You probably focus a lot of time and energy on your business’s brand, but what about your personal brand? As someone who works in the real estate world, I’m a huge advocate of personal branding. In industries like mine, if you’re actively promoting your business online or sharing your expertise with your local following, then you’re already creating a personal brand for yourself. It’s just a matter of keeping it fresh and interesting so that your audience doesn’t get bored or tired of you.
When done right, personal branding can be one of the best ways to get in front of new customers, keep your current customers engaged and, ultimately, grow your business. Here are a four creative tactics to take your personal brand to the next level in 2019.
1. Blogging
One of my key pieces of advice for anyone seeking new business opportunities is to start a blog. When I started blogging, I had no idea how much it could help me promote all of the other aspects of my business. Having a blog served as a great way to give my audience a behind-the-scenes look at my business and share my expertise.
Whether you decide to blog once per week or once a month, it’s important to have a schedule and be consistent. If you’re new to personal blogging, here are a few platforms to consider:
• Medium: Medium is a great place to share long-form posts. Built-in social sharing features and a large, active community make this one of my favorite personal blogging platforms.
• Squarespace: Squarespace is a great option for a professional-looking blog that can be highly customized without any coding knowledge. Though Squarespace can be more expensive than some other options, you can use your own domain name and branding.
• Instagram and LinkedIn: Though Instagram and LinkedIn aren’t traditional blogging platforms, many people are taking advantage of their generous caption and post character limits to microblog. You also can use LinkedIn’s native publishing platform. Built-in social sharing, tagging and multimedia features make microblogging on social media sites like these a popular alternative to the traditional website blog.
2. Podcasting
Podcasting is one of the most popular ways to build a personal brand right now. Research shows that 26% of people in the United States now listen to podcasts monthly (up from 24% in 2017), and the average listener tunes in to seven different podcasts each week.
Many entrepreneurs have turned to podcasting to strengthen their personal brands. For instance, best-selling author and entrepreneur Tim Ferriss hosts “The Tim Ferriss Show” to share insights on his life and thought-provoking interviews with guests from around the world.
Nowadays, setting up a podcast can be relatively inexpensive, and there are countless ways to distribute and promote your show. If you’re new to the world of podcasting, listen to a few of the most popular shows in your industry to get an idea of the format and types of content they share. Consistency is important if you’re going to see any valuable results from your efforts. Decide on the number of episodes you want to record, and set up a recording schedule before you even begin. This will help you stick to a schedule that your audience can depend on, rather than randomly recording and releasing one episode at a time.
3. Writing A Weekly Newsletter
In my experience, most business newsletters can be annoying and too promotional. A personal newsletter is an opportunity to be less formal and more intimate. With a personal newsletter, you can share your expertise or industry insights with your audience on a regular basis and develop more personal relationships with them.
Rather than using a generic business email address, you should send your personal newsletter from an address that includes your name. Readers will begin to recognize who the emails are from and may be more compelled to open them if you’ve already captured their attention elsewhere.
4. Creating Stories
We can’t talk about personal branding today without mentioning the stories format on social media. Stories have become very popular outlets for individuals to create and share content with their followers on the go. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk is a perfect example of how to use stories to grow a massive personal brand.
My favorite place to create stories for your personal brand is Instagram. Two Instagram Stories features that can help boost your personal brand include:
• Questions and polls: Ask your audience questions or poll them through your stories to gather their responses right away. Whether it’s a question about the type of content your audience wants to see from you or a trending local topic, using questions and polls is a great way to drive engagement.
Content links: The swiping feature allows your viewers to swipe any photos or videos you link to within your Instagram stories to view more information. You can control what happens when they swipe — you can lead them to contact you or redirect them to your website.
Elevating Your Brand In 2019
Building a following for your personal brand and keeping it fresh isn’t always easy, but leveraging creative marketing tactics like these can make the process a lot easier. Whether you’re creating exclusive posts for LinkedIn and Instagram or testing out newer marketing channels such as podcasting, if you’re open to experimenting and can be consistent, you may be rewarded for your efforts.
Source: Forbes
