In age of personal branding, are we losing authenticity?

This brings up such a good topic! Are we losing authenticity because of personal branding? I can argue on both sides. I actually have an interview for http://Awesome.Viralogy.com debuting on Monday that highlights this topic.

I would LOVE to have you as a guest on Awesome Bloggers. I’m not sure if I’ve emailed you about it yet but consider this your invitation.

Can’t wait to have you on our show!

- Jun

Jun, thanks so much! It is a great topic, and I hope I can get some other opinions on it too. What do you think, though? I think it really depends how your brand is shaped – and how narrow it is. The narrower the brand, perhaps the less authentic. If your brand is your name, it’s broader – and perhaps reflects the real you a whole lot better. But who knows, and I’d love to hear your opinion.

And thanks so much for the invite! I would definitely love to be on your show so send me an email sometime. I’m very excited!

You make some very good points here. It’s difficult to define ourselves in the digital space. But, staying true to yourself and being authentic is really important. When I write for my blog, I make sure it’s about something that is meaningful or important to me. I don’t worry about staying in a niche, instead I make my own niche. Remember: there will never be another you.

On another note, if you feel like your readers aren’t getting to know the true you, think of posting a 25 things about me post like I did a couple of weeks ago. You might find that you have some unexpected things in common with your digital friends.

Sam – You are right that having a niche makes it more difficult to remain authentic, even if that niche is something you care about and are interested in. But one of the ways many people use personal branding is to become known as an expert in their field, and to show their passion for what they do – their work and career. You are certainly being true to yourself by not deciding on a niche and simply writing what interests you – but it is more difficult for those who do want to write a niche blog.

Thanks for the suggestion – perhaps I will take it up!

This is such a well-written post and so thought-provoking that I’m not quite sure how to respond. I think that no matter what you do, you’re showing a certain side of you on your blog through personal braning – that is, whether you focus on a specific topic or not.

I’m not sure when the term “authenticity” came to mean that you share everything. Authenticity is not about sharing it all or showing it all – but if you want to, by all means, do! – instead, it’s about being genuine and sincere. Big difference there.

Could not agree with you more… Authenticity in social media has been somewhat hijacked by overkill, and I, too, enjoy blogging and have a more than one interest… for what it’s worth.

I think you’re confusing personal branding with having a niche.

When you say, “I realize that I am multi-dimensional, and I have so many more interests and passions than can be captured by a simple personal brand.”

Personally, i think those interests and passions are part of your personal brand. It’s not limited to marketing or politics or entrepreneurship.

That’s what’s great about ‘peronal branding.’ It’s about branding a person instead of a company or product that simply falls into a category. It’s all about building a brand about what interests you.

Off topic – How is it that I haven’t subscribed to your blog yet? You’ve got great stuff.

@Rebecca – I found this post becasue of your tweet. Thanks.

I agree with Andy. All your interests and passions ARE part of your personal brand. Some people like to specialize in certain areas and have high expertise in a very defined niche. Others like to explore many different things the world has offered us and bring together those great ideas & people from across disciplines. It depends on whether you are branding yourself as a niche person or a multi-dimensional person – and one is definitely not better than the other. I like to think we need all kinds of people in the world.

On another note – I will be upset if you ONLY write about human rights and law. Your blog doesn’t need to be a niche blog. You’re not being unauthentic by writing about all your other interests. You can simply be the girl who is interested in human rights & law but also many other things at the same time. Everything on this blog makes up who you are – authentically.

Great post. I think you nailed it when you say, “You’re seeing what the blogger wants to portray themselves as, rather than who they really are.” There is so much noise on the web and it seems that most people are selling a product or brand. It gets old, but so much of the same has created opportunities for something new and more authentic to emerge.

Hi Akhila-

The tension between personal branding and authenticity (i.e., being your real/whole self) is an important issue for many of us– you’ve got lots of company. As I look at a lot of the personal branding conversation, it is rather simplistic. Craft a self-presentation that helps you look like a certain kind of expert, and people with listen to/buy from/hire you. That’s true to some extent, but you’re right that the focus and concentration that some branding requires can also stifle your full self-expression.

Personal branding may be cramping your style because, given your age, your interests, and your outlet (blogging), it’s not really the right way to frame the challenge of focus and expression.

A more generous and freeing way to think about your self-presentation task (so to speak) might be to think about finding and clarifying your voice. If you think about it as a voice instead of a brand, it’s easier to (1) experiment with different topics, (2) experiment with different ways of talking, and (3) allow yourself to evolve as a voice-in-progress.

Also, you might think about what the point is behind your blog and blogging– are you writing to learn & explore, to convince & persuade, to sell, to express yourself? The more it is about being an outlet for you and how you think, and the less it is about selling and making an impression on others, the easier it is to focus on voice rather than brand.

In the best situations, there is a nice congruence between brand and voice… and this is usually when voices are stable (maybe even mature) and when the brand is less about selling and more about connecting.

One last thought– that question of how far and how often you can veer off-topic on your own blog is a big one for a lot of us (it certainly has been for me). I’ve been told that some readers are fine with seeing a range of what you want to talk about (remember readers can pick and choose, like some things alot and others not so much, and still come back again).

There’s a weird and wonderful dynamic where, once you have started to blog about things that are important to you (e.g., social justice) and once you have begun to enjoy the process of writing it and putting out into the world, you want to do the same thing with more parts of you. As long as you don’t write too often about organizing your sock drawer, it’s kind of fun for readers to see and hear more of you. Well, that’s true for this reader.

Glad that @modite tweeted about your post– it’s a wonderful find. cvh

As someone who has 2 or 3 blogs, each one devoted to a different niche, plus my own personal blog, you owe it to your audience to separate out content that is clearly under a different niche. Either ask to post it on a friend’s blog with that niche or create your own if you are THAT passionate about it.

Of course, it takes a lot of work to manage, design, and generate content for all those blogs. But I don’t think there’s an alternative.

You have a fantastic idea here – that if you refrain from posting something you’re interested in just because it doesn’t mash with your main niche, you’re being inauthentic. I agree with this – my main blog is a hodgepodge of health info, ideas that won’t quite fit anywhere else, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff about me or my line of work.

I may do a follow-up on this… I like the idea

-Nick
PsychoticResumes.com

Wow, thanks everyone for the great comments!

Rebecca – you’re right that authenticity doesn’t necessarily mean sharing it all. It does mean being genuine, but I guess what I meant was – is it possible to be truly genuine if you’re not showing you fully as a person, and only showing one part of you – especially for niche bloggers?

Alex – thanks for your comment! I do wish that personal branding was, well, more personal rather than a tool for marketing as it is now.

Andy – Thank you so much for your comment! I am excited that you’ve found my blog. You are right – I don’t think I made the right distinction between personal branding and niche blogging. There is a distinction, but at the same time when you brand yourself in a certain way – be it marketing or nonprofit or PR or anything else – don’t you feel like your blog has to go along with that “brand”? It seems to me that most bloggers write in a certain way that fits with their field, so as to show knowledge about that field. Do you think personal branding is really effective if you write very generally about every topic?

Ruby – I agree with you. Definitely all your interests should make up a part of the brand. I like your tips about being a girl interested in human rights and law…but also many other things. I think it makes a blog more interesting too, as you learn more about the blogger’s personality. What I am struggling with, though, is having a niche but ALSO wanting to write about my other interests from time to time.

Jason – Thanks for the comment! I do hope that blogging does prove to be an avenue for more authenticity over time, rather than just being a method of publicity.

CV – Thank you so much for your long and insightful comment. It’s true that it’s difficult to balance a niche with a personal voice and various interests. I would hope that readers continue to be interested in reading things, even if it is over a diverse range of topics. And I also really like your idea of focusing on a personal voice, rather than on the topic itself. That’s a unique and great way of looking at it.

Nick – That is great that you’re able to put in the time and effort to write several niche blogs. It’s very admirable and I think it’s a great idea to separate your niches. However, not everyone is able to put in that much work and so I feel like there has to be some alternative – some way in which you can combine all your interests and your personal “brand” into one blog. You should definitely write a follow up on it. I think it’s such an interesting topic and would love to hear more thoughts on it!

What a great topic, Akhila. It definitely hits home with me.

My big thing lately is trying to take the ego out of things. I hear so many bloggers say, “I write for me, not for my readers.” I will never say that, because for me, it isn’t true.

If I was writing for me, I’d write it in a composition book and hide it under my bed. I write publicly because I’m writing to reach people, to help them, to share with them, to give them strength, to make them laugh, etc. I think this is true for all art and, for that matter, for all business and politics. It’s not about ego, it’s about who you serve.

Given that, I think your readers guide you. But I couple that with one of my favorite quotes by Howard Thurman–

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

This sounds contradictory to what I said before, but what I try to do is hold both of these ideas in my heart at once. If you can do that, and leave your ego at the door, I think you’ll hit the nail on the head.

p.s. Do you read Penelope Trunk’s blog on Brazen Careerist? I think she’s a wonderful example of this.

Great post Akhila! I particularly like when you points out that we are multidimensional persons with so diverse interests that it is hard to capture in an unique brand. This is so true!
We should not refrain to blog on various issue and to brand ourself being
Nowadays, everything is interlinked that no discipline can survive on its own. Such as human rights needs social media to expand, businesses and states to implement the regulations and so forth. So I think it’s great to brand ourself as multidimensional because the world is!

Laurie, thanks so much for your comment. Your blog, I think, is one of the most genuine and authentic ones I have ever read. So I can see that you really do stay true to yourself, while also wanting to put out beautiful and engaging posts that reach other people and help them in their own lives. I definitely that writing a blog isn’t just for myself – it is so I can reach out to others, have conversations, share my knowledge, and hopefully teach them something new along the way. I also have heard that quote before and love it!

Nathalie, I think it’s so true that we are so multidimensional. How can we be defined by one single field or career path or blog topic? You’re right that all disciplines are interrelated…just like our interests.

I really like the suggestion from CV about looking at it as a “voice” than a “brand. And I completely agree with Laurie I write to serve.

@Laurie – if you read this again I just want to say thanks for that quote. I love it. It is contradictory to the writing to serve idea but somehow they match up so nicely.

@Akhila – thank you for the great post and bringing in so many other bloggers & comments. I got a lot of great insights just from the comment thread

@Ruby, thanks for your comment again. I also liked CV’s idea of looking at it as finding a personal voice. That is definitely something I’ve been discovering as a result of starting this blog.

I am very glad you were able to learn something from this post and the comments. I’m really excited that I’ve gotten so many engaging comments. Often I think the comments section of a blog can be more enlightening than the blog itself

I think that is a problem these days. I’m not sure why but with so many people telling people how to blog and why to blog it’s hard to get a handle on it.

I personally never started a blog to be branded, and though I understand the fashion of it, and the pull, I hope to be branded by my work and my life, most of that not blogged about.

I think that everyone should use their blog in whatever way they can to do whatever they want. In the end I think that makes a better blog. In real life offline is where the worry and concern about your brand should be, because for most of us that is where we will have the greatest affect.

Cooper, thanks for the comment! Yeah, I think it’s a huge problem that people are blogging for the sake of branding themselves and not just because they enjoy it or want to help others. It makes the whole process of blogging a little less authentic.

I understand that you don’t brand yourself through your blog, but I also do understand the value of branding yourself in your blog. It does make a positive impact when an employer reads your blog and realizes that you have many valuable things to say about your field. I do think that can be a very helpful thing. But at the same time, while striving for that, it seems to me that blogging is becoming less genuine.

And also, true that real life is where you can brand yourself, but how? Getting your name known online is easier, and you can reach more people more easily. It’s really hard to build up an offline brand, and I’m not sure how I could go about it. Online you have a blog, portfolio, etc to back it up. But how do you show this offline? It’s difficult.

Great discussion. It depends what your goals are when developing and building upon your personal brand. The most successful people are authentic because you can relate to them. We can’t connect with people who don’t reveal their weaknesses or what they care about. Think about how Oprah came to fame.

It all reverts back to what you want to do. Do you want to be a PR type person or do you want to be yourself. Being yourself will always win.

Really interesting post and discussion. This is something I’ve thought about a lot myself. I have to admit, having read a lot of the online literature on personal branding and how to develop a great blog and so on, I’ve been a little turned off by the inauthenticity of some of the things I’ve read. There are just too many blog posts floating around titled “X ways to do something” or “X cool things about something”, especially on sites like Brazen. These blog posts all reek of good ways to score traffic and while I’m just as guilty as anyone else of trying to score traffic to my blog, I’m often in two minds about whether I am really authentically blogging my thoughts and presenting a unique perspective or if I’m just part of the Gen Y Blogging masses.

Akhila – I have been stewing about this same topic for a month or so now. And, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was “bothering” me about the whole personal branding craze. I mean, I knew something felt off about it for me, but I couldn’t pinpoint it.

You just pinpointed it.

Do you think it’s possible to establish yourself as an expert in a field while also staying authentic? I do think so, but I would like to know your thoughts.

Very (very) interesting topic brought up here. I wrote a follow-up post to this, Jun’s video, Nisha’s follow up – etc. EVERYONE is talking about it, so here are my two cents:

http://blog.lifewithoutpants.com/the-dividing-line-personal-blogging-vs-personal-branding/

I think in some ways the traditional notion of a “personal brand” misses the point of social media completely. It’s that social media is supposed to blur the chasm between personal and professional. And you hit on that.

Social media holds us more accountable to authenticity, because the more we embrace it, the more related the sections of our life become to each other. And the less compartmentalized we are able to keep our lives. Anyway. just a few thoughts.

Dan, I think you pinpointed it when you said its a choice between being a PR type person…or just being yourself. You’re right, and I think being yourself always works best. But when you’re trying to brand yourself a certain way, can you really be yourself?

Alex, I totally agree! So much of the blogging out there now is done just to gain traffic or become more popular….and it’s less and less about yourself and more about how you are just tapping into the Gen Y blogging craze. I too am guilty of making those 10 ways to do x posts, but I wonder if that’s really what I care about – or is it just for the “branding” and traffic?

Jamie, I think thats the question everyone is trying to answer. i do think you can be an expert in your field while also be yourself, but finding that balance can be really difficult. You want to put your voice and your personality out there but at the same time focus on a topic of your choice…which is after all the purpose of personal branding. I think the balance is to make the reader understand you as a person, while still keep a theme to your blog. Easier said than done, though.

Matt – great post! I’ll have to respond to that one soon

Joel, you are right that social media is between the personal and professional….you want to get to know the person and social media helps you know people better, and connect with them on a more personal level. I think this is interesting — it seems to me that we are more ourselves on social media, such as twitter, for example, than on our own blogs. On my twitter I update about news, my daily life, and much more that I don’t blog about – twitter captures my personality more accurately perhaps than this blog does. Interesting point, right?