Advice on building your personal brand online

With the current shift towards all things digital, it’s important now more than ever for everyone to have an online presence and a strong online personal brand, irrespective of age or career choice.

Building a personal brand online is a great way for you to share your details with others who may be looking for someone with your skill set and abilities and help keep you at the forefront of your industry ahead of your competitors.

With that said, do you know how to build your personal brand online? If not, this article will help you understand the fundamental steps you can take to better understand personal branding online and prepare to build your own brand.

What is a personal online brand?

Your personal brand is the combination of your skills, unique personality, and experience that you share with the world (in this case, online). It’s how you promote yourself. Think of personal branding as the way you tell your story and how that story reflects your personal beliefs, behaviour, and attitude.

Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos famously once said, “your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

The way people perceive you is a mixture of what the media say about you, as well as individual experiences people may have had with you. This adds to what you have shared with them (consciously or subconsciously through your words and actions) both online and offline.

Personal branding is the process of marketing yourself (or others) and your/their careers as a brand. As you can imagine, this is an ongoing process, which requires development and regular maintenance.  

Finally, your personal brand can also be thought of as what you want to be known professionally for. This can include traits like being selfless, entertaining, passionate, dedicated, hardworking, influential, professional, and more.

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Examples of excellent personal brand masters

Richard Branson – He has stayed true to his core beliefs and values and done the things that he has wanted to do for the greater good of his businesses (even when others advised him against it). He is a great example of someone who is not only unorthodox and goes against the grain, but also visible and transparent across all platforms.

Oprah Winfrey – Arguably the undisputed queen of personal branding, Oprah has always followed her heart and stayed true to her core values. Daily she challenged millions of viewers to live their best lives and understand their true potential.

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Why is having an online personal brand important?

Show value

Having a strong personal brand, helps you show value, gives you control and power over your brand and the way people perceive you and can often help with damage control should any issues arrive with customers or clients. If you are well-connected and trusted by others online and offline, you are more likely to be respected by others.

Build self-awareness

Through your personal branding, you can show others the things that are important to you, such as your skills and interests.

Improve visibility

You can use social media as a tool to brand yourself online while showing professionalism, and value in your industry. This visibility often results in new employment opportunities being presented to you through business social platforms like LinkedIn.

Discover how to use LinkedIn to build your brand.

Help you achieve your goals

As discussed, your personal brand helps you determine your values and provide some direction as to where you want to be heading. Your brand identity will help you understand where you are and what you need to do to get to where you want to be.

Having specific goals will help you along your journey, and as you pass these checkpoints you can know that you’re heading in the right direction and making progress towards your end goal.

Career development

As you build a strong online brand identity, you improve your own value and create an edge over your competitors. As you build a public brand and are involved in your online community, you will draw attention from others, including potential future employers.

Positive exposure for your current employer

Your personal brand and the way you communicate online (such as sharing company posts on LinkedIn or special offers on Twitter), helps put your organisation in the spotlight. If you have a positive reputation, others will trust and be interested in what you're posting, which helps your business gain new followers, generate interest, and increase revenue or reputation.  

How can you create your online personal brand? 

Top tips for developing your personal brand

• Figure out who you are, what areas you excel in, what motivates you, what characteristics have others complimented you on, and so on.
• Determine what you want to be known for, as your personal brand is a road map of where you are and where you’re heading.
• Define your audience and who you’re trying to attract.
• Research your desired industry and follow industry experts.
• Have your “elevator pitch” prepared and ready to use at a moment’s notice. This is a 30 to 60-second story about who you are.
• Network all the time!
• Ask people who have worked with you to recommend you to others.
• Grow your online presence, through social media tools and channels like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Don’t forget to grow your “offline” presence too.

Ask yourself these 10 questions to help you focus on your personal online brand: 

• What is it that makes you different to others in your field?
• What's your overall message?
• How are you influential?
• What skills can you offer others?
• How will your brand make others feel?
• What are your fundamental values and beliefs?
• Who are your ideal customers?
• What problems do you solve?
• What does success and failure look like to you?
• What's your niche, and are you an authority in that niche?

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