What you do matters. How you act matters. Especially in the age of the internet, your actions of today could have ramifications tomorrow, and beyond.

Mindfulness of conduct is of utmost importance for your future successes.

And by practising mindfulness and developing a personal brand, you can help protect yourself and your image, both personally and professionally.

What is a personal brand?

The truth is, whether you know it or not, you have a personal brand. Let’s do a quick exercise:

Take a minute and Google yourself. What pulls up?

Comb through your social media channels. What do you see?

Now, let’s think about those results for a minute. This could be someone’s first impression of you. If it is, will it be good or bad?

Your brand is what people say about you, how they describe you, and the first things that come to mind when they think of you. It is a unique combination of your skills and the experiences that make you who you are. Additionally, it is how you present yourself to the world.

Why does a personal brand matter?

Social media and the internet are everything these days. Thanks to our predominantly digital culture, it is important that you consider how you are representing and “branding” yourself online.

Employers are checking.

Many employers use social media to screen candidates during the hiring process and it’s been shown in studies they even continue to use social media once an employee has been hired to monitor employee’s conduct.

Even if you are thinking, “well, I’ve already impressed my employer and I know they don’t check up on me,” the reality is you will more than likely switch jobs at some point and nothing is ever truly gone from the internet.

It will make you more authentic.

You can tell someone all day long that you are a dedicated friend and employee, you are always on your best behaviour, and that you will represent their company well. But nothing backs these statements up like how you act when you think they aren’t looking – online.

Ensuring that your personal brand is fluid across all aspects of your life will demonstrate your authentic self and will take you far in friendships, relationships, and careers.

Think of it like a reference letter – you want it to match your resume. You want your online self to match your in-person self.

Conclusion

Personal branding is a way of reinforcing who you are and what you stand for both in your career and in life.

Your personal brand is basically a snapshot of who you are, and its creation isn’t something that happens overnight.

Developing a personal brand requires thought, time, effort and strategy.

The bottom line is you do and will have a personal brand whether you focus on it or not. So, if you can have some kind of say-so in what others think about you, why not use that opportunity to steer them in a positive direction?

In today’s digital age, you can’t afford to ignore your personal brand. Are you ready to get started?