It’s 2021 and it’s more than likely that you are planning your goals for the forthcoming year. You may be thinking about how to start a new career or retraining. You may have also heard about personal brands but have you thought about how to build your personal brand?
Your personal brand is an important part of your professional toolbox. It defines who you are, your values and what makes you tick. It’s about how you present yourself to your target audience. Your personal branding is YOU. It’s a great way of telling people what you stand for, what you’ve achieved and what your goals are.
It is your reputation and potentially the first thing that people will know about you BEFORE ever meeting you. Read on to find out more on how to build your personal brand
Start By Defining Your Brand
You need to be aware of your skills, core values and beliefs. Be honest with yourself, remember you want your personal brand to be a true reflection of your yourself. Think about the things that make you get up in the morning.
When thinking about your skills, think about what makes you stand out from the crowd. Think about a skill or talent that you think marks you out from your peers. What can you do better than everyone else? Your personal brand is about standing out and what makes you unique. Think about it. An employer may have to choose between 2 people with the same experience and qualifications. How does she make that choice?
Define Your Target Audience
Who is your target audience? This might be difficult to ascertain at first but is extremely important. You need to ensure that you are speaking directly to your audience and helping solve issues particular to them. You need to know what interests and motivates them. Knowing your audience means you are better placed to create the right content for your website to attract your audience.
So how do you define your audience? Social media is the obvious first port of call. Visit pages that are similar to yours. Reading and interacting with commenters will help you guage what interests your potential customers.
Use Google Analytics to help analyse keywords related to your niche. This analysis will give you some insight into what your competitors ate offering, what your customers are interested in and how you can offer something better.
Promoting Your Personal Brand
Social Media
Make sure your create social media profiles that fit in with your branding. Your profile should be updated frequently and include posts about your professional roles.
It is essential that you use the same photo and name across all the platforms to ensure you are easy to identify. Don’t be afraid of using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The key is to keep your profiles professional and consistent.
Personal Website
Create a personal website or splash page using sites like About.Me. Personal pages are used to highlight your skills and expertise to potential employers.
Make sure your page or blog is kept updated and the content is relevant to your chosen niche. Content can take many forms. You can contribute to an open source project, start a podcast, record a YouTube video or create a group in your social network of choice and lead discussions. The most important thing is that your content is relevant and updated regularly.
Hopefully this Personal Branding primer has been useful. Drop us a line in the comments to let us know how you get on!
