Why your personal brand is the most important one you’ll ever have! Our personal brand begins the day we are born and will be around as long as there is someone who remembers us. We need to look after it!
Why your personal brand is the most important one you’ll ever have
Hey Dragons!
Our personal brand begins the day we are born and will be around as long as there is someone who remembers us. We need to look after it.
Jeff Bezos says: “your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” He’s right. It’s what distinguishes you from everyone else. And, although they might seem new, there’s nothing new about personal brands: everyone has one.
CEOs, teenage TikTokers, Facebooking boomers, and any kind of service provider throughout history has had to rely on their reputation: every public decision attributed to us–what we do, say, eat, wear, post, etc.–shapes how we’re perceived, what we receive, and the lives we lead.
CEOs, teenage TikTokers, Facebooking boomers, and any kind of service provider throughout history has had to rely on their reputation: every public decision attributed to us–what we do, say, eat, wear, post, etc.–shapes how we’re perceived, what we receive, and the lives we lead.
Social media has created a stage for our personal brand, making it possible for people across the world to see the person our profiles project.
It’s not just likes and selfies: 54% of employers have eliminated a candidate based on social media. The repercussions of your personal brand stretch far into your private life too.
Social media profiles are galleries you can use to show off your personality and principles, passions and talents, and connect them with the people who will change your life. Are you going to take control of that powerful potential or leave it to have a life of its own?
Your personal brand is not you. It’s your story. Make sure it’s you that’s writing it.
You can build an entire career that gives you the lifestyle you want with an Instagram account. I did.
What’s the most valuable asset a personal brand can create?
No. Not money.
Trust.
Whether it’s a friendship, a romance, or a business deal any productive relationship requires trust. If someone trusts you, they will trust the services you sell. They will work with you, work for you, or hire you to work for them.
As a social media expert, I’ve worked for countless businesses and, in every case, trust in my brand was key to my success. My followers trust what I share because of their relationship with me and my brand. Clients hire me because of my brand’s coherence with the services I sell. My content and its results are proof of my skills and personality.
I mean, heck, you’ve read this far because there’s a part of you that trusts me.
It’s a lot easier to make a success of your personal brand than your business’s.
Why? Because you’re human, and humans want to connect with humans.
But first, what does success mean to you? What do you want to achieve with your reputation? What door do you want to open with your personal brand?
Put in the time to define what you want before taking the steps to achieve it. This is the hard bit, the part people neglect, but it’s the investment with the highest rate of return.
Once you’ve got that clear, Instagram is a directory of role models. Seek out the people whose personal brands speak to you. Work out what it is about them and what they do that catches your interest–and let yourself be inspired. Maybe even reach out to them. You’ll be surprised how many people get back to you.
Then, go and build your brand. It’s your story. Tell it right.