Tuesday 2¢ - Post for the Gig You Want

Maybe I should stop saying shit.

In the olden days, the IRL hustle culture advice was to “dress for the job that you want, not the one you have”, and I wonder if today, we need to create the online personal social media brand for the gig you want, not the gig you have.

Recently, I was recommended for a role at a big analyst firm, which was a splendid compliment, to have that potential recognition. But when I cast my eye over the way I’ve been presenting myself here recently, I thought shit.

Then I thought shit, I shouldn’t be saying shit.

Shit.

I then discovered that one of the analysts read my…

Shit.

Like showing up for an interview in a hoodie?

And I started to wonder how Exxon reclaimed its brand after the Exxon Valdez disaster (kids, that was a big oil spill in 1989), could I mop this up?

And, I decided to hit publish on something I’d been working on that liberally used the F word anyway....

In a similar vein, if you read this newsletter or the Rockstar CMO newsletter, I’ve also been thinking a bit about how politics is creeping into our social media discourse, and posted about this a couple of weeks ago, when I talked about building trust as a test as to whether you should post.

My chum Keith Smith made an excellent point in the comments that sharing a bit more of ourselves, like our politics, builds connection - like our B2B brands, our personal brands can’t be all beige, they need a bit of edge to them.

Truth.

However, we are not all like the famously potty-mouthed Mark Ritson, or any number of commentators bringing their whole selves to this medium, economically protected from being edgy. And even my example is terrible, I have choices that many people do not.

Is this a good example for up-and-coming future CMOs?

As the discussion goes on about what is or what isn't fit for LinkedIn - some caution is probably required here.

So, maybe….

Post for the gig you want, not the gig you have?

Oh and by the way, saying bollocks in the title of a blog post did get Rockstar CMO banned from advertising on Twitter, back when, you know, anyone wanted to advertise on Twitter.