You can take this a step further by getting your employees on board. Employees’ social media activities convert seven times more frequently than other leads. This is why it’s important to build a personal brand as part of your digital marketing strategy. It can benefit your reputation and your bottom line. What’s not to love?
What is a personal brand? ?
The truth of the matter is, you already have a personal brand. As Amazon’s Jeff Bezos puts it, “branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” In other words, your personal brand exists whether you’re putting time and effort into it or not.
At a basic level, personal branding is about managing your reputation. When you put the effort into building your personal brand, you can start to get clear and concise about the story you want to tell.
Why build a personal brand?
Trust between your customers and your business is one of the major keys to success. Consumers trust individuals over a business that doesn’t engage with its audience.
The statistics speak for themselves. 82% of customers trust a company when their senior management members are active on social media. 77% are more likely to buy from such a company.
Building a personal brand gives you a unique opportunity to grow your business by building your online presence and creating more leads and sales.
What’s your story?
Before you start building your personal brand, it’s important to figure out what your story is. What do you want to be known for? What makes you unique? What do you have to offer that makes you stand out from the crowd?
Answering these questions will provide you with the insights required to build your brand personality and identity. It helps you tell your story. And storytelling drives sales and conversions. When people like a brand story, 55% are more likely to buy the product in future, 44% will share the story, and 15% will buy the product immediately.
Define your audience
Not only is it important for you to figure out what you want to say, it’s important you determine who you want to say it to. Defining your audience goes hand in hand with crafting your brand story.
When you define your audience, you can create content that speaks to the people you want to get your message across to. It’s not all about what you say, it’s how you say it so that it speaks to the right people.
Know what you’re talking about
The quickest way to fail at building your personal brand is to try to talk about something you’re not comfortable with. Self-awareness is key here. What do you have to add to the conversation in your industry?
If you’re at the beginning of your journey, document the process you’re going through. Don’t claim to be an expert in something you’re not. People will see through it and it’ll do more damage than good.
If you’re wondering why creating authentic content is vital, we’ve got you covered.
Get networking
As you begin to grow your personal brand, networking can be one of the most effective ways to become more visible. Connect with thought leaders in your industry and find where you can add value for them.
LinkedIn is the ideal place to begin. Make sure your profile is in good shape with a good quality profile picture and a customised headline. Engage with key players in your industry and when you post your own content, ensure you stay on tone to reinforce your personal brand.
Be consistent
Rome wasn’t built in a day. The same goes for your personal brand. There’s hard work and effort required if you want to make your mark. The aim of the game is to consistently build awareness by growing your audience.
A staggering 7.5million blog posts are posted daily. That’s why consistency is vitally important. There’s a lot of noise out there. If you want to be heard, you need to be shouting loud and clear.
Be genuine
The most effective way to build a unique personal brand is to simply be yourself. There’s only one of you, after all.
It all goes back to authenticity. Your personal brand will grow when you create content around the things you’re passionate about. Stick to what you know and avoid being someone you’re not.
No matter the industry you’re in, it can be a challenge to stand out from the crowd. There’s value in building and maintaining your personal brand. If you want to get ahead of your competition and get your business noticed, you need a strong and multifaceted digital marketing strategy.
Find out how Bobble Digital can help you create an engaging and effective strategy, get in touch with us today.
