Young journalists are told to ‘build your brand.’ What does that even mean today?

Eager young journalists flock to summer coffee chats and tell-all panel events, looking for the precise tools to jump-start long and sustainable media careers. Instead, they are left stalled on this loaded, ambiguous piece of advice: “Build your brand.”

Questions ensue: What does that mean? Why does it matter? Is there a template to follow?

“Suddenly, having your own presence online, and thinking about what your brand is and how that might help you land your next job or create the next opportunity, or just create some security for you in this crazy industry, like that stuff starts to become really important,” said Craig Silverman, co-founder of Indicator.

Brand-building has existed across time and industries, including news. The difference is that personal promotion — say, through growing a following on (formerly) Twitter — used to be a means to land that legacy news job.