If you’ve been on the Internet at all lately, you’ve probably heard that building a personal brand is something that you might want to look into this year. In addition to helping you secure job interviews, build a base for your business, or establish you as a leader in your field, personal branding can also help give credibility to political candidates or take you from blogger to influencer.
After reading this article, check out what business leaders need to know about personal branding.
You might be thinking that a ton of work goes into establishing a personal brand, or that personal branding is just another social media fad, but we couldn’t disagree more. Here are a few things you need to know about building a personal brand.
What is Personal Branding?
Personal branding is the process of marketing yourself as a brand — just like companies, organizations, and celebrities have brands; normal, everyday people can too.
Your personal brand can be built through a number of different tools and outlets including:
- Your social media presence
- Your website
- Information that comes up about you in search engines
Why do you need a personal brand?
Whether you’re looking for a new job, trying to launch a business, running for office, or representing a team or organization, your personal brand matters. It’s a representation of what you stand for, and what kind of person you really are.
In the job search, your skills and qualifications are important, but a potential employer probably also wants you to be loyal, honest, and friendly to be around.
As a business owner, you want to display the fact that you’re a leader in your respective industry, and that you actually know what you’re talking about. Prospective clients or consumers want to have faith in what you’re selling, and will be looking to you to show them what it’s all about.
As a political candidate, voters will consider your stances on important issues, but they’ll also look for someone who is a good person, and treats their constituents with respect.
These are just a few examples of the types of people who might need to build a personal brand, but the truth is, we all do. Even if we’re not looking to become a business executive or politician today, who knows what our futures may hold? Plus, many studies show that having a personal brand is no longer an option; it’s a necessity.
- According to a Nielsen report, 92% of people surveyed said they trust recommendations from individuals over brands… even if they don’t know the person personally!
- A global survey from Deloitte showed that 41% of people who experienced a reputation risk event reported loss of revenue as the biggest impact from it.
- And a study from Edelman Insights showed that 65% of Internet users trust search results more than any other source of information about people and companies.
How can you improve your personal brand?
Here’s the simple answer: when posting on the Internet, make sure your mom would approve of it. Your posts should be appropriate, come from reliable sources, and leave a good impression to the people reading it.
It also helps to post frequently! Depending on what your ultimate goal is, it might be a good idea to start a blog about your industry, post YouTube videos about your future business, or connect with future voters on a networking site like Twitter. Publishing content regularly will help boost you up in search rankings, and establish credibility for your brand.
But the unfortunate truth is, sometimes our pasts come back to haunt us. OR, sometimes people put out information about us that’s malicious or simply untrue.
Reputation management is extremely important to ensure that the best version of yourself pops up whenever someone searches for your name.
That’s where we come in.
Marple’s mobile app will automatically Google your name or any search phrases you choose — your business name, industry keywords, or anything else — and send you a notification when new content appears… but that’s just the beginning.
Learn more and sign up for free today.
Can you afford not to know?