No matter what, everyone has a personal and professional brand. But while not everything outside of your business should relate back to you, there is occasional crossover. Not to mention, outsiders looking in should be able to easily comprehend your connection to your work. Therefore, you need some personal branding to align the two and bolster your overall reputation—and here’s how.
Getting the Most out of Personal Branding
Becoming a Thought Leader
One way to improve your personal branding is by becoming a thought leader in your given industry. Whether you’re producing content, curating articles or using social media, audiences respond well to valuable, relevant information. That way, when they need products or services in your field, you’ll be the first one they think of.
You can even post items on both you and your company’s social media accounts to further align your brands.
Maximizing your Bio
Optimal personal branding includes a succinct description of who you are and what you do. A well-written 160-character or less bio that mentions your occupation can be used on social media platforms, personal websites and even blogging channels, like Medium.
After all, the basic “Tweets are my own and don’t represent the opinions of my employer” just won’t cut it anymore.
Be Selective
While intersecting your personal and professional brands is often beneficial, it’s not always completely necessary. Essentially, not every product or campaign needs that personal touch.
You should really only inject personal branding on flagship projects or ones that you have a real passion for. Hammering your audience over the head with your brand can sometimes over-saturate your product.
The Human Element
Many companies these days try come across as humanly as possible. So, in order to show the humanity behind a brand, it’s important to highlight all of the great people that work there.
That’s when this kind of branding comes into play. Strong personal brands both on and offline have the tendency to reinforce a company’s inherent humanity, so don’t take them lightly.
Enhancing Awareness through Personal Branding
No matter which path your career takes, you will always have your own brand. Therefore, when you have a connected, engaged audience, you can use them to drive brand awareness around your company.
Besides, if someone is interested in your personal branding, chances are that they will trust and respond favorably to your professional one as well.
When it comes to your reputation, branding is everything. So, if you’re looking to take yours to the next level, these tips are a great place to start.
