WHAT IS PERSONAL BRANDING

“Personal branding is the practice of people marketing themselves and their careers as brands”

What is a branding?

Every time I saw a rabbit and nude beautiful women, the only thing which would come to mind was Playboy. Without even have to read the magazine article, I associated a rabbit or nude beautiful women with Playboy- that is branding.

A brand can be anything (symbol, name, design, reputation, emotion, sound and tone) which separates one thing from another. In the case of Playboy, the nude women and rabbit became part of the brand. The nude beautiful women separated its brand from other magazines. Personal branding has become one of the important factors on a personal level. One needs to be branded in order to adapt and survive.

Benefits of Personal Branding

·         You will be able to open professional opportunities.

·         You will get a good job (a job you dream to have).

·         You will meet amazing people.

·         You will get the respect you deserve never mind your background.

·         You will be associated with the best names.

·         You will be a mentor, people will look up to you.

What are you being associated with? Google will make you famous

Nowadays, we find a lot of the youth abusing social media, posting naked pictures. Select the pictures you want to upload, select the status or tweets you want to send on your social media platforms. Most people do not get hired not because they are not fit for the Job, but because of the things they associate their names with. If you are a student, make it a point your name is associated with students, not just students but good students. Type in your name on google and see which photos of yourself pop up! Are they good? Are they bad? You will decide.Personal branding is a formula which helps one to have a direction in life. 

We are unique and special in our own different ways. You are special, you can be anything you want to be. That is one of the most interesting parts in life; it all depends on yourself, how you want to brand yourself. It all start with the mind, change your mindset and be the best you can be. Once you change your mindset and have a positive attitude towards life it all starts to work in your favour for the best.

We all know by now, that if you want to achieve in life (get that degree) you need to dig the right places. But to dig the right places you need to be informed and have the knowledge needed. Social media has played a big role in our lives. It has changed the traditional ways of doing things. While growing up in the townships of Soweto I had to wait for the 7:30 pm news, not knowing I was preparing myself for the real world. Gone are those days when I waited. Gone are those days you will say I can’t find a Job. “YOU CANT FIND A JOB BECAUSE YOU LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACES” you cannot dig for Gold in The UK, but you can dig for Gold in JOHANNESBURG. Bosses, C.E.O and Mangers are on twitter, LinkedIn etc. they are an email away, all you need to do is change your mindset and start building a name for yourself. Things won’t come to you, but you need to wake up and smell the coffee. Just like I did, “I waited for the 7:30 pm news every day” just to be informed.

Social Media is not the only way to brand yourself

It all start with respecting your parents, yourself and everyone else around you. When you start to have respect for everyone, you start to build relationships with the people that matter. You will learn how to treat people, you will learn how to communicate with people. Most importantly you will able to dress up appropriately. Imagine you are called up for an interview and you never knew how to dress appropriately. Do you think you will get the Job? Do you think people will take you seriously? Think again, life is too short to be ignorant. YouTube has everything if you want to learn something then visit YouTube and learn it.

Wake up, Personal Branding goes a long way. Even a boy from a village can brand himself to be someone one day. Remember to associate yourself with the right people, right words and the right pictures.

A message to Graduates and Tertiary students

Be humble, Nelson Mandela was humble. Take a look at the best leaders. “Are they not humble?” What is keeping you from being humble? A simple smile can change everything, a simple hello can change everything.

Personal Branding does not happen overnight, it start at an early stage. And an early stage for me is NOW. Behave in a way that other kids would wish to be you, and remember you. Give back to the community. Take just one kid and build him. Give her the advice you never got the chance to get. I used to see people succeed in life, and I would ask myself, "How they do it?"

ADVICE: Keep in mind, you can’t do everything at once. You need to prioritize and start with the most important things. Have goals! Dream big and all things will work out for you.

Let’s build relationshipsJ Follow me on twitter: @n_kwanele 

WHAT TO STUDY

        Public Relations is anything you want it to be

Time does fly especially if you having fun, just a few years ago around this time (October) I was preparing for my exam, my grade 12 exams. The only vision or dream I had was to pass my grade 12, with good grades-obviously. The only problem is that I did not know what to study. My parents wanted something they were familiar with; that is to study Medicine or any overrated courses which are well known. My marks were not so good to qualify me to study Medicine. Therefore, I went to upgrade my marks at star school for one year. During that year I had too much time on my hands, I was researching on what I can study the year after when I am done upgrading my marks. I first had to do introspection and get to know myself. The nice thing about myself is that I was already an obsessive user of the internet. I loved social media and I knew just how to get around it. I would google and search for things related to the things I love. One random day I came across a profession called Public Relation (my life changed). I did more research. Then my mind was made up, I decided to apply at the University of Johannesburg, to my surprise I was accepted. "The storm was coming, questions after another from my parents were asked and I did not have the right answers because (I am the first generation in my family to go at a higher institution) Public Relation is such a broad Profession and how can you really explain it to someone who has never even heard about PR.

What is Public Relations?

Public Relation is about your story and the chance to tell it. It’s about relationships with real people, your customers who would embrace your story if it’s made for them. It’s about building the brand of an organisation. It is about making sure that you fix whatever that is broken. Why not watch the series "Scandal" and you will know what I am talking about. Most brands (people or companies) start to understand PR when their reputation is at risk. When your company is at risk, you can’t compete. You can’t sell and you can’t pay your bills. That is where you will need a PR strategy to help solve the problem, by communicating with the stakeholders and through advertising. Once a company is credible in the eyes of the public nothing can go wrong.

What are the practical’s done in public relations

Firstly one should know that there are 5 modules a student chooses to take when he or she wants to study Public Relations at the University of Johannesburg. Their modules are as follows: media, public relations, communication, writing for public relations and Contextual studies. But your major subjects are only 3, which are: Public Relations, Communication and Media. Therefore, I will try and explain module by module. Firstly, PR Module for your practical’s you are given an assignment where one needs to carry out a PR crisis management plan; PRP solves problems in any organisation. Secondly, Communication. Every organisation needs some type of communication to be productive, imagine you are an employee in a big organisation of 5000 workers, a public relations practitioner will then act as the bridge between employees and employers. They take whatever information is given from the high top management to channel it to the low level to the employees. As a public Relations Practitioner, you need to know different types of mediums in order to be able to deliver the message to the right target audience. Lastly but not least, Media. Media is one of my favourite Module and have to commend my lecture for the amazing work she does. Follow her on twitter @CatwomanZA. A lot is being done in media. We live in a digital world and we only spend lesser time reading online. Therefore, I will be brief as possible to explain. In Media practical’s you learn to create your own blog, you learn Search Engine Optimization, digital marketing, how to write press releases, backgrounders the list goes on and on.

Where can you work?

“Public Relation” is curious to know how every public is responding to an organisation. It is always wise to keep track of what is said about the company you represent as a public relations practitioner; It is your job to help build the reputation of the organisation by continuously be on top of your game, that is having a two-way communication with your stakeholders if anything bad or god via social networks happens you are required to reply as soon as possible and control the situation. You need to be presentable at all times because you are representing someone or an organisation. Everyone needs a Public Relations Practitioner. Most of the best companies have a PR departments because it is essential to have.

Public relations jobs: Ambassador, PR Manger, Social Media Manger, Public Relations Practitioner, Event coordinator, Marketing Coordinator and Marketing assistant. the list goes on and on. it is said that from 2012 to 2020 PR job opportunity will increase. Therefore, why not start now and take advantage of PR.

List of some of best Public Relations agencies in South Africa

·         FleishmanHillard

·         PR Worx

·         Epic Communications 

·         Livewired Public 

·         Meropa Communications

·         Ogilvy Public Relations

Follow me on twitter; @N_Kwanele