Ray Pigott When it comes to everything social media I definitely don’t have all the answers, but one thing I am certain about is that if you’re on social media with a purpose then you need to be building a personal brand. That purpose could be something as simple as building your own like-minded community through your followers, it could be selling products (either yours or another’s), it could be building your own business, it could be getting involved in influencer marketing, being a blogger or it could be offering a service. If you are online with intention then this is for you – it’s time to really start figuring out how to build a personal brand.
Social media is constantly filled with people launching, growing and developing their own business and it fills me with so much joy to see people running after their dreams, taking their passion and turning it into their own business or another stream of income. That being said, there is such great importance in sharing your business online in the right way. We’ve all been party to or have noticed our social media connections dropping unsolicited messages in our inboxes telling us we’d be great at what they do and we’ve all been added to the facebook groups that we never asked to be a part of. It isn’t the ideal way to start and grow a business, so let’s dive into some ways that you can start authentically start growing a personal brand and why it is 100% the best thing you can do for yourself and your business.
So what is a personal brand?
So before we delve in any further I guess we ought to outline exactly what a personal brand is and why you ought to grow one online. A personal brand is brand YOU. It’s about you first, your life, your thoughts and who you represent. It let’s people get to know the person behind the business/community and lets them into your world. People are inherently curious about other people and love that glimpse into your world, and it gives your brand or business that human element, and it is these sort of connections that people are crying out for.
So how can I start creating my personal brand?
Your personal brand goes far beyond what you have to sell or offer and really starts with just you. The great thing about this is that you already know you, and who better to start representing you than you.
Like I said, being brand you goes far beyond what you sell or offer, and can include some of the following:
- What you share.
- What you photograph.
- The words you write.
- Who you are.
- The colour palette you choose.
- The filters/presets you edit with.
- The personality behind the posts.
- The voice you have.
Start thinking about who you are, how you want to market yourself and what you want to share with the world. You are going to be showing up as the most authentic version of yourself and you are wanting to connect with like minded individuals. One of the ways I find really helpful is to think about some categories you are known for/are passionate about/represent you. Once you dig deep and really understand who you are, what you want to share and what you want to show up as it will make creating your personal brand all that much easier.
Some categories might include:
- Food
- Parenting
- Fashion
- Parenthood
- Wellbeing
- Health
- Fitness
- Journalling*
You can choose anything that you feel represents you, your business or your brand, but my main piece of advice would be to ensure that it is authentic and really represents who you are as a person.
How do I share myself as a personal brand?
So lets talk about what I personally do to build my personal brand online:
- I share within the 5 categories I want to be known for on my grid. These include running my own business, parenthood, wellbeing, growing a personal brand online and home decor/decluttering/being more minimal. These are all things I am passionate about which means I am always authentic when I am talking about them. My stories however, are a bit more a free-for-all.
- Using a grid planner to see how my grid will look. I am all about the aesthetically pleasing, so I use this predominantly for myself. I like to see what looks aesthetically pleasing to me, so I’ve been using Planoly and love it.
- Being creative with my photos and create photography that I love.
- Editing my photos using the same presets, I use my own Signature Lightroom Presets which include 15 different variations.
- Showing up as the real deal in my photos, in my captions and in my stories.
Let’s build that personal brand
Think back over the points I shared above (I’ll include them again below because I believe they are really important) and start brainstorming every element of your brand story (ie, YOUR story) and start thinking of ways in which you are able to grow and build as yourself.
- What you share.
- What you photograph.
- The words you write.
- Who you are.
- The colour palette you choose.
- The filters/presets you edit with.
- The personality behind the posts.
- The voice you have.
Share the messy, the imperfect, the behind the scenes, the raw and the real. Sharing the human aspect of who you are and showing up as the truest version of yourself is the best way to build and grow online.
*This post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase through these links I get a small financial kickback at no extra cost to you. Thanks as always for your support.
