Still posting “Quotes of the Day” with sunset backgrounds?
Hate to break it to you, but your personal brand is still stuck in 2015.
Back then, personal branding meant:
A stiff corporate headshot, where it looked like you’ve been held hostage by a camera,
A bio brimming with buzzwords like “disruptive,” “synergy” and “paradigm shift,”
Safe and polished content that everyone agreed to (but no one was inspired by it).
Fast forward to today.
The thriving personal brands aren’t the ones that sound perfect with corporate-approved messaging.
They’re the ones that feel relatable and real.
The ones that make you think, “Wait, this person actually gets me.”
So what changed? And more importantly—how do you adapt before your brand becomes obsolete?
Let’s break it down.
Personal Branding in the Pre-Internet Era
In the 1980s, the only “viral” thing was the common flu. Your personal brand?
It was your résumé, your handshake, and maybe a business card if you were really trying to impress.
Your reputation and popularity solely relied on what people had to say about you.
There were no Google reviews, no Twitter rants, and certainly no reviews on Yelp, just good ol’ gossip at the local diner.
You had just a few ways to make an impression: meetings, phone calls, and maybe a newspaper feature if you were a big deal.
And if you messed up, there was no “delete tweet,” and no editing your mistakes.
Slow, analog, and unforgiving—that’s what personal branding was like back then.
You had no choice but to deal with any impression you made IRL (that’s ‘In Real Life’ for anyone who grew up with dial-up… or worse, thinks ‘IRL’ is a new crypto token).
The Rise of the Digital Persona (2000s – Early 2010s)
Then came the internet and everything changed. With the emergence of LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, personal branding went from ‘nice to have’ to a ‘mandatory survival skill’.
Suddenly, you weren’t just a person—you were a profile.
- The LinkedIn Makeover– People realized that they could make their professional image a corporate superhero. “Motivated self-starter with a passion for synergy”? Yeah, we all did that.
- Blogging, the new thought leadership– If you could write 500 words on Medium, you were now an “expert.”
- The rise of the Micro-Celebrity – Twitter made people overnight influencers: one viral tweet and you’re internet famous.
The catch, however, was that it was still kind of fake. People polished their online selves like a car salesman gussying up an old beat-up ride.
Authenticity? Optional.
The “Corporate Clone” Era (2010-2018)
This was the peak “professionalism” era. Suddenly everyone was:
- “Global thought leaders” (who’d never left their hometown)
- “Award-winning experts” (the “award” was a participation certificate from a free webinar)
- “Industry disruptors” (who were disrupting precisely nothing)
The Bios sounded like press releases: “John is a dynamic thought leader with 15+ years of experience synergizing cross-functional paradigms.”
The content was safe, sterile, and forgettable featuring industry news shares, generic motivational quotes, and humble brags about awards.
And the engagement? A belly-aching cringe-fest of corporate rituals with colleagues robotically hitting “like” and commenting “Great insights!” on posts they never read.
The Rise of “Fakefluencer” (2018-2022)
I don’t know if anyone still recall how unbearable their LinkedIn feed was around this time.
It was all over the place with people jumping onto the bandwagon and sharing every rescum plan and their rigid marketing strategy and success in quotations.
Everybody was sharing their overnight success story with more filters than followers and more hype than hard facts.
The content was overproduced, but the quality was underwhelming.
Everyone simply followed the same tired playbook: handing out the same five business clichés and throwing on a generic sunset stock photo to somehow make it “content.”
The engagement was even worse. These posts would get thousands of likes, but only 3 comments and all 3 would be “Great insights!” posted at 2am.
Meanwhile, we all knew half of these followers were bots bought off of some shady website.
But things really took a turn when the audience became smarter.
They started noticing how “A day in the life of a CEO” videos were clearly filmed from an apartment, and their so-called “seven-figure business” had nothing but fake influencers as clients. The jig was up.
The “Human-First” Revolution (2023-Present)
Just when we thought personal branding couldn’t get any faker, something sparked.
Personal branding suddenly turned from being all for show to actually being personal.
Suddenly, vulnerability became the new flex.
The algorithm began to favor reality over razzle-dazzle.
So, what kind of content is actually resonating now?
- Meaningful conversations: “Here’s why my last launch flopped,” is more authentic than “5 keys to viral success!”
- Specificity over professionalism: “How I fired my worst client,” gets more attention than “The power of difficult conversations.”
- Real-life imperfect experiences: A shaky iPhone video rant gets more clicks than a studio-produced “inspiration” reel.
Flawless content is not the most engaging content anymore; it’s the raw, unfiltered posts that strike a chord.
People like to read “Here’s how I completely messed this up,” not “Here’s my flawless success formula.” Brands thriving now aren’t picture-perfect—they’re powerfully relatable.
So, How Do You Go About This?
You don’t have to rebrand yourself entirely. You just need a bit of clarity, a little courage and a “just post it anyway” mindset.
And to make it easy, here’s your no-excuses-straight-up action plan to help you get started (and stop overthinking).
- Digital Exorcism
- Get read of anything that reads like outdated corporate buzzwords from 2015 (RIP “synergy”)
- Edit your bio to read “I help [specific people] solve [specific problem] without [their greatest pain point].”
- Change your stiff headshots to ones where it looks like you’ve laughed this decade.
- Content Detox:
- Post anything that looks unpolished or raw.
- Share how you fixed a client’s issue. Not just their testimonial, but showing their actual problem and the result.
- Engage with three posts providing actual valuable comments (not saying “Great thoughts!”)
- Offer Exposure:
- Place your offer/service under the bio link. No more ‘Coming soon’.
- DM two past clients with, ‘I’m working on something that would’ve helped you quicker… mind if I throw a few ideas your way?”
- Book a free call with someone you know you can genuinely help this week.
- Algorithm Hack:
- Engage with 5 ideal clients but not peers
- Go live to answer one burning question for 5 minutes.
- Post three of what you would consider ‘imperfect’ posts over the next three days.
There you have it. No 3-month content strategy. No rebrand. Just the real you, showing up with fewer buzzwords and more heart, less polished and more personal.
So, it’s high time to drop the fake filter, start where you are, and post like you mean it.
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