I just created a Facebook fan page for paulmacp.com, and I am learning that a great many Gen-Xers seem to think that creating a personal fan page is egotistical. In the day and age where personal branding is no longer new, I assumed that people felt that “self promotion” was now a long forgotten phrase and that “personal branding” has replaced it. So why can I start a “paulmacp.com” and build my personal brand on a blog, yet if I create a “paulmacp dot com Fan Page” I become egotistical to my Gen-X peers?
Personal branding involves letting your target audience know that you exist, including your achievements, what you stand for and most importantly what you can provide to them. Branding would be ineffective if you just did it for a single day, which is why our successful brands and their marketing plans last for years. All major successful brands are constantly promoting themselves for awareness, for repetition and for pushing people to buy their products and/or services. This happens in companies like Ford or IBM, as well as with personal brands, where self-promotion is looked down upon by some. Research has shown that a person will likely remember a product or brand after seeing a branded advertisement 3 times. If the three times are in close proximity, there is a very good chance people will remember it.
That is why I would like to examine a word that is the antonym of egotistical: “humble.” I, for one, could never consider myself humble, although I don’t promote myself in a malicious way. I think if I were “humble,” I wouldn’t have been even close to as successful as I am today. I have had an very accessible, almost in your face internet presence for 5 years with my previous blog (e-pauly.com). It is hard to remain humble when you have more people visiting your blog then read your local news paper (The Calgary Herald at the time) . Now that I have reentered the blogosphere with paulmacp.com and have focused on expanding my personal brand into the world of Web 2.0 were I will be constantly publishing content of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more, my level humility will be reduced even more.
I don’t think the word “humble” is empowering either. If you look at what the word really means (Humble: Not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful. Having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble. – Dictionary.com ) I am stuck on the “Having feelings of insignificance” . To me, that have very negative implications on an individual’s confidence.
To be completely humble in the era of web 2.0 environment means to be hidden, and walked over by your competitors, who aren’t humble and will take the opportunities that you rightly deserve.
I am even getting some feedback that web 2.0 is for Gen-Y not Gen-X, to act my age and be content to re-connect with high school friends on Facebook. Web promotion is for the young. The fact is I have another twenty years in the work force ahead of me and the self-promoting Gen-Y will be my boss someday. They are the up and comers, my future peers and supperiors judging me and comparing me to their contemporary Gen-Ys. A recent study out of SDSU confirms that 57% of young people believe their generation uses social networking sites for self-promotion. Gen-Y has a new set of rules, and self promotion is part of their rule book. My peers who are judging me, do so at their own peril. My fellow Gen-Xers need to go beyond just learning to use the internet as a tool for research and email, Gen-X needs to learn how to exploit the internet as Gen-Y already has. If we don’t, we won’t be competitive in the years to come as Gen-Y starts to mature in to management positions in the years to come.
–
If you like this post and want to show me some support, why not become a fan of this blog on Facebook.
photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar
No related posts.
