Influencers, bloggers, streamers, etc. all use social media to promote and popularize their brand or product, share unique thoughts and advice with their target audience. It is the exact place where is a large information coverage and active users with whom you can interact to obtain effective results.
So what is personal branding on social media, how to create it, how important is it, and is it needed at all? This is what we are going to talk about in this article.
What is a “personal brand”?
Your brand is what people see in you. Each of us has positive qualities, and there are those that need some improvement. Building personal branding is one of the first things to think about. The foundation of a person is always those core values that he receives in childhood and adolescence.
This is a good attitude to people, social and work ethic, honesty, and confidence in yourself and his actions. If you grow your personal brand at the same time as your business brand even if your company fails, your public reputation and the respect and confidence associated with it will give you the ability to start a new project and continue growth on an established basis.
What is personal branding on social media?
In reality, each of us creates our own personal brand when we start a blog on one of the social media platforms. Even if you do not use this platform to promote your products and services, you still tell about yourself and communicate with others. This is the image that you project into the world. Those aspects of your personality that you are willing to share with others. And it all depends on you whether this is a positive or negative image.
The best examples of personal branding on social media are the pages of various celebrities. In most cases, such pages are run by specially hired agents who know exactly when and what information to give for the million-army of admirers of the star’s talent. As a rule, these pages contain a lot of advertisements, slightly diluted with personal photos.
But even here there are some nuances, since creating a page on social networks, these people were already recognizable and had a certain “credibility” among admirers of their talents.
The easiest way is to a surprise reaction. According to Andy Warhol everyone has a right to 15 minutes of fame. All sorts of shows, like “The Voice” or “America got talent”, are built on this principle. The producers of TV shows use this principle to seek people on YouTube or Instagram. This is the method and it works. The method is controversial and does not always guarantee future recognition, but it exists and has the right to it.
The second way is to promote yourself as a brand every day of your life. This means that you will tell about yourself, your life, your hobbies and immediately advertise yourself as a manufacturer of any goods and services.
And the third option is to create two pages, one of which will be open only for friends and family, and the second will introduce you to the whole world.
How to get started with personal branding on social media
- Define your positioning.
- Create a portrait of the target audience (gender, age, interests, hobbies).
- Choose the social platform where you will promote your persona.
- Analyze your competitors (positive and negative sides).
- Formulate the main message that you will use in your content.
- Design social networks with a short and laconic description.
- Create a content plan, publish situational posts independently, use your personal hashtag.
- Post relevant content that matches your style or expert status, lifestyle, hobbies, values, etc.
- Promote your account with targeted advertising. It will help you find more interested people.
Besides it, let’s look at the Five Rules for Creating a Personal Branding on Social Networks:
Step #1. Find out how others see you
This is the most important rule for everyone who has or wants to build their own personal brand. Of course, only you can decide what personal qualities you want to show and emphasize, but before you do this, it would be better to make sure that you really have these qualities. Because a person himself isn’t always able to assess himself objectively.
Step #2. Be real
Obviously, your personal branding needs to be truly personal. Frequently, when a person tries to make an impression, he creates an image for himself, which one way or another differs from his true self. It is good if the created image has small differences, which are designed to help psychologically support the person.
So, for example, many speakers create a more charismatic image in order to cope with the worry in front of the audience. However, if your picture is radically different from your actual one, your audience will note and lose trust in you sooner or later.
The main advice in this situation is don’t be scared of failures. We all have ups and downs, moments of glory, and streaks of bad luck.
Believe that if in the process of creating your personal branding you post not only photos from your vacation, or from expensive restaurants, but also how you lost your first $10,000 borrowed on credit, or how during two months ate exclusively fast food – this information will significantly increase the level of trust to you.
Step #3. Learn to promote yourself without resorting to humble bragging
Of course, we all want to brag about our accomplishments more, but how do we do so without being too boastful?
1st Method
Use the “show, not tell” principle. The “problem, action, result” scheme is the best one.
2nd Method
Do not forget that you are not the only one who creates your image. So it makes sense to talk about your team (if there is one) and how you interact with it, how they help you. If you are a professional, who is used to work alone remember the support of friends and family.
3rd Method
You do not need to apologize for your achievements. Therefore, talk about them openly, but without excessive self-confidence. You can say, “I got a promotion today and I’m very proud of it”. Or: “This is what I really wanted and I am so glad that I was able to achieve it”. Be sure, people will respect you for your honesty.
Step #4. Make your URL and IRL correspond to each other
Remember that it is important to create and maintain an online brand that not only introduces you in a suitable way on social media but maintains and complements your reputation outside the Internet. Remember that your URL character goes hand in hand with your IRL identity, so make sure you provide true information about yourself.
There are three little secrets to help you get the job done.
Secret №1
You need to know exactly what types of social communications are most commonly used in your industry. Somewhere a Facebook account would be appropriate. And somewhere it is better to put “Likes” on your colleagues’ blogs on Instagram. It would also be very good to know about “offline meeting places”.
Whether it’s specialized exhibitions, business conferences, or (if you have a narrow niche) business lunches for the exchange of experience and information. Try to be seen online as well as in real life, and in places where acquaintance and communication will be of maximum use to you. After all, one of the keys to success is who knows about you.
Secret №2
Be consistent in everything. If you have multiple accounts on different networks – make sure that the basic information about you does not contradict each other. And, preferably, matched your resume.
Secret №3
Whenever you’re going to write a controversial comment, or a very personal story, or photos, ask yourself, “Would I like my most important client to see that?”. If the answer is “No”, don’t post it online.
Step #5. Constantly improve your level of knowledge
It is known that athletes always train, try new types of warm-ups, learn new tactics. Most professional musicians rehearse several hours a day, every day improvise, learn or create new tunes.
Famous actors also rehearse regularly, practicing plastique, dance, vocal, fencing, or horseback riding, all of which, one way or another, may come in handy for their next role. The same principle each of us can and should bring to our lives.
Successful professionals always try to learn new things and improve their craft. If you want to create a truly powerful personal branding, keep your desire to learn, always strive for more inspiration, more knowledge, and more skill. Keep up with what’s new in your own and related niches.
Keep track of new trends that can be useful in the development of your business. Communicate with recognized professionals in your field. And try to master new skills. This is the essence of positive, sustainable, and authentic personal branding.
Final Words
The promotion of personal branding has the main difference – it is not possible to apply a clear strategy to it, as its basis is interaction with people, and their reaction is often unpredictable.
Therefore, personal branding envisages analysis and daily work on its image, development, and improvement in its sphere, monitoring of interesting events, and introduction of trends. Then the audience will appreciate you for your “uniqueness,” and your opinion will become authoritative for many of them.
About the Author!
Helen Wilson is a professional content writer at Write Any Papers. Her main spheres of specialization are Personal Branding and Business. She also studies topics about psychology and health.
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