Nur wer sichtbar ist findet statt

Personal branding touches on the three major philosophical questions: who am I? Where have I come from? And where I am heading? What is particularly important when answering these questions in the context of social media? Visibility is the key, but there’s much more to it than simply posting selfies. 

“Taking part is everything.” True, but when it’s all about personal branding and social media is the special focus, thinking like a champion is by no means enough. A large portion of those on networks such as XING or LinkedIn see themselves as onlookers and are relatively passive. I always notice this at events where I am spoken to by people who know exactly what I have done and said in recent weeks, even though I do not know their name or recognize their face. Sometimes, of course, this has to do with them using nicknames such as “Hitmeister83” and cat photos as their profile images. This brings us to the most important topic for personal branding: visibility within the network.

The basic requirement: find your subject

Those looking to tackle the topic of personal branding need to meet an important basic requirement. In branding jargon, this is known as the brand essence, and it is responsible for brand recognition. The people with whom you interact on social media should connect you with your chosen subject based precisely on your brand essence. Social media visibility is directly associated with the content people use to position themselves.  But finding your own subject is easier said than done. It’s ultimately about finding out what you’re made of and asking yourself: who am I? What makes me who I am? What do I want to achieve? It takes a lot of courage and initial strength to position yourself publicly with your subject areas. After all, positioning yourself also means taking a position, which can leave you feeling slightly vulnerable. But on the positive side, you also make yourself more available and visible. Those who are unwilling to take this chance run the risk of not being noticed.

It’s about more than selfies – it’s about content 

All of this makes it clear to me that visibility goes far beyond visual presence. People wishing to represent themselves as a personal brand and establish an appropriate image on social media need to abandon the idea of pure self-adulation. Personal branding is widely misunderstood as purely a selfie gallery. Of course, selfies in and of themselves are not good or bad. The question is whether there is a message apart from “look at me!”. In my opinion, personal branding is not simply about self-portrayal and self-promotion. And for this exact reason, I find terms such as “influencer”, “network marketing” and “social selling”, and the concepts behind them, highly problematic. Those looking to share their knowledge with others, support them on their journey and celebrate their successes should not necessarily be selling anything. People are not brands in the same way as companies. Personal branding means lending your voice and becoming visible. Or, put more briefly: if you can’t achieve visibility, do you exist?