Personal Branding means to establish and promote something unique about a person what he or she stands for. A person’s personal brand is a unique combination of skills and experiences that makes him different than others. An effective personal branding differentiates and makes a person stand out from others in a professional field.
The term ‘personal brand ‘ was first used 20 years ago (1997) by the American writer Tom Peters in an edition of Fast Company magazine.
Peters defined personal branding like this:
“The personal brand links your passions, your key attributes and your strengths with a value proposition, making clear what differentiates you from others.”
I prefer to summarize and update it to our time as the set of actions that define the identity of a person on the Internet.
Why is it Important to Establish Personal Branding?
Because, today, people rely more on public figures that have the recognition of others on the Internet.
Verified profiles, reputation points, user recommendations, and everything that generates online recognition.
Then, it becomes fundamental for anyone to gain and increase recognition in front of others, be it a competition, colleagues, clients, etc.
Where to Start for Personal Branding?
It is important to keep in mind that the personal brand defines a person.
Thanks to the internet and social media which helps show a unique combination of skills and personality of a person to establish a personal brand.
For a personal brand, social networks are increasingly supportive, giving them the possibility to leave anonymity or strengthen their careers and projects.
Here I am going to explain how to achieve it.
Many people are experts in cars, football, entertainment, music, dance, arts, technology, education, finance, cooking, sports, travel, martial arts, photography, or anything for that matter. It starts there.
What is your forte? What are you passionate about? Why do people always recognize you?
What is considered good about you?
What would you do for the rest of your life with a smile on your face?
Start there.
When you have defined what it is that moves you, that you are passionate about and what gives your life meaning, the next step is to start showing it to the world.
It all comes down to content creation. Basically, there are 4 formats: video, text, image, and audio. Is it good to produce any of them?
If you are not good at any of the content creation formats, it does not matter. Find someone who is good at creating content in your preferred format.
Ask their help to document what you do and take care of your story. Don’t worry, you are still the protagonist.
How to Get Others to See Your Personal Brand?
Here it is important to take advantage of social networks.
It is already clear that the Internet has become a place where everyone participates and these platforms are their stage to make themselves known.
Video
If you are a professional having skills like public speaking or something which is unique and you want to showcase your talent, then having videos showing your skills is a good idea.
Video content is on very high demand nowadays and people consume video content more than ever before now.
Hence, creating meaningful and engaging video content will help you make your message reach your audience quickly.
Text
Content is king on the internet. Text content still tops all of the other content formats.
If you are a storyteller, or a blogger creating meaningful and engaging content will help you make your message reach your audience effectively.
Write about the specialized topics you are an expert into. This way people reading your content would recognize you as a specialist in that particular field.
Image
A picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes you don’t need a copy or text to explain anything, but a picture that explains everything.
For instance, a photographer can tell a whole story from his pictures. So, if you are a photographer, or in a field where you can share your story through pictures you can go for this form of content creation.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Flickr, etc., are the social media networks where you can share your pictures and get the attention of your target audience.
Once your target audience starts to recognize you then it is quite easy for you to establish yourself as a professional or an individual brand in that particular area.
Audio
People nowadays are multi-tasking and they want to accomplish many tasks at the same time. Having an audio content format helps make your messages reach your audience while they are doing something else like driving.
While driving, or running, or jogging people can listen to the audio and consume the message of the content.
Radio messages, songs, podcasts, etc., are the best way to make your messages reach your audience while they are doing something else than reading or watching content.
This allows them to be multi-tasking and accomplishing several tasks at the same time.
Create a Website to Showcase Your Personal Brand
Creating a website is a good idea to develop your personal branding.
A website would help you showcase all of the content formats from one single platform.
This also allows you to have a personal electronic real estate of your own.
You can interact with your audience from your personal website.
They can also contact you or hire you for your services from your personal website.
Make Best Use of Social Media for Personal Branding
Finally, give some scope to your strategy in social networks. You need to define specific roles for each of the social media channels you want to make use of.
Try to establish relationships with other people in your sector. It will help you network with like-minded people and reach you to the right audience. LinkedIn and Twitter are the best online platforms you can use to connect with the people from your industry.
Conclusion
Personal branding is quite necessary at the present time.
Your personal brand defines how you are recognized in the industry. Having a personal brand also helps you get better career opportunities and establish your own individual identity in your field of expertise.
Social media helps a lot in creating your personal brand and then spreading your message and drive fan following.
Having defined which platforms can best serve your strategy, the only thing left is to produce content on a frequent basis.
Try to achieve a greater reach every time and share them in the right places and to the relevant audience.
If you want to establish your personal brand, I can give you personal branding advice. Get in touch to create your own personal brand.
Recommended Read: How to Create a Strong Brand Profile
