One of the biggest concepts that I’ve had trouble implementing in our Social Media and PR class this semester was the idea of personal branding, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Personal branding can be dizzying when professionals tell you how crucial it is but also being at an age where the “brand of you” is still in discovery. Not many people can put into words “who they are” much less what their brand is. But after this session the mystery of developing my brand has faded a bit.
Jason Mollica, President of JRM Communications, gave a presentation about being the “CEO of you”. Mollica focused on building a “credible, trustworthy, and vibrant brand” for yourself, and, in turn creating one for your clients. The greatest strength and weakness of managing your own brand is that you are always in control, which means knowing your responsibilities and keeping on top of what content you’re posting.
One of the keys to creating and understanding what your brand is depends on the convergence of three factors.
1. Who I think I am?
2. What I do and say.
3. Others perception of me.
Mollica also suggested doing a SWAT analysis of yourself as well as a personal audit. Creating guidelines for what you think should be a successful brand then evaluating where you stand based on those guidelines to pin point deficiencies and improve. I think that this is a really great strategy for not only evaluating your brand and how to improve it but also in a lot of other aspects of life. Deciding what you want from something, appraise what your already doing, and modifying to improve.
In my journalism classes here at RMU I’m constantly told that you have to be first to report on a story and also be correct. Today Mollica pointed out that in the world of PR it’s better to be last and correct, because small mistakes can hurt your trustworthiness. “If you want to be the CEO of your brand, you better have trust and honesty both with yourself and with your clients,” Mollica said.
Everyday is a challenge to rise into who you are meant to be, both professionally and personally. Be real, be passionate and establish yourself as a professional.

Follow me on Twitter @_hannaramma to check my live tweets from each session at the conference!