Personal Branding
What do you want other people to think of when they hear your name? What do you want to be known for? What is your legacy to be?
"Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization. Whereas some self-help practices focus on self-improvement, personal branding defines success as a form of self-packaging."[i]
If you are serious about succeeding with your Linked In Profile you need to sit down and really concentrate your efforts on your Personal Branding. This is how you promote your sense of ‘self’ – your skills, experience, and characteristics. Think about how you want your followers to see you – essentially, this is about telling a story and creating an online reputation for yourself that potential customers and employers will want to buy into.
“Too many people are unfocused when it comes to press and coverage, trying to be "everything to everyone." Decide what your key message is and stick to it,” says Cooper Harris, founder and CEO of Klickly.
You have all your information prepared to go into your Linked In Profile – personal statement, work experience and so on. (See my previous blogs on Linked In Writing here.) Now you need to go one step further and think about your Personal Branding. Sit down comfortably and prepare to answer some difficult questions:
Who do you follow on Instagram and why? What could you be mirroring in what you do online?
Who do you follow on Linked In and why? What can we take from these people that will help you in what you do online?
Think about Donald Trump…what is his personal brand for example?
How will your brand make people feel?
What makes you different?
What are your core beliefs and values; do you demonstrate integrity?
What type of company culture do you want to be a part of?
What skillset(s) can you offer?
What's your message – what do you believe in and preach?
How are you influential?
Does your product, service, or brand give people a transformation?
What problem do you solve?
What guarantees success and failure to you?
What's your niche?
Are you authoritative in your niche?
Thought Leadership
Thought Leadership is “a type of content marketing where you tap into the talent, experience, and passion inside your business, or from your community, to consistently answer the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience on a particular topic.
It’s not pedigree. It’s not where you went to school. Thought Leadership means you provide the best and deepest answers, to your customers’ biggest questions, in the formats your audience likes to consume.”[ii]
The key is to find a niche where you could offer something valuable to the people in your network and then become the most influential and authoritative thought leader in that space. This means that you must know what your industry, your field and your ‘niche’ are. As much as your CV needs to be fully focused in one direction, as does your Linked In Profile.
“Keep your message and content consistent to one niche topic to become memorable within a targeted community.” The narrower and more focused your brand is, the easier it is for people to remember who you are. And when it comes time to hire a speaker or a new employee, your narrowed-down brand will be what they remember.”[iii]
Some tips on thought leadership:
1. Become a trusted source of breaking news and relevant information in your field;
2. Start debates and interactive discussions within your network on relevant topics;
3. Be open to discussing things that are very much in the public domain – right now it would be how Coronavirus is affecting business, Brexit negotiations and such things the world cannot escape from. Offer solutions…
4. Provide free resources – downloadable materials which can help people in their everyday lives
5. Give back – make yourself a free source of help for people who need it.
Finally, once you have decided on your niche it is of utmost importance that you remain as consistent as possible in your branding. Start by writing an article once a week or fortnight and posting it on your page; respond to comments and queries swiftly and find ways to continue conversations. Be present and available.
Not for the faint hearted – Personal Branding is almost a full-time job! Good Luck and if you require any help and advice then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
References:
[i] https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/what-is-personal-branding
[ii] https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/what-is-thought-leadership-and-when-you-should-use-it/
[iii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2018/11/08/10-golden-rules-personal-branding/?sh=5fec6f6858a7