Building Blocks of a Successful Personal Brand on Social Media

Abstract

The logic of branding has expanded from products and companies to services and lately even to individual people. Brands are everywhere and everything. In addition, trends like rising individualism, entrepreneurship and uncertain labor markets have made room for the concept of personal branding to grow. The phenomena has been especially popularized in the late ten years through the rise of social media platforms that allow individuals to express themselves in a variety of ways and to connect with a global audience. Despite the small amount of academic literature, other resources from books to personal branding consultancies are numerous speaking volumes of the popularity and appeal of the topic.

This thesis discusses the concept of personal branding in social media and seeks to identify the key elements of a successful social media personal brand. This is done through reviewing existing literature within the fields of personal branding and social media brand management. The theoretical background of this thesis lies strongly in the traditional branding practices. Based on the study of these two concepts and the examples of social media personal brands, following recommendations for personal branding on social media are given: 1. Lay a strong foundation to build on 2. Stay authentic both in the good and the bad 3. Be active on multiple social media channels 4. Commit to your brand promise 5. Build a community of friends and peers

To conclude, the fundamental limitations of this thesis must be noted. As a literature review with a focus on personal brands from the western culture, this is not an all-encompassing study. Also, social media personal branding is a new field and requires further research on the extensions of branding logic to humans. Further research ideas include among others interviewing a broad group of social media personal brands to validate the given suggestions and to understand the concept further than through existing literature is possible.