????莎瑪?卡巴尼的大部分時(shí)間都用在指導(dǎo)企業(yè)家和首席執(zhí)行官們?nèi)绾瓮ㄟ^(guò)社交媒體進(jìn)行自我宣傳,。她曾經(jīng)寫(xiě)過(guò)一本書(shū)《禪說(shuō)社交媒體營(yíng)銷(xiāo)》（The Zen of Social Media Marketing）,，得到了很好的反響。她成立的數(shù)字化營(yíng)銷(xiāo)公司正在不斷成長(zhǎng),。同時(shí)她還擔(dān)綱一檔網(wǎng)絡(luò)電視節(jié)目的主持人，為人們打造個(gè)人品牌出謀劃策,。

????26歲的卡巴尼友善而直爽,。她給自己品牌的定義是開(kāi)放、充滿(mǎn)生氣,、富有創(chuàng)新性,。但她的行為有時(shí)候與卻與她力圖呈現(xiàn)的平易近人特征背道而馳。在收到一大堆“你真火辣”和“我愛(ài)你”的信息之后,，她取消了Google+賬號(hào)頁(yè)面上的“發(fā)送郵件”的功能,。2010年12月，卡巴尼出人意料地突然取消了對(duì)Twitter上全部16,000人的關(guān)注，希望能減少垃圾郵件和評(píng)論數(shù)量,。她說(shuō)：“局面變得有些不可收拾了,。”

????關(guān)注者對(duì)她的決定看法不一,。有些人在博客上評(píng)論她的舉動(dòng)是“干凈徹底,、斬草除根”。而有些人認(rèn)為她自大而又自私,?？ò湍岢姓J(rèn)這一決定可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致她錯(cuò)失某些機(jī)會(huì)，比方說(shuō)可能會(huì)有些客戶(hù)或者組織找她作為演講嘉賓,。但這也使得她能好好思考如何在各種角色間找到平衡,。

????沒(méi)錯(cuò)，卡巴尼是一位作家,，她通過(guò)多媒體方式友好地為人們答疑解惑,，同時(shí)她也是這種“透明行業(yè)”內(nèi)的一位公司首席執(zhí)行官。然而,，她本人的個(gè)人品牌是否存在曝光過(guò)度的問(wèn)題呢,？她說(shuō)：“曾有人給我建議，剛起步的時(shí)候得有求必應(yīng),。成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)以后就得學(xué)習(xí)如何拒絕他人,。”

????現(xiàn)在只要一鍵點(diǎn)擊就可以登陸Google+,、商務(wù)社交網(wǎng)站LinkedIn,、Twitter和Quora，宣傳自己的途徑比以往任何時(shí)候都多,，而毀掉自己聲譽(yù)的方式同樣很多,。如果只滿(mǎn)足于“他們只要能把我的名字拼對(duì)就行”，那你可能忘記了一點(diǎn)：過(guò)度的自我炒作可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致個(gè)人聲譽(yù)直線(xiàn)下跌,，就像以超乎所有人想象的速度從高級(jí)法拉利跑車(chē)變成年久失修的破車(chē),。關(guān)于這一點(diǎn)，社交名媛帕里斯?希爾頓就是現(xiàn)成的例子,。

????對(duì)于嶄露頭角的新星或者剛剛晉升的公司高管來(lái)說(shuō),，自我宣傳的誘惑尤其危險(xiǎn)。他們獲得某項(xiàng)成功后,，不去想努力獲得更多成功,，而是開(kāi)始厚著臉皮推銷(xiāo)自己。梅塞德斯-奔馳（Mercedes-Benz）美國(guó)公司營(yíng)銷(xiāo)副總裁史蒂夫?卡農(nóng)稱(chēng)：“品牌就是一個(gè)人的承諾,，承諾你真正能夠做到的事情,?！痹摴緦?duì)于形象塑造比較在行。

????位于弗吉尼亞州阿靈頓的麥克科米克集團(tuán)（the McCormick Group）的萊爾?卡爾是一位經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的招聘官,。他說(shuō),，如果有人在簡(jiǎn)歷中未列出實(shí)實(shí)在在的技能和本領(lǐng)，他對(duì)這份簡(jiǎn)歷的印象就會(huì)大打折扣,，他說(shuō)：“就像回到古老的商業(yè)時(shí)代,，我要問(wèn)一句‘干貨在那里？’這些人企圖用個(gè)性來(lái)代替真才實(shí)學(xué),?！?/p>

????有資本吹噓自己好友數(shù)量龐大或者發(fā)Twitter的篇數(shù)很多，這固然很好,，但有時(shí)候,，少就是多。易見(jiàn)咨詢(xún)公司（Vizibility）旨在幫助專(zhuān)業(yè)人士和求職者對(duì)他們的在線(xiàn)身份進(jìn)行管理,。最近,，公司首席執(zhí)行官和創(chuàng)始人詹姆斯?亞歷山大屏蔽了一位LinkedIn用戶(hù)的所有更新。此君每小時(shí)都在發(fā)帖,。亞歷山大說(shuō)：“他已經(jīng)無(wú)權(quán)通過(guò)LinkedIn跟我溝通了,。誰(shuí)都有權(quán)把時(shí)間（這種事確實(shí)占用時(shí)間）和精力花在這些事情上面，但是這么做只會(huì)使別人對(duì)你敬而遠(yuǎn)之”,。

????Shama Kabani spends much of her time teaching entrepreneurs and CEOs to promote themselves on social media. She wrote a well-received book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, owns a growing digital marketing company, and stars in a web-TV show offering advice on building your brand and more.

????Friendly and outgoing, Kabani, 26, defines her own brand as open, vibrant, and innovative. Yet her actions sometimes run counter to the accessibility she works so hard to project. She removed the "send an e-mail" button on her Google+ account after a barrage of "You're so hot" and "I love you" missives. Then, in December 2010, Kabani abruptly stopped following all 16,000 people she had subscribed to on Twitter in hopes of eliminating a barrage of spam and other comments. "It became unmanageable," she says.

????Some followers took her decision personally. A few blogged about her "slash and burn" move; others called her arrogant and selfish. Kabani admits the decision may have resulted in a few lost opportunities, such as potential clients or organizations seeking a speaker. But it also led to a careful deliberation on how to balance her various personas.

????Sure, Kabani is an author, a smiling multimedia answer woman, and a CEO in "an industry of transparency." But was she, in fact, overexposing her own brand? "Someone once gave me advice," she says. "When you start, you say yes to everything. As you grow, you need to learn to say no."

????With Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Quora just a click away, there are more ways to promote yourself than ever -- and just as many ways to screw it up. Worshipers at the temple of "just spell my name right" may have forgotten that overbranding can take someone's reputation from Ferrari to clunker faster than anyone dreamed possible. Just ask Paris Hilton.

????The temptation is particularly perilous for rising stars or newly promoted executives. They develop one success, and instead of growing it into a second and a third, they start selling themselves shamelessly. "The brand is your promise that represents real things that you deliver," said Steve Cannon, vice president of marketing for Mercedes-Benz USA, a company that knows something about image creation.

????Lyles Carr, a veteran recruiter at the McCormick Group in Arlington, Va., says he tends to discount a résumé that doesn't list true accomplishments. "It goes back to the old commercial, 'Where's the beef?' " he says. "They're trying to substitute style for substance."

????While it's nice to be able to boast about the sheer numbers of friends you have or Twitter posts you've made, sometimes less is, in fact, more. James Alexander, CEO and founder of Vizibility, which helps professionals and job seekers control their online identities, recently turned off all the updates from a man on LinkedIn (LNKD) who posted every single hour. "He's lost his privilege to communicate to me in that way," he says. "You can spend all this time and effort -- it does take time -- only to turn around and end up alienating people."