Authenticity is Key to Personal Branding
YouTube creator. Vlogger. Lifestyle and social media influencer. College student. Some of the ways to describe Madi Westbrooke.
What is Personal Branding
According to Gary Henderson, “personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands (Henderson, 2019).” Also understood as “the process of managing and optimizing the way that you are presented to others (Lee, 2015).”
Most influencers and those with a YouTube channel can be considered a brand. Just about anyone with social media is a brand.
One thing to note about personal branding is that it is not as simple as snapping your fingers. To have a personal brand, “it takes investment, patience, and time to determine your personal brand and place in community (Freberg, 2019, p.51).” Knowing what it is that you value is a great place to start.
Authenticity is Best
Sometimes someone’s personal brand can appear fake or not authentic. Such as, if you notice that most of the interaction on their social media appears to be from bots or spam, they may be fake. Also, labeling yourself as an expert, which is hard to be when new information is always being shared.
Westbrooke’s personal brand is genuine and authentic. Looking at her latest Instagram posts, the comments left are from actual followers. No spam comments. She also interacts with her followers. Whether by replying to comments or sharing polls asking for feedback and actually wanting to know how others are doing.
In case you are unfamiliar with who Madi Westbrooke is, she has a lifestyle and vlog channel on YouTube. Westbrooke shares days or weeks in her life, Q&As, routines, hauls, and overall what it’s like being a college student.
As someone who has followed for years, it can easily be seen that she is a genuine person who cares about others, including her followers. Not focused only on the numbers. Is open to sharing about her faith and parts of her life which I admire. Sure, there are things that not everyone is comfortable sharing on social media, but that doesn’t affect Westbrooke’s personal brand.
Summary
Just like each person’s personality is different, so is your personal brand. If you do it right. Being authentic and taking the time to determine what separates you from so many others is worthwhile. An influencer that I follow, Madi Westbrooke, does just that in her videos and posts. Her authenticity is what continues to make me and so many others continue to follow.
Sources and Additional Resources
https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/what-is-personal-branding
https://buffer.com/resources/social-media-strategy-personal-branding-tips/
Freberg, K. (2019). Social Media for Strategic Communication: Creative Strategies and Research-Based Applications. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
