Useful Tips to Building Your Personal Brand Online!

Who are you? What do you do? And why does it matter? The ability or inability of a person to answer these three little questions is the dividing line between individuals that yield long-term success and those that struggle to keep their head above water. Have you ever thought about your personal brand—Brand You? If not, it’s time to start. If you are a freelancer or independent contractor, you are not only selling your service; you are selling yourself too. If you are an employee, you sell yourself each day within your company. Your personal brand is something that will follow you everywhere you go. As your goals, skills, and values evolve throughout your career, so must your brand. Furthermore, your brand must address the rise of any new technologies that can impact it. Before the evolution of Internet marketing, it might have been easier to control your own brand messaging. But now anyone can run a quick Google search and gain access to a great deal of information that will influence their perception of you. We at MyCity Social want to share some useful tips for building your personal brand in a digital world. Recognized as the #1 SEO Services Tampa residents trust, our digital marketing specialists are well-versed in all digital marketing platforms, including SEO, social media management, email marketing, and more.

Developing Your Personal Brand​

What is a personal brand? A personal brand boils down to two things—it’s the perception individuals have about you. And how you make them feel without a logical rationale. A great starting point to begin developing your personal brand is crafting a personal brand statement. But you can’t stop there. There are many more components to building and communicating a strong and consistent personal brand to your audience. We have put together a list of our top sixteen tips for personal branding success.

Tips for Building Your Personal Brand Online

 

Here are sixteen useful tips to help you better execute your personal brand.

1. Craft a Personal Brand Statement: The purpose of a personal brand statement is to establish a certain image or impression in the mind of a specific audience. While there is no one single formula, you should write a statement that identifies the essence of your brand. The statement should be short but comprehensive and address who you are and what you do.
2. Define Your Target Audience: What demographic of people will most likely be interested in what you have to say? Develop a clear understanding of your target market. Conduct research to develop different personas to determine what makes your audience tick and how to sell to them.
3. Embrace Networking: According to statistics, at least 80 percent of all jobs are filled through networking. Networking regularly and effectively provides you with a great source of connections and can help you climb the career ladder. Connect with peers and leaders in your industry by frequenting formal and informal networking events.
4. Identify your unique value proposition: What is your one-of-a-kind point of differentiation? A unique value proposition is a clear statement that tells prospects why they should do business with you and not someone else. Though you may be competing in an industry where competition is fierce, you need to develop a unique identifier that makes customers fall in love with your brand and see you as the only option to get X product or service.
5. Participate on Social Media: Social media is more vital than ever before. In fact, your personal brand can’t survive without interactive computer-mediated technologies. Budget some time to identify the social media properties that are most valued in your industry and use them to elevate your brand. Once you know where your targeted audience hangs out online, you can tailor your message to better resonate with them. (Keep in mind that everything you share on social media should be a positive representation of your brand.)
6. Create a Logo: You are in charge of how the world sees your personal brand. A well-designed logo is an important point of identification. Think of a logo as a photo ID; it’s an image that customers use to recognize you. Strive to create a unique symbol that allows customers to be able to instantly identify your brand by looking at your logo.
7. Research Your Desired Industry and Follow the Experts: What’s happening in your field? Where will your industry be in the next couple of years? Who are the experts? Knowing the industry that you want to be a part of is a significant first step in getting your foot in the door. To take the effort further, follow experts and examine what they did to become successful. Remember, you can’t rise to the top without taking inventory of who’s already there.
8. Ask for Recommendations: What people say about your personal brand matters a lot. Utilize the connections that you’ve built through your networking efforts to invite others, such as current and former colleagues, industry peers, managers, or educators, to communicate your value for you. Endorsements are one of the most effective ways to catapult your brand.
9. Collaborate with Influencers: New friends in the form of social influencers can open doors for you. Follow and connect with people that you look up to. Because influencers are trusted by their audiences, they can help you build a strong online presence so that people who want your service or product can easily find you.
10. Understand and Use Emotional Triggers: Customers are bombarded by marketing messages every day, so you have to give them a reason to digest your brand messaging. Weaving emotional triggers into the very fabric of your brand is a great way to break through the noise. Emotional triggers are tools that can be used to evoke feelings among your target audience and move them to take action. Your personal brand must satisfy a specific desire that touches customers’ emotions. For example, joy, comfort, love, and strength are things that people want. You must create an emotional connection with your customers that they need and won’t be able to find anywhere else.
11. Create Content: Make yourself known. Create an interesting mix of content in various formats to inform your target audience of your existence. It may be helpful to follow a schedule so that your audience can know when to expect new content from you.
12. Be Authentic: You are enough! Customers want to give their business to people they trust. They want brand authenticity. Take time to discover what makes you, you. Don’t falsify your capabilities. Build your personal brand on your true strengths.
13. Ask Questions: What questions does your audience seek answers to? Customers want to feel understood by the brands they do business with. Ask your target audience to join the conversation. Invite them to tell their stories and actually listen to what they have to say.
14. Monitor Your Progress: Monitoring your progress lets you know if you’re personal brand is on the road to success. Monitoring can help pinpoint where the actions of your branding efforts are producing the desired results and where they fall short.
15. Have Zeal: There are many essential ingredients of a successful personal brand, and zeal is one. Zeal is defined as “great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective.” Nothing worth having comes easy. Let no pothole or roadblock slow you down on your journey to greatness.
16. Teach: Maya Angelou taught the world an important lesson to live by. She said, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” We all do better when we work together. Information is meant to be shared, not withheld or hidden. As you become more acquainted with the elements of personal branding, teach someone else who’s trying to get their feet wet.  

Recap

Branding requires continued maintenance. In order for you to have a seat at the table in the overcrowded marketplace, you must have a focused brand that customers see as essential to their lives. This can only be made possible if strategy and creativity flower together. The sixteen tips we shared in this blog will help you win at personal branding.  

 

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Creating a personal brand that has substance can be a daunting task. The process involves a lot of critical thinking, such as finding your uniqueness and building a reputation on the things you want to be known for. Unfortunately, many people get lost in the process because they don’t know where to start. That’s where a digital marketing service comes in. We’re experts in digital marketing. MyCity Social has gained recognition throughout the state of Florida as being the SEO company and SEM company Florida locals trust. For five years, we’ve been helping small businesses reach their marketing goals through our innovative techniques and strategies. Let us help you in building your personal brand to achieve your career goals. We offer SEO Services Tampa residents can count on. Call us today to learn how you can connect with one of our digital marketing specialists.