Personal Branding Trends That Actually Work on Social Media

If you think social media is the vehicle you need to get to terms with your goals, whether it’s securing a job, establishing a business or furthering your career, then personal branding is the fuel that vehicle needs to get moving. A personal brand is a projection of who you are, your proficiencies, and what sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the best ways of polishing and projecting this image to a broader audience is through social media.

Creating a personal brand on social media is the easy part, making it stand out from the rest, that will take some work. To get you started on that journey here are some proven techniques you should consider integrating into your branding strategy.

Go with the real you

Social media is rife with a conglomerate of ‘influencers’ all parading personas quite different from their real selves. Trust me when I say people have learned to see through the façade of ‘fakeness.’ Authenticity, originality, and transparency count. It’s unsurprising to see that most brands that have stood the test of time are those with very original stories and relatable experiences.

In fact, according to one survey by BrandsGetReal, 86% of readers value transparency — a trait that’s hard to muster if you’re merely keeping up appearances — and will even go as far as paying more for it. Need more reasons to stay original?

Focus on interacting with your audience

One way you can improve on your brand’s reach, and influence is to get people talking about issues related to your niche. And the best way to get people talking is by stirring up conversations. To do this, focus on creating content that spark interest and foster arguments. Be careful, however of the kind of topics you bring to the boilerplate, in setting up a glowing brand image there’s such a thing as negative publicity.

Another effective strategy is to diversify your mode of content presentation. Unlike in the past, where writing was the defacto mode of content publication, today’s media space allows you to create content and share your perspective from many diverse angles. Think Podcasts, Vlogs, or live videos, in addition to promoting interaction; they provide that ‘real’ feel and allow your audiences to connect better with you.

Diversify and conquer new grounds

It’s a rookie mistake to stick to just one (or two, or three) social media platforms. Social media audiences are hugely dynamic, and users constantly pivot from one platform to the other. Additionally, these audiences are only a small representation of the general population. If you want to improve your reach and presence, then you have to conquer them all. By all, I mean everything from Facebook to Twitter, Snapchat, and other less mainstream platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor.

All-round social media presence is also an indicator of professionalism. So when people see you established on every platform they visit, you’re projecting an image that tells them that you’re reliable.

Automate where there’s a need to automate

Social media runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and to exploit it to the fullest you need to be on the line all the time. But, as you’ve probably guessed that’s not possible. This is where automation comes into the picture. Rather than slave through odd hours performing social media-related tasks, you can set up bots to help you do the heavy lifting.

Chatbots, for instance, have become a mainstay in the industry; you probably encountered one the last time you sent a message to your internet service provider. What these tools do is that they create a cushioning blanket to keep your audience engaged (and happy) while you get a bit of that deserved rest. When you’re back online, then you can proceed to attend to all that needs attending to.

Finally, stay organized

The sheer number of tasks you need to complete routinely to stay on top of your social media branding strategy can be overwhelming. That’s why you need to create a well-defined roadmap and then derive a social media timetable to guard your affairs.

A social media timetable will typically contain information about the content you plan on sharing, what time you want to share them, and how you plan on going about interaction/engagements (with time and dates specified). Outlined this way, a timetable helps you maintain a clear head and a firm understanding of what you need to do to get your personal brand to the promised land of influence, fame, and recognition.

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