It takes time to build a reputation and a personal brand. Everything you do, you post online, every comment, every message becomes part of your brand.
When you’re online you should post mostly about what you do, and sometimes you should post about what you are. People want to know you, not your “corporate friendly” avatar.
There is one downside to this rule. If you take a “strong” position on something that hurts other people’s “non-negotiable values”, they will probably stop trusting you. In some cases, they’ll unfollow you immediately, or they’ll silence you.
It happened to me many times in the previous weeks.
I was following some interesting people when they started posting about “alternative facts” websites responsible for spreading a lot of fake news, especially about Covid-19 and other sensitive subjects. This is something that goes against my “non-negotiable values”. I took action, and I’ve immediately unfollowed all of their social media accounts, unsubscribed from their emails, and blocked their SMS account from sending me messages. I’ve also lost some good friends in this way.
I could probably lose some followers with this post, but in the end, it’s consistent with my personal brand, or at least with the values that I want to be reflected in my personal brand.
Do you remember when I told you that “storytelling is inevitable“? Everything you post online becomes part of a story. If the story is not in line with your public, you should change your story, or you should change your public.
In my case, I prefer to follow people that doesn’t go against my non-negotiable values, and I’d like to be followed by people that could understand mine.
I’m not saying that I agree with everything people post or that you should agree with everything I post, but at least that we have a common ground. If that’s not the case, there are many other places where I can find interesting content, which also happens to you.
