5 Deadliest Personal Branding Mistakes You Should Avoid

By Elizabeth Benu

Do you have a mentor? How do they present themselves? I am sure they do it admirably.

That is their personal brand.  Personal branding is establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about yourself.. If you are careless about the way you present yourself to others then people will view you as careless and have nothing positive to say about you.

That said, what are the 5 deadliest mistakes you can make on your personal brand?

Beth Wanjira, a Recruitment Manager at Corporate Staffing Services lists these mistakes as:

1. Thinking quantity matters than quality
People can see a lot about you through social media. Too many posts that are of no use has an effect on you. Focus on passing the right message because convincing someone that “it was just a random status update” will be hard.

2. Being fake
You need to be yourself and not pretend to be anyone else. If you are trying to fool people by showing something you are not, it will only eat into your energy and destroy your brand. It is hard for people to believe you after they learn you have been faking it. Strive to be true to yourself and this will also reflect on other people.

3. Trying to please everyone
In life you cannot make everyone happy. The problem with most people is that they state their opinion and then change it because it wasn’t liked by everyone. Do not do that. Instead, take a stand with your opinion and be ready to drive off some people because of it.

4. Acting without thought.
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This is a mantra that most people do not live by. For a successful personal brand it is advisable to plan wisely by first identifying your goals.

Get to know yourself, your limits in terms of life and career, your strengths and weaknesses. After this, proceed to a journey of branding yourself. It is easier than to brand yourself into something you are not and then struggle to fit into it.

5. Self Praise
It is not about the number of degrees or titles that you have; it’s more about the person behind those papers and titles. Have you ever spent time with someone who keeps talking about their achievements and how good they are? It did not feel good, did it?

As for personal branding, blowing your own trumpet will turn people off. Let your work and career progress speak for you not the other way round.

Have you seen others make the above mistakes or more? If so, please share with our readers.

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