Personal Branding

The Importance of Personal Branding

Personal branding is about branding the person and or leader viruses corporate branding which is about branding the business or company. 

“Personal branding is the process of defining and promoting what you stand for as an individual. Your personal brand is a culmination of the experiences, skills and values that differentiate you.” What is a personal brand? | Sprout Social

“Personal branding is the projected image of an individual's personality, skills, experience, and behavior that defines their unique identity.” The Ultimate Guide to Personal Branding

Personal branding is about creating a marketing tool to influence consumers opinions of you by positioning yourself as a voice to be heard within your industry; including elevating your credibility and differentiating yourself from competition to expand your out reach and circle of influence for business advantage. 

It is offering your unique mix of skills, personality, leadership, and innovation. It’s managing how you want consumers to see you. What are your values? How will consumers connect with your brand? Because consumers will seek emotional and logical reasons to purchase your product. This is explained in more detail in this video here ==> https://youtu.be/s3B7OeEHGRo

How to use social media for personal branding

The process of personal branding involves finding your uniqueness, building a reputation on the topics, products and or services you want to be known for, and then allowing yourself to be known for them. Ultimately, the goal is to create something that conveys a message and that can be monetised.

Firstly identify what your core values are and as a brand define what problems you solve and what you are passionate about. Then creating a social media strategy to investigate which consumers to attract to your brand and how to connect with them online.

Your priority could be increasing sales, generating new leads, creating a stream for online customer service, redirecting traffic to a website or increasing indirect interactions. 

For example you can post links back to your blog, post interesting images on instagram & facebook, ask the audience for their insights, release short videos on a given topic or run your own podcast.

Be clear on the purpose of your brand and be consistent. Look for loyal supporters not vanity numbers in followers and likes. Know your audience and be Yourself.

I highly recommend using a social media scheduling tool for your Content Calendar such as Hootsuite or Buffer and planning your content at least 2 to 4 weeks ahead. You can create, edit and or share images and video content which are likely to engage your target audience.

You can analyse consumer behaviour using Google analytics or Social listening tools such as Boardreader, How Sociable, Mention, Twazzup, Google Alerts and Followerwonk.

Consumers today crave connections and authenticity. Personal Branding is also about knowing how to voice your values and beliefs to consumers and using which type of content; meaning what you are promoting to build followers. The more creative you are the more you will stand out against your competitors. Show your personality and be authentic. 

Identify the market positioning of your brand by clearly defining your message, posting on the right social media channels to communicate your message and again monetising your brand. 

How many followers do you have and which online communities can serve as the basis of a bigger audience. Where is your audience most active? 

What methods could you use to provide value to your audience? This could be educational content such as tips, tutorials and how-tos. It could be personal anecdotes and experiences. It could be ratings and reviews on products and brands relevant to your audience. It could be original artwork, designs or music. It could be fresh perspectives and opinions. And or could be motivational content. 

Forward planning using a Content Calendar will support with consistently posting content. You can use Meta Business Suite to schedule Facebook and Instagram posts. You can use the HubSpot social media management tools for LinkedIn. You can use creative tabs for Twitter ads and you can set up a Pinterest business account for Pinterest.

Facebook for business is an excellent tool for managing, brand identity and user driven content such as reviews, comments, likes and shares.

You also have Facebook Insights such as Page views - page likes, audience (demographics, behaviours, engagement etc) and reach, you can analyse your facebook performance. You can use vanity metrics and actionable metrics, for more information on these metrics click here ==> Vanity Metrics: Definition & Examples for Marketing

It is important to define your visual style and use tools such as Layout, Canva and VSCO to tweak and edit your content before publishing. Click here ==> Social Media Style Guide: Template, Examples & Tips for 2024

Good examples of using social media for personal branding

If we take a closer look at Corporate Branding Vs Personal Branding; for Example Cases such as Samsung Vs Gary Vee. We are analysing Product Marketing vs Inspirational Leadership / Entrepreneurship Marketing. 

Samsung's use of social currency has contributed to its success in digital marketing. Samsung provides a platform for customers and brand loyalists to share their experiences with those in their circle. 

On each social media platform Samsung as further segmented their followers by region for example Instagram has Samsung, Samsung India, Samsung UK, Samsung UA, Samsung Mobile and more.

The company executes the best digital marketing practices in SEO and quality content creation that solves its customers problems. Samsung also has many digital marketing campaigns, social media ads, sponsorships, and online advertising to strengthen the brand. 

On the other hand, Gary Vee is one of the most successful digital entrepreneurs in the industry. His diverse online presence, his media savvy skills, his drive and years of hard work have made him a huge success. He is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, public speaker and thought leader. 

His authenticity & passion makes the value of his personal brand unique. His work is easily recognisable for example his podcasts, interviews, speeches and books all demonstrate the strength of his personal brand. 

Gary Vee’s YouTube docu-series #DailyVee  details his life as an entrepreneur. The series also gives viewers the benefit of seeing him interview other important figures and gives an up-close and personal view of his investor meetings and strategy sessions at VaynerMedia.