PERSONAL BRANDING.

Whose story do you remember long after the night is over??

Imagine you're at a crowded party, surrounded by fascinating people and captivating conversations. In this sea of faces, who stands out??

We all have a personal brand. Personal branding is not just for celebrities. It’s how we market ourselves to others. It’s you who controls what's seen and what goes out there.

When we choose to wake up today, we choose how we want to be perceived or seen in the outside world. You might not think this was orchestrated but we all make the choice to put on that shirt, to wear that dress or to style your hair in the way that you did.. Your tone of voice, opinion and your online posts are a part of what represents you.

Most companies spend a lot of time thinking about their reputation, their storytelling, and how they want to be perceived by the public: We all have a brand so you should also be conscious of the picture you are painting and being thoughtful of what you post thinking about what you post and how you are coming across to others.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Either way the online YOU is an extension of the real life YOU; and that’s what we are going to explore today.

1. GOOGLE YOURSELF

So the first step is realizing that in the online space, an individual has the same amount of money as a company does so take advantage of that.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? First impressions count and Google is like my first impression of you.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? -Personal branding is 30% what people say about themselves and 70% what others say about them. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?When did you last Google yourself? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? I like to believe that in the digital age, if you're not visible on Google, it's almost as if you're invisible in the modern world.

UNLESS, you're a company deliberately shunning from the online spotlight. ? ? ? ? I think it’s fair to say that despite what I said before, people want to be able to look up people and companies online to gauge their credibility, gain insights and learn a bit more about them and what they do.????????????????????????????????????????????

?Most people I talk to, especially the young people, say that if a company isn’t online at all, or has a bad website, or no social presence they are more unlikely to not buy from them. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

? So your homework is to look at your online presence. Google yourself. Look at all your social profiles.

2. AUDIT YOUR PRESENCE & BUILD

Once upon a digital landscape, there existed a journey towards crafting a brand, a tale of transformation, and an adventure of self-discovery to create the story of your brand

?? Step 1: The Quest for Clarity - Begin by embarking on a quest to audit your search results, like a modern-day explorer. Google yourself and venture deep into the archives to uncover anything from the past that no longer aligns with your vision. Just as a seasoned archaeologist sifts through the sands of history, you shall sift through your online presence.

?? Step 2: The Portion of Self-Identification - In the heart of this journey is the key to defining oneself. As a wizard, conjuration spells shape your destiny, summon clarity about who you truly are, your areas of expertise, and the beacon you wish to be for those seeking guidance. For in this moment of revelation, you shall forge the sword of your personal brand.

?? Step 3: The Path to Choose - The Digital world sprawls before you, and in this chapter, you must choose your friends wisely. Select the platforms that resonate with your audience and align with your mission. Each platform shall act as a castle, guarding your digital legacy.

?? Step 4: Creating a Digital Stronghold-? Utilize the knowledge you've acquired to begin creating a stronghold in the online presence that reflects your brand and knowledge. Picture this as a majestic castle, visible from afar, with up to date relevant content, a true testament to your mastery.

?? Step 5: The Chronicles of Content - Your? journey is far from over. In the unfolding chapters of your digital adventure, continue to share your wisdom.? Create and share content like a storyteller, captivating? your audience with the harmonies of your expertise. Let your words be the guiding stars for those who seek to follow the path you are on.

Remember that your brand is the story you tell, the journey? you embark upon, and the legacy you leave in the vast digital kingdom.

Here are the basic building blocks of building a brand.???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

First, you will want to audit your search results, clean up any content that doesn’t fit your desired image, then define yourself and your personal brand, then work on building an online presence that reflects your brand and expertise.

Step 1: Audit your search results – Google yourself and clean up any old, irrelevant, or unneeded content or profiles, and clean up any content that doesn’t fit your desired image.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Step 2: Define yourself and your personal brand – Get some clarity around who you are, what your area of expertise is, what people should come to you for or what solutions are you offering.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Step 3: When choosing which profiles to build out for your personal branding foundation, choose where your audience is and what it is you want to do and how you want to communicate with your audience.?

Step 4: Build an online presence that reflects your brand and expertise. When someone looks you up online, they need to see a strong presence with fresh content in your area of expertise.

Step 5: Continue putting out relevant, valuable, strategic content in the right places. Once you've built your community, create and share content with the people who will get the most out of it.

3. CRAFT YOUR BRAND

Everything that you post online paints a picture. And our online personas are now everywhere. While this may cause delight in some and fear in others there are advantages to developing a solid online presence.

A brand isn’t just a logo – it’s a perception of someone; and an individual can have just as much presence online as a company. A reputation is created.

We all have the same amount of money on social media, we have the same space and dimensions as Nike or Luis Vuitton online so take advantage of that and make yourself shine.? It's your backyard. Is it abandoned or is it flourishing?

It’s super important with social media to be consistent and memorable – be authentic and think about how you look to others online. So a top tip is to ensure you have a consistent look and feel across all platforms so you are recognisable to your visitors.

Work on your personal brand consistently. If this is something you really want to foster and grow, you should, but that’s up to you.Always be improving what you do online; present yourself well, be smart, be active and adopt new technology and new techniques.

Think about your digital footprint. What goes online stays online.? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? So think to yourself 'what’s this say about me', and 'is this the right content for this channel'? Also review your privacy settings, and look at what you are being tagged in.

4. STAND OUT

We have reached the point where there is SO much content out there that people simply don’t have the capacity or time to digest it all, and a lot of it doesn’t get seen.

It’s noise, and mostly it’s just a sea of mediocrity. Quality over quantity counts; we need to ‘break through the noise’ by sharing less and sharing better content. You do this using your own voice. Sharing what you know and what you are passionate about. Share what interests you and think outside the box. Tell stories, paint a picture and be yourself.

In a world where everyone is going with the crowd, the power is in standing out, being your unique self and going your way and doing your thing.

So be your real authentic self, show your uniqueness, we want to see you as an individual, you want to speak in your voice, and the more you can do that the more authentic you will come across.

Remember people can spot fakes a mile away; so it pays to just be yourself.?

Some self-reflection and introspection is a fundamental step to understanding yourself and building a personal brand. It’s like the preliminary research that inspires a story and puts it into perspective.

As an analogy, we are all pretty good at describing our job and our work and what we do. But knowing ourselves and telling our own story isn't always as easy.

It’s the dreaded 'Tell me about yourself'. It's deceptively simple but hidden beneath the obvious is the intent to assess our self-perception and awareness.

Putting ourselves in the spotlight and describing ourselves puts most of us at a loss for words, unsure? if we are not really clear on our personal elevator pitch, mission statement, and who we are and what we’re here for.?

So your homework from today will be reflecting on how you define yourself and what your position as a brand is.

?? As with any good story, our personal brand should be deliberately and thoughtfully crafted; clear, engaging and of course authentic and consistent.

Show people what value you are providing and why they should keep coming back.?

Basically, tell me why I should follow you or connect with you.?

5. REAL LIFE HUSTLE COMES FIRST

Social Media content and a great online brand can’t replace actual real life hustle but it can help spread the word about the good work you are already doing.

?? Don't expect social media to be a magic pill that hoists you up to the lofty heights of the first page of google, without building your networks and platform in real life first.

Social media can help amplify you and your content, but building a social media presence and working on your personal brand is not very effective if no one knows who you are in real life. There are of course exceptional exceptions to this but generally speaking.

??You don’t build a business by trying to grow a following or build a brand or make money first before you’ve done the work. You do what you enjoy, and what makes you feel good, you connect with likeminded people, and it grows organically, then you find yourself growing a community around the work you do and the business grows from there.

The point is you need to build relationships in real life first and foremost.

?? Network, give out your business cards, and talk to people, reach out, provide value, get out there in the media, speak at events, publish that book.

Don't try and create an online presence for the sake of it, or unless you need it, but it can absolutely help people find you and help put your good work out into the world.

If you are one of hundreds of people doing similar things that aren't unique then you are going to find it hard to get cut-through. For example, everyone is making apps and games, and now that space is becoming cluttered and busy and it's becoming harder to find. You are one sardine in a school of sardines, and all the sardines have signs and profiles all telling us why they are awesome. It's busy and overwhelming.

??Start with your 'WHY' and it's something that makes you feel good and that helps people, and you keep doing good work, if it's good, you'll get found, both online and offline. And if it's that good you don't need to promote it or advertise it that much before people discover it and come running. The cream always rises to the top. Simple and unique is better. Carve a niche for yourself.

And remember, word of mouth is still king. So get out from behind your computer and share with people in real life. A business or personal brand just based on the internet only won't last; it needs grounding in real life action and relationships. So network network network.

6. PROVIDE VALUE FIRST

Another really important thing I wanted to touch on is what we are going to call the GIVE BACK ECONOMY.

As brands or as humans, we need to give, give, give, give... People don’t give enough. And when we do we need to give without any sense of wanting anything in return.

Too many people give with expectations, wanting something, or to sell something, but we need to be more giving and selfless.

What this looks like is that we provide value and advice and support before we try and promote anything or sell anything.

When we do that through stories, information, help, tips, etc... Then we build trust and confidence (which takes time) with our audience...And when you have trust, it's then you can ask for something from someone. As an example, we all love to shop... but none of us love being sold to.?

7. SPOTLIGHT ON 'THEM'.

Consumers are forming emotional connections to the humans behind the company. It’s not about advertising. That's not what hooks people. It's about the people.

So always remember you are a human, engaging with other humans. We need to give our audience attention. We need to put the spotlight on our customers. We need to connect with them. To make them feel good. To provide value.

In order to influence we must connect with people. And this is more meaningful when it’s with smaller groups of engaged individuals who are evangelists for us and our brand.

Share moments. Share them without being perfect. Talk to your audience. Interact with them. Ask them questions. Ask what they think.

So that’s why everything is about stories where we share moments with our community. So we need to get better at doing more with stories.

More and more people are just going live and letting the fans dictate what they want to hear from you and what they want to see. Encourage people to watch, ask questions.

Don't just treat it like a webinar or a monologue. It’s an interaction opportunity. Go live every week. It allows you to get to know your audience. It’s the perfect channel through which you can interact with fans and talk to them by name. it’s a powerful way to build influence.

Only half of marketers are doing live videos. This is an opportunity to take advantage of. If you are doing research that you could jump online and show your audience, do it. Share daily insights; show people things, ask questions, show behind the scenes of your business.

And this consistent and valuable content creation, by you, to an engaged community, who wants to see what you have to share, is the perfect way to become a micro influencer.?

8. LASTLY..... PRIVACY

Yes this is all seeming like it’s pretty public…. And you may not all like that much publicity.

So yes striking a balance between privacy and authenticity is an important consideration.

People want to see enough they can make judgment calls about you, see if you are like minded, see if they want to follow you and read your content.

It does depend on the network but it will come down to a personal choice on how you want to interact.

My advice is to tip the scales towards authenticity. As with life people like honest and genuine people online also.

Remember this is social media – it’s about communicating with people, engaging, forming communities so it’s best to be yours