The Importance of a Consistent Personal Brand on Social Media

Whether you’re focused on career advancement or career transition, a consistent personal brand is an important tool for marketing yourself to influencers.

When you’re presenting yourself on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Facebook, Instagram, or another active or static online platform, you must be consistent. Here are four key things to continually monitor:

1. Photo

Photo inconsistencies can be the most glaring, particularly if one or more of your sites have no photos at all. According to LinkedIn, profiles with photos are 14X more likely to be viewed. Photos are just as important on the other sites, where people may be getting their first impression of you.

By using the same photo across all sites, you’re creating a trustworthy appearance and a brand people will start to recognize and remember.

2. Story

Too often I find inconsistencies when comparing someone’s resume, social media profiles, and online portfolios. Details can change for everything from dates of employment and job titles, to company names!

So what message are you sending the hiring influencers? You’re sloppy with details? Or you’re not being truthful? You don’t want to send either of those negative messages.

3. Delivery

Apart from the details in your story, there’s how you deliver that story. While each social media has a unique culture that you want to understand and respect, you’re not creating a different brand each time.

There may be subtle differences, but overall you want to articulate the same brand on each online platform, consistent also with your resume, cover letter, reference list and any other materials that represent you.

4. Timing

Your social media profiles are there for you as a platform to communicate your value as a person or potential employee/candidate, but that’s not all. They also provide a forum for sharing valuable content with your network, e.g., your own career blog posts or videos, or articles from industry leaders and trusted publications like Forbes or Inc.

Add your own comments to these links, to express your opinions and demonstrate your expertise. Then encourage open and frank dialogue about these important issues.

Just don’t fall into the trap of only posting to the social media sites you like most. It’s no use being lopsided in your messaging. Try and equalize your time between the different sites.

Keep an eye on your web presence and social media activity for these four inconsistencies. Failing to do so could damage your reputation and brand and defeat your career goals.