Personal branding is about how you market yourself. When people look at your social media accounts, do they get what you do and who you are? The way you build your personal brand involves pretty much what product or company brands need to build their own. You need a logo, a voice, an identity, but you also need to provide content on social media on a consistent basis, which will provide value so that people begin to trust you to the point they want to do business with you. When discussing personal branding, think about how celebrities like Kanye West have built their own brand. I bet you can clearly describe who he is, how he acts, and what he stands for, in a positive or negative way, but you get the idea. Think about Suze Orman and you will probably first say she is an expert in personal finance. Last, but not least, think about Gary Vaynerchuk, who I don’t even know personally, but have a clear idea about who he is: a funny, hyperactive, cool dude who is a social media industry expert dedicated to sharing his knowledge with marketers like us so that we can help our clients move forward on social.
Just right before we build a personal brand, there is the fact that we need to follow our passion and believe what we’re doing. In Building a Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape, Gary Vaynerchuk discusses how a personal brand is about legacy; about leaving something that “your grandchildren will be proud.”Doing something we love and we’re passionate about will result in a winning formula of brand equity. Once we’re 100% sure about this, we’re ready to be memorable. Here is the clip of the video:
In his book, Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop your Business, Chris Brogan summarizes what building a strong brand on social media is all about: ““You might want to be memorable, and you might want to transfer your real-world reputation to the online world. A strong personal brand is a mix of reputation, trust, attention, and execution.” (Brogran, 234). Building a personal brand is about what makes you different. I think Brogan just hit right on the spot. In order to build a memorable brand, we need to effectively and consistently merge together those elements. I don’t personally know Gary Vaynerchuk, but I’m sure he is the same guy offline and online.
If you want people to remember you as a wine expert, the way you combine all elements of building that brand as a wine expert need to portray just that. If you want to position yourself as a Facebook expert, you need to build your brand around that, not around other social media channels so people understand and know what makes you unique and how your are different? For example, it’s very clear by now that Mari Smith is a Facebook expert. The reason is not solely the visual part of her appearance on different platforms, but take a look at consistency here:
In the video Building a Personal Brand, Jacob Cass discusses some important elements for building a personal brand, such as the following:
- Defining your brand
- Creating online presence
- Utilizing networks
Within each element, there are some considerations, such as visual identity, giving the brand a voice, and building relationships. Cass is the perfect example of a person who was able to find a job because of how he previously built his foundation on social media. Of the three components he mentions, I would say the visual identity makes a difference because it’s the first impression. If I see a blog which has different colors, font types, and text sizes than the same company’s website, I envision inconsistency. If I visit a company’s website, and the “about” section lacks information and there are no thumbnails of case studies, I will question, “what does this company stand for?” The opposite happens with Mari Smith. Based on the content she writes and how she has built credibility plus the fact that she is consistent, I can say I’m 100% sure who she is, what she does, and what she stands for.
The tips presented on 17 Advanced Methods for Promoting New Piece of Content mostly refer to how to build relationships with influencers, joining conversations and communities to enhance our personal brand on social media. This is particularly important when your starting to build your brand. The more you participate on your influencer’s discussions by adding some of your own points and opinion, the more likely you will be noticed, that is if they think you’re contributing by adding value. I really appreciate the advice about sending an email to sources. In addition to establishing communication with them, we are showing some appreciation about what they do and we are letting them know who we are. This increases the chance of doing work together in the future. This doesn’t mean that you have to sit down now and write an email to that someone you admire in your industry with no particular reason. Think about what you’re going to say first. If it’s asking for a quote for your next blog post, please introduce yourself and let him or her know what’s the topic of the post, describe what you need and be thankful in advance!
Taking these pieces of advice from the experts should help you build your own brand. It takes a lot of time, patience, trial and error to reach that point in which people begin to know you, trust you, and hopefully look for you. In the end, this whole discussion is about marketing yourself. If you intend to build relationships with your customers, it all begins with your personal brand. Consistency is key!
Estrategia y Comunicación en las Redes Sociales 