It’s a leadership requirement to build personal brand. It’s an indication of what you can offer: contribution and performance. A personal brand builds skills and character. A blogger’s success depends on this personal brand.
Take the name of any famous blog. Chances are, its recall factor is higher in terms of knowing the blogger behind the blog. There is Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income, Jitendra Vaswani from Bloggers Ideas, Darren Rowse from Pro Blogger and our very own Zac Johnson.
Now, when you recall the name, the mind brings forth a certain impression, created either via your personal interaction with the person or through professional growth you saw around the web. It’s the reputation built through personal and professional commitments, contribution to the blogging ecosystem and the general goodwill created with the followers.
It’s tough to build personal brand; takes years of commitment and leadership skills. As Emily from Corporate Catwalker says, “authenticity and personality is the key”.
If you want to build personal brand, I hope these commandments will be of use.
5 Commandments to Build Personal Brand
Here they are:
#1 Be good and do what you say you’ll do.
Understand your strength and how those strengths or skills are going to help the world. Every popular blogger started with the aim to solve a problem – they are a voice for the world. What is your aim? Stick to commitments.
Think of someone who fulfilled a commitment. What did the gesture make you feel? You will consider the person genuine, dependable and reliable and in all likelihood, you wouldn’t stop from giving that person a recommendation, right?
Become this person.
As a blogger, focus on the content 80% of the time.
#2 Tell stories.
We all relate to stories better than anything else. The form of the story – text, video, images – doesn’t matter. What we understand is the story and our relatability towards it.
For example, I remember Pat Flynn as the person who was struggling to make online passive income and finally does it through hard work and dedication – this is my perception of him and I relate with his story. Similarly, I remember John Chow who was there at ‘the right time’ when the Internet was growing and became one of the world’s top bloggers.
All successful people tell a story. Take Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba. Fired from every job ever and stressed with the lack of opportunities, a sudden resolution and commitment led him to start Alibaba and we all know his status in the entrepreneurship ecosystem today.
Aspire to be big. Be relatable. Tell “authentic” stories.
#3 Have uniform online presence.
Securing the domain with your name is important across all channels. Neil has NeilPatel.com, Zac has ZacJohnson.com and you can also view mine ChitraparnaSinha.com. It’s necessary to use the same name identity on all channels such as websites, domain, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, email communication, Skype and any other means.
Your online image should be “uniform” – same name, domain and image.
#4 Do not appeal everyone.
You can’t.
What I specifically mean is you can’t appeal to every kind of people. If you want to be in the HR field, concentrate on the same. Don’t talk about “making money online”. It not only comes across as stupid but also dilutes your effort to build personal brand.
There is no point in trying to be the jack of all trades and certainly, you will be the master of none.
Only exception is when skills overlap. For example, being a content writer, content marketing is also a specialised vertical and talking about social media is a by-product of working in the Content field. There is a notion of association.
Don’t go into the multi-skill segment. Take one specific skill / niche and try to become an authority on that one.
#5 Create and build influential relationships.
Blogging has changed since I started in 2011. The blogging world was simpler and you could build relationships simply. Connecting with influencers is a struggle these days. Network a lot.
If you’re just starting out with networking, use tools like Brand Mentions to find out about industry influencers, what they are doing and connect with them. I am using Brand Mentions for the last 2-3 months and it has changed the way I function online in terms of mentions monitoring and to follow chosen people. You can search for any person / brand and see their online presence.
Since brand building and influence outreach follows a symbiotic relationship, you can also use the tool to measure your brand presence. For example, I created a search parameter with my name and the tool sends me instant emails whenever my name is mentioned anywhere on the web. It’s better than Google Alerts.
In conclusion
Your personal brand is a currency that won’t fluctuate until you make the wrong moves! Be very focused and have mind clarity in your path to build personal brand.
