Build an Online Personal Brand

Updated January 12, 2023

Reading Time: 3 minutes

That Helps You & Your Company

Having your own online social media profile is important for yourself but the business benefits are often sidelined when compared to your personal development. Having a good LinkedIn or a professional Twitter presence can help you get a build your career. It can also benefit your business or the company you work for. Here are some tips on how to build your online personal brand.

Pick the Right Profiles

First thing’s first, decide on what platforms you’re going to use. Work out what suits your business and what you’re comfortable with. If you’re not going to keep it up to date or check it often, then maybe the platform isn’t for you. Find a balance between something that’s good for your career, something you like, and a social network that can further your company’s awareness.

Promoting A Business With Your Online Personal Brand

Consistent messaging – Try to share regularly. If that’s a blog post once a month, fine. But make sure you keep it up. The same goes for style and types of content shared. If you do a vlog once a week about your marketing tips, the people who follow you will like vlogs. If you change that to a monthly SlideShare, don’t be surprised if some people stop checking in.

Don’t bring your home to work with you – Related to the point above. If you want to tweet about the great night you had last week, and your latest vacation, set up a separate Twitter or Instagram for your home life.

Social isn’t all outbound – Remember to respond to other people’s content too. If you see a good blog post, comment on it and share it. If you’re in a forum, contribute something meaningful…don’t just lurk. The more you put out there, the more well known you will become. Then, when you publish your own content, you’ll see a bigger response and gain more followers.

Become an expert – Pick something about your business or industry that you can excel at. Then learn as much as you can. Nobody expects you to know everything. If you work for a design agency and you’re great at Photoshop, then make that your thing. It doesn’t mean it’s the only thing you publish or share around. Having a clear mission will be why people come back to you and your content.

Use your influence – Interacting with people online is obviously very different from meeting people in person. Even so, you are still building relationships. If you’re getting into conversations with people on forums about something that can help your business, don’t be afraid to reach out. Offering to write guest blog posts, or share other’s content can be a way to start important business relationships. Then things become a self -fulfilling prophecy. You’ll be asked to do things because you’re well known, and you’re well known because you’re given the opportunity to guest blog/ speak at events/ open supermarkets.

If you build a solid online profile around your business the benefits are wide ranging. Not only will the effort put into building your profile make you an expert in whatever you choose to specialize in, it will build relationships in the industry and vastly expand the reach of your company.

Do you have an established online personal brand ? How did you build it?

Photo credit – Top: Greyweed
Photo credit – Bottom: Alan O’Rorke