Personal Branding Mistakes with Social Media You MUST Avoid

Went to a party over the weekend and had a little too much fun that was documented on film? Having a disagreement with a colleague, friend, or associate?

You would be wise in today’s age of personal branding and social media to keep these things to yourself.

This is arguably the biggest social media mistake people make these days: posting things that should have been left unsaid (or unseen). The damage to your personal brand can be far-reaching and have unpleasant consequences.

Take the example of the would-be Cisco employee who tweeted some seemingly innocent comments — “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work” — Well, his future employer did not take too kindly to the “hating the work” part and consequently rescinded the job offer. Or the New York City law firm applicant whose Facebook page featured some inappropriate photos of herself that the firm ultimately decided did not reflect the image of their organization.

The temptation is enormous these days to blast our latest thoughts in 140 characters or less, or post pictures we think are funny on our profile pages, all thanks to the immediacy — and mainstreaming — of technology. With more and more people getting into the social media scene, the importance of keeping a watchful eye on how you come across to others is greater than ever. Building your personal brand requires paying attention to detail and being aware of how what you say and what you show the world could be perceived, either positively or negatively.

Some old-fashioned rules of manners and etiquette transfer nicely over into the social media world and building your personal brand. Things like be nice, play fair, compliment often, express gratitude with grace can serve you well when building a personal brand both on and offline.

Additionally, you want to make sure your message is consistent across all the social media platforms you use. Thankfully, there are some handy f/ree systems out there like ping.fm that allow social media users to coordinate all their accounts in one place and make one post that goes to every site. When thoughtfully used, this system alone can add tons of value to your personal brand because people all over the web will see the same message from you at once.

The bottom line is, if you are using social media for anything at all, you must pay attention to the way you package your personal brand online. It does not matter whether you are a high school senior heading off to college in the fall, a recent graduate looking to land your first job, or a budding entrepreneur looking to leverage the power of the Internet to build a successful online business. In today’s online climate, personal branding matters like never before.