions on their personal brand? Unless you want to use a different name online and never mention your employer, “I think that you need to take your cue from what other people in the company are doing.”
Do your ‘due diligence’
Lissa Appiah knows what it’s like to balance personal ambitions with workplace priorities when posting on social media. In addition to working as a public servant in the federal government, Ms. Appiah is the founder of WeApply Canada, offering career coaching, workshops and leadership development services. Her social media activity reflects her thought leadership in this space, with regular posts for her 50,000 followers on LinkedIn and 200+ videos on YouTube.
Ms. Appiah says she has never received pushback about her personal brand from her employer because she did her due diligence; she went through a formal process as per her collective agreement with the federal government to ensure her outside activities weren’t a conflict of interest.
While her own experience is a positive one, Ms. Appiah says she’s worked with many clients who haven’t been so lucky, especially those working in smaller companies that may not have any formal policies in place around employee’s personal brands.
Her advice to those clients is to have a conversation with their manager – sometimes, managers may be concerned that an employee is posting to social media on company time.
“A lot of people don’t realize that automation exists,” Ms. Appiah says. “You can schedule a post and it can go out at 9 a.m. while you’re sitting in a meeting.”
Other times, an employer’s resistance to their staff members developing personal brands is a sign of something deeper in the company culture. “A lot of times, there were already a lot of red flags [about the employer],” she says.
A showcase for individuality
Dr. Kang says that building a personal brand on social media can be especially important to members of minority groups who can often face harmful stereotypes in the workplace. It can allow them to showcase their individuality and be recognized for their unique strengths and skills.
“Once [an employer] knows you a bit more personally, they start valuing your opinion more,” Dr. Kang says. “You’re going to get asked [to take on] harder assignments, whatever those might be.”
She adds that federally regulated workplaces operating under the Employment Equity Act – such as banks, broadcasters, telecommunications companies and more – are increasingly striving “to have people bring their full selves to work,” which includes allowing them to develop personal brands online. It’s a trend that Dr. Kang believes will continue to increase.
On the flip side of the coin, however, Dr. Kang notes that there will always be some employees who prefer complete separation between their jobs and their personal lives. Not everyone is interested in sharing their viewpoints on a social feed.
“If companies are encouraging people to [build a personal brand], there also has to be freedom to not do it.”
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