Why personal branding remains key to media practitioners

Media practitioners in the country have been charged on the need to make conscious efforts at enhancing personal branding to enable them stand out of the crowd.

Speaking at an exclusive virtual media conference hosted by Bora Communications, held recently, three seasoned practitioners, David Hundeyin, Osikhena Dirisu; and Jan Ajwang; stated that happenings and trends in  today’s media practice had made it imperative for practitioners to develop, and stand out as a brand, beyond the confines of their organisations.

According to them, some of the ways to build such personal branding include: establishing strong online identities, growing a large and dedicated following, restoring the reputation of journalism in Africa, managing the existing standards for journalists and developing custom distribution systems for their work.

While discussing the importance of branding through social media for the 21st Century journalist, Hundeyin, a Writer, Investigative Journalist and Broadcaster, advised journalists to use their real names for social media accounts.

According to him, social media has, unavoidably, become part of a journalist’s job as against the old belief that it was at odds with his career in journalism.

“Many believe that a journalist is not expected to present their own opinions on social media because of their profession. This is not entirely true as your audience, in most cases, is intelligent enough to separate the individual from the profession,” he added.

Talking about her experience in the newsroom, Ajwang, who is the Communications Specialist and Project Manager, Media Focus on Africa, Uganda, noted that a journalist’s experience and passion are very critical to establishing a personal brand in journalism.

“Our passion and identity as journalists are very critical to establishing a personal brand in Journalism. We cannot build a personal brand without embracing our identity and why we chose journalism. In addition, doing excellent work as a journalist impacts significantly on the success of your brand,” Ajwang added.

Dirisu, the Deputy Director, Programmes at The Beat 99.9fm Lagos, would rather focus on colleagues in the broadcast journalism.  He encouraged them to always present their audience with facts over personal opinions, to enable them build endearing and enduring brands.

He also mentioned credibility and authenticity as attributes the average journalist must possess to stand out.

“Journalists must constantly stick to the ethics of journalism because as a journalist your credibility is all that matters. Personal branding is still piggybacked on credibility and once you’re known as a journalist that researches and puts out credible and reliable information, you won’t have an issue,” Dirisu added.

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