Everyone has a personal brand.
But not everyone knows how to make their brand work in their favor.

Building your personal brand on social media takes some work. However done in the right way, it could easily land you your next opportunity or help you to grow valuable connections.

A personal brand is your story. It effectively communicates the values you represent to customers, team members and other professionals. It is the combination of both what you do and what you stand for.

A few elements of a great personal brand

Although everyone’s brand is unique, there are a few elements that form any good brand.

1. True Authenticity. 

You can’t fake your true brand. If you do, it will only lead to your brand being inconsistent in how you present yourself, most people will catch on to this sooner or later. It is incredibly important to always start this process from a place of sincerity.

2. Core Values. 

The values of your brand are the characteristics and traits that people associate with you and your company. Depending on your industry, profession and audience, these characteristics may be certain aspects of yourself that you want to amplify. 

3. Real Integrity. 

Building a good personal brand isn’t all about obtaining monetary success. It’s also about defining and sticking to your principles and morals, not allowing external factors to compromise your integrity. When you are clear about what you stand for, or against, you can base your decisions on more than just money.

4. Standing out. 

A good personal brand should stand out from the rest of the competition. After all, so many people are great at what they do. You should be asking yourself, what about your brand story makes you unique?

5. Trustworthiness. 

You’ll build trust in those around you when you deliver the work you say you can do and keep consistent with your values and principles. The result is better opportunities in your professional and personal life.

5 Easy Steps To Brand Yourself

1. Find out who you really are

Figuring out who you are might sound strange. But how well do you really know yourself? Unfortunately, in today’s fast paced world, so many of us forget to take time to actually reflect and focus on ourselves. To build a good personal brand, introspection is important.

2. Figure out what you want to be known for

Once you’ve worked out who you are right now, you can begin to focus on who you want to be in the future. Try not to focus too much on the things you want in life but on the habits you will need to adopt.

Think big, like really big, but break down your larger goals into smaller achievable steps. That way, you can measure your actual progress easier later.

3. Define your niche

You can never please everyone and that should not be your aim. It’s only a waste of your energy and your resources. Instead you should focus your effort and time on defining your niche and working to please your particular audience.

Think about it this way – if there’s a leak in your house, who are you more likely to call? A handyperson or plumber?

4. Optimize your social presence online

Once you’ve narrowed down your specific audience, ask yourself where they can be found and what they are looking for. Once you’ve done that, start building your social media presence to cater to them.

Wherever you show up and interact online, remember that most of all – consistency is vital. Ensure that your overarching tone and image online remains similar across all platforms.

5. Network, network, network

The whole purpose of networking is not to try and grow a following. Although it might seem impressive, having thousands of followers won’t do you any good if none of them are engaging with you. Your true goal is to create connections and foster communication.