For a generation of entrepreneurs and "influencers" who have grown up establishing personal brands to find their way in the profession, having a strong brand is critical to paying bills and living comfortably.
It is their business, and how they promote themselves online may be quite crucial.
As previously stated, each post, comment, and Instagram story is a piece of material. However, in addition to functioning as a kind of media for people to consume, each piece of content works to advance the brand and provide insight into the influencer's personality.
Most young creators think that PR is for other people. The celebrity who got into trouble, the CEO of the company that got sued, the rich, famous person with a huge team of publicists.
What they don't realize is that a public relations firm isn't just for damage control; it's for creators who want to get ahead of their own story.
If your name has followers attached to it, then the PR is already happening. The question is whether you are steering it or not.
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"Just Being Yourself" Is Already a PR Strategy
Being Real is Not the Opposite of Strategic.
The main thing that you need to understand about your brand is that it is being shaped by every post that you put up.
This can be to your advantage or to your disadvantage, depending on the direction that you are taking with your brand.
For example, if you are taking a more intentional approach to your brand, you are building your image on purpose.
This means that you have a better idea of what your brand image is and you can defend it against people who are trying to portray you in a different light.
Unmanaged brand building is largely reactive, meaning that you are going to find out what your brand image is when it is tested by circumstances.
Intentional brand building is the opposite, it is proactive. This means that you have already determined what it is that you stand for and you are working to make sure that your brand reflects that image.
Being yourself was never the problem. Being unprepared is.
One Post, One Screenshot, One Career
Now onto the scariest part of building a personal brand as a young creator, the speed at which a creator's reputation can be damaged online.
One poorly thought out post can instantly have your brand deal taken away.
Silent sponsorships can be pulled instantly too. And worst of all, audiences can turn instantly. Remember that a screenshot of a creator's online activity is permanent, while a post that was taken down is not.
Just because you are posting online does not mean you have to be perfect. However, there is a difference between a slip-up and a brand-destroying moment.
If you haven't thought through how you are going to react in a bad situation, then you are going to be caught off guard. And that is when the real damage can occur.
The Difference Between "Damage Control" and Actual PR Strategy
This is where most creators get PR completely wrong, they think it's a service you call after something bad happens. That's only half the picture, and it's the smaller half.
Reactive PR: Putting Out Fires
Reactive PR is 'putting out fires'. While there are times when a publicist must spring into action to handle a crisis for a client, that is not what PR is intended to be. If you only need a publicist to handle crises for you, then you don't need a publicist.
Your publicist should be able to handle everything for you before a crisis ever occurs and then mitigate any damage done if a crisis does occur.
But to have to mitigate damage all the time is to have failed at creating a good image and brand in the first place.
Proactive PR: Owning the Narrative Before It's Written for You
But even more importantly, you have to recognize that real PR happens before a crisis. The biggest part of creating a brand is owning a clear and consistent point of view. And then you can pick and choose from brand deals that will reinforce your values and image instead of diluting them for money.
By the time something bad happens to you, or something goes wrong, you will already have an established image and a well-established brand. This will help your image in times of crisis. And most importantly, you will be able to handle situations in which your values are challenged by knowing your values already.
Waiting until a crisis to think about PR is like buying insurance the day after the accident. It's not that it can't help at all - it's that it's already too late to do what it does best.
Building PR Habits Before You Need Them
You don't have to hire a publicist at the age of 22 to start working on building your brand. What you need to do is establish a few good habits.
- Know your values before they're tested. Decide what you will and won't be associated with before a brand deal or controversy forces the question in real time.
- Have a simple response plan. This means pausing a few moments to reflect on a post before hitting send. It also means having one trusted person that you send preliminary drafts to before you hit send on the post and send it to the internet at large.
- Vet partnerships for fit, not just fee. A paycheck that clashes with your image costs more in trust than it pays in cash.
- Treat your bio, aesthetic, and tone as a living style guide. Your bio, aesthetic, and tone are a living style guide to your public work. You should maintain your public work, such as a website, as you would any other work, and so you maintain your bio, aesthetic, and tone as well.
While all of these habits may give the impression that you are somehow being fake, or guarded, or even put on, that is not the case.
These are mere steps to ensure that you are taking the proper care to safeguard your name and reputation, which are arguably the two most important assets any individual has to their name.
Your Name Is the One Thing You Can't Rebrand Overnight
A follower count can be rebuilt. A viral moment can be replicated. But your name, once damaged, is slower to earn back in trust.
The follower count and the viral moments will continue to come your way.
The question is, will you be ready to make the most of them if you treat your PR as a skill to be built now, quietly and early?
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