The year 2010 is the beginning of a new decade and it is going to be an exciting time that is influenced by social and technological change. The world as we knew it in the last decade will be radically different with more influential female voices.
I am excited to share my personal branding predictions for 2010 and the drivers behind them. As a country the U.S. has outsourced it soul (manufacturing and technological expertise) to other countries leaving creativity and intellectual capital as our centers of excellence. My predictions center around the creativity of human capital and the growing need for character and personal responsibility.
Top-10 Personal Branding Predictions for 2010
1. The Rise of Digital Personalities – With the rise of social search (Bing and Google search engines) brands will be directly impacted and forced to participate in the real-time conversation that is happening online. Personal brands will have to be active to be relevant which will provide an opportunity for their digital personalities (online component of your personal brand) to gain in influence.
2. Growth of Female Personal Brands – Males have long dominated or been the voice of the social media space. I believe that you will start to see the growth of female influence in social media and personal branding. The demographic data shows there are larger numbers of women online in Twitter, Facebook, and the other major social networks. It is a great time to be female and to be web 2.0 savvy. (Note: In Twitter and Facebook women outpace men (Twitter: Women – 60% and Men 40% and Facebook: Women – 57% and Men 43%). Female centric groups mommy bloggers, Blogher.com, etc. will become more influential and prominent.). Twitter List of Influential Women in Social Media Women
3. Sports Industry and Athletes seek Personal Brand Strategist – Some of the most interesting personal branding stories (Tiger Woods, ESPN and Michael Beasley) in 2009 were been centered around athletes and the sports industry. Athletes and their agents will start to identify social media and personal branding strategist to manage their online personal brands. The social media policies that impact the human capital of sports teams, commentators, and other personnel will evolve as well.
4. The Focus on Character will Increase – The importance of character gains momentum, the Tiger Woods saga reinforces the importance of character in personal and corporate brands alike. Facebook and Twitter will continue to be character references and will grow in importance in validating social behavior.
5. Education Influenced by Personal Branding – Personal branding and social tools will continue to impact the learning environment. The subject of personal branding will continue to evolve on college campuses. Workshops and classes alike will continue to grow on college campuses, like Michigan Technological Universities ENT3976 Personal Brand Management.
6. Privacy is Dead – The concept of privacy will go the way of the dinosaur, in other words it is dead. With geo tagging, status updates, social search anyone can identity where you are at and what you are doing at all times. Your online habits will communicate to an employer, potential business partner, or sports team everything they need to know about you as a person. Your life will exist in a stream.
7. Mobile Influence on Personal Brands – The hub of the personal brand will center around mobile devices like iPhone and the Android phone. These devices currently constitute 75% of the smartphone web traffic. The growing number of apps, social search, and the ease of content upload will stimulate personal brand interaction thru their devices.
8.Identifying your Inner Genius – Identifying your passion will be critical. With increase in unemployment, job downsizing, and workload increase people will be forced to identify what they truly love doing and what they were created to do. Success has was defined by high profile, high-paying jobs as those opportunities start to reduce people will be forced to think about what they love doing and will tap into their inner Genius.
9. Corporate and Personal Brand Conflict – Social media polices (David Armano six trends of social media 2010) and graying lines between corporate and personal brands will require individuals to navigate their activity in social networks more carefully whether their on the clock or off. The person and the corporation will have to be responsible in managing and monitoring online personal brand activity, this will be a hot topic.
10. Developing your Personal Brand with Full-time Job (Grustle) – Personal brands will be developed after hours or as entrepreneurial projects. With the decrease in employer loyalty people will start to focus on developing their personal brand passively while maintaining a 9-to-5 job, known as the GRUSTLE.
