Age of Personal Brand Influencers

YouTube disrupters, content hackers, viral marketing hijackers, new channel thought leaders, we've seen it all in 2015. 2016 is shaping up to be even more key to develop your personal brand, or be left in the dust of pre digital nativity. With the evolution of influencers, personal branding is on the rise not just as an SEO strategy but as a content engagement inspiration experience. 

The ROI of developing a personal brand is getting higher with each passing year as social media evolves to be more personal, interactive and engaging with influencer marketing. If you want to be a high-value individual online, the investment could translate into real-world opportunities. Dabbling as an amateur influencer and growth-hacking on social media and producing content for thought leaders, I've learned a few things. 

There's a reason why professionals, executives, co-founders and entrepreneurs want to be seen as thought leaders, there's a few good reasons actually! 

• Industry leadership & recognition 
• Greater following and engagement 
• Speaking & Consultancy opportunities
• Better Job Opportunities 
• These translate into more exciting lifestyles and sometimes, higher net incomes. 

Top 8 Personal Branding Tips 

Your Personal online Brand has become not just relevant, it's mission critical for your success in any endeavor whether you are in a startup, an entrepreneur, an established influencer or an ambitions professional.

-1- Connect with Mentors & Influencers in your Industry 

This is very essential, to develop a credible personal brand, you have to model yourself after some of the types of people who have lifestyles and deliver value to the same target audience. The easiest way to do this is simply to connect with them, learn from them and brand yourself from the best influencers who have inspired you. 

-2- Diversify your Content

It's not enough to be great on one channel, that's the exception rather than the rule. Having written content, social media channels, podcasts and video content are all necessary, not to mention attending events, conferences and industry in-person opps. 

-3- Refine your Understanding of your Value

Explore what you are best at and the niche you can best add value to an ecosystem. Likely you already know what this is. The next step is to come up with a plan to create content that matches your goals, your audience and enables you to truly add value in the form of inspiration, education, thought leaders, curration, industry news, motivation and entrepreneurial tips. Your content has to a hybrid of  educational and entertainment value, to be most effective. 

-4- Authenticity 

We can't be versions of Gary V, the internet would kill us. So be yourself while learning how to do storytelling and thought leadership that works for your industry and truly is memorable for your audience. Your content has to stand out, so take risks, be bold and don't consider your brand static, but an interactive proposition. The unique selling point of your brand, has to be its authenticity, otherwise you are already dead in the water. Ask a young Millennial what they consider authentic. 

 -5- Personal Branding is Not a Part Time Gig

Personal branding requires focus, strategy and execution of high quality PR, marketing and a personal touch. If people who are considered experts must invest 10,000 hours into a skill or topic. Consider developing your personal brand as an investment in your future. Personal branding is about you, so why give the work to an agency, be as implicated as possible in your own online reputation management (ORM) strategy and PR. 

-6- Risk Vulnerability 

Content in 2016 has to be vulnerable and take the reader on a narrative of the personal journey to be most effective, shareable and memorable. A personal brand that does not know how to risk vulnerability, can never go beyond thought leadership to the emotional customer journey of brand-identification. We aren't emotionally invested in brands, we invest in people! So be one of those people worth investing in.

-7- Create Video & Audio Content

In 2016, you have to make the transition to Video content, if you cannot produce your own YouTube channel, try podcasting first. Even micro videos you can share on social. Being accessible as a thought leader for mobile audiences, means video content. Increasingly in the attention economy, people don't have time to read written content unless it seriously catches their attention. 

-8- Don't Just be Seen

In 2016, it's not enough to have a passive  presence. You need to be interacting on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook groups even in your content. Have reactions to memes, trends, and other influencers. Find ways to amplify your personal brand's reach. Having quality content is also not enough, it has to be frequent enough and have a distribution strategy that gets you social engagement and not just vanity metrics and passive following. 

In this series, professionals share how they measure success and use data and hack the future, to the job done. Read more here, then write your own#MyMetric post).  As a brand consultant, I look for digital trends to growth-hack influence, thought leadership and boost a brand's emotional appeal. 

This is part one of a series, on personal branding. To follow my articles sign up. Follow some of my publications on Medium. 

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The motivation and pressure to have an online personal brand that is impactful has never been greater, what are your tips to becoming an influencer in your industry?