Create Your Personal Brand in 3 Easy Steps

In today’s world where everyone is using social media and online searches, it is vitally important to think about your personal brand along with your company brand. We are seeing an increasing trend especially in the younger generations of wanting to know and understand the people behind the company before they hand over their money. This becomes especially important for those single or small group entrepreneurs. Your about us page, should not only share your ideology, but give information about the founders and leaders of the business.

It is time to get serious about your own social media presence and what message it is giving people that search for you. Does it align with the message you are providing on your company website? Does it align with your conversations with your team? Like it or not, people are looking up and making judgements on what they can find about you. And this doesn’t just apply to customers and employees, investors are looking at your online presence as well. They are trying to figure out what type of person you are and what drives you.

Let’s dig into what is a personal brand a bit. Most people think their personal brand is their job. The age old what do you do for a living? Your personal brand is much more than just a profession. It goes much deeper than that, it is telling a story of the life you are living. Simply put, it is your life resume that stays with you forever. The story goes on regardless of if you change jobs or careers. People like Jesse Itzler talk a lot about building your life resume. I am sure some of you are thinking that I don’t need a personal brand because I don’t use social media. Regardless of what you use or don’t use you already have a personal brand. You are just not controlling the story. And, like it or not, abstaining from social media in this day and age sends a message as well!

The good news is that it’s not hard to get started with a personal brand and there is no better time than now to create one or update your current one.

What’s Your Story?

1. Sit down and map out your brand story. Answer a few simple questions; what do you want to share with the world; what aspects of your story to you want to stand out? List out your hobbies, what drives you, what you are passionate about and why you do what you do. Expand on those areas so that you have a full story to tell. You will continue to expand on that story over time, but a solid foundation will be important.

Where’s Your Story?

2. If you haven’t already, secure social medial handles on each platform. Consistency is key here. Don’t change who you are based on what you think will be popular on each social media platform. You will lose credibility if you aren’t genuine in your approach.

That’s why it’s so important to have a clear understanding of your story; it’s easy to get caught up in trends but authenticity and consistency hold a different type of value. You should utilize all pieces of your story across all your social media channels in a way that makes sense for the channel. All these social channels are free, but it does take time and thought to get them up and running correctly.

If you already have social media platforms, do a quick scan of your profile and old posts. Do they align with the story you mapped out for yourself? Why or why not? What changes do you need to make to have them more accurately reflect your personal brand?

Connecting Your Story

3. Once you have your social channels up and running and you are consistently pushing out your own story, you will start to build trust and credibility. People will start to connect your personal brand with your professional brand. They will get to know you and why you do what you do. You will start to see, over time, that this will open growth marketing opportunities for yourself, your network and your company. It is amazing to see what can happen when you open up and share the real you.

Now for the hard part…you didn’t think it would all be easy, did you? Having the discipline to update and share your story on a consistent basis while staying true to who you are at your core can be challenging long-term. You are busy and it’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and saying. You need to show up every day and work to share your story to ensure the narrative is the right one.

Long-term success is often built on the back of a personal brand. Martha Stewart, Oprah

Winfrey, Bill Nye, Tony Robbins, Elon Musk, Richard Branson – the list of professionals who have tied their business success to their personal brand is endless. It helps people identify with brands and it builds long-term brand loyalty.

In short - It takes time, but it’s well worth the effort!

Need Help?

If you want to cultivate your personal brand but you don’t know where to start, or don’t have the time to maintain it, we are here to help! Key and Kite offers a wide array of brand development and management solutions. From strategy through execution, we can help you map out and maintain your personal and/or professional brands, including content calendar creation, multi-media content creation, posting, and analytics.

About Key + Kite

Based in St. Augustine, Florida, Key + Kite is a collective of individuals brought together by their passion for new ideas and innovation. We offer a full spectrum of marketing services for early to mid-stage organizations interested in pursuing growth. From brand development to lead generation campaigns, we take a pragmatic, data-driven approach to everything we do, aligning your marketing strategies with your business goals. Visit www.keyandkitecollective.com to learn more.