Jane Strong Designs

Virtual spaces are so odd. Whether in Zoom or Teams or some other platform, our communication is confined to a rectangle of real estate. That tiny square has become part of our online persona or brand, if you like. When we think of personal brand in communication, there are three main considerations: oral, written, and visual.

Oral communication consideration are things like volume, inflection, speed, enunciation, pronunciation, and vocal energy. These elements are tailored to audience and situation. In a virtual setting, our box confines us to whatever audio we have at our disposal. Some people rely on their device’s audio, while others have headsets and mics. If you are delivering content on Zoom or Teams, you may find it difficult to gauge the appropriate volume and energy for the situation. Conversations can be a little rough with limited nonverbal cues so we sometimes speak over each other or delay speaking because cognitive process takes more time.

Written communication displays our personality, our skill level, and our intent. Business communication is a more formal expression of communication. On Zoom or Teams, the chat function is our written communication source. Chats are by nature informal communication so we drop a lot of the conventions that we use in other business genres.

Visual communication in person branding encompasses things like clothing choice, hair styles, accessory choices, nonverbal gestures, facial expressions, color choices, and more. These elements convey our personality, level of formality, demographics, geographic, preferences, and respect for audience among other things. On Zoom or Teams, we are not only managing our person. Our backgrounds and lighting and framing are all visual communication elements that define our brand.

Our boxes must be managed in the same way that we manage our person. For example, good lighting on your face allows others to see you and aids in communication efforts. Bad lighting makes it seem like you are trying to hide. Box management also includes camera angle and eye contact. Nobody wants to look up your noise or at your ceiling. Eye contact is important in the virtual space. On a device, this is translated as looking at the camera which is not a natural thing for us to do. Many people use filters to hide their backgrounds. If done well, it is a good way to manage your box. If done poorly, it can be very distracting to the viewer. It may also come across as not being authentic. There really are some many visual communication things to consider here.

Your virtual box is an important part of your brand and should not be ignored. Take some time to consider what you are communicating in your virtual real estate. Turning your video off is the easy way out and will not improve your online persona so that should not be your answer. Here is a great exercise to help you with this process:

Take a pencil and paper. Draw a rectangle in the center and sketch yourself in it. Use the rectangle as a center of a mind map. Then, take some time to brainstorm how you would like to be perceived in your virtual box – friendly, professional, interesting, engaged listener, authentic, strong communicator, etc… Look at your list and think about how you can use your space to convey those attributes. Make a list of things that you can realistically do to become the virtual person you want to see. Then, implement those changes to greatly improve your virtual brand.