The importance of a strong digitally present personal brand can not be undermined in a hyper-connected world that we now live in. Nor can it be neglected over excuses of lack of knowledge or resources. It is now easier than ever to start — you don’t even need to build a personal website to build your online presence. Any social media platform provides major opportunities for boosting your professional profile and reaching your target audience.
Here are the top tips from a Marketer to a Non-Marketing professional on building a personal brand online from scratch:
Define your Personal Brand
If you haven’t already, define your personal brand before executing it. You can not build a personal brand if you do not have clarity of what you want to achieve and how you want to be perceived. Define your strengths, unique qualities and communication style. Then based on your authentic self, decide how you want to be perceived by others. Here you are focusing on attributes of your personal brand — do you want to be perceived approachable, professional, etc.? You can ask your friends and colleagues how they perceive you to get more clarity, — and then reflect and improve based on feedback. Learn to be aware of your personal brand and communicate it to others. Remember that perception of others can differ from how you see yourself, and learning to be aware of it will help you improve and redefine yourself, finding a way to communicate your personal brand to others around you.
Focus on Your Niche
You could try to reach everyone and anyone on social media, although would it be very effective? Without a defined audience that you want to reach, your efforts will fade in an overcrowded social media landscape. To make the most from your time spent on social media, define your primary target audience that you want to reach. Think who do you want to reach and what can you offer them. Making sure that you are relevant to you target audience is a priority. Think about it from a perspective of your experience and professional goals. Targeting people who are the most likely to respond to your brand and would be of value to you, either as business leads or an expanded network, will set the execution of personal branding in the right direction.
Set the Right Tone of Voice
Communications on social media are drastically different from a face-to-face dialogue, where body language accounts for over 80 percent of communication. When communicating your personal brand on social media, rhetoric is the key in transmitting your unique brand. This is why finding ways to express your personality with a consistent style of voice is crucial to communicate organically with your audience.
The most common issue encountered by many who are trying to boost personal brand on social media is that the posts’ captions written often lack emotions or unable to communicate your personality, written in a static manner. When communicating through social media and static visuals with captions, it is important to see your content from the perspective of your target audience. Think about what you want to communicate, and how to get the message and the feeling to them.
Visualise your personal brand
It is the same with visuals that you share or even the design of your blog, — it all communicates your personal brand, even if it goes unnoticed. This especially applies to visual platforms like Instagram, where the first overview of your profile does not include any content but the photos that you have shared. Aesthetically pleasant content, which is in line with a set theme and personal brand attributes, can create a long-lasting first impression. Align the look and feel of the content that you share so that it follows the same theme and colour styles. Make sure that you post high-resolution photos that are sharp and bright. There are many photo editing apps that do not require any technical knowledge to utilise them — please stay away from generic filters through. The visual look of your brand influences how you are perceived online on both cognitive and emotional levels. Making sure that your visuals look stunning will help to catch attention and make a user stay on your page.
Share Relevant Content
Nonetheless, the importance of intact styles tailored to your personal brand, the value and relevance produced by you is an unbeatable advantage. While you might be craving to share your experience or a new achievement, and of course you can and should do it! Although, also share expert insight into the industry or your accumulated knowledge. Sharing some tips does not mean to give away priceless information, do not worry to share your expertise and knowledge. It benefits your personal brands, keeps your profile relevant and establishes a relationship with your audience.