How sharing your story consistently can rocket-charge your growth

People buy from people.

We've all heard this line a thousand times before, but it's true. We want to feel a connection, to understand each other's stories and know that we have something in common. So why are so many professional service providers reluctant to put themselves out there as the face of what they do?

I ran a poll last week to try and understand how many people make the time to grow their personal brand, and as you can see from the results below, many of us are aware that we SHOULD be growing our personal brand, but the majority aren't making time to actively work on it.

There are so many benefits to making yourself more visible online. When company messages are shared by employees via social media, they get 561 percent more reach than the same messages shared by the brand's social media channels and content shared by employees receives 8 times more engagement than content shared by brand channels.(source: Entrepreneur.com).

I asked some of my fellow LinkedIn Creator Accelerator participants about the opportunities that have opened up to them since building their personal brand, and how they have grown. Here's what they had to share:

"Organic Global Clientele , Speaking Opportunities , Media Publications, Built confidence and network." Hayley Hudson , Owner, Hudson Admin Support

"I was invited to an event at Parliament on female entrepreneurship aged 21 because the organiser had seen and connected with me on LinkedIn. Since then, I've more consciously evaluated my personal brand because I know it'll bring even more opportunities, and it has! Clients, media coverage, a growing network etc. Most recently, I was attending a report launch at the House of Lords and a stranger recognised me because they had seen my profile. A personal brand means visibility, and visibility is the prerequisite to being heard." Maggie Chen , Co-founder Girls in Charge Initiative

"Board roles, career transitions and the fantastic opportunity to be the first black female Chancellor of a Scottish university!" - Dr Yekemi Otaru , Entrepreneur & University Chancellor

"Speaking opportunities (podcasts and in-person events) as well as delivering training sessions." Charelle Griffith Chartered Marketer MCIM , Marketing Strategist and Business Mentor

"Freelance copywriting work, invited to do webinars and podcasts, hired for training." Hannah Young FCCT , Learning and Teaching Consultant

"More alignment with my purpose and values so I can be more selective about the work, clarity on my USP, better speaking opportunities, bigger clients and making it easier for people to recommend me." Lauren Paton , Visibility Expert and Strategist.

"Real life castings, from the BBC to E45 cream, since I started sharing my alopecia journey online." Laura Mathias aka @RelightAlopecia, Campaigner for Changing Faces and Alopecia UK

"Speaking opportunities (podcasts, panels and in person), access to new projects at work, new private coaching clients." Chichi Eruchalu , Leadership Coach

"Speaking engagements for sure and an amazing new network to build from!" Isabel Sachs , founder, I LIKE NETWORKING

"Speaking opportunities, others who faced similar experiences of inaccessibility (I found my herd), networked with some incredible people across the ss to the world and finally business opportunities." Jamie Shields , registered Blind Rhino.

"Being featured in articles, being invited to job interviews and getting new clients on board. All of which would’t have happened if i didn't start working on my personal brand ??" - Priyanka S. , Organisational Psychologist

It's all well and good me telling you how important it is to start growing your personal brand, but you're busy. You've got a lot going on.

Here are my top three tips with staying consistent with your personal brand:

1. Get clear on your content pillars - Once you know exactly what you do want to talk about, you won't waste time waffling on about anything you don't want to talk about. Be strategic with what you want to share.

2. Schedule in advance - Try to create at least a fortnight's worth of content in advance and schedule it so that it fires out automatically, bookmark inspiration for future posts in a folder so you already have a list of ideas ready to go, and batch create your content in bursts. It gets it done quicker!

3. Look at what is working and repurpose your best bits. Don't be afraid of repeating yourself! Received a great testimonial? Turn it into a Canva graphic. Written an article on LinkedIn? Break that down into chunks and repurpose those chunks into multiple posts. I also regularly check my insights to see what went down well with my audience, and then repeat that.

The biggest tip I would give anyone who is keen on growing their personal brand though, is to simply keep going.

We need to see something or someone around 8 times for us to even consider purchasing from you, so look at when your audience are online the most and show up regularly. Be visible.

Often you don't have to be the best at what you do to be recognised for your personal brand, you just have to be the most persistent.

What's the best thing that has happened to you since you started growing your personal brand online? Let me know below!

#LICreatorAccelerator #PersonalBranding