11.2: Applying Communication- Personal Branding and Portfolios

In this course, we discuss Communication Studies as a field of research and academic inquiry. We also must examine how these aspects of communication studies relate to each other and to our daily lives and future goals. As we move through the course and gain a better understanding of communication studies, let’s take a look at how everything we are learning has personal, professional, and life-long benefits and applications.

When you begin to apply the things we've studied to your own life, you will start to see that communication always matters and is a dominant feature in all facets of life. As such, learning how to control communication in your life, or at least control some of the ways in which you communicate, can have a very positive impact on your life (Wood, 2018). Consider the last time you were expected to "sell" yourself, such as at an interview, on a date, or when meeting someone new. Think about the communication skills and activities you needed to be mindful of in order to effectively interact in that situation. Additionally significant, knowing how to practice these techniques and strategies allows you to also reveal how these same techniques and strategies will and can be used against you.

For example, consider when you go to the gym and they are selling you a "package" that is intended to get you to buy into unrealistic expectations in a short amount of time. Knowing how to package yourself will give you the ability to see through these techniques. We also need to consider the multiple ways in which we communicate our identities in contemporary society. Digital communication practices, in particular, can be manipulated to either benefit the perception of self you want to transmit or damage that same perception. Further, your digital identity can be used to sell other people's ideas and products, with or without your explicit permission.

In this assignment module we are going to take a brief look at your personal communication practices and styles. We are going to engage in a "new" and extremely significant communications field: the field of personal-branding or personal-marketing. In personal branding, people market themselves for their career and life goals with focus on buzzwords, taglines, resume content, personal narratives, and other narrative and visual branding components (Brems, Temmerman, Graham, & Broersma, 2017; Ilies, 2018; Labrecque, Markos, & Milne, 2011; Lair, Sullivan, & Cheney, 2005). But branding today isn't limited to these items and the things we control directly. Our online presence is part of our brand, whether intentional or unintentional (Brems, Temmerman, Graham, & Broersma, 2017; Labrecque, Markos, & Milne, 2011). This means, for most people today, we are all being branded by corporate and social media. For example, consider how people and corporations use and respond to the "Just do it" slogan or the #YOLO trend perpetuated by social media influencers. Controlling our communication presence, a form of impression management (Goffman, 1959), is key to successful personal branding.

You will, ultimately, create an eportfolio (Barnes, 2012; Daim et. al., 2016; Ilies, 2018) as your personal branding project. Take a look at the following example of an eportfolio:

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): "The New Brand Formula" by Travel 2.0 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

To create your eportfolio, you are going to take a look at yourself and how you would best brand yourself with your own future goals in mind. This includes looking at how you need to express your knowledge, abilities, and skills associated with your career or life goals. This acts as a means of building your own credibility in a variety of different job markets, field experiences, and life choices. It also means you should take a look at your digital communication presence including your digital footprint. Your digital footprint includes your profiles on each social media platform, your professional and career profiles such as Linked In and Indeed, as well as more socially oriented platforms that often overlap into work lives such as Twitter and Facebook. Are you in control of your footprint? Does it say everything you want it to say? We are also going to look at your experiences with advocacy for yourself and others, and what that means in terms of potential personal and social change (Warren & Fassett, 2015). Consider how this can impact you in your future, and how you can frame yourself as a self-advocate.

As such, you will be directly engaging in your own future. The assignments in this module will reflect yourself and your future goals. They'll also reflect the work that you've accomplished in this course, and the knowledge that you've acquired. In the end, you'll learn some of the basics of how to promote yourself as a marketable commodity.

Think about the messages that you send out about yourself on a daily basis. Do you always present the person you want people to see? Do you always choose the best public identity? Who are the people who should see your private identity? Do you put the wrong aspects of yourself up on Facebook or Twitter for the world (and potential employers) to see?

Consider the following image. How will the messages you post on social media impact your future? Is this something we can control? What recommendations would you make?

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): "Dynamic Customer Journey: How conversation is changing the way people and brands interact" by stefanomaggi is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

Think about your own life, and your own goals. Will you be able to avoid digital footprint problems in your own future? How can you control the messages that are produced about you? What are the myriad ways that communication skills and concepts will help you in the future? Consider this project a crash course in impression management, communication strategies, and what not to post in social media. #ThinkBeforeYouPost!

References

Barnes, S.J. (2012). Creating a framework for an artist's e-portfolio: A literature review. International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, 2(7). 95-101. Retrieved from http://www.ijbhtnet.com/journals/Vol...er_2012/11.pdf

Brems, C., Temmerman, M., Graham, T., & Broersma, M. (2017). Personal branding on Twitter: How employed and freelance journalists stage themselves on social media. Digital Journalism, 5(4), 443-459. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2016.1176534

Daim, T. U., Boss, V., Thomas, J., Kessler, L., Finn, D., & Krueger, J. (2016). Evaluating technologies for education: case of ePortfolio. Technology, Innovation and Education, 2(1), 4.

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Anchor.

Ilies, V.I. (2018). Strategic personal branding for students and young professionals: Case study. Cross-Cultural Management Journal, 20(1), 43-51.

Labrecque, L.I., Markos, E., & Milne, G.R. (2011). Online personal branding: Processes, challenges, and implications. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(1), 37-50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2010.09.002

Lair, D.J., Sullivan, K, & Cheney, G. (2005). Marketization and the recasting of the professional self: The rhetoric and ethics of personal branding. Management Communication Quarterly, 18(3), 307-343. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0893318904270744

Warren, J.T., & Fassett, D.L. (2015). Communication: A critical/cultural introduction (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Wood, J. (2018). Communication in our lives (8th ed.). Boston, Cengage.