What Are the Best Platforms for Building Your Entrepreneur Brand?

Personal brands are essential for modern entrepreneurs. Not only do they help to build networks — making it easier to find partners, investors, and even buyers — but a successful personal platform is also a free marketing tool.

The first step in growing a personal brand is to focus your efforts on a single platform and don’t spread yourself too thin. But which platforms are best for entrepreneurs, and why?

Let’s find out.

TikTok

TikTok is not just about dances, miming, and weird life hacks. It’s also a good tool to grow your brand. It’s one of the fastest-growing platforms in the world right now and it offers some benefits that you can’t get elsewhere, including a certain timelessness.

Photo by?Josh Rose?on?Unsplash

It’s rare for old Instagram posts and even YouTube videos to go viral out of the blue, but it happens all the time on TikTok. It’s not as important to be topical and it’s very common for videos to go viral seemingly without reason.

As a result, you get more return on your investment and can just let the algorithm do its thing. Of course, for content to go viral, it needs to be good or unique. You can’t just post a video of yourself talking about your brand and then expect the good times to roll.

YouTube

YouTube is one of the most powerful platforms out there. It’s not as new as TikTok and it’s not as “relevant” as Instagram, but it’s evergreen and can give you massive exposure.

Photo by?Jesus Loves Austin?on?Unsplash

Look at it this way:

Imagine that you have a single viral post on all major social media platforms.

On Facebook and Twitter, it means that someone is probably skimming your words/video/image in-between memes and news posts. On TikTok, it means that you’re capturing their attention for a few seconds, but without really making it clear who you are, what you do, or even what your account is called.

On YouTube, it usually means that you’re holding their attention for a long video, one that is filled with profitable ads and CTAs for your content and businesses. They have more time to get to know you and to understand what you have to offer. And as they are watching your video and idly perusing the comments, the “Subscribe” button will always remain in a prominent position.

If you’re going to have a million high-engagement followers on any platform, you want it to be YouTube. Of course, getting those followers isn’t as easy as it is with Facebook or Twitter, but if you work at it, you’ll get there eventually.

Instagram

Instagram is not for everyone. It’s geared toward images, and you don’t have long to attract a viewer’s attention. If you’re not happy with taking lots of pictures of yourself and keeping your followers updated on your every movement, this is not the platform for you.

Photo by?Eaters Collective?on?Unsplash

Some entrepreneurs try to take the easy way out. They post inspirational quotes on generic branded images and then expect the followers to flood in. But while these posts might help to increase follower counts, they won’t do much for your engagement.

After all, the same images and quotes are available from thousands of other Instagram accounts. What’s more, they are very generic, and unless your business revolves around selling inspirational quotes on apparel, cups, and other merchandise, it’s completely irrelevant.

Make it personal. Make it relevant. And give them something that they can’t get from literally every other business-related Instagram account out there.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an essential platform for all entrepreneurs. It doesn’t have to be your main profile. You don’t have to devote as much time to it as you do to others. But you should definitely have a LinkedIn account.

Photo by?Souvik Banerjee?on?Unsplash

LinkedIn is great for making connections with other entrepreneurs. It’s a giant, always-connected networking event for the 21st century. Use it to list your businesses (past and current) and your roles. Make connections with relevant people in your industry, be friendly, stay professional, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Profiting From Your Brand

What happens when your efforts pay off and you get millions of followers and lots of engagement? At that point, it’s time to start profiting from your platform, but there are a few things that you need to remember:

• Don’t Waste It:?By this point, you probably understand how important it is to provide your followers with insightful, educational, and/or valuable content, and not to just sell them products at every opportunity. That’s how you?grow a successful personal brand, but it’s also how you keep it. Don’t waste your newfound success by spamming your followers with promotions, coupons, and other such posts.
• Diversify: It might seem crazy to use your personal brand to advertise other brands, but it can help you to earn some extra cash on the side while developing strong partnerships and collaborations. Pay attention to what you promote and don’t overdo it. See?this guide with Aron Levin?for more information on influencer marketing.

Successful Influencer Marketing with Aron Levin #ThisWeekWithSabir

• Try Other Platforms:?When you have succeeded on one platform, it’s time to take your brand elsewhere and see if you can replicate that success. Keep doing what you’re doing on your original platform while also replicating those growth strategies elsewhere. You can also encourage your followers to subscribe/follow on other platforms.
• Keep It Clean: Don’t forget that you are there to promote yourself as a professional, competent business owner. Don’t be too controversial and don’t use those profiles to post content that doesn’t suit your brand.

You can never underestimate the power of a personal brand when it comes to promoting a business, so use it wisely!