In this article, encounter your brief guide for personal branding
To help you apprehend important concepts of personal branding, let me start with a simple example.
You all must be following your favorite bloggers on Instagram and Snapchat, right?
You love watching their vlogs and honestly believe in their product reviews. You don't miss any of their Youtube videos. You are just crazy about them!
The process of making yourself so engaging in digital media that instantly catches visitors’ attention is called personal branding. By implementing easy steps of personal branding, social media stars are gaining followers and clients globally.
Are you also trying to be famous on social media just like the cute little girl in the GIF? If yes, then proceed reading to explore a fantastic guide for self-marketing.
However, if you are getting troubled in managing and retaining your pre-constructed personal branding, then we have another section jotted for you. Cast an eye over it.
"Your brand is what people talk about you when you are not in the room – remember that. And more importantly, let's discover why - Chris Ducker
Wait. You must be wondering about the other benefits of personal branding. We have solved your query in one go.
1. Easy way to get clients
People can view your work portfolio on the website or social pages. They can access the past customer reviews and successful projects on the web. People can refer you to clients for relevant work.
2. Gives you long term benefits
Your brand profile will evolve over time. You can create a pool of loyal clients by a proper presentation of yourself and your brand. This worthiness will convince you to start new ventures in the future.
3. Authority
Personal branding creates trust among the client and the provider. It helps the entrepreneur or blogger to emerge as a change-maker leader.
4. Strong social connections
You can easily make an offline and online networking circle. These contacts help you with the acknowledgment of your work.
"Your brand is a promise to your clients… a promise of quality, consistency, competency, and reliability." - Jason Hartman
I have figured out a few steps to run a profitable personal brand campaign. Let’s gear up with step 1.
Step1
Create a well-defined cornerstone
Who you are and what is your business?
On a prior basis, figure out your vision, mission, and prospects. Work on your mission statement and then showcase your authentic self to the public. Let there be no room for any form of fabrication. Your branding should speak about your aims, objectives, skills, passion, and values.
Core elements of a concrete personal brand profile:
- Brand Vision
How you want others to know yourself and your products? How do you visualize that in your mind?
- Brand Mission
Why do you want to get famous? How are you going to work for the people? What are your goals?
- Fundamental values and beliefs
What things do you support? Mention some of your core values here.
- Passion and skills
An actual list of your skills and passions. What else expertise do you hold? How other skills help in perfecting your brand?
"People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic." - Seth Godin
STEP2
Create good networks
I love my friends and colleagues
An effective way to achieve popularity among competitors is to have several contacts. Your contacts will bring you immense profits by giving shout outs for your brand. They can catch some potential customers for you.
How to expand my social networks?
Mention your customized URL on your website and social media accounts. This way, people can quickly get in touch with you. It will also boost your search engine optimization ranking.
Take an example of my LinkedIn profile where you can find relevant URLs.
Make sure you own an engaging LinkedIn business profile. Enhance your customer-client relationship by following notable industry leaders and entrepreneurs. To cite, Vikas Tiwari has 500 plus connections on LinkedIn.
- Remain connected with your alumni for business promotions.
- Monetize online training and worship sessions with your clients and employees.
STEP 3
Build kickass social media profiles
Social media accounts of successful entrepreneurs or bloggers are active and updated. It creates ease in marketing and driving leads. To create optimized social media profiles, follow the tools listed below:
Professional pictures
High-quality professional headshots will give an excellent first impression of yourself.
Zestful headings
Catchy headings and titles attract visitors to your profiles. Take an example of Vikas Tiwari's LinkedIn profile; the title clearly shows who he is.
Attach your work portfolio links on your accounts. It can be blogs and articles. It will give authenticity proof. Just like Vikas Tiwari's LinkedIn profile has links to articles and activities.
Be active on all the trending social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
STEP 4
Design a content strategy
Do you like what I write?
Use innovative ideas for content promotion. Use creative ideas of content promotion, such as usage of keywords for higher Google ranking. Here are the helpful ways of designing a content strategy:
- Post regular blogs on your website considering the trending keywords.
- Quality helpful articles
- Podcasts
- YouTube inspirational videos
- Infographics
- Case studies
By now, you are ready to start personal branding
Go with the trends and make your website creative. Stay optimistic with the active and passive criticism received on your work. Try to learn and improve. Try to reference multi-national companies in your posts to create a great rapport among the competitors. Arrange online panel discussions about the trending topics on your LinkedIn profile with other clients or competitors. I would conclude by saying that personal branding is all about how distinctly you display yourself to the customers.
For your ease, I have designed a checklist. I hope, it will be fruitful to you.
Steps: Create a well-defined cornerstone Brand Mission, Brand Vision, Passion, and skills
Create a well-defined cornerstone Brand Mission, Brand Vision, Passion, and skills
Deadline to follow: Maximum 1 week
Steps: Build kickass social media profiles Facebook, Instagram, Websites and LinkedIn
Deadline to follow: Maximum 2 weeks
Steps: Design a content strategy Articles, Blogs, YouTube, Vibes, and Podcasts
Deadline to follow: Uploading dope content regularly
Steps: Create good networks - My Social Circle
Deadline to follow: Steadily build a supportive network
If you have any ambiguity in starting your personal branding, feel free to contact me at the provided email address. Best of luck nigga!
8 Fruitful ways to revamp your Personal Brand
Let me take a quick follow up. So, are you worried about the poor performance of your Personal Brand? Are you receiving unsatisfactory responses from your network or no response at all!? Are you unable to produce captivating content for your posts? Well...take a deep breath.
I know building a personal or professional brand is a hectic task. It demands consistency, effectiveness, and the right marketing approach. I have seen many business people, influencers, and bloggers struggling hard to preserve the essence of their Personal Branding. It seems complicated for you, right? But it is quite easy-breezy.
Let's dig in to explore a few useful ways of elevating your Personal Brand.
1. Make use of weekly email marketing
Email newsletters are an informal way of marketing yourself to others. It holds great significance for catching the right audience for your Personal Brand and prospects.
You can draft a casual and crispy email for your subscribers, business colleagues, and friends. Make sure that the subject is captivating enough to compel the receiver to open and read it.
You can share informative stuff regarding your future ventures. You can inform them about your recent accomplishments or accreditation. How about sharing valuable blogs with them?
It depends on the type of audience you hold in your social vicinity. I usually open one or two email newsletters of my friends once a week and remain updated about their professional outlooks.
So, are you thinking to adopt this tool to bootstrap your Personal Brand?
2. Take help from Facebook!
You must be aware of sponsored ads on facebook, no? Likewise, Facebook holds a personal branding campaign to strengthen social media profiles and generate use of traffic.
Facebook will make your profile appear on the timeline of targeted brands and users. I usually see such posts on my account too, and I prefer to visit at least one of the profiles. This is how people will get to know you.
I guess it costs $3 for a day. Don't you think its highly cost-effective when compared with the hundred dollars fees of marketing agencies?
Dean Steadman, CEO of Dignity Bio Labs, quoted, "Facebook presents you with the ability to put yourself in front of the exact audience you want to attract. I suggest that everyone starts a public page in order to have a personal brand on the platform that is separate from your personal profile...This is an effective strategy that is affordable for all entrepreneurs."
3. Remain committed to LinkedIn
Show your presence and activeness on LinkedIn with great zeal. LinkedIn holds a plethora of professionals who are mainly connecting with each other with content.
Immanuel Debeer, digital marketing manager of Flight Hacks, acknowledged the value of LinkedIn by saying, "LinkedIn has seen a major increase in popularity this year, which gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to be seen and heard by a very large and now active audience..."
Post and share long-form content related to your profile and current topics to engage the audience. Viewers can then connect to you by commenting on or sharing your content on other platforms.
4. Get a professional headshot
For professionals, it is highly vital to avoid sharing fancy or casual pictures as their social profiles because of the first impression matters. Make sure you display the same headshot on all your social profiles and website. It reflects your professionalism and personality. A selfie or poor quality headshot can ruin your Personal Brand, and I strongly believe in it.
Do you agree with me?
5. Twitter is trending, and so you should
All the celebrities, bloggers, influencers, politicians, and public figures have an account on twitter. They express their opinions and concerns, and this how we remain connected to our people.
I have seen people ignoring Twitter because they consider it only for tweeting. Do you have the same opinion?
Whenever you have an upcoming event or want to let your followers know about your soon-to-be-launched venture, then start a hashtag campaign. You might run it for a week or more. If it comes in trending, then congrats because you are also trending with it.
Also, do share your opinions about trending topics on comments or Twitter to let your voice be heard by others.
6. Have you given a thought about vlogging?
Vlogging is so a 2019 thing. I see numerous entrepreneurs, actors, and businesspeople using Youtube to vlog.
Involve people in your business by letting them know about your work life, entrepreneurial journey, or any event broadcast. The content and video need to be eye-catching.
Just take a day out and plan to shoot something interesting. Your first vlog should be about yourself and your journey. With time, you will start gaining views and subscribers. You can begin to mentoring and guiding your audience.
If you feel the need to incorporate the taste of storytelling in your vlog, then look for What A Story.
7. Your local communities can help you gain credibility
Try to get connected to any NGO or community servicing organization. Donate your efforts and time by utilizing your skills. If you are good at digital marketing, you can run an online donation campaign.
NGOs are always beneficial in linking their workers to people like and media persons. You may be asked to give a TV or newspaper interview to discuss NGO's progress. Once you start investing yourself in local organizations, you will soon find a sea of opportunities waving at you.
8. Podcasting…?
I have seen a new trend of podcasts for the last two years. It has phenomenally helped entrepreneurs to gain appreciation and clients. You can also try it and see if it works for you.
The purpose of podcasts is much similar to Facebook and Twitter. It helps in sharing your profile and work. It strengthens and adds value to your Personal Branding journey. The installation and operating cost of the podcast is minimal with ease of portability.
These are some of the efficacious and productive personal branding strategies. I hope it will be helpful for the ones who are trying hard to maintain the rhythm of their Personal Brand.
Just a few good words before I end…
Three things will always help you in skyrocketing your Personal Brand; be yourself, practice self-reflection, and stay open to changes.
Best wishes!
