The time has already passed when only celebrities, athletes, politicians, and artists used to have their personal brands.
In the 21st century, it is quite an essential component for a successful career. Whether you’re a student or a professional, your brand can help you land better job opportunities and get recognition in your niche.
Building a name in your niche such that people value your opinion is not an overnight task. You will have to put lots of effort and time to groom your skills, content, and relationships to build credibility among your target audience.
However, if you know a few simple steps to build a strong personal brand, the process can be way easier and less time-consuming.
There are tons of guides out there to help you with personal branding on the internet. But, everything is worthless, unless you stop worrying about perfection and get started with the following steps.
Step 1: Choose a compelling profile picture.
When it comes to establishing a powerful online presence, your picture speaks a lot more than words. Whether it’s social media or your own website, you need to reveal yourself in the best possible way so that people can trust you.
And to win the trust of your audience, there is nothing better than humanizing your brand. So, instead of using logo or scenery images, use your own pictures in every profile photo space.
Your profile picture is your brand asset. So, pick it wisely and I strongly recommend you to consider these best practices to choose the best profile picture.
- Never use a full-shot picture.
- Use a headshot picture with a clear background.
- Be in your professional dress code.
Step 2: Setup your Social Media Pages
There are tons of social media platforms where you can establish your online presence, but you don’t need to be available on every platform.
Users on each social site are looking for a different type of content, so you need to be active only on the platforms where your target audiences are available in large numbers.
For example, I am a digital marketer and my target audiences are top executives from large firms and startups, so I spend most of my time on LinkedIn where I connect with such people to grow my network.
I’ve profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest also, but I don’t pay attention to these platforms as much as I do on LinkedIn.
This is because I want to establish myself as a brand among professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and top executives in the industry. And LinkedIn is the hub of such a kind of audience.
Step 3: Create your Website/Blog.
Having social profiles is a great way to strengthen the base of your brand, but you need to take a step ahead and create your own website where you can showcase your skills and accomplishments in a compelling way.
It is not really a good idea to rely completely on social media for your brand existence, so you must let your audience know where else they can find you if something goes wrong with your social page.
Your website is your own property and you’ve your own term and conditions to manage the site. So, you can leverage the platform in your own ways to grow your business.
Step 4: Create and share content.
Contents are the foundation of a strong personal brand on the internet. Your social sites and websites are worthless if you don’t share contents that add value to your audience
To prove your worth in the industry, you need to show how skilled you’re by presenting some of your works on your social pages and website. But, always remember you can’t share similar content on every online platform.
You need to be creative to find possible ways to showcase your work on different platforms through the relevant type of content. For example, you can’t share your written article on YouTube but you can share your tips on writing a good article through videos.
Step 5: Do guest blogging.
As I mentioned earlier, contents are the foundation of building a brand. But how you leverage these contents to build your brand is an art.
Sharing all the contents on your business pages with a few hundred followers and a website with no email subscribers is a complete waste of time. I won’t say to stop creating content for your own website, but I recommend you try to publish some of your great posts on other widely recognized websites first.
This way you can establish your presence among a huge audience and gradually, you’ll be able to get recognition in your industry. So, first, try to catch some eyeballs and then drive them to your website and social pages.
Ready to Build Your Personal Brand
Establishing yourself as a brand in this noisy era isn’t a piece of cake. Everyone out there wants to get recognition in their industry but very few achieve it.
Those who are ready to invest lots of time, energy, and money will most probably reach the top. But the most essential element of a strong personal brand is passion and patience.
So, choose the industry you’re passionate about, work hard and keep patience because at the end of the day you’ll achieve what you deserve.
Do you’ve something to say about personal branding? If so, please let us know via the comments below.