The Weight of Reputation

Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” Every day, we build our own, personal brand. What we wear, how hard we work, who we associate with, our timeliness, our attitude, our body language and our ability to communicate with others are just a few examples of the perceptions we portray. We are each a personal business. Our schoolwork, athletics and extra curricular activities are the products we produce. We market ourselves on our own social media platforms and we create our individual brand. So ask yourself, is the reputation you’ve established suitable for a business?

We’re told repeatedly that our reputation is important and can be easily tarnished by one mistake or lapse in judgment. When you’re a public relations major, this is constantly engrained into your mind. The “Social Media Marketing Workbook” by Jason McDonald explains the importance of solid reputation management for both individuals and businesses. Monitoring and improving your online presence is a productive way to start. For businesses, consumer review websites such as Yelp can make or break a company. In my opinion, the best way to prevent negative feedback on these sites is to continually produce quality services. This also applies to your personal branding. On social media, make mindful posts that exemplify the person you want to represent. In life, always give your best effort on assignments or in practice, be kind to people, dress well and put your best foot forward. When you focus on maintaining good character, a good reputation will take care of itself.  And when we do make a mistake (because we all know we’re far from perfect), accept it, learn from it and grow.