I dislike X (or Twitter as was), and have never used it. I see it as just adding a lot of loud but most irrelevant, noise to the world. I have zero interest in Instagram, TikTok and Line. I rarely if ever use my Facebook page. The only social media platform I do utilise is LinkedIn, though I have posted answers to over 10,000 questions put to me on Quora.
So what qualifies me to write about ‘building a personal brand’ including an online presence? Well, I am an expert in the most important aspect of social media, the thing that drives us all to register on it – identity.*
The start of it all
When Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook in February 2004, he envisaged it as simply an internet communication platform for his Harvard University friends. Eight years later it reached its first one billion users. Today, Zuckerberg’s Meta company dominates the world’s social media. Every one of you reading this article is registered with at least one of Meta’s platforms.
Zuckerberg himself was totally surprised at the global success of Facebook. When he set up the platform he still hadn’t realised a fundamental human truth – that people want to connect and everyone wants to belong. Online social media allows us to do both, and instantly.
My first introduction to Facebook was in 2007. One of my Keele University MBA students chose as her thesis topic, ‘The Implications of Facebook for the career prospects of teachers’. As a British secondary school teacher, she was one of the first people to realise that something big was about to happen and wanted to research how this new phenomenon might impact the professional identity of UK teachers.
Although I was her thesis supervisor, I knew nothing about Facebook and had little interest in finding out more. But I did share my student’s curiosity as to how an online identity might impact a professional identity. Even back then I could see the risks. And so could she. Indeed, that was the main outcome of her study – that Facebook and the like can bring enormous fun, valuable networking opportunities, but also potentially, a lot of grief especially to people with career ambitions.
Today, anyone with a professional identity to develop and protect should be aware of how an online presence can positively and negatively, affect them. Because what you put online stays online. Once it is out there, you have no control over it, even though you are forever associated with it. This online presentation of self becomes your everlasting digitial footprint.
In short, social media imposes a personal image on you whether you want it to or not. In which case it is in your interest to manage it to your best advantage.
We each have a brand
When I was Director of Keele University’s MBA Education programme (2002-2009) the concept of a ‘personal brand’ was barely understood by anyone. Certainly, no MBA programmes anywhere offered modules in this subject. That has all changed. The international Association of MBAs (AMBA) today provides its members with access to a Career Development Centre, focused exclusively on ‘building your personal brand’. That tells you how much importance leading corporations and top University business schools now place on personalising professional identity in the age of the internet.
Of course, having a professional reputation is not new. Professionals have always had such. What is different is the way in which your professional identity now connects to your online personal image. So if you are, for example, a doctor, lawyer, architect, teacher, professor, nurse, engineer, CEO, COO, or aspiring to any of these types of prestigious positions, how you present yourself online and offline will be noticed, commented on, and, unfortunately, judged. Even if you are a new graduate, straight out of university, when you apply for that first job the HR department will ask you for your CV and if you are fortunate enough to be shortlisted for an interview you can be sure that same department will research your online presence before formalising a job offer.
Another way of looking at this is to recognise that as soon as you start posting on social media sites, then your individual online image is being positively or negatively affected by your digital footprint. Certainly, by the time you reach adulthood (e.g. 18) then people will be judging you from your online comments, pictures, story. And most of us make our first judgement about someone within the first 30 seconds of meeting them. Make no mistake, people will judge you from your online presence, just as you judge others.
In today’s highly competitive job market, then ensuring your personal brand is strong, attractive, and genuine, gives you a head start over the competition. This means managing both your online image and your personal image.
Networking
In Asia, the notion that ‘who you know’ is as important if not more so than ‘what you know’, is very true. In the communal societies of East and South East Asia, your personal reputation, your professional identity, and your online image, will make or break your career. Networking is an essential skill for all individuals everywhere, but for ambitious Asian people networking is not an option, it is an absolute necessity. We all need ‘friends in high places’ but especially those of us with ambitions to climb the career ladder. For sure, you cannot be successful on your own. Sitting in front of a computer everyday may get you great IT skills but it isn’t going to get you great social skills. And it is the social skills, the ability to network and connect with influential people, and to learn from them, which will propel you from obscurity to success.
For me, the most effective professional social media platform is LinkedIn. I’ve used it for many years but recently I’ve seen first-hand how valuable it can be for professionals at any stage in their career. I have followed individuals as they have built up their online image on LinkedIn, in some instances supported by a personal website, and how they work hard to connect, communicate, share, and engage with similar professionals. The best networkers do this most every day – constantly sharing, posting, highlighting their successes, their events, their ideas and values.
But online networking will only take you so far. You need personal, face-to-face connections. You need allies. You need influential people who know and trust you. You need people to guide and support you, especially in Asia where many of the best jobs are not allocated only on merit but more on connection.
University
Higher Education can be the most important stage in your life in terms of networking. Who you meet at university, share your dorm with, befriend, study with, socialise with, can set the foundations for your future life and work. My advice to any Asian high school student is to attend university in their home country – but aim for the top universities. If you are Thai then you already know which universities to apply for as an undergraduate student. Studying at the likes of Madihol, Thammasat, Kasetsart or Chulalongkorn is not just going to get you knowledge and skills, it is going to get you connected to some of the best young brains in the country – people of your own class, age, culture and nationality.
But what about postgrad? What about that increasingly important MA, MBA or MSc? My advice is to travel. Don’t stay in Thailand or wherever. Go West (USA, UK, Canada, Western Europe or Australasia). Yes, I know there are very good universities in Asia, especially in Singapore and Hong Kong, but if you are ambitious then you have to think globally. You have to present yourself not just as a Thai, but as a Global Citizen; someone who belongs firstly to Thailand but is comfortable living anywhere, working with anyone of any cultural background.
As an ambitious Thai, your brand must be global, not exclusively Thai. And the most important step on acquiring that global professional identity, is to study abroad, at least for your postgraduate qualification. You may always work in Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Korat, but your global, multicultural image, will set you apart from the competition and push you higher up the career ladder.
Do you need a PhD? That depends. If you want a career in teaching, then the PhD is definitely going to help, certainly if you aspire to be a university lecturer/professor then you’ll need a doctorate plus a growing list of academic publications. But don’t take on a PhD only because your parents like the idea of you being a ‘doctor’ or because you fancy being called ‘Doctor’. PhDs are pretty useless unless you follow up with regular research and publication, thereby building an international reputation as an active academic.
The whole point of branding, whether it be to sell soft-drinks, motor vehicles, computers, or holidays in Thailand, is to stand out. Personal branding is no different. But remember, you want to stand out for the best reasons, not through having a reputation as someone unreliable, dishonest, or incapable.
Personal Branding TIPS for Young Thais and Asians
Languages: English is essential. You have little hope of studying in the West, presenting yourself as a global citizen or indeed getting a high-level job with an international corporation, unless you can communicate in English. Start young. Children should be learning English certainly at primary school, ideally in kindergarten. But when it comes to languages, you cannot have too many. Most of your competitors will also speak English but not many will also speak, say, Mandarin or Japanese. Get yourself a third language. If you can speak Thai, English and Mandarin, even if not fluently, that will be to your enormous advantage now and in the future.
LinkedIn: It’s is not a perfect social media platform for professionals but it is the best I know. Sure, only 4 million Thais are active LinkedIn users, but the number is rising. Also, with networking it is not about quantity so much as quality. Thais registered on LinkedIn are in the high-end social groups, communicate in English, are decision-makers, professionals, and well-connected. Get yourself registered and start networking.
MA/MBA: If you are ambitious then at some point in your life you’ll need a postgraduate qualification. Apart from selecting the right qualification for your career aims, the most important decision is where to study. As I say, my advice is to choose a Western country. Go abroad. That will broaden every aspect of your professional identity, your personal image, your mindset, and your confidence. Having done that MA in the USA or UK, you can then return home to Thailand and develop your career within your own culture, close to family, and close to your personal/professional network. How to pay for it? Apply for a scholarship. There are many available, including from the Thai government.
Be Strategic: Your 20s are for learning. Your 30s are for testing out what you learnt: Your 40s are for going higher. Your 50s and 60s are for your career triumphs. Your 70s are for enjoying the rewards of all that hard work. OK, not everyone will follow this plan exactly – Alexander the Great had his triumphs in his 20s and 30s – but you get the message. Don’t stay in a job if you are not learning in it, especially in your early decades. But don’t keep changing jobs without purpose or strategy.
Networking: People judge by appearances. They also judge by connections. Appearance is important, wearing the right gear for the right event/situation, but connections speak louder. Who your friends are matters. Who you are networking with on social media, matters. This is not about ‘naming-dropping’ in order to impress, it is about ‘mirroring’. Your friendship group and professional network are in reality a very accurate mirror of yourself. They reflect on you. Consequently, they can be more important to your career than your own family. Choose your friends and your professional network, with care.
Facebook, Instagram, etc: Absolutely no harm in being on any global social media platform. Just remember that once you register and start posting then you are building a digital footprint which will last. Future employers will check it. So will future partners, both business and personal. People check my digital footprint most every day. I know, because google tells me when anyone does a search for ‘Dr Stephen Whitehead’. Which is one reason why I’ve had my own personal website for 20 years. Having my own website does give me some control over how I am seen online: www.stephen-whitehead.com
Reputation: You can never have total control over your reputation, how others see you. But you can influence it, for good and bad. I would advise staying away from party politics, unless you intend to become a professional politician or dedicate your life, like Greta Thunberg, to a cause you fervently believe in. But also, aim to be on the right side of history, which means visibly and vocally supporting total inclusivity, diversity, social justice and equality for all. Racists and misogynists, quite rightly, don’t have good career prospects.
References: Even nowadays, years after being out of academia, I still occasionally get ex-students asking me to provide a reference. I am happy to do so, mostly. But especially if that student is worth the reference and the time it takes me to write one. So cultivate your most important connections, especially with bosses and university professors.
Be Law-Abiding: It is increasingly common for prospective employers to do criminal background checks on job applicants. Indeed, if you want to work with children (e.g. teacher) then it is almost guaranteed. Also, some countries do a CBC for visa applications. So don’t get a criminal record. For young people, that means avoiding having anything to do with drugs. Otherwise it will be a burden to you for the rest of your working life.
Professional Identity: You may imagine that your personal life and your professional life are separate. Not any more they are! Being a professional brings with it many advantages: more autonomy, choice, income, status, power, opportunity. But it all comes at a price and the biggest price is loss of privacy. Once you start climbing the ladder remember you are leaving many other people behind. Being socially elevated means you are more, not less, visible. That is what it truly means to be at the top. It means to be on your own with a lot of people looking up at you. Think about that when you next post on Facebook!
*Stephen Whitehead and Mike Dent (2002) Managing Professional Identity. London: Routledge. S. Whitehead, A. Talahite, R. Moodley (2013) Gender and Identity. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press
