Mistakes that damage a personal brand and how to repair them

Eight months off LinkedIn, and the profile still says you are open for villa projects. Or a client sends you a screenshot of a photograph on your page that is not your work. Three mistakes in particular damage a personal brand. One is showing someone else's work or words as yours. Another is posting so much that the posts say nothing. The third is going quiet while the profile says you are active. None needs an announcement. Each needs a corrected profile, one honest piece of work shown, and a rhythm you can keep.

Which one is yours?

Open your profile on a phone as a buyer would, then ask:

• Is every photograph, sentence and idea on it mine, or credited?
• Does my last year of posts say anything I learnt from my own work?
• Is my headline true today?
• If I searched my name plus a client's name, would I be glad of what comes up?

A "no" to the first is the serious one. The other three can be repaired quietly.

Passing off other people's work

This comes in two sizes. The blunt one is taking a photograph, a drawing or a paragraph from somebody else and showing it as yours. The quiet one is telling a story that happened to another person in the first person.

Both can be caught. A buyer who knows the original may spot it at once, and sometimes the original author sees it. A public correction is likely to cost more than a private message sent early.

The repair, in order: take it down today. If the author is findable, write two lines: "I used your photograph on my page on [date] without credit. I have removed it." Do not explain at length. Later, if you want to refer to the idea, name the person, say what you think of it, and add a case of your own.

Posting so much that it says nothing

Volume is not visibility. A designer who posts daily for six weeks and then stops leaves a profile that looks abandoned; one who posts every other week for a year leaves a trail a buyer can read.

Test any post by asking whether someone who hires people like you could learn from it. A festival greeting fails. A line about the question a client asked this week passes.

If you have overposted, do not announce a break. Post less, and make each one carry something from your own work.

Going quiet, and coming back without an apology post

Silence has reasons: a bereavement, an illness, a big job. The buyer does not need the reason. They need to see that you are current. An apology post makes the gap the subject of your first words back, and it hands readers a sense that you owe them something.

Restart in this order:

1. Fix the profile before you post. Headline, current work, city, phone number. Delete claims that are no longer true.
2. Show one recent piece of real work. A finished job, a photograph you took, a lesson from it.
3. Post one useful item. One question a client asked this month, answered in four or five sentences.
4. Pick a pace you can hold, and keep it to yourself instead of announcing it.
5. Write to three old contacts who know your work. A private message to someone who already trusts you costs nothing and can bring a reply the same day.

An interior designer in Thrissur, both mistakes at once

This is an invented case, not a client. A designer in Thrissur did flats and small shops. In the busy season the designer posted a villa interior from a design magazine's feature, with the caption "Our latest project", because the practice's own work looked small beside it. A client who had read the same magazine wrote to ask whether the villa was the designer's own. It was not.

Then a parent fell ill and the posting stopped for most of a year. On returning, the designer wrote a long apology and promised daily posts. The apology drew sympathy from friends and nothing from buyers.

The repair was undramatic. The villa post came down and the client got a note: "That was not my project. I have taken it down and I am sorry." The headline changed from "luxury interiors" to "flats and shops in Thrissur, from design to handover", which was true. One real kitchen went up, with a photo taken by the designer and two lines about what the owner wanted. The apology was deleted and posts settled on alternate Sundays about one design choice. The client who had written stayed, but the enquiries that dried up during the silent year did not come back, and the designer had to win the next few jobs by calling old contacts.

When posting cannot fix it

Some damage sits outside the feed. A false claim, a plagiarised report, an unpaid vendor or a public quarrel can follow your name. Own it privately with the people affected, correct what you can, and do not try to bury it under new content. What shows up when your name is searched is a separate job from what you post.

If you are a registered professional, a claim that breaks your council's rules is a separate matter. Rules differ by state and body and change, so check with your own adviser or regulator.

Start with the profile, not the post

Today, fix the headline, check that every photograph on the page is yours, and write to one old contact. The personal branding hub takes the longer view. If you want help deciding which repair comes first, online reputation management covers what appears when your name is searched, and you can tell us what you need.