Introduction
Building your personal brand is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. It will help you establish credibility, gain influence and build a successful career. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how to build your personal brand through social media, networking and other methods.
Start with the basics.
There are a few things you need to start with before you can take your personal brand to the next level. First, identify your name and tagline. You may have been using these for years, but it’s important to make sure they still represent who you are now. Next, identify your strengths and weaknesses; this will help determine what kind of content works best for your audience and what topics they’d like to hear more about from you. Next up: target audience! Who do they want information from? What kinds of questions do they ask themselves when looking at something new? Finally (and this might be the hardest part), figure out exactly what kind of person–or company–you want to be seen as online by others through social media profiles or websites where people go when searching for answers about certain topics related specifically within industries like yours.
Understand your story.
- You need to know your story.
- The first step in building your personal brand is understanding who you are, what makes you unique and how others can benefit from that.
- Think about the significant events in your life: graduating from college or high school, starting a family and so on. What were some of the values instilled in those moments? How did they impact who you are today?
- What skills do you possess that would be useful for someone else’s business or life?
- What hobbies do people find interesting because they’re different than most other people’s hobbies?
Be authentic, but also strategic.
You can be authentic and strategic at the same time. In fact, it’s better to be both than either.
Being yourself is important because it makes you more relatable and likable–and therefore more influential; but if everyone else in your industry is trying to develop a brand that’s “real,” then you’ll need something else that sets yours apart from theirs: strategy!
Connect with other influencers and experts.
When you connect with people who are similar to you, it’s easy for them to understand your message and relate to what you’re saying. However, the more people who can relate to your message, the more influential and credible it will be.
Connecting with other influencers and experts in different industries (or even just different fields) allows for an exchange of ideas that is mutually beneficial: they may help increase your audience size while also increasing theirs. For example, if I am a content creator who specializes in writing about marketing strategy but my goal is to grow my following by creating more video content–I could reach out someone who has built up an audience through YouTube videos or Instagram stories because they have likely had similar experiences as mine when starting out on those platforms
Develop your voice, style, and tone of voice.
- Develop your voice, style, and tone of voice.
- Be authentic. Your brand is about who you are as a person–the way that you speak and write should reflect this in a way that feels natural to readers or listeners. If there’s something about the way that you talk or write that feels forced or unnatural, then it probably isn’t going to resonate with anyone else either!
- Be consistent across platforms (social media accounts, website content). This consistency helps people recognize the “voice” associated with your personal brand so they know what to expect when interacting with any type of content related directly back towards said personal brand itself including but not limited too: product reviews/recommendations/advice columns written by someone else but published under their name instead…etcetera).
Develop a personal brand mission statement.
- A personal brand mission statement is a short and sweet summary of the core values that drive your career. It should be memorable, inspiring, and easy to tweet or post on LinkedIn. You should have one because it helps you stay focused on what’s important in life. Your personal brand mission statement can remind you why certain opportunities matter more than others–and keep those opportunities from taking up too much time and energy (or money).
- Here’s how to create one: first, think about what matters most in life–your family? Your work? Finding balance between work and play? Then write down three words that describe how these things make you feel when they’re going well: “happy”, “fulfilled”, “empowered” are all good starts! Next finally take those three words and string them together into an easy-to-share sentence like this one: “My goal is always being happy with who I am as both a person & professional.”
A personal brand is created by storytelling and messaging that aligns with who you are, what you stand for, and your values
A personal brand is created by storytelling and messaging that aligns with who you are, what you stand for and your values. It’s about how you want to be perceived by others. A professional brand is similar but focuses on the work that you do rather than who are as an individual. A business brand is often confused with a personal or professional brand, however they are quite different:
- Personal Brand = How people perceive me when they interact with me or hear my name mentioned
- Professional Brand = What I offer in terms of services/products (for example, if I own a restaurant)
- Business Brand = The overall image of our company as seen through our marketing materials such as website design & social media posts
Conclusion
In the end, a personal brand is created by storytelling and messaging that aligns with who you are, what you stand for, and your values. Your story should be authentic, but also strategic–it’s important to understand how others perceive this story and how they’ll react if they hear it from others. Once you have this information in hand (and only then!), you can begin building your brand by developing a mission statement that reflects those values while still being true to yourself as an individual. In short: don’t try too hard! It should feel natural when talking about yourself or presenting yourself publicly because it flows out naturally through conversation rather than being forced through repetition alone.
