As an April Fool’s prank, I wrote a facetious article last week that was rife with ridiculous personal branding advice. Each of the seven “Fool-Proof Ways to Become a Personal Branding Rockstar” were utterly outlandish, and could not possibly have been believed by anyone. And yet…some people actually thought I was serious. In fact, some even thought the advice was halfway decent! What can we take away from this experiment? There is good news for me, and great news for you.
The good news? I will probably have an audience eager to soak up the basics of personal branding for quite some time. The great news for you…
Personal branding remains a mystery to most. By mastering the basics, you will gain a humongous edge over your competition.
I sometimes forget that for every Tom Peters there are fifteen get-rich-quick spammers that incessantly spew garbage and pass it off as advice. Some confuse this nonsense with personal branding gospel, thus leading to the confused state we find ourselves in today. Here are my 7 “fake” personal branding tips you should absolutely ignore – and the 7 pieces of advice I would actually offer for each point.
1. Use social media only as a personal advertising platform.
No way! Instead, use social media to connect with, learn from, and help promote others.
2. Borrow work from others without attribution.
If work from other folks in your field inspires you, share it with attribution – or even better, share with attribution and interject your own thoughts and critiques.
3. Use Facebook as a selling tool.
Facebook makes it incredibly easy to spam your friends and family with group and event requests – don’t do it! Use Facebook to form deeper, more personal connections.
4. Refer to yourself an expert.
Walk the walk, don’t talk the talk. Nobody will believe you until they see proof anyway.
5. Treat your current job like it is a temporary stepping stone.
Don’t view personal branding as your ticket to ever-improving job opportunities and completely abandon your current responsibilities. Bad for you, bad for your employer – bad all around.
6. Never follow anyone else on Twitter.
Yes, Ashton Kutcher follows 1 person for every 10,000 that follow him. Don’t think you need to do the same! Twitter is one of the world’s best information resources, and an unparalleled conversation platform – but it only works if you follow a decent-sized group.
7. Go where the money is.
The myth that personal branding is all about chasing the bigger and better paycheck is the one that upsets me the most. Aim to do what you love and build a brand that helps you get and stay there. If money is a part of that, fine – but it doesn’t need to be the top priority.
To me, the 7 tips above all seem blatantly ridiculous. What about you? Would you have known instantly I was playing an April Fool’s prank?
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Ryan Rancatore plays pranks on readers and would love you to be his next victim at Personal Branding 101. Connect with Ryan on Twitter at @RyanRancatore, or on Linkedin, and prank him right back.
