Authentic Personal Branding Is Not Your Social Media Page

 

Abstract: The prevalence of personal branding has increased considerably since the introduction of the internet and more specifically, social media. The launch of Facebook in 2004 amplified individuals’ creation of a personal brand when it opened to the public in 2006. This self-constructed personal brand portrayed on social media is however not necessarily authentic.   With individuals now present on multiple social platforms, organisations need to understand how employees’ personal branding may influence the corporate brand of the employer.  The purpose of this research is to quantitatively determine the relationship between employees’ personal branding and corporate branding.  Exploratory research design was utilised and data collected from 315 respondents, representing eight different industries from the Top500 company list in South Africa.  Descriptive analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), ANOVA and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient were calculated.  Although the personal brand of every employee differs, they all influence the corporate identity and the corporate brand of organisations.  This research creates awareness of the criteria required for the creation of an authentic personal brand.

 

Keywords: Authentic personal branding; Personal branding; Self-branding; Self-marketing; Social media

 

JEL Classifications: M31, M37

 

Citation as:  Potgieter, A., and M. Doubell (2018). "Authentic Personal Branding Is Not Your Social Media Page", Journal of Contemporary Management, Vol.9, Iss.4, pp.01-13.