#PandaPounds: Personal Branding in Ecommerce, part 2

Why do ecommerce professionals build their personal brand? What can it achieve for them and their career goals?

Welcome back to our #PandaPounds feature on personal branding for ecommerce professionals. We covered a lot of ground in part 1 of our personal branding focus, but there is plenty more to do!

Why do professionals use personal branding in ecommerce?

We know the majority of our 2017 salary survey respondents feel that personal branding in ecommerce is important. But what are their reasons for building their personal brand?

*Please note, respondents were invited to select more than one reason for building their personal brands. Totals will not equal 100%. Image below displays the top 5 reasons for personal branding in ecommerce.

‘To share knowledge and learn from others’

48% of our respondents use personal branding opportunities so that they can share their knowledge, while learning new things from others in the industry. Demonstrating the knowledge you have is a great way to be remembered following industry events and a great way to start some interesting conversations.

‘To get a new job’

Using personal branding opportunities to find a new job was selected by 40% of our respondents. Whether they attend networking events, speak at conferences or write articles, these respondents do so in the hope they get noticed and snapped up for a new opportunity! There are many events which revolve solely around recruitment, allowing ecommerce professionals to see what is out there and speak to people in the know.

‘To get to know more people in the industry’

53% of our respondents build their personal brand so they can get to know more people in the industry. This could be simply to share experiences, build a network of contacts and be more involved in the community. Who doesn’t want more invites to some great industry events?

‘To build my personal brand for future opportunities’

This was the most popular reason for building a personal brand, with 56% of our respondents selecting it. This hasn’t changed from 2016, and it’s clear that ecommerce professionals feel personal branding is key for future goals. While they might not want to find a new job immediately, getting noticed is a good place to start when it is time for the next step. It could be to learn new things to implement further into their careers. Planning ahead is never a bad thing, especially in the busy world of ecommerce!

‘To build relationships/meet new people’

While this doesn’t seem to dissimilar to ‘getting to know more people in the industry’, there seems to be more emphasis on relationship building. 51% of our respondents selected this, and suggests that they want to build relationships that are beneficial to their career – perhaps creating partnerships or collaborating on exciting campaigns, to name but a few examples!

Other reasons for personal branding…

• To build my role as a thought leader – 35%
• To build business partnerships – 34%
• To give my brand/company more exposure: 22%