Personal branding can not be ignored in 2020. It is a foundation for anyone who has any sort of goals for their life and business.
Even if you are not a marketer and never want to be one, you have a personal brand regardless if you have consciously designed it or thought about it or not.
Your are delivering perceptions to others every time you:
- Speak
- Walk into a room
- Choose a seat at a seminar
- Setup your social profiles online
- Post a new photo to Instagram
- Share a video on Facebook
- Share a post from your grandma on Facebook
- Post a new status update on LinkedIn
- Publish a new YouTube video
- Share an inspirational quote on social media
- Share the link to donate to your favorite charity
- Send a tweet
- Record and post a short video story to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn
- Share that political post or comment on one
Your Personal Brand is Made of Perceptions
Your personal brand is made up of perceptions of which we can't actually control. However, putting thought into your personal brand provides you the opportunity to influence those perceptions. The way you speak, act and represent yourself online or offline is building perceptions.
Your personal brand is:
- Rooted in who and what you are.
- What people say about you when you leave a room.
- Words people use to describe you.
- What people think about you after they see you speak on stage.
- How you make people feel after talking to them.
- What people post about you on a review site or social network.
- How you make people feel after watching your video, listening to your podcast or reading your blog post
What is personal branding?
Personal branding is in simple terms people presenting and marketing themselves as brands. It is how you represent and share yourself with the world. It's the stories you tell. It's the journey you share with others and invite them to join.
Your actions speak louder than words. Your digital body language of you, your employees or your co-workers speaks far more louder about the company you work for (or own) than the corporate messages written and published by your PR team.
Corporations, Marketing and Sales Teams Can't Ignore the Power of Personal Branding for Their Employees:
Organizations must embrace personal branding not only for their top executives but also for their employees. Every employee is a walking, talking, tweeting, social media posting representation of your brand. Even if they have a “private” profile on Facebook and other social networks, the truth is every digital imprint they make online and every action they take offline is a representation not only of themselves but of you and your brand.
Unfortunately often times employers fear helping employees develop a strong personal brand for the worry that the employee will go somewhere else. The truth is that investing in your employees will inspire them to stay.
The best investment you can make as an organizational leader is to help develop people within your company for they are your brand. They are the heart of the value promise that you deliver!
Plus, it takes 6-7 brand touches for someone to remember your brand. Your employees can exponentially not only increase the number of brand touches, but can also help improve the quality of those brand touches when done right.
- 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals even if they don't know them over brands
- Brand messages are re-shared 24x more frequently when posted by an employee versus the brand's social media channels.
- Content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by the brand.
- On average, employees have 10x more followers than their employer's social media accounts
- Leads developed through employees social media activities convert 7x more frequently that other methods
There is only one you!
Bottom line, your personal brand is you. It is something you get to take with you no matter where you work, live or play. It travels with you throughout your career even if you fully pivot into another role or industry. It is an investment you make in yourself!
When done right, personal branding not only builds the brand of you, but also will help you achieve many personal, life and business goals.
You have one chance to make a first, second and third impression. Although you can't control the perceptions of your personal brand. You certainly can influence them more than you probably realize.
Building a personal brand is not just about creating a shiny social profile, but presenting yourself in the most authentic way possible to your community and audiences. The goal is to organically attract them to the real and authentic you! It is you sharing yourself with the world in beautiful ways.
Take a listen to episode 266 of the Social Zoom Factor podcast to learn how and why you must build your personal brand in 2020. You will also the Top 3 Reasons You Need a Personal Brand in 2020 plus the 5 required foundations for personal branding success in 2020.
Supporting Resources:
- Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet (brand new!)
- The Ultimate Social Media Content Calendar Template (new 2020 version!)
Need more help? Social Profit Factor Training Academy and Marketing Nutz Brand Storytelling Services Can Help!
Need help launching a new product or service? Time for a re-brand or simple refresh for your business or personal brand? Want to leverage social media marketing for your brand? Our agency, Marketing Nutz can help you develop your strategy inclusive of a brand architecture that will help you achieve your goals. Give us a shout and let's get to work!
Social Profit Factor Training System + Member Community can help you ignite your online social brand, tribe and business results! Before you even think about using social media for business you need to develop your social branding strategy and plan! Social Profit Factor will help you develop your plan with goals, objectives and priorities within 30-60 days!
How to Subscribe to Social Zoom Factor Podcast
Take Action: Download the Personal Branding Guide and Worksheet (brand new!)
