This article is about how one can brand themselves on Facebook in their area of expertise and be able to appeal to people that are potentially interested in what they do. This article is useful to anyone doing anything worthy particularly business people, creative people and sports personalities could use this advice. I am however not talking about fan pages I am talking about personal profiles. We are individuals before we are businesses after all.
First of all I believe that everybody represents a brand as an individual. The behavior and language or tone of expression one uses on social media brands an individual and places them in a category to those reading. If it seems confused and ever contradicting itself, people get a picture that one is a confused individual. The same rules that apply in real life apply on social media. Respect is a good quality when communicating with any individual even during a conflict. It is worse on social media because there are many eyes watching even though they may not be commenting.
Your next employer may be watching a sexually explicit comment you made while browsing through your wall. Of course your resume and profile section may claim that you are a good person, because you type it after all. The clever employers of this age would rather monitor your real behavior and forums you are part of to confirm what your resume is saying. It is of course good to have fun and share humor on Facebook but all I know is whenever someone I am friends with likes or comments on a photograph for example on a sexually explicit page it appears in my homepage news that they did so. It also will appear in the feeds of the rest of their friends, now imagine what perception I will have of that person next time we have a chat.
The first tip of branding on Facebook is conduct. After conduct comes presentation, try to fill out your profile in a comprehensive way and using good grammar. You may not disclose personal details for security reasons but at least have an interesting profile picture and about section. If you feel this properly people that like what you like will befriend you and those who are not in your niche will un-friend you. This means that the majority of your friends will be useful contacts. Once you have useful contacts the real benefits of networking kick in. Useful contacts may be potential: business partners, fans, clients, service providers, real friends and investors.
There are certain Facebook names that will make business people not take one seriously, they would appeal more to lovers of art. The profile picture you put depends on who your target is. Social Media is really about perceptions because we have not seen the people we talk to physically and in Zimbabwe video calling on skype is available but a rare phenomenon. If I was to inbox the C.E.O of a large corporate (who has a lot of mail probably) using slang and using an avatar with a cat on it, I do not personally think he would even open the mail. It means I’d have to look very professional. The next thing this person would do after seeing my ideas is go to my about section and read about the things I like and even look at the presentation. He may also check my most recent posts.
Serious people always want to research who they are talking to before they go further. Your avatar is similar to dressing in real life.
