25 Personal Branding Statistics You Should Know

The idea of a “personal brand” became widely known after Tom Peters introduced it in his 1997 Fast Company article, The Brand Called You.

However, the personal branding concept has really skyrocketed over the past few years, largely due to the growth of social media and the emergence of influencers.

In fact, Google searches for the term ‘personal brand’ have increased over 4x in recent years.

It seems that everyone, from a recent graduate to the CEO, is building their personal brand on LinkedIn. The phenomenon has even spread to more entertainment-driven platforms like TikTok.

But why should you build a personal brand?

What impact will it have on your career and your company?

We’ve got all of the personal branding statistics you need to know 👇

• LinkedIn has become pretty essential for anyone in the B2B sector. In fact, 89% of B2B professionals use LinkedIn for professional purposes (Synup).
• 28% of hiring managers say the most effective resources for finding candidates are their online profiles (G2).
• 98% of employers conduct background research about candidates online (The Manifest).
• 47% of employers are less likely to interview a candidate they can’t find online (Career Builder).
• LinkedIn users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive job opportunities through the platform (LinkedIn).

• 82% of people are more likely to trust a company when its senior executives are active on social media (Entrepreneur).
• Financial readers trust leaders who have personal brands on social media more than those who don’t by a ratio of 6:1 (Brunswick).
• 67% of Americans would be willing to spend more money on products and services from companies whose founders’ personal brands align with their own values (Brand Builders Group).
• Executives estimate that 44% of their company’s market value is directly attributable to their CEO’s reputation (Weber Shandwick).
• 90% of employees agree that when a company’s leadership is active on social media, brand image is enhanced (Reaction Power).

Check out our piece on 28 executive social media statistics for more on the impact your leadership team’s social media presence has.

• 70% of employers say that a personal brand is more important than a resume or CV (WiserNotify).
• Hinge Marketing identified five levels of ‘visible expertise’ a professional can have. Those in the ‘global superstar’ category command 13x more pay than experts without visibility (Hinge).
• 74% of Americans are more likely to trust someone with an established personal brand (Brand Builders Group).
• 84% of consumers believe that a company’s reputation is influenced by employee personal brands (Forbes).
• 80% of recruiters consider personal branding important when evaluating job candidates (The Manifest).

• 92% of people trust recommendations from people, even if they don’t know them, over brands (Nielsen).
• Branded messages from employees are reshared 24 times more often than the same messages shared by companies (MSLGroup).
• 32% get their business-related content or thought leadership content from “social media influencers I follow in my sector” (Sapio Research).
• Leads generated via employees’ social media convert 7x more frequently than other leads (IBM).
• Employees have an average of 10x more connections than their company page has followers (LinkedIn).

Related post: employee advocacy statistics you need to know.

Whether you’re a job seeker, a business leader, or an employee, building a strong online presence can open doors to new opportunities, increase trust, and drive business success.

Social media plays a critical role in your personal brand, with platforms like LinkedIn proving invaluable for professional growth. For companies, having an active leadership team and employee advocacy program on social media can enhance your reputation, boost content engagement, and even impact revenue.

It’s clear that investing in your personal brand (and your team’s) can give you a serious competitive advantage.

Learn more about growing your personal brand on social media 👇

• How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile for Success.
• How To Build a Personal Brand as an Employee.
• Case Study: How Krauthammer Empowered Salespeople to Build Personal Brands.

I’d also recommend checking out this podcast episode, where Anna Bertoldini reveals how she empowers employees at NielsenIQ to build their personal brands: