Graffiti and personal branding

I’m reading a book about the history and progression of graffiti. This is the connection I’ve made to personal branding.

In the beginning of the history of graffiti artists tried to write their name everywhere as a means of spreading their fame.

Next artists, or writers, started adding more details and colors to their work.

Soon two groups developed, bombers and burners. Bombers continued to write simple names everywhere. Burners added creativity with colors, styles, and techniques.

While bombers certainly had their names everywhere; their work would could easily be overlooked, especially by people outside the community of writers.

Burners work is much more eye-catching. I respect their work more because the amount of work required to do one piece and to get to that level is so much more than what bombers put in.

So, personal branding.

Can you agree that personal branding and graffiti are the same thing with different mediums? Both are about building a respectable reputation based on your name. And both can achieve fame through burning and bombing.

Personal branding is the digital version of graffiti.

I think content on a blog should be where you burn. That is where quality really counts. Spend time developing the style and content of your blog.

Bombing comes into play when you visit other blogs. Share your opinions and join in the conversation. This shows other bloggers you are reading their content and thinking about it (which is what you want people to do with your blog), and commenting will spread your name.

Twitter is a combination of burning and bombing. Your name is displayed whenever you tweet but make sure you maintain intelligent conversation. You don’t want people to unfollow because you have nothing important to say.

Get out there and burn!