Personal brands: we all have one. Every status, tweet and statement you make – both on and offline – plays a part in how other people perceive you. So, how effectively are you communicating this information? There are two ways to think about it: the tangible and intangible. The tangible outcome is how your own personal brand is going to commercially benefit your target market. The intangible outcome is more about bolstering that all-important connection with your audience. Individuals that can find the balance between offering personal content while staying commercially vigilant are the ones that will leave a lasting impression.
Anyway, enough of my gassing; it’s over to the experts to provide their advice on building your own indestructible personal brand.
1. Post content that’s relevant and engaging
“Go to the social networks where your customers hang out and post interesting and engaging content – either stuff you’ve written or content you’ve curated,” says Tim Hughes, co-founder of Digital Leadership Associates. “The mistake people often make is taking shortcuts. But people come to a conclusion about you when they find your details online. If you post boring corporate content, people will think you’re boring. Make sure you help people come to the right conclusion.”
2. Hone in on your strengths
“You need to decide what you’re going to be famous for. What’s your superpower?” asks Tim. “I decided three years ago I was going to be famous for social selling. I then set out to get every article on social selling before anybody else, and started blogging on social selling, whereupon a publisher came knocking and I’m now a best-selling author on the subject. To set yourself apart from others, you need to share and engage with people that work in your area. Think of yourself as a ‘camp fire’, where people sit around and listen to what you say. That will make you stand out.”
3. Have fun (but respect your audience too)
Some brands might argue that maintaining a professional focus is the way to go. But Doug Kessler, creative director at Velocity, believes in a different approach. “Fun has always been my guide,” he says. “If it’s fun, you’re probably doing the right thing. Also, hard work is a core value, but if something’s fun, it doesn’t feel like hard work – just long hours. Then, as a content marketer, respect for the audience is a fundamental value. I hate shortcuts that save you time and effort but cheat the audience.”
4. Know your audience
“Make a list of your ideal audience, how they like to be communicated with and what will influence their opinion – then interact with them,” says Rebecca Little, MD at ResourceiT Consulting. “Building your reputation is simpler if you know what you want people to think of you, and then reverse-engineer a strategy. Creating a carefully thought out social schedule of interesting collateral, live updates on what you’re working on, and interesting and quirky articles will keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.”
5. Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth
“Visibility is a consequence, not an action,” says Scot McKee, MD at Birddog. “To become or remain visible, you have to create and maintain a credible position in your market. Stop talking about yourself and do things that encourage others to talk about you. The visibility of your brand is exponentially proportionate to how effectively it’s amplified by your connected network: if you tell your message to one person, you’ve told one person. If they then tell two of their friends, who tell two of their friends, who tell two of their friends… you get the picture. You can make a lot of noise that no one hears, but you can be almost silent and everyone listens. Only one thing is certain – if you do nothing, nothing is exactly what’ll happen.”
6. Be authentic
Scot emphasises the need to focus on the customer: “Stop worrying about ‘USPs’ and start worrying about customers – what they need and want instead of what you think they might buy. Stop trying to ‘be different’ and just try to ‘be’. Carving out a niche is as much about authenticity as it is about effort, budget or even competence. If you care enough about something and communicate that passion and belief, the rest will follow. It’s the only way to drive creativity forward.”
7. Synergise your personal brand with your company brand
Jason Miller, group manager of global content and social media marketing at LinkedIn, shares an ingenious strategy for merging personal and professional networks to amplify personal brands: “The most effective approaches to employee advocacy involve a strategic partnership between your brand and your people – helping them to develop their own personal brands at the same time as increasing the reach of your content. On average, a company’s employees have 10 times more connections than it has followers. Start by identifying your most likely advocates and involving them in your content planning. Share your editorial calendar with them, talk about the content you have coming up and plan together how they can best amplify it.
“We recently tracked the impact of employee sharing on the reach and engagement of LinkedIn’s own content. During a year, it added 15 million in extra reach and resulted in people engaging with our content on over 44,000 more occasions.”
