Get started on Personal Branding
We all have a personal brand — whether we know it or not. What is left is for us to determine whether we want to own and shape it or let it shape itself, thus losing control over it. Whether you’re a doctor or a lawyer, whether you work in an organization or own a company or operate as a freelancer, Personal branding is critical for you. Gone are the days when personal branding was a competitive advantage. It is now a pre-requisite to success in your professional life, irrespective of your occupation.
Here are a few statistics to drive home the point: (Source: http://www.ryanerskine.com/blog/22-statistics-that-prove-the-value-of-personal-branding)
*65% of internet users see online search as the most trusted source of information
*When brand messages are shared by employees on social media, they get 561% more reach than the same messages shared by the brand’s social media messages
*Sales reps who use social media as part of their sales techniques, do 78% more business than their peers
*85% of US recruiters and HR professionals say that an employee’s online reputation influences their hiring decisions to some extent
*50% say a strong online reputation influences their decisions to a great extent
*75% of US recruiters and HR professionals have rejected candidates based on information they found online
*Of 75% of the US adults who Google themselves, nearly half of them say the results aren’t positive
Employee branding also helps organizations in brand building. Hence, Personal branding helps organizations do business better, it helps individuals grow faster, find the right opportunities and get recognition and success. Considering all this, it is surprising that not everyone is investing in building a strong personal brand.
The fact that you’re reading this, shows you are keen to get going. So here is my view on how to build a strong personal brand.
There are 4 key steps to personal branding:
Audit your current brand
The most important thing to note is that you already have a brand. The question is whether you know what it is and whether it is good or bad. Hence, the first step is to assess where you stand by conducting a brand audit — both offline and online.
As Jeff Bezos said — “Your Personal brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”. So, find out what people say about you by asking friends, colleagues, managers and family members. At work, ask colleagues to describe you using three words and make note of these across a few people to get the drift. This is how you do an offline brand audit.
There are a few ways to to conduct an online audit. Firstly, you could ask a trusted friend or family member to run a Google search on your full name. Ask them to see how many results come up and what are those results about. Let them check your social media feed too. Based on this data, ask them to share how your ‘appear’ online. The second way to do it is to conduct this analysis yourself and perform an unbiased assessment. The final and probably the most effective way is to ask a stranger or someone you just met to run this search. Let them form a perception about you based on these results and then ask them to share this with you. The reason this is most effective is that this is closest to how you will be perceived by the external world.
This will give you an understanding of your current brand. It tells you what people in your orbit think and say about you. It also tells you how the world perceives you. If you haven’t put it an effort in the past, your current brand would usually leave a lot to desire. And there comes the next step of defining what you desire.
Define your Desired brand
What do you want to be known for? In this step, you need to reflect on your traits, skills and experience and define your niche. You need to be authentic in defining your niche since you would need to personify this on a constant basis. A falsified niche can be caught very easily. When you define your niche, reflect on the story behind why you chose that niche. Was it a childhood passion, a skill you acquired growing up or did an incident or person influence you to follow this path? Sharing the story behind your niche makes it relatable, memorable and credible. It goes without saying that your niche should be an area of expertise, something that you are an authority on.
Once you have defined your niche, also identify your target audience and define the impression you want to leave them with. Apart from being known as an expert in your niche, do you want to be seen as a great speaker or a leader or a visionary or all of these and more? What adjectives would you like people to associate with you? Do you want to be known as someone confident, capable, strong, smart? Pick the core aspects and bear those in mind while defining the desired brand. And make sure these aspects are authentic and truly define you as a person.
Create your desired brand
Once you have defined your desired brand, it is time to start creating it. There are several things you could do to create and establish your brand. Lets see what they are:
1) Build a strong, impressive digital profile
Showcase yourself through an impressive digital profile. Your profile should capture your education, experience, accomplishments, skills and interests. Don’t forget to include your interests, since they make you relatable and offer a peek into your personality. Use your digital profile to share your story and leverage visual media such as pictures and videos to generate further interest. You could either create a website of your own or leverage a profile builder. The star in me offers a unique visual profile builder that is easy to use and generates a web profile link. Your digital profile tells everyone who you are and also establishes credibility. Make sure you present a strong image offline too. Dress the part, showcase your authentic self and interact with people.
2) Create content
In order to establish credibility in your chosen niche, you should create content. By creating content, you can hare your views and perspectives on the topic. Content could be in the form of blogs, whitepapers, articles, podcasts or even videos. If you can get your content published in reputed channels, it carries greater value. However, even self-published content is valuable. Such content creation establishes you as a subject matter expert. Post content on your website and social media channels and interact with your followers. Respond to their queries and join discussions around the topic. As an expert in your field, you have a responsibility to share your thoughts, ideas and perspectives and such content and channels give you a platform to do it.
3) Attend events
In order to establish your personal brand in a particular area, you need to be seen in events pertaining to your niche. Start by attending such events. Ensure you participate actively and share your thoughts about the event on social media. Blog about the event if you have any learnings/takeaways/thoughts to share. Write to the organizers or tag them and congratulate them for a well-organized event. Connect with the organizers and offer to speak at such events. Once you get an invite, prepare and deliver well in order to establish your credibility as a speaker and as an expert. This will ensure that you get invited to speak at future events. Post pictures of you speaking at events on social media. This brings visibility and people start recognising you as a thought leader.
4) Build a Network
The more the number of people who know you and can vouch for you, the greater is your credibility. No wonder it is said that your network is your net worth. While you build a wide network, try and deepen relationships with a select few. You could leverage these strong and deep relationships to get opportunities and have people refer you. And make sure to give back and support others, for this way you build further credibility. Make it a point to interact with people in your network on regular basis. Share ideas, discuss about your niche and work on initiatives together. Join online communities for ongoing interactions. And make time for in-person networking on a regular basis, to deepen relationships with a select few.
5) Maintain a strong social media presence
Underpinning all the above is a strong social media presence. How else, would you let the world know who you are, what you bring to the table and what you have been up to? Determine which social media channels works best for you. It could be LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Quora or any of the other channels. And decide what kind of content you would like to post. Make sure it is in line with the desired brand you want to establish.
Post content, start discussions, participate in discussions and respond to people on these channels. Your connections and followers on social media channels add credibility to your brand.
Once you’ve created your personal brand through the above means, you will begin to see results in a few months or quarters. You will notice an increase in your connects and followers on social media. You will start getting invited to events as a speaker. People are more likely to reach out to you with business and job opportunities. And when your niche is being discussed, your name will begin to come up as an expert.
It is important to note that Personal branding is not a one-off exercise. You will need to optimise and build your brand on continual basis. And that leads us to the last step.
Optimize your brand
Here’s how you can optimise your brand on a regular basis:
· Conduct brand audits on a periodic basis in order to assess your brand equity
· Create content regularly and share it extensively — your audience needs to see regular inputs from you
· Interact with your audience regularly both online and offline
· Show up for events and showcase your presence on social media
· Showcase your wins as it builds your credibility further
Now that you have a framework to build your personal brand, get started right away.
Let me sign off with a pertinent quote:
“Your brand isn’t what you say it is, its what Google says it is” — Chris Anderson
