'Brand Advocates': Blending Personal and Professional in the PR World

PR professionals are what I like to call “brand advocates.” Even when it’s not the 9-5 time (ok, we all know it’s more like 7-10, then BB time at 2 am) you still represent your clients and the company you work for.

In the age of the internet, you can find out who anyone works for just by looking at a company Web site, or their LinkedIn. Even personal blogs, Twitter and Facebook aren’t foolproof. Last week, I posted a blog from a journalist friend that caused my organization to be brought up in the same breath of myself being called stupid. I do have a disclaimer on my blog that states my views are my own and do not represent those of my company, but people still know who I work for.

So, a few months ago I decided to revel in it.  Know why? Mensa is a social and community service organization for those that score in the top two percent on an accepted standardized, intelligence test. When we took the dive into social media, the CEO and myself mapped out what type of brand we wanted to portray. Our idea? Quirky, but somehow relates to everyone else. We have no other membership requirements besides an accepted test score. Our members come from all walks of life and are so many different personalities.  My personal brand is evident reflects that sentiment in my personal SM, which is one of the reasons I head up our campaigns.  I view the Mensa SM efforts as “LAF with a Mensa twist” because who I am outside the office can be seen inside the office as well. If you read any of Mensa’s Twitter feed, you can definitely see how personable it is. Our members respond much better to that than they do to all promotional feed of our events or upcoming promos.

You have to be able to blend both your personal and professional ‘personalities’ if you want to achieve transparency in the social media sphere.  Everything I write, or when I put up a guest post, is representing my personal and professional brand, even if I don’t state Mensa and have a disclaimer. People still associate what I do, and what pictures are on my FB, with my organization. I chose not to hide my organization because I am proud of who I work for – and SM corporate should always have a personality attached to it.

My CEO put it best last week when we were discussing SM strategy: No matter what, everything that is on the internet and attached to your name is attached to Mensa as well.

I couldn’t agree more.