There’s a lot of hype – and even some pressure – about developing and conveying your personal brand on social media. Maintaining a personal brand doesn’t necessarily mean you have a product, but in some cases it can develop to that stage. Take fashion blogger, Arielle Charnas, for example. Her passion for posting trendy looks and sharing family photos developed her personal brand: a stylish mama who knows how to hustle. This image – portrayed seamlessly across all social platforms – allowed her to resonate with her audience. Her Instagram handle, @SomethingNavy, took on its own personality and became a brand of its own – just think about how many people call this blogger “Something Navy” instead of Arielle. Flash-forward to 2018, and the trailblazing blogger has announced the drop of her own line at Nordstrom. Now, that’s the ultimate proof that a strong personal brand will take you far (…maybe even designing your own clothing label, far).
The benefits of having an authentic personal brand is twofold for influencers. First, when you post about what you’re passionate about, followers with similar interests will connect with you and, thus, will follow and engage. Moreover, authentic personal brands make it easy for brand partnerships to identify you as a good fit for their program. If a brand’s product or service fits in well with the online image you’ve created, they can identify you as a fitting collaboration.
Here are a few LMS Tips for how to “get it right” with personal branding:
Identify and Define Your Brand: How do you want others to see you? While there’s a whole lot of stuff that makes you who you are, what of that do you want to share with the rest of the world? Are there certain subjects or qualities that you want linked to your brand? Taking the time to truly reflect on how you want to be perceived will set you up to have a strong personal brand image. Think about what you hope others associate you with and use that to channel the core essence of your personal brand.
Use Social Media to Manifest this Brand: Defining your personal brand is only the first step in actually bringing it to life. Original, on-brand content is key to sharing your narrative with the world. While there are no rules – and we all love a silly, heartfelt post every so often – try to make an effort to make your brand shine through via content and captions. This can mean having a particular color or subject aesthetic, a theme such as fashion or food, and everything & anything in between. Have fun with it! Use your social media to show the world what makes you awesome.
Integrate this Brand Across All Social Media Platforms: If your personal brand is who you are, you should certainly try to be the same person across all social media platforms by staying faithful to your brand image. No, this doesn’t mean that you can’t pin that drool-worthy mac-n-cheese recipe on Pinterest because it’s off-brand. But, it does mean that you should make a conscious effort to uphold similar branding across all platforms. Consistency on social media is key! If you share your values and hobbies on one channel, don’t contradict them on another channel. A strong ~aesthetic~ integrated on social media is impressive to followers and brand-partners. It says that you know who you are and are proud of it!
Check Yo’Self Before You Wreck Yo’Self: Have you ever googled yourself? Have you ever thought about what kind of online first-impression you make to others? The whole point of personal branding is to control this image so that you portray your very best self to the world. Doing so means, well, checking yourself (*yo’self). People grow and change, which is great! But, our social footprint can last a lifetime which means that sometimes you should go back in time and delete things that seem off-brand. Whether it be a 5 year old Facebook photo, or maybe just a link that you don’t like in your Google search results, take the time to see what the rest of the internet says about you and do your best to control this image to your liking. We can’t all be perfect, but we can take action to eliminate unnecessary, old, or off-brand content.
There Ya Have it
Whether we realize it or not, what we post online says a lot about who we are. In order to put your best foot forward and make a positive online impression, it’s important to develop and maintain our personal brand. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, says that “your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” By using social media content to portray the narrative of your own personal brand, you can remind the world why you are awesome and ensure that good things are said of you.
LMS knows a lot about branding. Seriously. For more information about personal and company branding, influencer and celebrity marketing, and digital growth, contact us at imgame@wearelms.com and check out our blog for more.
