Your Personal Brand Should Speak for Itself

(Note: I am not a personal branding expert. These are just random thoughts I’m having on the subject today.)

You know the pretty girl who feels the need to tell you how hot she is? And each time she does — which is often — she actually gets a little less pretty in your eyes. She’s trying to brand herself as “the pretty one,” but the more she pushes it, the less authentic and believable it becomes.

I’m not one to really think and worry about my “personal brand” or that of others, but we all have them. They are seeded and grown from the tiniest bits of information we put out there — the blog posts, the tweets, the pictures, even the design of our business cards. We all have a personal brand.

I spoke to a guy last night at a happy hour who spent about five minutes talking about his Twitter avatar as his personal brand. I don’t know what he does, any of his hobbies or even his full name. It confused me a bit, so I started thinking today about the folks whose personal brands I do feel like I “get.”

• Take Blair for instance. She is an awesome and energetic small-business owner with a great love of pets. She didn’t have to come straight out and tell me that; I figured that out on my own.
• Then there is Jodi. She has a great smile, loves food, loves to read, and connects people better than anyone I’ve ever known. Again, that’s my perception of her and her personal brand.
• And Tom. Tom is quick-witted and a bit of a smartass (and I say that in the best way). He’s a writer, a runner, and the guy you turn to when you need help with a quick Mac question.

We can all try as hard as we want to create our personal brands, but those around us will pick up the bits and pieces that we leave out there on Twitter, Flickr, blogs, LinkedIn and so on, and they’ll create an image of us in their own minds.

How are you doing in leading them in the right direction?