With the internet covering every corner of people’s lives, personal branding is more important today than ever. Developing an effective personal brand is important to entrepreneurs, job seekers, and professionals — in other words, almost everyone. Following are 10 things you need to know about making the most of your brand.
1. Identify a Strong Objective
The first step in successful personal branding is having a clear picture of your endgame. Is your personal brand going to sell products, establish you as a thought leader, or help you find your dream job? Craft your brand around your main objective.
2. Identify Your Passions
Personal passions provide the foundation for a successful brand. Figure out what’s most important to you and use it to flavor your brand. This makes you more interesting to your target audience and helps them connect with you more easily.
3. Identify Your Target Audience
The next step is to figure out to whom and how your brand will be speaking. Connecting to the right people is essential; even the most well-crafted brand strategy won’t be effective if it fails to resonate with a specific target audience. Remember that casting too wide of a net typically doesn’t catch much of anything.
4. Research the Experts in Your Field
Researching the experts in your field is a great way to inspire your branding strategy. You don’t want to copy these people blindly, but you do want to learn from them before putting your personal touches on your brand.
5. Create a Social Media Footprint
Once you’ve identified a purpose and a target audience for your brand, it’s time to create the right kind of social media footprint. Your footprint should be pleasant, personable, professional, and approachable. Post informative content that encourages engagement rather than simply using your social media accounts for marketing purposes.
6. Create a Narrative
Compelling narratives keep target audiences coming back for more and draw new people into your sphere. A good narrative keeps your brand from going stale. Remember that the best brands aren’t static; they evolve and change over time, just as you do.
7. Cultivate Community Around Your Brand
An engaging online media presence should naturally create a community. It’s important to cultivate that by being present and responsive — don’t just create your accounts, post a few things, and let them sit there. You should be updating every week and responding to messages.
8. Ask for Endorsements
There’s no need to go overboard with this one, but a few well-placed endorsements from respected sources provide brands with credibility.
9. Devise an Elevator Pitch
Keep in mind that not everything happens online, so be sure to devise an effective elevator pitch for face-to-face interactions. Practice it until it becomes second nature to appear confident when representing your brand in person. Keep it short, sweet, and under 60 seconds.
10. Optimize Your Website
A well-designed and optimized website is another essential element in crafting and cultivating an effective brand. Besides being user-friendly and visually appealing in a way that represents your brand, your website should be SEO optimized to make it easy to find by those doing online searches using relevant keywords.
As you probably know, developing a personal brand is time-consuming and takes large amounts of effort and expertise. Fortunately, you don’t have to flounder alone when it comes to personal branding. Reputation management companies such as Status Labs build your brand from the ground up using proven techniques and strategies designed to get you noticed in a good way. Please contact us today for more information on how personal branding helps you build trust, credibility, and stand out from the competition.