Running head: VIRTUAL INDIVIDUATION
Virtual Individuation:
An Empowering Approach to Online Personal Branding for Millennials
Garron Ballard
University of Houston
Author Note
Garron Ballard, Digital Media Major, University of Houston.
Correspondence concerning this study can be addressed to Garron.ballard@gmail.com
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Abstract
The Virtual Individuation study was designed to examine how future employees of the millennial
generation can optimize their online reputations and influence in today’s job market. Social
media profiles of three fictional identities, Michael smith of (mCreative), Barron Gallard (BG
Creative), and Michael Smith (Starbucks) were created to see if they ranked on the first page of a
Google search localized for Houston, TX over eight weeks. Since two of the fictional identities
possessed a very common name while one possessed a very unique name, the study hypothesized
that Barron Gallard, the unique name, would rank more quickly on the first page of Google
search. The results were as expected, but the rate and influence of some of the identities were
greater than anticipated. The study confirmed that social media presence and unique keywords
are valuable keys to effectively managing and promoting a personal brand.
Keywords: millennials, social media, personal branding, SEO, Google search
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Virtual Individuation:
An Empowering Approach to Online Personal Branding for Millennials
The controversial condition of America’s workplace has been continually subjected to the
ebb and flow of its generations in recent years. The collective consciousness of these emerging
and exiting groups has consistently set the trends and foundations for the industries of the nation.
Kratz (2012) suggests millennials, America’s newest generation to enter the workforce (born
loosely between 1981 and 2000), have been noted as tech-savvy individuals who switch between
media platforms (i.e., laptops, smartphones, tablets and TV) an average of 27 times per hour as
opposed to 17 times for previous generations. According to Kratz (2012), 36% of the U.S
workforce will be comprised of millennials by 2014 as the Baby Boomers begin to retire. Despite
their affinity for Internet technology, Schwabel (2012) indicates that the majority of college
students are not harnessing the potential of social media in order to solidify their personal brand.
Schwabel (2012) suggests 75% of millennials are present on social media, yet 93% do not
understand personal branding. Therefore, how can future employees of the millennial generation
optimize their online reputations and influence in today’s competitive job market?
Literature Review
With one billion names being Googled each day it is not uncommon for an individual’s
online reputation to precede them (Ambron, 2012). Ambron (2012) states employers, clients, and
dates have been known to Google prospective individuals. Therefore, the upcoming generation
must ensure that the most relevant and important information about them is displayed. Ambron
(2012) states 50% of people own their first search result, 2% own the full first page of search
results regarding their name, 94% of people only look at the first page of Google search results,
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25% have no positive content on their first page, and 15% have at least one negative or
reputation damaging result.
It also turns out that all social media sites are not created equal. Brand Yourself, an online
reputation startup company began after the co-founder was consistently mistaken for a drug
dealer in Google (Ambron, 2012). The reputation company collected data based on over 100,000
social media profiles ranked in Google. Contrary to what many might think, Ambron (2012)
found that LinkedIn ranked the highest of all social media profiles, Wordpress appeared above
all other blogs including Tumblr and Blogger, Vimeo outranked Youtube, and Flickr reigned in
terms of photo hosting. Millennials looking to optimize their personal search results can utilize
this social media hierarchy in order to strategically build a more viable personal brand.
Once an individual has solidified their personal brand, the next step becomes building
and preserving the validity and currency of their personal brand. With increasing competition,
Laird (2012) states one of the hardest challenges for individual brand managers on the Internet is
to create engaging content. Keeping an audience captivated requires wit, fine communication
skills, and knowledge of one’s chosen niche (Laird, 2012).
Laird (2012) states that 80% of people will read headlines while 20% will read an entire
post, and the inclusion of links with thumbnails, compelling sub headers, line breaks, and
bulleted lists can give users a much more pleasant experience when navigating content.
Therefore, the quality of content is huge and aspiring personal brand managers must offer value
to readers by providing succinct, intriguing and informative content.
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Method
The Virtual Individuation study was designed to see how or if the freshly created social
media profiles of three fictional identities (Michael smith of mCreative, Barron Gallard of BG
Creative, and Michael Smith of Starbucks) with differing properties rank on the first page of a
Google search localized for Houston, TX. The first and last names of each identity were used as
search terms over the course of eight weeks. On Monday of each week, the fictional profiles
were also compared to the ranking of the already existing social media profiles of Garron
Ballard, a Digital Media major at The University of Houston with a personal brand titled Uranian
Digital Media. The goal of the study was to bring the social media profiles of all three fictional
identities to the front page of Google Search as quickly as possible by posting identical digital
media related content three times a day Monday through Friday. In addition, the amount of time
in which front page Google search rankings occurred or did not occur was recorded. Two of the
fictional identities possessed a very common name (Michael Smith) while one possessed a very
unique name (Barron Gallard). The study hypothesized that Barron Gallard, the unique name,
would rank more quickly on the first page of Google search.
Participants
Garron Ballard, a Digital Media major at The University of Houston served as the
participant for the study. Trej Burrell, a nursing student at Houston Community College served
as the face of both Michael Smith (mCreative) and Barron Gallard (BG Creative). Phil Faragher,
a Mathematics major at Wharton County Junior College served as the face of Michael Smith, a
barista at Starbucks and Digital Media major at the University of Houston. In addition, the
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existing friends, followers, and connections of Garron Ballard were asked to friend the fictional
identities.
Materials and Procedure
Three headshots were created with a Canon EOS Rebel T2i and a Canon EF 85mm 1.8
USM lens to serve as the profile photos for both Michael Smiths (mCreative, Starbucks) and
Barron Gallard (BG Creative). Two different headshots were of Trej Burrell and used as profile
photos for Michael Smith (mCreative) and Barron Gallard (BG Creative). The last headshot was
of Phil Faragher and used for the profile photos of Michael Smith (Starbucks). A 27” late 2012
iMac with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom served as the main materials
needed for the study and the Adobe programs were used to professionally retouch all three
headshots.
Next, two fictional identities were simultaneously created on four major social media
platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+) and all fields were filled out on all social
networks, including the keywords of mCreative and BG Creative in order to promote Search
Engine Optimization. A Fan Page and Company page for mCreative and BG Creative were also
created for Facebook and Google +. The U.S. Census Bureau (2010) reported that Michael was
the most common first name during 1990 while the U.S. Social Security Administration (2012)
stated Smith as the most frequent last name during the same year. Hence, the name Michael
Smith was chosen. The second identity created was Barron Gallard (BG creative), a unique name
in order to contrast the commonness of the first identity. A third identity was also created across
all four social networks with the name Michael Smith. However, the third identity was a Barista
at Starbucks and Digital Media Student at The University of Houston without a personal brand, a
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Facebook fan page, and a Google+ company page. In addition, the profiles of Michael Smith
(Starbucks) possessed incomplete information fields, and were not promoted after their creation
in order to represent a casual student’s social media usage behavior.
A two-week period after the creation of the fictional accounts was used to gather friends,
followers, and connections primarily from Garron Ballard’s existing social media accounts. The
social media accounts of Barron Gallard (BG Creative) and Michael Smith (mCreative) were
linked together in HootSuite, a social media management tool which allowed identical posts
related to digital media to be sent across all social media platforms simultaneously. HootSuite
was used to schedule posts three times a day in the morning, afternoon, and night Monday
through Friday over a five-week period beginning on February 25, 2013.
In addition, the online influences of all identities were measured each Monday via
Klout.com in order to gauge the effectiveness of each identity across all social media platforms.
Furthermore, Google search was checked each week to see if the social media platforms of each
identity ranked on the first page of search using their first and last names as keywords.
Results
The search term of Michael Smith had too much competition being such a common name
and therefore never ranked on the first page of search. However, the search terms Michael Smith
and mCreative combined returned the LinkedIn and Facebook fan page for Michael smith at the
beginning of week five. Michael Smith (Starbucks) never ranked on the first page of Google
Search. The LinkedIn, Google+, and Twitter of Barron Gallard ranked as expected, but much
more quickly than anticipated at the beginning of week two without any posting at all. The
Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter of Garron Ballard (Uranian Digital Media) had
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previously ranked before the study began. The Virtual Individuation study ended with Barron
Gallard having the highest Klout score of 29.58 and 134 friends, followers, and connections
overall. Michael Smith (mCreative) finished with a Klout score of 25.33 and 109 friends,
followers, and connections.
Conclusions and Future Study
The front page of Google search was focused on due to the inability to locate a web
page’s exact ranking on Google through legal means. The creation of fictional accounts also
posed a slight issue when one of the accounts, Michael Smith (mCreative) was blocked from
friend requests on Facebook for a period of time since other users indicated that they did not
know the fictional account despite posts from Garron Ballard explaining the Virtual
Individuation study. Another issue was that posts could not be automated for Google+ personal
pages. Therefore, the posts were automated for company pages created for the mCreative and BG
Creative brands. However, the Google+ company pages were introduced at the beginning of the
second week of posting on March 4,, 2013. There was ultimately too much competition for
Michael Smith as a solo keyword in a Google search localized for Houston, TX.
Virtual Individual confirms that social media presence and unique keywords are valuable
keys to effectively managing and promoting a personal brand. The ability of social media to
empower and enliven one’s personal brand is vast and that building a quality audience takes time
and patience. Unique keywords are powerful and impactful tools for Search Engine Pptimization
in relation to Google as indicated by Barron Gallard’s (BG Creative) swift ranking on the first
page of Google search. The observation of Michael Smith (mCreative) over eight weeks reveals
that common names are harder to distinguish in Google search. However, the creation of a well-
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established personal brand such as mCreative can help to combat low search rankings. Not
everyone who connected with the fictional identities on social media had a career related to
digital media. However, the content received a decent amount of interaction, indicating that
participants not seeking careers in digital media are also interested in related topics. Eight weeks
of automated posting also generated social media influence scores that were more than half of
the established brand of Garron Ballard (Uranian Digital Media). A collaborate study with
Google search may be more productive and insightful in the future if meticulously executed.
The results of the Virtual Individuation study were published online at http://cotdigital.tech.uh.edu/~gsballar/vi/. This website was created as an educational resource, contains
interactive and downloadable content related to the study, and is available to anyone who wishes
to use it.
References
1. Ambron, P. (2012). Want to Look Better in Google? Our Data Shows
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You the Best Ways. [Web log post]. Retrieved from Brand Yourself website
http://blog.brandyourself.com/brand-yourselfcom/want-to-look-better-in-google-ourdata-shows-you-the-best-ways-our-first-infographic/
2. Kratz, H. (2012, June 26). Maximizing Millennials: The Who, How, and Why of
Managing Gen Y. [Web log post]. Retrieved from University of North Carolina MBA
website http://onlinemba.unc.edu/mba-at-unc-blog/geny-in-the-workplace/
3. Laird, S. (2012, June 26) How to Build — and Keep — an Engaged Audience.
Retrieved from Mashable website http://mashable.com/2012/06/26/how-to-build-anengaged-audience-infographic/
4.Schawbel, D. (2012, November 12) Millennial Branding and StudentAdvisor.com
Release New Study on Student Career Development. Retrieved from Millennial Branding
website http://millennialbranding.com/2012/11/student-career-development-study/
5. U.S. Census Bureau (2010, April 8) Genealogy Data: Frequently Occurring
Surnames from Census 1990 – Names Files. Retrieved from United States Census Bureau
website http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/data/1990surnames/names_files.html
6. U.S. Social Security Administration (2012, May 14) Millennials: Top names of the
1990s. Retrieved from U.S. Social Security Administration website
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1990s.html
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