The Naked Truth Behind Personal Branding
(Someone has to say it)
Personal branding is a very fashionable concept lately. And, of course, the world is now full of personal branding experts.
But, what’s personal branding?
We all know what a brand is. Don’t we? Here’s the actual definition:
“A brand is a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.”
The company itself might be an umbrella brand that covers a series of mini brands. For instance, Google is a brand, but they own other brands such as Android and Chrome.
In the same way, people can also be brands. This is nothing new, though. Celebrities have always been brands. The novelty lies in the fact that the internet has somewhat democratized personal branding, and now anyone with enough digital skills might become a known and recognized brand.
In fact, the tragedy now is that your continuous exposure to the internet has turned you into a brand! Whether you want it or not, you are now a brand.
Some say it’s essential to have an advanced strategy with personal branding to survive these days. But again, I don’t think this is necessary at all. At least, not that advanced, or that strategic. I mean, come on, we are people! We can’t live in a perpetual plan, can we?
It is one thing to take care of your online presence, and another thing altogether to plan every step of the way, which, by the way, is impossible.
Anyway, if you’re worried about your own brand, there are some simple things you can do to check how it’s going.
Google yourself. Is what you see what you expected to see? Is there anything you can improve? In other words, what do you want people to associate with you when they think of your name?
Set up a personal website that’s the door to your online profiles. There are a lot of free and freemium alternatives out there that might fit your needs. Try About.me or Flavors.me, for instance. You can always use your LinkedIn, Google+ or Facebook accounts for this purpose. Another option is starting a blog or a wiki, and configuring it depending on your requirements, but that’s more difficult and will take some effort.
Finally, you’ll need to work on your story. What makes you special? Yours is a unique story, so tell everybody. Do you really believe Apple and Google were born in a garage? That’s part of their legend and their story. Think about what could be yours. (Tip, it has to be true; at least it has to come close to some kind of truth.)
No worries. It’s not complicated to create a strong personal brand online. It only takes time.
Time to think about what you want to show.
Are you an expert in something? We are all experts in one or another field(s). Open a blog, write about what you love. You might not be the best writer, but readers will appreciate it.
Time to write your stories.
Writing requires an effort. To research, to structure your thoughts, and finally to sit down and type. Don’t worry if your first posts are not the best. Writing becomes better with practice.
Time to settle down.
Online communities don’t appear magically. It’s hard to find an audience. Go out there and find yours. There are sites, such as Medium or Pulse, where people can find your posts if these are well tagged.
Mind you that search engines will also take their time to index your content. You’ll become an SEO expert by the end too!
Personal brands are so called because they are personal.
That’s a truism, I know. But it’s very important to remember it. Nobody can replace you when creating your personal brand. It has to be you, with your good things and your bad things. That’s what’s going to be genuine about your personal brand — that it’s about you.
So, if a self-proclaimed personal brand expert wants to help you, perfect. But never trust anyone that promises you anything that doesn’t involve time. And, above all, never trust anyone that promises you anything that doesn’t involve you making an effort (writing, taking pictures, making designs….)
That’s all you need to know about creating a strong personal brand.
Good luck!
