Building Your Personal Brand with Social Media

Wes Johnson: Welcome to the EDUCAUSE Rising Voices podcast, where we amplify the voices of young professionals in higher education. I'm Wes Johnson. Wow. And I'm joined by my amazing, astonishing, great, glowing co-host.

Sarah Buszka: Astonishing and glowing. I will take it y'all. Everyone needs Wesford to be their hype person. So thank you, Wes.

Wes Johnson: I try to ask some new words every time.

Sarah Buszka: You do. I didn't even say my name. I'm Sarah.

Wes Johnson: There you go. And we are your co-host for the show, whether that's for the best of the worst. And we're also members, friends, and friends of the Educollege Young Professionals Advisory Committee, also known as YPAC. And today we're going to be talking about building your personal brand and the role of social media in that. And kind of bring it all the way back to what is that? What is a personal brand? Why should you even care about it? And what are some actionable steps you can take to get started as a young professional in your career? And we've got some amazing guests here. We always have amazing guests. I don't know how we keep doing it. So, Sarah, do you want to introduce them?

Sarah Buszka: Absolutely, yes. So, kicking this off, we have Colvin Prince Jr. He is a digital strategist, award-winning communication specialist, and storyteller dedicated to helping founders and organizations amplify their mission and expand their impact. He serves as social media director for Auburn University, Harvard College of Business, where he leads digital strategy and institutional storytelling initiatives. Colvin is passionate about bridging creativity, leadership, and emerging technology to build stronger communities and empower the next generation of communicators. His work explores how strategic communication and media can drive engagement, learning, and community impact. Woo, that's a lot. I'm excited to dive in with Colvin. And next, but certainly not least, we have Mr. Ryan McTaggart. Yes, I put a mister in front of that. He deserves that. He's the associate director of professional learning at EDUCAUSE and a recognized presenter and author on value-centered leadership, learning, personal development and personal growth and organizational success.

Sarah Buszka: He holds a PhD in education and human resource studies and certifications in teaching and coaching. Ryan has worked with leaders in higher ed, K-12, and various corporate organizations to move the needle forward for their teams and those they serve. He is passionate about how incredible people are when given the proper context in which to thrive and strives to help people realize their best selves in all aspects of life. Welcome Colvin and Ryan to the show.

Ryan MacTaggert: Glad to be here. Thanks, Sarah.

Sarah Buszka: So, the first question we have to ask y'all, because we can't start without asking you this, is what is your superpower? Ryan, would you be willing to go first?

Ryan MacTaggert: Oh, no. I was unprepared. Yes, I'll go first. Sure. Why not? Colvin, you have time to think. Congrats. Thank you. I would say I'm just going to lean on something. I just had a conversation right before jumping on this that I'll lean into. I don't know if it's my superpower, but they complimented me on it, so let's go with it. And I think my superpower, or at least the superpower I try to build, is noticing the small things that people say or mention and leaning into those. So, oh yeah, I'm going through this thing with my kiddo. Well, maybe I know a book that helped me with my kiddo, so then I just put that book in the mail instead of letting those little moments pass. So, I would say my superpower is noticing and then acting in small ways to make people feel seen.

Sarah Buszka: I love that. That's awesome. I think we need more of that always, especially in 2026.

Ryan MacTaggert: Maybe I should have said building a personal brand, but I'll leave that.

Wes Johnson: We got the whole show for

Sarah Buszka: That. We got the whole show for that. Yeah. Colvin, what is your superpower?

Colvin Prince: I feel like I'm kind of piggybacking off of Ryan's, but I have a very good eye for detail. So when people say certain things or when I see certain things, it's like my memory just takes a snapshot of it. So that's kind of my superpower. And I think my background in journalism had a lot to do with that as well. So just being very a detailed person and now being able to correlate that into what we're talking about today, storytelling and branding. So yeah, I think that's my superpower, is having an eye for detail.

Sarah Buszka: I love that. You too have a great theme and I think very apropos to why you're on the show for this topic. I think that's definitely one of those key skills to build, for sure.

Wes Johnson: So then to get us rolling, since y'all are detailed people, Colvin, I'll start with you. In the level of detail that you find necessary, can you tell us what is a personal brand? When folks are telling us you need a personal brand, especially as a younger professional, what exactly are they telling us we need? What is that?

Colvin Prince: Well, that's a great question. And I think that it goes back before we even think about personal branding from a digital platform standpoint, your brand is how you want people to experience you. And I think that it goes even back to your reputation as a person, what makes you unique, what makes you different, and also the value that you present to the space that you occupy. And so even before we even get into social media, how do you show up every day? How do you show up at work with your coworkers? How do you present yourself with your family and friends? Start there as a general reputation as to who you are. And then I think that that creates the picture of your brand or at least where you're headed with your brand.

Wes Johnson: Okay. And Ryan, would you add anything to that?

Ryan MacTaggert: No, I like that. I think sometimes we go straight to how you show up on social media when we talk personal brand, but I think social media is an outpouring of the brand that you carry through life, or I think it should be. We'll probably get into that. The only thing I would say is I love what Colvin said, and one question that I have actually used this, and I'll ask people in different scenarios, what's it like to sit across the table from me? So, whether that be a conference table for work, a dinner table for family, what have you, and just what's it like to experience, you said at Colvin, but experience me. And I think that is whether you like the answer or not, that is your personal brand. And then it's up to you to think about, do you curate that brand? Do you want that brand to be different? Yeah. So no, I wouldn't really. I think that's a great definition.

Wes Johnson: I'm going to venture off first. Yeah, go ahead. We're going the same way.

Sarah Buszka: Well, you said something really interesting. So both of you are kind of saying that your brand is kind of how folks are perceiving you. And then Ryan, you said a really interesting comment of, okay, that's your baseline, and then you can curate it from there. You can develop it in X or Y direction. How would you go about actually doing that? What are the tangible steps to developing that? What does that really look like? Ryan, I'm going to ask you first and then Colvin, if you'd like to add in, please do.

Ryan MacTaggert: This is why you all are the host of this. It's a good question. I was hoping I thought we'd just skate past that. Oh no,

Sarah Buszka: No.

Ryan MacTaggert: I mean, the first thing that comes to mind for me is awareness. And I think if you got to really curate an awareness of how you show up in different spaces, Because I think I'm sure the word is going to come out during this podcast, authenticity. Your brand has to be authentic and all that. Well, the only way to know what's authentic is to have some awareness of how you actually show up and how you feel in certain situations and what comes up for you and how those things go out to the world. So, I think it's about being aware and then I don't know exactly how you curate. I think for me, I will lean into mentorship with people that I know can help me that will be honest with me of like, "Hey, in that meeting or in that situation, you showed up in this way. I don't know if you wanted to or not, but this is how you showed up." And I try to really lean into being open to that feedback from people. I also want to be a little careful. I don't think brand is all about what other people think about you. It's what you think about you as well and how you want to show up. So sometimes that feedback is like, thanks for that, but I'm not going to give that a lot of space. I'm just going to move forward because I know I feel a little differently. I also, I mean, books are a thing in my life, so I get a lot of wisdom from information that I take in and I just always try to keep learning. So I think to curate your brand in any direction is to be open to some feedback and then act differently, try different things, things like that. So, I don't know. But Colvin, I'm curious what you think.

Colvin Prince: No, you literally just said it. I think that repetition builds trust in not only the brand itself, but trusting yourself to build something new or build something that you want to evolve. And I think for me, when I first started building my brand or even started educating people on building theirs, it's always this fear of putting my ideas out there publicly or putting myself out in the public to have opinions, for people to have an opinion about what I'm sharing. And so I think you also have to reframe it in a way of asking yourself the right questions as you said, Ryan, and getting that mentorship, but also looking at it not as a process of growth versus just performance. Sometimes that perfectionism will hold you back so much from starting your brand and leaning into it fully that you won't even start. And so I think that is the first step that I've had to take is kind of reframing a lot of my perspective around being in front of the public.

Sarah Buszka: That's a really good point too. Go ahead. Go ahead, Wes.

Wes Johnson: I was going to dive in on the part about the friction of actually getting started. And so you talked about for a sec there, Colvin. As someone who also, when learned about a personal brand, I found it to be very awkward. It was uncomfortable to even sit down and ask those questions. Any tips or thoughts or reactions to that when you were getting started in this space or helping folks get started in this?

Colvin Prince: No, I think it goes back to, I know we hear it all the time, but the simplicity of just starting, put the first post out, make the first, share the first bit of knowledge that you have that you want people ... Here's a nugget that someone told me, don't be the best kept secret. Don't be the one who has this well of knowledge, this well of information and all of this lived experience that you don't share it with people that you want to serve and that it could benefit. And so I think that sometimes it is intimidating when you look at social media or look at others' brands from a lens of comparison versus inspiration. And that's when you make that change of not comparing yourself or trying to make yourself look like the next person, you kind of strip yourself away from the opportunity to grow versus be inspired from others and then utilize that to build your brand.

And so I think once you kind of reframe and have a different lens, it really takes away that fear and allows you to take that big first step into being the known best secret and not the best standard. Yeah.

Sarah Buszka: I love that. And you're kind of swirling around the concept of authenticity, like Ryan said at the beginning, right? I'm being inspired by other folks, but I'm not trying to be that person. I'm trying to figure out how do I still remain true to myself. And to Ryan's point earlier, awareness, right? Awareness of who I am, what's important to me, what isn't, what are my interests, what are my goals? I think that's a really key nugget that I'm hearing from you too.

Ryan MacTaggert: Yeah, I'll just add, I don't know, maybe this is where you're going to go, but also being, and I wrote down, don't be the best kept secret. I really like that. Be willing and just have the knowledge that your brand is going to change throughout your experience anyway because I think one of the barriers to starting is that feeling of like, man, once I put this stake in the ground that I'm the AI person, it's like, well, now I can never do anything but AI stuff. And I've definitely been a victim of that, of like, I put my stake in the ground in the leadership stuff. And then over the last maybe year, I've kind of felt some pull in some other directions. And I'm like, well, no, because everyone I'm kind of out there is the leadership person. And I've had to just let go of that and be like, well, you can go back and find my leadership stuff. It's going to exist, but allow your brand to grow with you and see that as growth and not failure. But I feel like there is this kind of stigma that everyone has to be a specialist. What's your niche? What's your thing? And I've really, in the last few months, have started thinking a little differently. And there's one of my favorite books is Range, and it talks about that. The generalists around us are also very, very valuable. So you don't have to write a book and then have a brand around that book and speak on that book and post on that book. You can do other stuff. So just being willing to let yourself grow and let yourself change. So put the post out there with what's interesting to you today and maybe that's not interesting tomorrow and that's okay.

Sarah Buszka: Yeah, that is. I think you're pulling on a really interesting thread here too, Ryan. And I'm curious what your thoughts are on this, Colvin, because thinking about where I've started in my career, a lot of our audience are young professionals, early career folks, maybe new to higher ed entirely and thinking, okay, how do I just make a name for myself? But then as we grow and move on in our career, what if we reserve the right to get smarter and pick up a new habit or interest? How do we go about that kind of evolution and that change with respect to personal branding? What are some of the next steps to take? Or maybe what are the steps that you are taking now, Ryan, to navigate that? And Colvin, have you experienced that? And what would you advise our listeners to do if they're feeling like they're at some of those crossroads right now?

Ryan MacTaggert: I'm curious what Colvin thinks.

Colvin Prince: No, yeah, I've definitely experienced that. But in what I've come to learn is that, as Ryan said, as I grow as a person, it's okay for my brand to grow as well. As I evolve as a person, because we change every day. Tomorrow, my favorite color may not be blue. So how these visions change every day, and so it's okay to not stick. One of my best friends told me, "You always write your plans and pencil because you got to go back any race, you got to go back and make edits." And so when I'm thinking about my brand, I'm writing it down on paper, but I'm also open to it evolving and changing. And so like Ryan said, today you may talk about a subject matter that is very close to you, and then tomorrow you may test something else. And that's a part of social listening, is trying things to see not only what's of interest to you, but what do people want to see more of from you. And so that's a part of that practice of social listening to see sometimes what sticks when you're trying to reach the people that you're wanting to serve in your target audience and then seeing what other avenues can I reach them as well as my brand and as I'm growing personally, because a lot of people attach to that growth track and experience as well because they're in the same place.

Sarah Buszka: That's a really good point. Thank you. Would you add anything, Ryan?

Ryan MacTaggert: I think that's pretty well said. Yeah, not really. It's a solid.

Wes Johnson: So, we've talked some about brand. Let's bring in social media. So what is the role of social media? It's kind of a omnipresence nowadays, but I'm a millennial old enough to remember the time before social media. So I'm just curious from y'all then, what is the role of social media when building your brand? Do you need to use it? Is it a dawn you have to do it to really have a brand these days or is there other ways of looking at

Colvin Prince: That? Ryan, you want to take a stab at it or are you good?

Ryan MacTaggert: I have a feeling you've got more insight on social media than I do. I can take a stab if you want, but I think you might be more of the social media expert than I am on this one.

Sarah Buszka: Can I tee up Colvin for this actually, because I want to brag about you, Colvin, if you don't mind.

Ryan MacTaggert: Yeah, I looked up

Sarah Buszka: Colvin's

Ryan MacTaggert: Social media, so let's

Sarah Buszka: Tee him on. I'm going to tee him up because the first time I met Colvin, here's the story time. First time I met Colvin, it was 2024 EDUCAUSE annual conference. I had just won the Rising Star Award and my beautiful, incredible friend, Jay James, who's also been on the show as part of the YPAC won an award as well from EDUCAUSE. And he was so excited obviously to be celebrating, so was I. And we were able to invite some friends along with us. Jay invited Colvin as his kind of close friend to join him and celebrate this momentous award and career highlight, if you will. And I have to say, I learned so much from Colvin that week because I personally was feeling a lot of, I don't know if I want to even say it, but just kind of a lot of concern or fear on, oh gosh, how am I supposed to talk about this?

Sarah Buszka: So many people are coming up to me and saying congratulations and taking pictures and my name and face are everywhere on the whole stage for thousands of people to see and all this kind of stuff. And it's very overwhelming. And I think I personally really struggle sometimes with the line of, am I bragging about myself or am I promoting myself and making myself visible? I come from Midwest, Wisconsin, we're Midwest nice, we're modest. I was raised to not do that. So it was really hard for me to kind of get over that mental hump. And then I watched Colvin with Jay and Colvin was just out here taking pictures. I mean, this man is a photographer, like all different angles. He was working the rooms, I mean, covering everything. And it was just so natural to him. And what I learned from that is he wasn't taking those pictures of Jay in this really kind of sterile way. He truly was there as a friend supporting him and so excited to see Jay just being celebrated that it was just so easy for him to go around and take these pictures. He was so excited for it. I could feel that I could see that. And I had barely just met Colvin and I thought it was really inspiring and exciting because why wouldn't you memorialize that huge highlight of your career? And it was just really exciting to see someone who just loves and cares about Jace as much as I do, probably not as much as I do, probably more, celebrate him like that. And it was really nice just to see your friends celebrating each other. And it made me feel a little less awkward about it because when else are we going to do something like that? So he took these amazing photos and took photos of us too and some of our friends and we were on the EDUCAUSE stage and taking pictures.

Sarah Buszka: And it was really fun to kind of just join along and start celebrating and realizing it's not all about me. It's about us and capturing the moment and all those types of things. And that's when it felt really authentic and it didn't feel like some type of performance. We were just friends who've known each other for a decade, more or less, and just celebrating all the things that we've done and achieved together in this community and being recognized by it. So Colvin, I have to say, when Jay did his presentation, his award presentation, Colvin was walking up and down the aisle of the room, literally getting every angle, every angle of the room, he was working it and it was so impressive to see. And I think Jay is just an amazing person and it made me just so happy to see him have a friend and that support like that. So my commercial is over. I wanted to give you a lot of praise, but I think your example is a really good one of just trying to celebrate others. It wasn't for this kind of selfish promotion thing. It was like, "Hey, my friend's doing amazing and I just want to celebrate that."

Colvin Prince: Yeah, no, and that's literally what you said made me think of this moments create momentum, that moment. And even when we think of social media, social media is just an amplifier for what we already say in our daily lives, how we live out our lives daily. And so that moment of ... And like you said, I just jump in sometimes because I'm like, "Oh, that's a good shot."

Sarah Buszka: I know, you have such an eye for it.

Colvin Prince: So, when I see those moments, sometimes I'll jump in, but I learned that in order for a message to really carry effectively, it's always driven by a moment in time or a moment that ... And so when I have these conversations around social media and people are like, "What do I post? What do I say?" I'm like, "What happened today? Talk about your day. Walk me through your day. Walk me through your week. What are some of the consistencies of what you do that you overlook because it's natural to you, but it's impactful or it's mind blowing for the next person." And so with social media, it's just really amplifying who you are, your voice, and really standing on your story because your story matters and allowing those moments to create momentum for the right audience.

Sarah Buszka: I love that. That's a great way to frame it too, those moments. And you have such an eye for it too. Thank you. It took a long time. I learned a lot from you. I learned a lot from you from that actually. So, if anyone ... Well, when we're all at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference this year and we see Colvin running around taking pictures, take a look at him, see what he does.

Wes Johnson: Colvin, if you don't take a good picture of me, does that mean that I didn't look right that day? I didn't have a moment that means. So Ryan-

Sarah Buszka: Can I just maybe ask about Ryan a little bit go about Colvin enough. Okay. Ryan, are you ready? It's your turn.

Ryan MacTaggert: I'm excited to see where it goes. He was

Sarah Buszka: Like, "Oh, shoot." So, Ryan publishes a regular series that's called Leaders Are Readers, and you publish quarterly, correct, Ryan?

Ryan MacTaggert: Yep.

Sarah Buszka: About quarterly, yes. You've been doing this for a while now. And I remember one of the first times I caught wind of this kind of article that you publish, you had actually included one of our podcast episodes as a suggestion. I think it was one of our first episodes that we've ever done, and we've been doing the show for almost three years now. So, kudos to us, but also kudos to you for tuning in from the very beginning. But I regularly read your suggestions because I think they're spot on and they're typically, at least in my experience, I think very timely of the state of affairs, if you will, in the world, in higher education, in our lives, et cetera. And so I'm wondering, I think that's a really great way to influence, right? You're influencing and shaping what a lot of us in this community are reading, listening to, and thinking about and talking about. So how do you curate those items that you're suggesting for people to read or listen to or watch?

Ryan MacTaggert: Yeah, I think the Leaders are Readers is a really good example of what Colvin just said. When I was approached with the idea of doing that, it was literally an EDUCAUSE colleague who saw this behind me and was like, "Have you actually read those books? Who read books?" And I was like, "Oh, I love reading books. I read a lot of books and I have an obsession with physical copies of books, which is a problem for my wallet, but it's fine." And that moment, it was actually them that said, "Well, what have you read lately?" And then that kind of triggered this idea of publishing stuff that's not exactly written about leadership, but I think informs leadership. And so that's what the leaders are readers are supposed to do, but it was exactly what Colvin said. It was something I was already doing that to me felt very normal. When I read books, this is what happens, right? The pages get tabbed, the notes get taken. I read with a very ... I'm in it. I'm having a conversation with the author and what that colleague helped me recognize is not everyone is doing that and that's really valuable. How can you share it with the world? And that's where leaders are readers came from. And so when I do it every quarter, it's not this arduous like, "Oh, is this the voice I want to have? Are people going to like this? Am I reading the right stuff?" It's just like, this is what I read and if you like it, cool. If you don't, cool, right? It's fine with me. So I think that's my favorite thing about that. And I've really struggled in my other approaches on social media to do that because sometimes I do feel myself manufacturing something that isn't that authentic and that tension is kind of like, "Oh, this is not fun." Where that is like, yeah, this is just what I do. So I love Colvin's advice of that and then capturing those moments. So for me, as I read, I have moments with the book or my own experience where I'm like, "Oh, that is really powerful." I just share that and maybe it'll be powerful for someone else.

Sarah Buszka: I think it is. It's certainly been resonating with me. And I think your example is really great too, because the theme that I'm hearing from Colvin and from you is the repetition. I just need to commit to doing it and do it. And I've been noticing your article, it publishes, of course, on EDUCAUSE Review, but then you also share it to social media. And I think that's a really great way that's a little bit lower effort, right? It's not something that you're doing daily, it's something that you're doing quarterly. So you set yourself up for success too, right? It doesn't feel overwhelming and it feels natural.

Ryan MacTaggert: And for those that really pay attention, I missed quarter four of last year because my family went through a ton of change and it was just like, oh, whoops, that already ... Well, we're in quarter one now. And so, I just wrote quarter one for this year. I didn't try to go back and do it. It was just like, well, we missed one and that's okay. We'll just go into quarter one. So, I think that's the other thing too, is rhythm and repetition and then just give yourself some grace when you maybe miss that repetition a little bit. It's okay. You can come back to it. It's just not missing it four or five times in a row because now you're just off the repetition. But yeah, well, thanks for saying that. I'm glad that that is landing. So, I think the next one comes out next week.

Sarah Buszka: I'm excited to see. Maybe our podcast episode will make it on there again.

Ryan MacTaggert: I think it's pretty ... Well, it's already in review. Maybe it'll make it on the quarter two, but I don't think I'd ever put something I'm on in the list. That would feel a little- Yeah, I get that.

Sarah Buszka: I get that. Yeah.

Wes Johnson: So, Colvin, I guess wrapping up with you first, what would be one thing, one lesson takeaway, whichever you would want to leave with our audience?

Colvin Prince: Yeah, that's great. I guess going back to what I said earlier, don't be the best kept secret. Showing up and making a routine of showing up authentically will pay so much in the end than just making the goal to be viral. The goal is not to be viral. The goal is to be authentic, to be impactful, and to be consistent. And so don't be the best kept seeker. Give yourself grace, as Ryan said, and just start.

Wes Johnson: Ryan, how about you?

Ryan MacTaggert: I think when I particularly think of new professional, young professional, the thing that most comes to mind for me is similar to what we said, be willing to change. I think one of my mentors, I think it was my dissertation advisor, was like, "If you read your dissertation in five years and you're not kind of embarrassed, I'm worried about you because that means you haven't really grown and you're not continuing to do stuff." And I think our brand is the same way. If you don't look back on some posts you wrote a few years ago and have that little moment of like, "Ooh, did I actually say that? " But it's like a signal that you've grown. So, I think stop trying to be ... I mean, Colvin said it when we kicked off, stop trying to be perfect and stop trying to build this perfect brand and just start putting yourself onto the page or into a video. Try different mediums, see what lands with you, and then try that for a while. Maybe give yourself a timeframe of like, "For a month, I'm going to post once a week about this thing and then at the end of the month, change it if you want. But if it's got some momentum, keep it going. " And I think the other thing I would say is I always think the best approach you can have is you're not, like Colvin, you said, the goal isn't to go viral because if you're trying to go viral, that's actually a you goal. So that's actually a goal that's all about yourself where I think the best people on social media and with brand are actually external. So, they're thinking, "How can I help? How can something I share help someone else?" And that's what they share and then it happens to build their own brand up that way. And that also takes some pressure off because it's not, I'm putting this out there and people are going to judge me, but it's just, this is something I found helpful, maybe it'll help you too. And if it doesn't, then you can judge the content or find it unhelpful, but it's not me that's unhelpful. You know what I mean?

Colvin Prince: Yeah. Ryan, I wanted to give you a high five so bad, but I'm like- Well,

Wes Johnson: Bam. There it is.

Wes Johnson: Ryan, I'm going to start with you. There's a tension sometimes between your personal life and your professional life. And so any thoughts or guidance on how you balance the two? How do you show up personally when your brand will also be exposed in professional spaces and vice versa? How do you manage that value?

Ryan MacTaggert: Yeah. I mean, I think the first thing to admit is this is something I struggle with every day. So, I would say where I'm at in personal brand and thinking about it is I have in the last couple years really let go of worrying about what people will think of what I do in a general sense where I was trying to use social media to build something big and create this thing and whatever. And I've kind of let go of that. But now the tension I feel is exactly this question, which is like, well, so for me, I'll give an example. I come from a faith background that I actually have integrated with some leadership stuff and I've actually written some things about how faith informs leadership and vice versa. You won't find those on my LinkedIn. And it's exactly because of this tension and I don't know how to navigate that. But if the old adage, what advice would you give your best friend? I'm not a big believer in the work-life balance. I don't think that's real. I think work, you're there for eight hours. If work isn't part of your life, I don't know what it is. And so I think if I was talking to a friend of mine, I would say, if it's authentically you and it's not offensive to someone that you would work with, if it's genuinely coming from a place of adding value in a good way to the world, I think you can put it out into the world. Now if it's questionable or there's things that are more kind of driven towards something that might not be ... I don't know. I don't know what that would be. I don't really have a good example, but it is a tension. And I think especially in higher ed and education, you get into things like if it comes with some sort of a political or social opinion, how's that going to land with your boss who might see this thing on LinkedIn? And I guess I would mostly just honor the fact that that is very, very real. And if you feel that tension, it's okay to feel that tension. I am really curious if Colvin has any actionable steps because I'm going to get my note card out and I'm going to get my learner hat on because it's a tough one. It's a tough one.

Colvin Prince: Oh, it's a real feeling and it's a real moment of friction, honestly, that I even feel sometimes. But I think what's really helped me is because I used to segment myself so much or overthink how to show up on different platforms, how to show up in different spaces. And so once I kind of realized I'm one person who wears many hats and just kind of had to spit with that, and before I'm anything, yes, I'm a creative person. I'm a creative. And so I built my branding around my creativity and that comes out in so many different expressions. And so once I really understood that different platforms can help serve the different parts of me, whereas LinkedIn, yes, that's my more professional side, but it's also teaching me networking and relationship building and awareness of what's going on in professional spaces and in the world itself. Whereas Instagram, I can share more of my short form video content self who loves music and who is a collector of records and who loves videography and photography. And so I have been able to really learn how to build an audience and learn the specific uses of a platform in order to not necessarily segment myself, but really give myself an outlet to showcase the different facets of who I am. And once I stopped overcomplicating that process and just was like, okay, on TikTok today, I may post about a message about a book I'm reading and kind of the takeaways from that, or I may post that on threads. Whereas LinkedIn, I may not say anything about that. And so you have to be a little more strategic as you're learning the specific platforms and the use of them, and that way it really helps you format how you want to show up and where. And again, it can feel like friction at first, but when you kind of take away trying to separate yourself so much and fit into a bubble and just allow yourself to be you and to realize you're a multifaceted person as myself, and it can be overwhelming sometimes, but the platforms are here that are created differently for a reason.

Ryan MacTaggert: Yeah.

Sarah Buszka: And I think that I'm hearing from both of you. Oh, go ahead. Go. Yeah,

Ryan MacTaggert: Go ahead, Sarah. No, I just pulled an inspired thought, but you go first. See if it folds in. Let’s hear it.

Sarah Buszka: And I think what I was going to do is pull out the through lens I'm hearing from both of you though, is you're really identifying your audience and assigning it to the correct platform. I heard you both say, "Hey, I'm maybe putting something on LinkedIn, but I'm not putting other things there." Colvin, you said, "I'm going to Instagram or Threads or other places, TikTok for things." And then Ryan said, "Hey, I have articles that are kind of blending my faith in leadership, but they're not on LinkedIn. They're elsewhere." What were you going to add there?

Ryan MacTaggert: I think the way that I think about that, because we were on the same wavelength, I like that, is who do I want to connect with in this space is the question I ask. So on LinkedIn, I want to connect with an audience that's maybe, or not even an audience, I don't even think of it that way, but a network. So, if I want someone, I want to connect with a certain person, maybe on LinkedIn, maybe I want to connect with a different person somewhere else, but I'll also say things like, the background that is behind me right now is not an accident. And Colvin, you got records behind you, right? So, this is a professional thing, part of your professional brand, but there's something to connect to there. So, I also think if you feel like you can't be yourself at all in a professional space, I don't know that that's the professional space for you to spend a whole bunch of time in for too long. I think there is something to that. So, I think being, let yourself show up on LinkedIn too, because I will say the best connections I've ever come across in my professional life weren't from things I shared super professional. They were like people ask me about the flags behind me or I'll post something on LinkedIn that does have a faith bend to it. And I did that. I did a podcast with a totally different group and I shared some of my personal journey with anxiety and some issues that I've overcome. And I went to the EDUCAUSE Conference three weeks later, almost to a T, every person I talked to that had listened to that, that's what they wanted to talk to me about. Not leaders are readers, not anything I put on LinkedIn, but they were like, "Whoa, me too." And so I think using your platforms to give those me too moments of like, "I've struggled with that. I've done that with that. I've done well here. Me too." So, Sarah, when you won the award, could you have done a post about that feeling you had? I don't know how to do this because everyone who's been awarded something has probably felt that tension. So those Me Too moments. So, I think it's finding that balance of like, don't be afraid to show who you are, but who do you want to reach out to? Who do you want to connect with and think of it that way? And Colvin wants to connect with a different person on Instagram than he wants to connect with on LinkedIn. And maybe some of those people are on both, which is awesome because then they get to see Colvin a little more holistically, which is great.

Sarah Buszka: Yeah, definitely. And one more thing I want to just toss in here too is, to your point was really great, Ryan, you said, "Hey, could I have done a post on that? " And I found for me and my personal brand, I'm better with long form, hence why I'm on this podcast. This is what I really enjoy and where I excel. It's my thing, right? So, I think this is kind of a theme of what we've been talking about today is understanding your venues, your platforms, your outlets, your audience, and what works for you authentically. Because for me, typing out things on social media and on LinkedIn, I can't stand it. Every time I do it, I cringe. It has never gone away. I guarantee you. I'm keynoting an event tonight and I'm already stressed about having to do the post because they sent me this big picture to put up with my face front and center and I'm like, "Ugh, I don't want to do it, but today's the last day, so I have to do it." So, I think a part of it too is just recognizing that you'll have that feeling and I don't think it really ever goes away for some people, at least for me. So you just kind of get used to it and become friends with it. Yeah.

Colvin Prince: You got to humanize the content. LinkedIn, I would try to be so polished and show up a certain type of way. And it's like, this is not me. As a human, I'm not being myself. And so once I just kind of got inspired from other creators on LinkedIn and really saw how they showed up and they were just authentically them, and it pushed me to just have more natural conversations and create more content that just felt more authentic. And so just kind of going back to that, humanize the brand, don't make it something that seems so polished perfect and it takes away from who you really are and it really causes you to overthink and the engine kind of gets worked and you get burned out fast. And when you can show up naturally and just flow as yourself, it hits a little more deeper for the audience. Yeah. People can tell. People can tell. Yeah.

Ryan MacTaggert: People can tell. Super polished LinkedIn post once a week on Friday at the exact same time that doesn't have any voice. That is some boring stuff. Everybody wants that. Be a little weird, do things out. No one wants that. No, that's like the whole AI is writing so AI can read it and then we call it our like, "Don't do that. " Don't be. Yeah. Don't do that.

Wes Johnson: Let me go out and get more. We needed some advice of what not to do.

Wes Johnson: Let me go unscheduled all the time. Only

Ryan MacTaggert: Because trust me, I have tried, that was me for a long time. It was like Mondays at two, I'm going to post and they were all these polished things that I had edited multiple times. And then I got to a point where I would type it out once, read it over real quick and then hit send. It didn't have to be perfect and Try to put an image with it that added some value even of myself or a place that I've actually been instead of finding one on having AI generate something or doing something else. If at all possible, just show you a little bit. And if you're uncomfortable with that, then you can build a brand around the images that you use or the content that you create. But if it's just kind of the same form as everyone else all the time, it doesn't really land with ... It won't connect you with people, which I think is the goal of this whole thing. The personal brand isn't to get a better job or to go ... It's just to connect with people who are like you. And that's the beauty of social media is now we connect with people that don't live down the street from us, but it can be the biggest challenge with it too, because the temptation to polish that image and make it perfect. But that doesn't connect with people. People don't connect with perfectionism. So I'll let go of that.

Colvin Prince: And I share one tangible exercise people can maybe do when they get stuck and then- Yes. One thing when I'm like, I don't have nothing to say, but I need to post or I feel like in my head I'm telling myself, I don't have nothing to say to nobody on LinkedIn, Instagram. I will literally walk through my journal or walk through, kind of go back and flip through, what have I experienced this week? What's a lesson or a conversation I had that sparked inspiration, that sparked curiosity? I really allow sometimes reflection to be your content engine and start there. If you don't have anything to say, I was like, because I think back, I'm like, I said something to an intern. I said something to a coworker. I worked on a project, sent an email that something happened this today or this week that I can speak to. And so that's like an exercise that I do sometimes where I just allow reflection to kind of help drive the message that I want to share for that day or that week. And it

Ryan MacTaggert: Kind of- Yeah, I keep a note in my phone where I just like a quote that I hear, a thought that I have. And so sometimes I'll just go back there, be like, "Yeah, that's not worthwhile." There's a lot of those in there too, but then you come across something and it's like, "Oh, that's super cool. That's a great quote." And there's been times I've literally just posted the quote. I don't have to add a bunch to it. So yeah, I love that Colton. I think that's a really good idea.

Sarah Buszka: I think so too. I'm definitely stealing that. Let reflection be your content engine, folks. You've heard it here. I had to repeat it. I think that's really important. Thank you. I'm going to practice that. So, when you guys see my upcoming posts, know that I'm channeling both of you for my inspiration.

Wes Johnson: Well, Colvin, Ryan, thank you both so much for joining us for, for me, a very enlightening conversation. Always shout out to the amazing Sarah for being my great co-host. And so, to our EDUCAUSE Rising Voices audience, we'll see you again soon. Hope this has been helpful. We're out.