For businesses, personal digital branding is a crucial part of building a strong client base. It’s important for business owners to set up a personal brand, promote it online, and gain massive engagement as part of their marketing efforts. But in a cut-throat marketing industry, how can you do it?
In this post, we’ll guide you through the basics of social media personal branding, and other platforms you can explore. Read on and see how you can boost your online presence.
Why do you need a ‘personal brand’?
Whether you’re a business owner or a person marketing your own services, personal branding is a crucial aspect of attracting potential clients.
Branding in the age of social media has never been this easy. Just about anyone can build their online presence, get noticed, and rake thousands – if not millions – of followers. And for businesses, such a thing would be a powerful sales tool. Here’s why:
- Competitive edge. Working on your personal branding on social media accounts and other online platforms will help you stand out from the crowd.
- Building customer trust. A strong brand is a positive sign for your target audience, which will help establish your business’ credibility.
- Business growth. Branding is also a crucial part of growing and expanding your business. With a strong brand, you can easily drive referrals, customer loyalty, and new clients.
- Brand retention. For customers who are not willing to make a purchase right away, brand recall is your biggest advantage. This way, there’s a higher chance that
- Attracting top talent. Aside from attracting customers, an established online brand will also attract top talents to your business. This is a great opportunity, especially if you’re planning to expand your manpower in the future.
How to build your personal brand online
Are you getting started in building your business brand? Or do you want to shift your business’ digital identity into a stronger strategy? Whatever it is, these tips will surely help you get started:
1. Define your brand identity
First, you have to identify how you want your target audience to see your brand. You have to decide what your values, strengths, expertise, and unique qualities are.
Aside from that, you should also think about the visuals of your brand, from your unique color palette, logo, and templates you’re going to use online. This way, your audience will easily recognize any visual content the moment they see it.
2. Create a professional website
A website will be the home of your brand online, so it has to be well-designed, navigable, and user-friendly. It should showcase the best qualities of your brand as well as what you have to offer your target audience.
Take note that building a brand website can be a daunting and technical task. If you don’t have the knowledge or experience to do it properly, you should consider hiring the help of a digital marketing company. They have a team of professionals who will build your website based on the brand identity you want to achieve.
3. Optimize your social media profiles
Social media and personal branding always go hand in hand. If you want people to find your brand, you should optimize your social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or even LinkedIn profile if it applies to your niche.
There are over 4.9 billion social media users worldwide, making it the perfect platform for as many potential customers as possible. By having established social media platforms, your target audience can confirm the legitimacy of your brand and easily access your content.
Aside from that, you can use your social media profiles to gather engagement from online users in the form of likes, shares, views, and so on. In the long run, this will be a strong foundation for your online branding.
4. Create and share valuable content
Once you have your website and social networks all set, the next step in branding is creating valuable content. These are blog posts, images, videos, or infographics that your target audience will find share-worthy.
Aside from that, you should be consistent in publishing content. This will help your target audience see you as an industry leader and eventually place a purchase.
Take note that your content shouldn’t be too ‘salesy’. People tend to distrust imposing and direct marketing, so it’s best to provide useful information like tips, guides, and know-how together with your marketing materials.
5. Engage with your audience
You should know that online users don’t use social media and other internet platforms for one-way experiences. They always want to create connections, which you can use to your brand’s advantage.
You should take the time to engage your audience, so they will feel a sense of belongingness in your brand. Reply to their comments, respond to their inquiries, and create online groups where your followers can create a community dedicated to your brand.
By connecting to your target audience, you will make them feel special. They will also see you not just as a brand, but as someone who cares for their customers.
6. Gather testimonials and endorsements
Authentic testimonials from your happy customers are a good strategy to establish the credibility of your brand. Since 9 out of 10 consumers look for reviews before buying a product or service, testimonials are undoubtedly a crucial part of your personal branding strategy.
Aside from that, you should also seek endorsements as a fast way to win the trust of your target audience. You can partner with influencers, famous people, and other key individuals to boost your brand’s online presence.
7. Manage your online reputation
Digital personal branding is not only about building positive things about your business. You also have to face negative reviews to maintain your online reputation.
You can start by responding professionally to negative reviews and offering any form of solution. No matter how you decide to handle the matter, avoid getting personal and always keep an understanding attitude.
Above all, never ignore negative reviews. Sure, you can do something to cover it with positive ones over time, but it will stay in the depths of the internet forever. It’s best to take action the moment the negative reviews surface, so the target audience will see that you take customer service seriously.
8. Monitor your analytics
You should also monitor your website and social media analytics regularly to see how well you’re performing. This way, you can also see which posts or campaigns resonate most with your target audience and need to be changed to get better results.
Overall, your digital analytics will give you a bird’s eye view of what drives engagement and growth for your business. This will also help you make smart decisions in terms of strong personal branding and improving your products or services.
Mistakes to avoid when building your online presence
While your goal is to build your online brand, you also have to avoid common mistakes that could sabotage your efforts. Here are a few to keep in mind:
- Lack of authenticity. Online users are easy to detect a brand that tries to project a fake persona that doesn’t resonate with their values. This can undermine your business’ credibility, so make sure you stick to authentic messaging every time.
- Inconsistent branding. You have to maintain your identity across platforms, otherwise, it will dilute your branding efforts. It will also confuse your target audience and eventually make your brand look less trustworthy. So if you’re planning to use a logo or color palette, make sure you use it consistently.
- Over-promotion. Always remember that consistency is different from over-promotion. Make sure you produce high-quality content without overwhelming your target audience. It’s a matter of striking the balance between branding and offering useful information to your audience.
- Not optimizing for search engines. Take note that personal branding for your business doesn’t stop in making nice visuals or posting captivating content on social media channels. You also have to future-proof your brand through search engine optimization. This way, people will easily find your brand online for their relevant searches.
Conclusion
Personal branding is an essential part of building a successful online presence for yourself or your business. However, it can be a daunting task, so you should consider partnering with an expert like Top Position who knows the ins and outs of digital marketing.
With a professional team, you can build your brand voice and online presence efficiently and sustainably. From building a user-friendly website, establishing your social media presence, or ranking on search engines, a digital marketing agency is your one-stop shop.
