It is inevitable I guess but it seems that every time a discussion about social networks and social media takes place the phrase build your brand invariably comes up. With the launch of Google+ this past week brand once more becomes a talking point especially in regards to the validity of Google’s efforts with G+.
There is no doubt that Google+ has set off a pro and con discussion about this third effort to come up with a viable social network but that isn’t what this post will be discussing, that will come later. Rather I want to visit this concept of individuals as brands, brands that need to be marketed, because this idea of individual brands seems to be a major component of what social media is suppose to be.
First though let’s understand exactly what the word brand, or concept, means. From Wikipedia we get the following:
A brand is the identity of a specific product, service, or business.
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.” [2]
A brand can take many forms, including a name, sign, symbol, color combination or slogan. The word branding began simply as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity — it affects the personality of a product, company or service.
Now let’s understand what a person, or individual, means; and again from Wikipedia we get:
Person - In philosophy, the word “person” may refer to various concepts. According to the “naturalist” epistemological tradition, from Descartes through Locke and Hume, the term may designate any human (or non-human) agent which: (1) possesses continuous consciousness over time; and (2) who is therefore capable of framing representations about the world, formulating plans and acting on them.
Individual - An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. In his statement Cogito ergo sum (“I think therefore I am”), René Descartes posits the notion of the individual subject, distinct from the world around him or her.
At no point does person or individual ever equate to being a brand, just as a brand doesn’t equal being a person or individual. Yet in our modern Internet world we are constantly told, especially when it comes to social media, that we need to protect our brand, that we need to get our brand out there.
Why are we suddenly placing more value on a thing instead of us as a person?
Brands are not human, they are an intangible concept at their best and a pure marketing mechanism at their worst. Persons, or individuals, are human and as such have a much greater inherent worth to them so why are we placing so much value on something that is for the most part dead and has a worth that is purely transient.
Shouldn’t we be placing more value on relationships built with individuals rather than what is being preached in the social media world that would have us all pretending to be transient entity in order to gain value?
Can you shake hands with a brand?
Can you rely on a brand to lend a hand, or ear, when you are in need?
Will any of these so called brands we are being told we need to create and market be of any value in 10 years, 20 years, or 50 years; let alone remembered?
Brands are remembered for the amount of money they amass and some times even the products they sell.
Individuals on the other hand are remembered for the changes they bring about and their ability to make us believe in ourselves.
René Descartes wasn’t a brand.
Alexander Graham Bell wasn’t a brand.
Dr. Salk wasn’t a brand.
William Shakespeare wasn’t a brand.
Bertrand Russell wasn’t a brand.
Yet they, and many more like them over the millennia have effected a greater change in our world than any brand has, or will ever have.
So the question remains – why are we so willingly giving up; or subjugating, our personhood in order to chase some false perception that being a brand is better and more effective than building up solid relationships on a person to person level.
Brands are transient and shallow.
People are real and worth more on so many levels than any brand.
I’d argue that there are two exceptions to this.
The first exception consists of individuals whose names tend to attract attention to whatever business they work for at the time. Robert Scoble makes news when he joins or leaves a company; Fred Wilson or Warren Buffett attracts attention when they invest in a new company.
The second exception consists of individuals who are closely linked with a particular company, and in some sense represent the company. When Steve Jobs is ill, people think differently about Apple.
Yes, all of these people are living breathing beings, but in another sense they are icons or symbols, separate from their living breathing selves.
The best example, however, is Colonel Sanders. Even after he sold his chicken company, he still appeared in commercials. Even after he DIED, he still appeared in commercials.
Thoughts?
But does iconic equal brand?
I would argue not. We have had many iconic individuals through our history yet we don’t look on them as brands. George Washington has always been equate, right or wrong, with honesty (cherry tree) just as Abraham Lincoln is referred to as Honest Abe.
Even more modern we have people like Lee Iaccoca and Jack Webb both of who ran some of the biggest brands in the world and yet it is the person that is recognized not the brand.
Even with your example of Colonel Sanders he wasn’t the brand – that was KFC and it has changed many hands over the years yet it is the person we remember.
I still think there is more value in building reputation and respect around the person rather than some intangible thing
You ARE your own brand… every time you make a conscious decision to NOT say something online, to phrase something you do say in a certain way, to make choices that represent who you are.. that display your identity, you are pushing your brand.
You are pushing you.. you are pushing the you that you want/are willing to share. That is a YOUR brand. It’s not you, a representation of you. It’s your brand.
I think this is one thing you and I will always differ on my firend