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In a world where the power of branding dominate the landscape, we’ve all become aware of the importance of developing a personal brand. With the rise of entrepreneurial figures like Gary Vaynerchuk, it is clear we are living in a new era.
A personal brand is the way that you display yourself to the outside world. Whether you are looking to positively impact the world, attract a following on social media, or improve your chance of landing a big job, creating a cohesive personal brand will help significantly.
With huge numbers of people now tuning in to social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat on a daily basis, there is ample opportunity to create a following around yourself and your interests.
Although it may seem daunting to begin the process of setting up your personal brand, you shouldn’t worry. If you follow this series of tips, you’ll be well on your way to gaining your first followers.
If you are interested in learning more about personal branding and how to do it successfully, continue reading this article for 10 powerful tips to help you on your way.
1. What Do You Stand For?
There is one question that you should ask yourself when it comes to developing your personal brand: is it authentic?
Your personal brand needs to be about you and your thoughts and opinions of the world. There cannot be a divergence between your personal thoughts and opinions and how you portray yourself externally.
If there is, you will find it difficult to maintain a consistent personal brand in the long-term.
This means that you need to ask some questions about yourself and what you want to stand for.
Perhaps one of the better ways of thinking about this is asking yourself, “what do I want to be known for?”
This simple question will allow you to begin building ideas and concepts for how to approach your personal brand.
2. Find Your Niche
In a congested media landscape, it is important to stand out. This means that finding your unique selling point is crucial to the success of your personal brand.
Try and think about the industry that you wish to work in. How can you differentiate yourself from your competitors?
Once you can answer this question, you will be on the way to creating a robust personal brand.
Remember, extraordinary is by definition, “extra ordinary” or “beyond ordinary.” Identify what will make you stand out and embrace it fully.
If you need inspiration on how to do this, Todrick Hall is one of my favorite examples.
3. Use Video Content
Having a personal touch is an essential part of developing your personal brand. Essentially, your followers are buying into you like a product, because of the way that you present yourself to them.
This is why video content forms such an important part of personal branding.
Statistics have increasingly highlighted the fact that video content is a highly successful way of creating engagement with an audience.
In fact, 32% of marketers say visual content is now their most important outlet.
Use this to your advantage to build your brand.
4. Prioritize List Building
Data has become one of the hottest commodities in the 21st century. Collecting data allows you to gain direct access to a captive audience that is interested in hearing more from you.
As described by Russell Brunson, a smart entrepreneur and founder of ClickFunnels, there’s three types of traffic:
- Traffic You Don’t Control – Examples of this are blog traffic, organic social media traffic, etc.
- Traffic You Control: This is traffic you can tell where to go, usually via paid methods, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Instagram Ads.
- Traffic You Own: This is the best kind of traffic and the end goal for building a personal brand. Examples of this traffic are email lists, subscribers, and followers who you can contact without having to pay.
When building a personal brand, you should be list building, that is, accumulating traffic that you own.
5. Appearance Matters
First impressions aren’t everything, but they are helpful. This means that putting in a few minutes to brush up your appearance can be helpful, and when appropriate, hitting the gym to stay in shape.
While I wish it wasn’t the case, the human brain does respond to fit and attractive people. It’s hard wired in us. As shared by Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist who studies attraction at the Kinsey Institute, “When you see an attractive person, the left ventral tegmental area of the brain becomes active and will pump out dopamine.”
Plus, if you’re proud of your appearance, it will help you to deal with any haters online.
6. Consistency is Important
This is a really important point for people looking to build their personal brand through online content and videos.
You must try and regularly treat your audience to a regular flow of content. This could be LinkedIn updates, social media posts, or YouTube content.
If you don’t provide content on a regular basis, the audience won’t be looking to you for it.
7. 10X Your Activity
While it can be tempting to try to put out perfect content, without a large volume of content, few people will know about you. That means you won’t positively impact the world.
The best way to get to know is to operate at 10X, which is a principle taught by Grant Cardone, who is a world-class real estate investor, speaker, social media influencer, and author.
As stated by Grant, “The 10X Rule says that you should set targets for yourself that are 10X greater than what you believe you can achieve and take actions that are 10X greater than what you believe are necessary to achieve your goals.”
8. Dominate Social Media
It almost goes without saying that social media should be a central part of your personal brand. It will allow you to reach a large audience at a rapid rate.
While most people have their favorites, all of the social media platforms matter.
Dominate a few of the big ones first and then expand from there. The platforms with the best organic reach and the best paid reach are always evolving.
Be nimble, be a mad scientist, and test variables of your content across each platform.
9. Double Down on Your Strengths
If you have a particular skill, talent, or hobby, take full advantage of it. These are the areas where you will be able to provide some added value to your audience.
Focus on displaying these strengths to your audience, rather than trying to focus on improving other aspects of yourself.
10. Practice That Elevator Pitch
Social media has led to shortened attention spans among consumers, internet users, and the public.
This provides a unique challenge for introducing people to your personal brand.
If you cannot clearly state why someone should follow your brand in 30 seconds or less, then you need to continue practicing.
This exercise will help you define yourself, and how you wish to be seen by others.
Developing a Personal Brand is an Exciting Challenge
Although it can feel daunting, developing a personal brand is one of the most exciting things that you can do.
It will provide you with a focus and an increased sense of self. It will let you share your unique knowledge and life lessons with the world. This can be extremely liberating in an era of rising pressure to conform with the rest of society.
Use these tips to help develop your brand, and let us know in the comments about how they have helped you.
Let’s Get Connected
P.S. Above all else, I value community and connection, so let’s connect Instagram (@CadeHildreth). This will let me share in YOUR world too.