MASTERING THE ART OF PERSONAL BRANDING: STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING AN AUTHENTIC AND IMPACTFUL ONLINE PRESENCE

No matter your expertise or industry, and regardless of your position, there are important matters to consider:
Who are you with your character, knowledge, passions, and goals?
How do you define your job exactly?
What value does your expertise help people achieve?
Why are you doing this job?
What impact does your offering have on your audience?
Where and how do you communicate all of this?

Reflecting on these matters will send you important signals that you need to create your personal brand. Creating a personal brand is a long journey involving communication and marketing activities for your name, which will be with you until the end. It involves thinking in detail, analyzing, developing a strategic roadmap, taking action, and continuously maintaining these actions.

In essence, it’s about taking control and initiative in your life, managing what people talk about you, your job, identity, and future self, and choosing to add value to the company you work for or own with your personal brand.

When you start this journey, you must believe that there is no reason for your name not to be discussed in your industry and that your target audience should think of your name when they need your expertise.
All you need to embark on this journey is the belief that it’s possible…

Is it possible to create your personal brand?
Absolutely yes!
There are dozens of courses, articles, and experts on personal branding to help you.
You’ve been with your brand for years; it just needs to be made visible with the right steps.
Your work needs to be discussed by you.

In the world of social media, which you can reach out to hundreds and then thousands of people when you decide to start today for yourself and your future, you have channels that will work for you without asking for any fee. In this world, where almost all company/product/service brands are questioned, the only thing needed is for real people to listen, observe, and be inspired by their brands.

Someone needs your expertise and your story.
But first, they need to genuinely know and trust you.
So, what should we do for this?

1. Make Your Personal Brand Visible and Accessible

You cannot expect to build a personal brand by hiding behind your computer in your office; don’t hide and present your personal brand to your audience.

So, be active on social media; participate in events; go out for dinner with people who mutually nourish you or collaborate in the digital world.

Make yourself visible and accessible.

· Attend industry events and get everything you can from them!

Listen to the speakers, create instant content by mentioning them.

Especially catch and chat with global-scale speakers and document these moments with photos. Prepare for the conversation beforehand and don’t be shy for the photo (just 10 seconds).

· Socialize on social media!

Make your profile public on the platform where you decided to show yourself.

Conduct live broadcasts with expertise-focused Q&As from your account; focus on industry problems and create polls; create content from topics related to your work that people are curious about, and do all this periodically.

· Join forces with people who share a common target audience

A very old but always profitable model: Win-win
Identify other industry professionals who cater to your audience in order to extend the reach of your personal brand to the maximum number of people; compile a list and establish contact.

Collaborate and take action together. Forge a robust value proposition!

Every major company with a brand, and every product, possesses and promotes a specific value, and so should you.Embrace a unique value concept and link your personal brand persona with this concept so that people will desire to work with you; they should want to collaborate with you, dream of receiving services from you, and be motivated to appreciate you.

Do you genuinely believe that you can make an impact on the lives of many?
What is the most crucial aspect that makes you appealing as an individual?
What sets you apart from others and makes you exceptional?
What potential effects might your most significant value have on people’s lives?

2. Everything About Your Personal Brand is Authentic

Don’t view social media solely as a marketing tool to promote your business or services. Instead, focus on building a personal brand that represents who you are as an individual, not just your professional offerings. With diverse roles, abilities, and values outside of your career, it’s essential to integrate all these elements into your personal brand identity.

Your target audience wants to see more than just one aspect of you. If they feel like they’re only seeing a small part of who you are, their initial reaction might be to lose interest. To maintain and grow your following, consumers want a peek behind the curtain — what you do on the weekends, your favorite places to eat, your hobbies, and interests. By showing your human side, you’ll attract more followers and build stronger connections.

To create a personal brand that resonates with your audience, it’s important to share your perspective on the world, communicate with your followers, and engage in selfless actions that show your character and preferences. Your unique approach to events or daily life details can all contribute to building trust and making the masses feel closer to you.

The personal branding process is not about making yourself into a product but rather reflecting every aspect that accurately represents who you are on the right channels. So go ahead, be yourself, share what you’re passionate about, and let people get to know the real you. This way, you’ll make people love you and feel closer to you.

3. Establish Your Industry Expertise

To be successful in your industry, you must have a comprehensive understanding of every aspect of it. Remember, your business is only as good as what you contribute to it. Therefore, it’s crucial to have a deep understanding of the inner workings and outside factors that influence your industry.

Stay up-to-date with the current state of your industry, opportunities that may arise in the future, potential threats, competitors, value-added services, and earnings. It’s also vital to be aware of the latest trends, news, and experiences of the masses and prepare for any popular topics in the industry.

By positioning yourself as a primary source of information about industry news and innovations, you can become an authority that both digital and traditional media channels seek out for expert advice.

All of these actions will help you establish yourself as a leader in your industry and solidify your brand’s authority. Some useful steps to achieve this include:

• Knowing your industry inside and out
• Observing the contributions of your competitors
• Paying attention to what people are saying about your industry
• Appreciating your business partners
• Staying up-to-date with breaking news and sharing it by commenting
• Striving to become the most reliable and popular news source in your industry
• Crafting press releases
• Creating and maintaining a database of contacts you meet

4. Focus on Inspiring and Benefiting Your Audience with Content

To establish yourself as a credible and trustworthy personal brand, it’s crucial to focus on producing continuous service-oriented strategies and information-based content that inspires and benefits your followers.

People follow and monitor personal brands for two main reasons: inspiration and benefit. A well-balanced content strategy that blends these two concepts will make your personal brand appear more sincere, authentic, and followed.

Your followers will benefit from your expertise and information while being inspired by your approach to life, events, and the way you express yourself. This applies to almost all industries. To achieve this, you can:

• Produce active content that convinces people of your usefulness
• Highlight the advantages you can provide
• Emphasize your skills, story, and hobbies
• Share colorful, fun moments of your life
• Focus on transferring information in the right way and inspire people with creative, real, and colorful discourses
• Create a two-way network that allows you to interact with people
• Focus on your followers’ expectations, not just your personal interests

5. Pay Attention to Your Digital Image

When you decide to create a personal brand, it’s important to care about how people perceive you and what concepts they associate with you. A good place to start is by searching for yourself on Google to see what information comes up. Analyze whether the information you find reflects you and your services.

Next, prepare a list of questions to understand the perception of your brand in the outside world. Ask people who know you and follow your work for their feedback. Analyze the answers you collect to understand how people perceive your brand character, image, and level of expertise. Use the feedback to work on improving your personal brand and growing your visibility in search engines.

In summary, focus on producing inspiring and beneficial content, create a two-way network with your audience, and pay attention to how people perceive you online. By following these steps, you can establish a strong personal brand that resonates with your followers and establishes you as an authority in your industry.