Assignment 3: Culture

As mentioned in previous assignments, one of the biggest things I need to do to better brand myself is to become more active on social media. I’ve had a Facebook account since college, but I maybe make 3 or 4 posts a year. I rely too heavily on other people to report my news and projects, which has resulted in many events not getting shared. This year I have set the goal to make at least one Facebook and Twitter post a week in order to take control of my branding. This will help me with NETS Standard 2b in modeling and promoting frequent and effective use of technology for learning.

Getting to the personal branding, I want others to view my professional self as kind and compassionate, empathetic, graceful, loyal, tenacious, hard-working, intelligent, and level headed. The work then becomes how do I communicate those characteristics with the platforms available to me? I think more than anything these characteristics will be guiding elements when I’m crafting my personal marketing, constantly asking myself “Does this represent the characteristics I want to be viewed as?”

In terms of tools that could be utilized to create a brand for your school, the obvious choices are social media such as Facebook or Twitter. The lesser-used platforms for promoting a positive school brand are at band, orchestra, and choir concerts. Places like sporting events, and drama productions are excellent places to make sure that your school is marketing the amazing projects happening inside its walls. Any opportunity where parents and community members are gathered provide an excellent time to share building news. In our world of digital everything it can be easy to overlook the value of face-to-face interactions.

The other shift I think I need to make is viewing my life happenings as projects rather than life events. This came from the Forbes & Fast Company readings. I have struggled with sharing on social media at the risk of sounding conceded or narcissistic, but I think approaching social media with the purpose of sharing your projects sits differently with me. The truth is, I do have stakeholders and they are interested to see what I’m working on, (I know this because they ask about it every time I see them) and now I have a platform to communicate more efficiently.