A personal brand provides unique professional development opportunities – to get a good position, become a sought-after specialist and make yourself known, increase your value in the labor market, attract more clients, and get maximum freedom in work. It is not just a well-known name, but your reputation and a guarantee that you do your job well.
For example, the labor market is highly competitive. To get a good position, you must make an impression and show that you are a real professional. Just a personal brand will assist you in standing out over the competitors and demonstrating your strengths.
What is a personal brand on social networks?
In fact, each of us who starts a page on a particular social network creates their own personal brand. Even in case, you do not use this platform to promote your business, you still talk about yourself and communicate with others. This is the image that you project into the world. Those aspects of your personality that you are ready to reveal to others. And it depends only on you whether it is a positive or a negative image.
If your business is related to car rental, it does not be perceived as a commercial project but should be associated with quality, reliability, and a high level of rental services. If someone is planning a trip to the UAE, for example, and wants to rent Ferrari in Dubai, the association with your business will arise and they will choose you to hire a vehicle. And this is how it works.
There is a difference between promoting a brand and promoting a personal brand. The formula of a personal brand is associations, how you are perceived, multiplied by reach, and how many people know you.
Perfect example: Disneyland. Initially, the creators wanted to convey associations with childhood through the park (both for adults and for people), and, in the end, they succeeded.
Step 1. Analyze yourself, define your expertise
Determine the areas where you are strong, and what specific benefit you can bring to society. Decompose yourself as a person – formulate your interests, hobbies, and values. Next, define your expertise: what can be useful to your audience and how you can help, what advantages you have compared to other experts, and what you are inferior to them.
Step 2. Determine the target audience
When starting a business, you have to understand what type of people you will be interested in and what social networks they are on. If you wish to share professional advice or sell something, you first have to imagine yourself as your client. Write down their main features – gender, age, profession, hobbies, and interests. Get a detailed picture of your target audience.
Step 3. Develop a strategy and draw up a content plan
Analyze the accounts of competitors, and how they position themselves in social networks. Check other companies providing the same services, for example, rental services for travelers in Dubai. Think about what aims and objectives you want to achieve, and how you plan to interact with the audience and attract subscribers. Then schedule your posts in your account. It is better not to mix professional advice with the recipes of your favorite dishes, stick to the topic of your blog. Create a list of topics for several weeks ahead, so you can prepare high-quality content and make new publications in time.
Step 4. Write your story
People don’t become experts overnight, there is always a long and winding road behind success. Tell your audience about this, why you decided to become a specialist in this field, and not in another, and what was the impetus (case, advice from a loved one). Where did you learn your profession, what courses, training, and webinars did you take, how did you start your career path, and what difficulties did you have to overcome? A personal story will help you open up to and make friends with your audience.
Step 5. Register on social networks
The following simple step is to create a social media profile that will serve as your personal business card. This, it is worth taking seriously the design of the page and your photos.
Final thoughts. What to take into account?
We live in a digital world, and almost every person uses digital channels, so it’s not worth singling out a personal brand as a separate category. Social networks have become a personal portfolio that hr-specialists, partners, colleagues, teachers, and parents view. Do not flirt with a personal brand, it has to be a natural extension of you and does not be associated with a purely commercial project.