Do you want to stand out from the rest of the crowd?

Social media is a great way to develop a personal identity, establish a reputation and stand out in your industry.

Now, because of the web and social media, it is easy to start a blog, social stream, video channel or a website to express your passions, promote something that you’ve created and connect with people who have similar interests around the world.

Why Personal Branding?

An estimated 80% of jobs are now found in the informal job market through networking and personal connections. The old days of creating the perfect resume and sending it out to every job posting found online rarely works anymore.

Employers still look for the formality of a resume out of tradition, but if you want a creative job that is fun and interesting, then you’re going to have to go a step beyond and differentiate yourself from all those other people with only stale, boring resumes to offer.

If you want people to see your work experience and receive new opportunities in your area of expertise, concentrate on developing your LinkedIn profile first or have a professional portfolio created with your domain name.

If you want to promote your content to a wider audience, try increasing your Twitter followers. If you’re trying to show off your passions, Pinterest is your best option while Instagram is for visual self-expression.

So many individuals including celebrities have made their brand even stronger through social media. We get to see their passions and what their everyday lives look like. Some of them have managed to amass huge following on different social media platforms, not just for their brand visibility, but also for income generation purposes.

Remember that everything you do online is a representation of your personal brand. Here are some ways to start shaping your message and how you’re perceived.

Be Active and consistent on your social media profiles

Review each of your social media profiles regularly and update them to ensure they contain your most current information, such as your work info, website URL, social links, etc.

One Kenyan that is using her profiles in this case is Betty Kyalo. Not only does she share her interactions, she also markets her businesses and other people’s businesses.

When it comes to personal branding, create profiles on the different platforms that you are comfortable with. For example, Azziad is known as the best TikToker in Kenya because that is where she feels free and comfortable to share her dancing skills.

But what really counts is making an impact within your communities. By being active, your personal brand gets more exposure and helps you position yourself as an authority in your niche, which is what it’s all about.

Develop a Strong Positioning Statement

A positioning statement is a brief summation of who you are, what you do and what you stand for. Typically, positioning statements are created for brands or products, but in this case you’re developing one for you.

Are you a DJ, fashion Guru, writer or even an entrepreneur? Can people tell from your brand? How have you positioned yourself in these competitive industries?

You need to tell your audience why you’re the right person to work with.

When creating your statement, always keep your audience in mind. Although the statement is about you, it’s not necessarily for you. It’s for the people you’re trying to connect with.

Use a Social Media Dashboard.

You can use Buffer, Tweetdeck or Hootsuite, which are popular and free Social Media Dashboards. You can simplify the process of updating Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and your other Social Media accounts by using one of these Social Media Dashboard. These dashboards have desktop clients, web-based clients and social apps to make it convenient for you to update your profiles from an iPhone, iPad and Android phone.

Take Advantageny of Speaking Opportunities

There are so many virtual and physical events happening both locally and internationally. You can make your voice known by taking advantage of the speaking opportunities available. Share this with your audience and let them know what events you are participating in, sharing snippets into the ongoing conversation or a brief after the event.

Other opportunities could come in form of tweet charts where you can authoritatively speak about a certain topic that you are passionate about.

You need to understand that having a strong personal brand is not just about sharing your interests or passions. Nowadays, so many individuals are reaping big from their social media profiles. People like Kylie Jenner, Azziad and Annerlisa, just to name a few, are being paid very well for promotional posts on their social media profiles.

This is because they have established a strong online presence, not just from the size of their audience, but also from their frequent updates and interactions with their audience. Their personal brand speaks for itself.

If you know of any other ways for one to enhance the online personal brand, kindly share them in the comments below.

Assignment;
Type your name in Google search or any other search engine and see if the results about your profile appear on the first page. If they don’t, then it’s time to get down and work on your personal brand.

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