If you’ve been working on growing your personal brand but haven’t seen the results that you were hoping for, this is the post for you. As we’ve mentioned before, personal branding is important for most anyone, from CEOs to job seekers. Your personal brand is a representation of who you are, and can help you grow your business, advance your career, or network with others in your industry.
Today, we’re sharing five reasons why your personal brand isn’t growing and offering some ways to turn it around.
You’re not meeting your customers where they are
It’s easy to want to hop onto whichever social media platform is trending at the moment, but we’d encourage you to do your research first. For example, TikTok is all the rage right now, but there aren’t a ton of 50 year old investment bankers on that platform. If they’re your target audience, you may not want to waste time on a content-heavy platform that won’t perform for you, and focus on a platform like LinkedIn instead.
Your messaging isn’t resonating with your audience
Knowing your audience is key. Having a good understanding of who you’re talking to is one of the most important steps you can take towards building a personal brand. One of the most common issues we see is overly formal language and overthinking your content. The thing that differentiates a personal brand from a traditional brand is you. Write like you’d speak to a friend or at your office, not likely you’re writing a scholarly essay. And don’t get too caught up with having perfect tech skills; an iPhone can be a great tool to start with if you’re creating videos.
You’re not measuring success
A lot of people think that their personal branding efforts aren’t working, but numbers don’t lie. Before getting started with a personal brand building campaign, take note of what your social media numbers are. Some insights to take note of include: total engagements, engagement rate, impressions, and clicks. These numbers can easily be found within the analytics section of each social media platform. Get in the habit of checking these numbers once a month, and hopefully watching them grow! If they’re not growing, analytics can serve as great indicators of where you need to re-focus your efforts, and where there may be some gaps.
You’re not making it a priority
10-15 minutes per day is all you need to get started with growing a personal brand. The challenge is that you need to make it a priority. Get into a routine of responding to comments, publishing new content, sharing other people’s content, and researching new content ideas. Maybe it’s the first 15 minutes of your day while you have your coffee, or perhaps you get your personal brand building done while eating your lunch. Either way, be sure to put it onto your calendar and treat it just like you would a recurring meeting.
You’re not considering search results
Social media is incredibly powerful and can be a great tool for growing your personal brand. But it’s not the only thing that can make or break your online presence. If you’re serious about showcasing the best version of yourself, you also have to consider search. Just imagine a potential client or hiring manager finds one of your blogs through social media, and decides to google your name to find out more about you. If there’s something out there that’s going to affect your chances of getting the gig, wouldn’t you want to know?
Marple does some of that heavy lifting for you by sending you alerts whenever new content pops up about you on Google, so you’re always in the know about what others are seeing when they search for your name online. We monitor regular search, image, and video search results so all of your bases are covered.