Adapting SEO priorities to the customer journey and balancing organic versus paid search shape SEO strategy in 2018, according to new survey.
By MediaStreet Staff Writers
Social media marketing is the leading SEO service priority among businesses in 2018, according to new research from Clutch and Ignite Visibility. Over 90% of businesses that invest in SEO also invest in social media.
The survey of 303 marketing decision-makers reveals that most tend to shape their SEO strategy based on the SEO services they prioritise and the challenges they face.
Top SEO Priorities 2018
Two factors impact the direction of a business’ SEO strategy: The shifting customer journey and whether the business focuses on paid search or organic SEO services.
Organic SEO services include:
On-site optimisation – web design, site infrastructure, blogging
Off-site optimisation – content marketing, social media marketing
Over 40% of businesses that invest in SEO focus on organic services, compared to 19% that focus on paid search.
Businesses that focus on organic SEO are more likely to use in-house staff for general marketing, such as content marketing and social media. Over three-fourths (76%) of businesses that focus on organic services use in-house staff.
On the other hand, businesses that focus on paid search are more likely to hire an SEO company. More than two-thirds (68%) of businesses that focus on paid search hire an SEO company, compared to just 37% that rely on in-house staff.
Top SEO Priorities 2018 (PRNewsfoto/Clutch)
“Paid search complements organic SEO by providing feedback on keyword research, audience targeting, and effective ad copy,” said Eythor Westman, head of paid media at Ignite Visibility.
How businesses adapt to shifts in the customer buying journey is another factor that shapes SEO strategy. The rise of mobile search drives changes to the customer buying journey.
SEO experts agree that customers use their mobile devices to learn about a company through social media and site content before converting to make a purchase.
“Now, somebody Googles a keyword. Then they click on a top ranking term like, ‘SEO company.’ They read our blog and click around social media,” said John Lincoln, CEO of Ignite Visibility. “Then, they convert three weeks later after they feel comfortable with you.”
In response, businesses prioritise SEO services that facilitate the customer journey. Along with social media (20%), businesses rate creating content to earn links (15%), and mobile search optimisation (14%) as their top SEO priorities.
A new survey indicates that 1 in 5 small businesses use social media in place of a website. Many assume a website is cost-prohibitive and may not consider the risks of not having one.
By MediaStreet Staff Writers
More than one-third (36%) of small businesses do not have a website, according to the websites section of the fourth annual Small Business Survey conducted by Clutch, a B2B research firm. One in five small businesses (21%) selectively use social media instead of a website in an effort to engage customers.
The survey indicates that small businesses consider cost a bigger concern than the potential repercussions of not having a website.
Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram attract small businesses by cultivating a highly engaged user base. However, relying solely on social media may be a risky strategy for businesses.
“Whenever you put all of your eggs into someone else’s basket, it’s risky,” said Judd Mercer, Creative Director of Elevated Third, a web development firm. “If Facebook changes their algorithm, there’s nothing you can do.”
Facebook recently announced changes that potentially increase the risk of using social media in place of a website. The social media platform plans to prioritise posts from family and friends over posts from brands.
This new policy may make it more difficult for small businesses to reach their audiences through social media. As a result, websites are expected to regain importance among businesses – as long as cost is not considered an obstacle.
Among small businesses that do not currently have a website, more than half (58%) plan to build one in 2018.
Some Small Businesses Say Website Cost is Prohibitive, But Others Cite Costs of $500 or Less
More than a quarter (26%) of small businesses surveyed say cost is a key factor that prevents them from having a website. However, nearly one-third of small businesses with websites (28%) report spending $500 or less.
Small businesses may not be aware that some web development agencies offer packages that defray costs by dividing website construction into multiple phases or sliding rates for small businesses. “You don’t necessarily need to launch with your first-generation website,” said Vanessa Petersen, Executive Director of Strategy at ArtVersion Interactive Agency, a web design and branding agency based in Chicago. “Maybe just start small.”
Mobile-Friendly Websites Becoming Standard Businesses that do have websites are moving en mass to mobile friendly ones, the survey found. Over 90% of respondents said their company websites will be optimised for viewing on mobile devices by the end of this year.
In addition to the 81% of company websites that are already optimised for mobile, an additional 13% that say they plan to optimise for mobile in 2018.
Clutch’s 2018 Small Business Survey included 351 small business owners. The small businesses surveyed have between 1 and 500 employees, with 55% indicating that they have 10 or fewer employees.
To read the full report and source the survey data, click here.
Sometimes our lives turn on a dime when we least expect it. For Leonard Kim, managing partner of the personal branding accelerator InfluenceTree, a broken ankle was the unlikely spark that ignited sweeping changes in his life.
“I was walking home, drunk like there was no tomorrow, when I remembered I didn’t have my house keys,” Kim recalled. “I tried a couple times to hop the fence around my place, and on the second attempt, I landed wrong and broke my ankle. I had to crawl my way up to the sofa I was living on to fall asleep.”
Laid up for three months, Kim began to reflect on his life and the choices he’d made that brought him to rock bottom. As he sorted through his failed relationships and business ventures, he thought back to how his grandfather raised him.
“My grandfather did the exact opposite of what I was doing,” Kim admitted. “Whenever someone needed help with something, he’d be there. Everyone would look at him with a twinkle in their eye, because he was their hero. He volunteered at the school cafeteria. I did nothing like that. I decided to follow in his footsteps and live the way he raised me.”
Viral success doesn’t mean long-term influence
Kim’s turnaround began with writing. In the past four years, he’s amassed over 250,000 social media followers and had tens of millions of people read his content. His company, InfluenceTree, helps people build their personal brand, increase their social media following, grow their audience, and become influencers.
For anyone looking to shortcut the process and achieve influence through immediate virality, Kim has seen enough to know that approach usually doesn’t work.
“Some people are one-hit wonders,” Kim explained. “They have one piece of content that sticks out, but when you look at the rest of their stuff, it doesn’t have the same quality or connection. These people fizzle out and don’t make anything happen.”
The piece that hits a nerve with readers may not be better than any of your other work, but when it takes off, you need a library of quality content for new fans to explore. That’s the way you leverage virality to build a fan base. If your new readers have nothing else to connect with after the initial exposure, they’ll quickly move somewhere else.
Assess your strengths to build a personal brand
To begin the process of building a personal brand, Kim says you should take stock of your strengths to create a compelling bio. There are differences, however, in how we perceive ourselves and how the world perceives us.
To get the most accurate picture, try this exercise:
Get two sets of post-it notes.
On the first set, write down all the words you can think of to describe yourself.
Pass the second set of notes out to friends, family members, and colleagues you know will be honest and ask them to write one word that describes you. (Make sure these people know their feedback will be anonymous.)
Get a whiteboard and compare the words you wrote with the words from others. What words show up most often in both sets? For example, if you think you’re a great speaker and five people agree, you could highlight that strength in your bio.
Any flaws that people point out, those are things you can work to eliminate.
Once you get an accurate picture of who you are, the next step in creating a strong bio is to share the things you enjoy. The best approach is to incorporate what you enjoy into your bio. That way, you humanize yourself and allow people to buy into you, not your image.
The best places to create written content online
When it comes to creating content, your website is not always the best place to start because if people don’t know who you are yet you won’t be getting any traffic. Social media platforms also aren’t great for content because they’re closed networks. If you have 200 Facebook friends or 200 Twitter followers, your potential reach is limited, so you have to pay to boost your posts into the feeds of people who don’t follow you. If you’re creating written content, Kim recommends using Medium or Quora.
“Quora has millions of users, so it’s a strong platform for new writers,” Kim said. “My first post on Quora, I had three followers on the platform but my post got 102 views. That’s more than 30 times my followers count. When you post something on Facebook, if you have 200 followers, 20 people see it. You want to use platforms with existing audiences to get more eyeballs on your content. Medium, for example, has sub-publications like The Mission and Be Yourself you can submit to that have thousands of followers.”
Another reason to use these platforms is to tap into their SEO power to gain exposure for your work. That way, you can drive people to your website, where you should also be posting each piece of content you create. The goal would be to make your website the main source for your content so you can begin to monetize your following.
For many people, every share on social media (a tweet, status update, Snap, Boomerang) feels like an extension of one’s personal brand. Even the act of setting a profile to private is an expression of that brand.
If you’re concerned about how to best develop whatever you want your brand to be (or reshape what you already have) for professional reasons, rest assured that you have likely done a lot of legwork already.
You likely have some digital presence and have started to represent yourself in some way IRL. What you might really need to hone is your framing of those efforts, so that they become specific to your career.
“The term ‘personal brand’ is a buzzword, however, I believe the concept is incredibly important,” says WayUp CEO Liz Wessel. “Being able to convey what it is that makes you unique, and tie it back to what you do professionally, is something that everyone — whether you are looking for a job or not — should be able to do.”
One step is learning how to convey who you are through conversation, she explains. You can start by thinking through the following questions:
1. What am I passionate about?
2. What are some of my favorite hobbies or activities?
3. What are my interests?
4. In what activities, projects, or groups have I demonstrated leadership?
“These questions will give you a good start to developing the story you can start to tell about yourself,” Wessel continues. “Once you’ve fleshed out your answers, practice speaking about these attributes so that you’ll be able to weave them into the conversation in interviews, coffee chats, or when you are meeting new people in general.”
Some guidelines to follow in those networking situations: Introduce yourself with your full name, be mindful of your body language, and make it a genuine conversation (which means not dominating the interaction). Other actions, like sending thank-you emails or cards after a meeting, or how quickly you respond to people could become part of your trademark.
For better or worse, another aspect of your personal brand is how you look. If you don’t have to wear a uniform, do you tend to wear all black? If you do wear a uniform, do you put a spin on the non-regulation aspects, or present yourself more neutrally? Be aware that things like makeup, hair, piercings, tattoos, even whether you wear heels versus flats, or trousers over dresses can all contribute to your personal brand — or what others perceive that brand to be.
Next, after you have a good handle on what works in presenting yourself in person, determine how to do the same thing online, Wessel says.
If you are intentionally aligning your online presence with your professional field, you may want to follow some conventions, even as you put your own spin on it. That can vary by industry in terms of the kinds of photos people share (candid or professional?), the regularity with which people post, or even the times they post (considering when likeminded, like-interested people are alert).
“Eighty percent of employers Google jobseekers before inviting them into an interview, so it’s vital that you create the image online that you want employers to see, and don’t let others create it for you,” she says. “You can tell your story through a personal website or portfolio, or by crafting a consistent image on your social media accounts. For example, users on WayUp create profiles where they talk about more than just their work experience — partially because they have only a little in the first place.”
When you talk about your job or your career, she continues, you should absolutely talk about why you love what you do — “don’t just list out your jobs and your achievements.”
“What is it that makes you love your work? How did you get into it in the first place? There’s likely a story somewhere in there that will give a glimpse into who you are as a person,” Wessel adds. Delving deeper into these areas on a website, in a portfolio, or in person, gives you the opportunity to showcase who you are as a full person — something that is harder to achieve on a résumé page.
“I think most people don’t realize that incorporating your brand and non-work experiences into the way you talk about your career is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself from other applicants,” Wessel says. “For example, the number-one attribute employers look for is leadership. The best candidates I’ve interviewed demonstrate their leadership abilities by referencing their hobbies, interests, and other non-work experiences in addition to talking about their professional experiences.”
In essence, even though the idea of personal branding can feel contrived or awkward, it’s really about dictating the terms of how you engage with other people on and offline. Not everything is in your control when it comes to work, but putting your best self forward is.
Feature Image: Photographed by Anna Alexia Basile.
You know what’s been on my mind lately? The importance of the B2C relationship.
Okay, hear me out.
Long before the days of ecommerce, most small businesses sold to the people in their town.
Business owners and employees developed connections with these people.
Maybe not “hey, how are the wife and kids?” connection, but consumers typically knew who they were doing business with.
With the explosion of ecommerce, you’d expect those relationships to be valued less and less.
But if the B2C interactions on social media are any indication, it’s becoming clear that people still want to do business with people.
Just look at how powerful word-of-mouth marketing is in the world of the modern consumer, according to this infographic from Business 2 Community.
What does this mean for the average business owner?
Well, it means that if you want to ensure that you’re developing your brand (online or otherwise), you’re going to need a focus on connections.
And the easiest way to put the focus back on connections is to develop your personal brand.
The value of the personal brand is something that businesses around the world are slowly starting to realize.
When handled properly, having a single person as the face of your business can end up being an incredibly powerful marketing tool.
But how do you go about developing that personal brand in the saturated digital media marketplace of today?
I get it, this is a bit of a confusing topic.
And frankly, there hasn’t been a lot of chatter about how to consistently reproduce the results of successful personal brands.
But that’s what this guide is for.
Every business is different, which means that not only will your audience’s needs be different, but so will the people running the business.
That being said, these are the steps that anyone looking to strengthen their personal brand should start with.
Personal branding might be tough, but armed with the right tools and the right approach, it has the potential to drastically change the way people view your business.
Make sure you’ve got a plan in place
Okay, so this probably sounds like your typical ‘brainstorm ideas’ section, right?
Wrong.
Planning out your strategy is always going to be important when it comes to digital media marketing. That’s just the nature of the beast.
But no type of marketing demands more from you in the planning stages than personal branding.
Keep in mind that when it comes to marketing, a person has way less elasticity than a business does.
Don’t believe me? Think about this for a second.
Celebrities have struggled with the perils of marketing for decades.
Sure, being seen as the comedian made getting comedy roles easy, but it made it impossible to get dramatic or action roles.
And if you expect the average consumer to treat you any differently, you’re in for a rude awakening.
Consumers see you how you choose to present yourself. But once you’ve been put into a category, it’s almost impossible to break away from it.
Businesses get new CEOs. But you’re stuck with your reputation indefinitely.
Which is why it’s so crucial to nail your first impressions with your audience.
Determine what you want your personal brand to look like. A clearly defined vision can be the difference between a boring personal brand and an engaging one.
One of my favorite examples of this is the personal brand of Tim Ferriss.
If you’ve been in the tech/entrepreneur scene for any amount of time, it’s almost impossible to avoid hearing about him.
His book The 4-Hour Workweek has basically become required reading for anyone in the entrepreneurial field.
Tim Ferriss is many things (angel investor, entrepreneur, tango world record holder), but above all else, he provides value in unique, interesting ways.
Let’s take a look at a video Tim recently released on YouTube on the topic of starting a business.
Throughout the video, he does exactly what you’d expect. Offers advice to people based on his experiences and understanding of the business world.
But if you take a closer look, you’ll notice something interesting.
Despite the fact that he’s giving you advice on how to start a business, at no point does he take himself too seriously.
In fact, he even manages to make the time to tell stories. Everything from that time he read a book at Burning Man to the story of an artisan leather worker who makes leather pants.
This video, and really his entire brand, revolves around providing a healthy balance of value and humanity.
No matter what the topic is, you can always expect Tim Ferriss to share content the same way. Tackling all the key points but never sacrificing his personality for the sake of professionalism.
His secret to success when it comes to connecting with his audience isn’t developing some mysterious, elusive tactic that only some people can reproduce.
If you want a personal brand like his, you have to present your audience with tangible, actionable value on a regular basis.
Seriously, it’s that simple.
And that’s my point. Your strategy when it comes to a personal brand doesn’t have to be overly complex or layered.
You just need to have a clear vision of how you want to present yourself and how you want your brand to be thought of.
How do you pull that off?
I’d argue that the critical first step here is to start by defining your target audience.
Not only will this make it easier in terms of figuring out what kind of content your personal brand should produce, but it’ll help you determine how to present that content.
You wouldn’t talk to an audience of millennials the same way you talk to a group of C-level execs, would you?
Once you’ve decided on your target audience, just follow the same process you would when constructing a buyer persona.
Identify pain points, common interests and trends, the usual.
Arming yourself with a strong understanding of your audience and a clear vision for the future of your personal brand isn’t just ‘helpful’. It’s the foundation on which your brand should be built.
Gain meaningful exposure
Having a clear strategy in place is great, but it means nothing if you’re not getting people’s attention.
And let’s face it. Getting people to pay attention to your personal brand is going to be an uphill battle.
Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to tip the scales in your favor.
First order of business? Start leveraging the heck out of free exposure.
I mean it! Any form of free exposure that you can get your hands on, you need to be taking advantage of it.
It may not be fancy or nuanced, but it’s easily one of the most effective ways to get people to notice your brand without spending a dime.
If you’re not familiar with guest blogging, let me paint a quick picture.
Blogs, and the people that run them, have a business that’s built on constantly providing people with content.
In other words, the more relevant content they can provide for their audience, the better it is for their business.
That’s where you come in.
You offer to write some unique, valuable content that’s specifically tailored to their audience’s needs.
After they agree to let you plug your business at the end of the article, you’re well on your way to that free exposure!
And not just ‘free’, by the way. Assuming you did your homework and picked a blog that’s read by plenty of your target audience, you’re also looking at targeted exposure.
The best part? You can keep doing over and over again.
It’s not like the blog is suddenly going to need less relevant content.
There’s no reason you can’t develop a relationship with these blogs and regularly take advantage of the free exposure they give you by producing multiple articles for them.
But let’s say you’re looking to go beyond free exposure. Frankly, if you can afford to pay for advertising, you should.
The question then becomes “where should I invest in marketing my personal brand?”
There are plenty of options here, but for the sake of keeping things simple, we’re going to be looking at two examples.
Paid ads on social media
Social media influencers
When it comes to paid ads on social media, there are plenty of reasons to sign up.
The sheer volume of people on social media. Increased likelihood of online conversion. The fact that it’s infinitely cheaper than even the cheapest tv ad. Take your pick.
I’ve already covered the inner workings of effective social media ads before, so I won’t bore you by repeating myself.
What I do want to discuss is how you should approach the process of promoting your personal brand through social media ads.
Because actually executing a marketing campaign as a personal brand can be pretty difficult, if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I’ll just say it. There’s a fine line between delusional self-promotion and legitimately offering value to your audience.
Should be showcasing the immense value of your personal brand by showing people what’s possible via your products and services? Absolutely.
But I’ve noticed a concerning amount of small business owners who treat this as an opportunity to make baseless claims, in an attempt to trick people into visiting their page.
Aside from being ethically questionable, it’s also counterproductive.
People don’t want to do business with scam artists. You and I know that you have legitimate value to offer, but all they’re seeing is an ad that says “become a millionaire today!”
You’re not a scam artist, you’re a business owner. Make sure that your marketing reflects that.
Find that sweet spot between the height of success with your product and the real value that your audience will be able to extract from you and your business.
But if social media ads aren’t your style, or you aren’t experiencing much luck with them, there’s one more method you should start implementing.
It’s amazing to me that people are even willing to question the value of the social media influencer.
No one would claim that Nike is wasting millions of dollars sponsoring athletes.
Yet there are plenty of people that question the value of a business owner sponsoring a popular YouTube celebrity.
Whether you resonate with social media influencers or not, there’s no denying the numbers.
King Bach, who’s built his entire following off of social media, has managed to build a pretty respectable following despite not being a ‘traditional celebrity’.
Social media influencers can have hundreds of thousands, if not millions of followers.
But honestly? It’s bigger than a follower count. Conventional celebrities might have millions of followers on social media, but how often do they actually interact with them?
I’d say somewhere between rarely and never. For better or worse, that’s just part of the celebrity culture.
Social media influencers, or micro-celebrities, typically have a different relationship with their followers.
How?
Well, they actually have a relationship with them!
Most celebrity follower communities operate in a passive way. The celebrity posts something, and the community discusses it amongst themselves.
It’s a fine piece of promotion, and does a great job drawing attention to their product.
But there’s a big difference between posting something and actually communicating with your audience.
Let’s take a look at someone like Gary Vaynerchuk.
Micro-celebrity communities are met with constant interaction from their celebrity.
Right off the bat, it’s worth noting that Gary has a fraction of the followers that Kylie Jenner has.
That being said, Gary is infinitely more likely to like a comment and have a legitimate dialogue with someone on his page than Kylie is.
In fact, Gary Vaynerchuk interacts with his followers every time he posts, selecting winners for his ‘60 second club’, which rewards people who’ve turned on post notifications on Instagram.
Why does any of this matter?
Because it’s about engagement. A community that has a stronger relationship with the influencer is more likely to take what they say seriously.
It’s really an issue of quality over quantity.
Could you pay millions of dollars to promote your personal brand via a traditional celebrity? Of course you can.
But you could also just pay a fraction of the cost and get access to a targeted audience of millions of people.
I mean, I know which one I’d be willing to pay when it comes to promoting my brand.
Heck, sometimes you don’t even have to pay for it!
Plenty of social media influencers would love to have you share your expertise with their audience.
Just take a look at this interview I did with Tai Lopez, where I was able to share my insights with tons of people by leveraging Tai’s incredible social media presence.
Will the average business owner with no established personal brand be able to get free exposure from an influencer with nearly 1 million followers on YouTube alone? Maybe not.
But can that same business owner reach out to 10 influencers with 100,000 followers and work with them to promote their personal brand? Absolutely.
As long as you’re able to provide value to their audience, there’s no reason that they wouldn’t be open to an interview with an industry professional such as yourself.
Conclusion
I’m a huge believer in the power of personal branding.
I honestly believe that tapping into the humanity behind your business is one of the easiest ways to connect with your audience.
I also believe that it’s one of hardest forms of marketing to pull off, simply because people aren’t sure about how they should approach it.
Plan out what your personal brand should look like, what it’ll need to connect with your target audience, and how you’ll convey your message to them.
Take advantage of all the advertising methods at your disposal. Anything you can use to draw attention to your personal brand should be leveraged aggressively.
Learn to recognize free opportunities for exposure like guest blogging and interviews, while also using paid forms of advertising like social media ads and sponsoring social media influencers.
Personal branding is, at its core, a way to reinject humanity into your marketing.
By channeling the spirit of social media (the need to connect with others), you’ll be able to break through and reach a consumer that’s been fatigued by generic ads.
With this simple two-step process, any business owner out there can start to learn how to build and implement a personal branding strategy that does wonders for their business.
What do you think the most important aspect of a personal brand is?
About Neil Pate: He is a New York Times best selling author. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations.
In today’s hot job market, professionals are encouraged to sell themselves. But what happens to our sense of worth when we’re commodified?
A few years ago, at a freelancing workshop, I participated in an exercise about the power of personal branding. I had my doubts but was not quick enough to duck out, like other attendees. It was the dreaded “get to know you” session of the workshop. We moved our chairs to the centre of the room, forming two lines across from one another and sat down. A few extraverts leaned in enthusiastically, while the rest of us glanced longingly at the exit.
The instructions were simple: 90 seconds to tell the person across from you about yourself and your work. After that, a buzzer went off and they got their turn. Then we shifted to the chair on our right and began all over again until we had “pitched” ourselves to everyone in the room. We were advised to make our 90 seconds matter. Be clear, stimulating, and authentic. Go!
At the end of it, my parched throat could barely croak out my name. I remembered no one. Embarrassing snippets of my elevator speech nagged me on the way home: In a breathless, hurried voice, I had said, “I’m a writer with purpose!” and then vainly tried to convince both of us what that meant. Words like “lifestyle,” “content creation,” “specializing,” and “communications” buzzed through the room. I remembered feeling that this type of promoting involved physical stamina and that perhaps I needed to work out more. I was exhausted.
When I returned home, my fatigue morphed into disgust. What had I just done? Why did I feel emptied of personal integrity? What happened to the complexity of the human soul? I had reduced mine to a minute and half of blather. To what end? To commodify myself?
What a concept, personal branding. The private and the personal on the one hand, and advertising and product on the other. How did these two oppositional words ever transform into one concept?
Tom Peters is largely credited with coining the phrase in his 1997 article, “The Brand Called You,” published in Fast Company magazine. He proposed, in an enthusiastic self-help tone, to think of yourself as a company or “free agent,” and to know your “worth on the open market.” Over the years the lines between commercial and personal interests have blurred to such an extent that we no longer appear to notice. Individuals are told to “invest” in themselves; people are considered “markets”; stories are “content”; and corporations have the status of “person” under the law. Dating sites, places designed to foster intimacy, look like catalogues with people to purchase. No wonder we’re confused.
In an age like ours, where many are overworked, overwhelmed, and distracted, there is a panic and pressure to whittle yourself down to a pithy line so you can get on with the business of life. On top of that, less job security and the growing replacement of traditional employment with freelance and independent contract work creates growing pressure to solidify your reputation.
By 2020, it’s estimated freelancers will make up 50 percent of the U.S. workforce. In Canada, almost all of the job growth in 2016 was due to part-time work. People feel compelled to reach out to as many “markets” as possible with information that is pre-packaged, easy to digest, and prepared in small bites.
Even after an hour of personal brand training, I felt the pressure to turn myself into something snackable—not a meal, but a mere morsel, the small snack that you forgot you ate later in the day.
Yet, marketing yourself has only grown in popularity. Books, such as You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and the popular and aptly named “Personal Branding Blog,” advise readers on how to build and protect their most saleable qualities.
And personal branding does not just happen during work hours; it also bleeds into your personal life. The real work is online, maintaining profiles on your website, your blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. The number one tip from a Globe and Mail article about building personal brands urges us to “be visible and accessible.” The second tip? “Show the real you.”
Of course, promoters of personal branding don’t actually mean that. They’re referring to the best you, the sellable version. The parts that have little or nothing to do with making money are shunted to the side, as are the intriguing facets of the self that contradict one another. Authenticity can’t be possible when the essence of branding is selling yourself.
I’m not saying articulating who you are and what you stand for isn’t powerful. But knowing yourself is a process. It’s fluid; it changes and grows. Part of my difficulty with an elevator speech is that it’s rehearsed and performed. It’s static. Who wants to repeat the same version of themselves over and over? Spontaneity, or at least not rehearsing what you’re going to say, leads to the possibility of real dialogue and connection. It may not be slick, but it just might be memorable.
Clearly, I will never master the elevator speech. My personal brand will suffer. I may miss out on opportunities. But I’m in this life for the fullness of the experience, professionally and personally.
It’s a feast. And it takes a lot longer than 90 seconds.
By Marcia Walker
Marcia Walker’s writing has appeared in PRISM international, Room, Event, AntigonishReview, the Globe and Mail, CBC Radio, and elsewhere. She lives in Toronto.
Welcome to the digital age of marketing where you are the brand. You can run and hide but you can’t escape the need to build your personal brand.
We all know people buy from people. People also tweet with other people. They connect on LinkedIn with other people. They live video stream, Instagram and SnapChat with other people as well.
When a new potential client contacts us to do business, the first place go to learn about them is the internet. We will start with a Google, Facebook or Twitter search. We then immediately click through to LinkedIn.
In a matter of seconds we can find out who the person is and if they are who they said they are in the contact form. We can find out where they work now and where they have worked the past 10 – 20 years. We will within seconds know if they have a blog, if they have kids, where they went to school and the list goes on.
Yes, you may be sitting there reading this and think… “Pam, you will never know that about me because I will never post all of that information.”
I want to ask you why? Why would you not want me to find out the best information about you? Why not ensure your digital persona is a true representation of who you really are?
Plus, even if you choose to not share much of this basic information, it’s still available via other sites and people you associate with. Your name, photo, family information, associations and more will appear in a simple search via other people and organizations you are associated with. When other people and organizations take photos of you, post the information the their social channels, it becomes public.
It is becoming a requirement , not an option to develop your personal brand. If you want to be trusted and rise above the noise you must connect with people as a human being, not just a logo.
Building your personal brand doesn’t happen by jumping on Facebook or creating a fancy Twitter background or highly edited profile photo of yourself. It is also not just a matter of using the right tools to make your videos look good or learning how to play the newsfeed algorithms on all of the top social networks. It’s not a matter of tricks.
You don’t build your personal brand in minutes or hours. You build your personal brand over days, weeks, months and years. You must earn trust, establish credibility and authority.
You must know who you are. You must know who your audience is and how you can serve them.
Even if you are just getting started online, it is important you start somewhere. It only takes a seed. it’s how you nurture your personal brand that will bring success.
How to develop your own personal branding strategy
Why you must be self aware of your strengths and weaknesses
Why personal branding is a requirement, not an option
Why you must stop excuses and start building your personal brand today
The difference between authenticity and transparency
Why you must know who you are and what you stand for
Why you must know your audience and what they need from you
How to be aware of your digital body language
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You don’t have to spend lots and lots of time on it.
You’re ready to make a career move–maybe you’re looking for a new job, launching a side business, or eyeing a promotion. In all of these instances, boosting your personal brand can help you achieve your goal.
That’s because a strong personal brand is a carefully designed message that’s compelling and attracts the right people. It helps you stand out for who you are and what you do best.
You’re probably nodding along, because you already know all of this. You don’t need to be convinced how valuable personal branding is: What’s holding you back is the time commitment.
That’s why you have a LinkedIn Profile, even though you haven’t updated it since you set it up. After all, who can devote hours each week on top of working or job searching? Well, believe it or not, 30 minutes is all you need to take your efforts to the next level. Here’s how to spend them:
Minutes 1-10: Evaluate What Makes You Stand Out
The first thing you want to do is perform a self-assessment. This step is often overlooked, but it’ll be super helpful as you find your voice in a sea of professionals with similar experience.
This evaluation helps you have a clear vision of your USP, or “unique selling proposition,” which is just a fancy term for the value you offer to your target audience.
Here are some questions to get you started:
What are you passionate about? You want to think about what excites you, and what things you truly enjoy doing.
What are your core beliefs? This is important because it’s like a mission statement. It’ll help you relay your personal approach to getting things done.
What are your top four strengths? This will help you share what you do better than anyone else, to set you apart from the competition.
Are you a good leader or a good doer–or both? This is good to know because it’s a way to identify and highlight the kind of roles that complement your strengths.
What do others say about you? Ask around! You may have strengths you’re unaware of, or talents you need to put more emphasis on so people know they exist.
To be clear, I don’t expect you to answer these questions with witty tag lines. This exercise is to help you target your branding efforts. So, answer the question(s) that inspire you by jotting down notes, and honestly writing what comes to mind.
Minutes 10-20: Compare That To What You Already Have
Now that you’ve done some reflection on what you want to say, it’s time to see how it stacks up against what’s already out there.
If someone were to read your LinkedIn profile, tweets, or personal website, would they see messaging that points them toward the answers you came up with?
You might be thinking: Wait, I only have 10 minutes, that’s not enough time to read my whole website or review my LinkedIn line by line. But here’s the thing: People who click into one of your social profiles or visit your website are probably going to spend a fraction of that time looking at it.
So you want to look for things that shout what you do. On LinkedIn, that means moving beyond filling out the basics and adding links to media, writing posts, and getting endorsements for skills. On your website, that might mean building a portfolio. On Twitter, it’s about not just following influencers, but composing tweets, too.
This step is about comparing what you want to highlight to what you have and asking yourself: What’s missing? What can I add?
Minutes 20-30: Create A Schedule
Truth talk: Personal branding isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of thing. Once you’ve figured out what you want your message to be and how you can share it more effectively, you’re going to need to start posting–consistently.
A helpful way to be consistent is to set a schedule that you can use as a guide. It shouldn’t feel like a chore, but if you’re anything like me, if you don’t schedule it, it could get back-burnered. All I ask is that you give it 10 minutes a day!
Here’s an example of a schedule you can start with:
Monday: Make (or update) a list of people you’d like to engage with more (a former manager) or simply connect with (an industry influencer).
Tuesday: Reach out to someone from that list. If it’s someone you’re reconnecting with, try one of these ideas. If it’s a stranger, you can test out this Twitter trick, or, if you’re brave, just send a cold LinkedIn invite using these templates.
Wednesday: Spend time looking for industry-related articles in publications popular in your field and share one. Or, alternatively, comment on someone else’s post (or at a minimum, share it).
Thursday: Make (or update) your list of improvements you’d like to make to your online presence. Break it down into baby steps. For example, you wouldn’t write, “Build personal site.” You’d write, “Look into site designers” and “write copy for personal site bio.”
Friday: Spend today looking at yesterday’s list and knocking just one thing off.
Of course, you can tailor your plan to whatever works best for you. Honestly, if you just do the five things above even once a month, you’ll see traction. Regardless of the schedule you choose, feel free to switch it up, and see what gets the best response. You won’t see results overnight, but, that’s okay.
My final piece of advice is to avoid being misled by the term “personal branding.” What I mean is: The most successful brands aren’t just about you. Take the time to know your target audience, and listening to what’s on their minds as well. Genuinely connect and build relationships! As best-selling author Dale Carnegie said, “To be interesting, be interested.”
The methodology for building a personal brand online is actually quite simple.
Take those two words, “personal” and “brand” and look at what they symbolize. When something is personal, deeply personal, it leans more on on the side of art, expression, and story. A brand, then, is how that story is packaged, distributed, and represented in the eyes of audience members. It is more concerned with the external, while personal expression focuses primarily on the internal.
Where most people go wrong in thinking about their personal brand is in putting one hundred percent of the emphasis on the “brand” side of the equation. They spend all their time talking the talk, growth hacking their way to a status of credibility, only to end up with a glossy “brand” with absolutely no substance. They might look professional from afar, but upon closer inspection they are nothing more than a talking head.
That’s not a personal brand.
I have been in the personal branding space for almost a decade–and for many of those years, I didn’t even realize what a personal brand was, or that I was even building one for myself. The first personal brand I built was around my gamer tag in high school. I was one of the highest ranked World of Warcraft players in North America as a teenager, and also one of the most e-famous World of Warcraft bloggers on the Internet. I didn’t know the term for it, this thing we now call a “personal brand,” but at seventeen years old I knew that having ten thousand people reading my blog every day was valuable. I knew the power of building an audience.
In the years since, I have reinvented myself over and over again, entering new industries like health and fitness, or writing, and building a personal brand to match. And having done it multiple times, I have come to the conclusion that a long-lasting personal brand cannot exist without both parts: art and marketing, expression and distribution.
You need both.
So, how do you take that deeply personal story, or the knowledge you hold so close to your heart, and package it appropriately?
Let’s talk about the distribution side of things. Here are some tools you should take advantage of to actively share your voice with the world:
1. Quora
I am a huge advocate for Quora. Personally, I think it is one of the most undervalued social platforms on the Internet. It’s far bigger than people realize, and is quite literally the single best training ground for vetting your audience and testing what resonates and what doesn’t.
Quora is a Question/Answer site that thrives off well-written, long form content. But the real benefit is the fact that you have people who are quite literally asking questions about the very topic or industry you’re looking to become a thought leader within. There is nothing more telling about your audience and their needs than a question.
If you want to become a thought leader, and especially if you want to build your personal brand online, I highly suggest writing on Quora.
2. Facebook Groups
Again, a “personal brand” needs to be personal, first.
Facebook Groups have evolved tremendously over the past few years, and are now seen as one of the best ways to keep in touch with people within a specific niche. Most of the digital marketers I know use Facebook Groups to build highly targeted audiences, and actually prefer using Groups as opposed to relying on Facebook fan pages.
One strategy I have found that works extremely well for engagement is doing Live presentations, Q&A session, etc., within your Facebook Group. This allows your audience to actually see you (a key part of conveying the personality of your personal brand), while also capitalizing on the fact that Facebook is prioritizing video heavily these days–especially the Live feature.
And if you’re still unsure of whether Facebook Groups will be around for a while, Mark Zuckerberg just changed Facebook’s mission and it revolves heavily around the concept of social groups online.
3. Slack
Another great way to keep followers even more engaged is by creating a private Slack channel for you and your brand.
This might seem a little “too” personal, but I think we’re entering a time where massive audiences and eye-popping Follower counts have lost a bit of their shine. We know that it’s not just about how many people you can reach, but how many of the right people.
Funny enough, Slack actually originated from an old gaming chat room concept, and as a former gamer I will tell you that chat rooms online are just as personal as anything else. By creating a private Slack channel, you can build stronger relationships with the people within your follower base.
4. Webinars
Webinar usage has absolutely skyrocketed over the past few years, and it’s because we’re all now seeing the value of video. Even as a writer, I am constantly asking myself how I can continue to stay relevant in the digital age where video is by far the most engaging medium.
Webinars are something I have started experimenting with, and can be used for both internal engagement purposes or for external marketing. If you use something like Clickmeeting, for example, you can brand the presentation to match your personal brand’s aesthetic, track and measure engagement throughout the webinar, and then once you’re done, download the video and then upload to your social platforms as a recap–in case you missed it.
While you can pre-record Webinars and even set up a whole user flow from Facebook ad to Webinar registration, the real value is in having people be able to actually see you as you’re explaining something, or teaching, or even talking about how you do what you do.
Remember: the more personal the better.
(Also: something I have seen becoming really popular lately is coordinating a Virtual Summit. Think of this as 20+ different pre-recorded Webinars created by thought leaders in a specific niche, which audience members then pay for access to. Just some food for thought.)
5. Video Courses
The obvious next step after you’ve taken the leap into the world of Webinars is to consider transferring your knowledge and putting together a video course. Again, people want to feel like they’re sitting in the same room as you, and learning from you and only you.
In my experience, video courses are one of the most premium ways to not only engage your most loyal followers, but if done correctly can actually raise the status of your personal brand. Especially if the course is shot professionally, that alone raises the standard of your brand. Combine that with extremely sound material and plenty of additional resources, and you’ve now got a high-ticket item that engages current loyalists and attracts new ones as well.
To actually build a video course, however, is a pretty big undertaking. For software, I would check out Kajabi, which you can use to actually host your video course within a portal and customers can log into and access over time, as well as process payments. Then, combine it with something like Leadpages or Clickfunnels for the actual distribution of it: landing pages, automated email sequences, etc.
I want to remind you though that if you are entirely focused on the marketing and brand side of the equation here, your video course will fall flat. Remember, it has to be a balance. If it’s not “personal,” if there’s no story, no expression, then you’ll just be like everybody else.
7. Skype
Let’s talk about extremely direct, one-on-one engagement.
If Webinars attract lots of eyeballs, and video courses are the luxury form of that content, then direct video conferencing should be your most premium engagement offering.
Whenever I consult someone on their social strategy, or someone asks me how they can get more followers, I always ask them, “Why? Why do you want more followers?” The truth is, most people can’t answer that question. They just assume more = better.
Instead of always trying to chase “more,” I really encourage people to double-down and engage with who they already have, better.
Using something like Skype and offering video consulting, conferencing, or even doing contests on your social platforms rewarding people with a 30-minute “Skype coffee” with you is a great way to really engage your followers.
Because at the end of the day, anyone you have a direct conversation with, even if it’s only for five minutes, is going to remember you and feel much more compelled to engage with you on a regular basis.
The importance of personal branding and how to create it.
Nowadays, everyone is talking about personal branding, wanting to build one. People around the world have understood the importance and advantages of personal branding. It is not just about companies becoming popular. An individual becoming a brand himself is way more important and pays off in the long run. Personal branding is about helping yourself and taking control of your life by giving it a clear direction. Remember the quote by Oscar Wilde, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
What is Personal Branding?
The concept of personal branding has evolved from the self-improvement theory in which an individual is all focused on getting improved at a particular skill and making an impression on the other’s mind that he/she is great at it. It all refers to an individuals ongoing process of becoming an expert at something they are passionate about and spreading the word about, sharing their immense knowledge about the particular skill they have.
The term was first used and discussed in the 1997 in an article “A Brand Called You” by Tom Peters in Fast Magazine. In this article, Tom states, “Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.”
Social media, guest blogging, and many contributing platforms are helping people build their personal brand online. But it’s not only restricted to online presence. Speaking at an event, meeting people offline and introducing yourself in a professional way add up to your personal branding journey.
Many people misunderstand the difference between personal branding and self-promotion to some extent. Personal branding may not be necessarily about self-promotion and boasting about yourself. Instead, a personal brand helps you define the type of person you want to be.
The Importance of Personal Branding
Personal branding takes years of hard work and patience. Below, I have listed six reasons why personal branding is important:
Industry Recognition: Getting known in the industry you belong to is the best thing that ever could happen to you. You start attracting people that tend to think like you. At this point, your opinions matter a lot.
Competitive Advantage: Personal branding gives you a competitive advantage over others in your field and helps you win. People tend to believe you more. You have better credibility.
Being Yourself: Personal branding helps you be yourself and do what you love. You will also get paid for what you are excellent at, and this will further inspire you to do more of what you love.
Reputation: Personal branding aids your reputation since people start noticing you because of your genuine expertise and respect you for helping them with your suggestions.
Confidence: Personal branding gives you tremendous confidence in life. You don’t have to depend on your external job when you have a strong presence for yourself.
A Great Support: Personal branding assists you with your entrepreneurial journey, and you can quickly gain initial traction for your product or service since you have that credibility and a good follower base already.
Tips on Creating Your Personal Brand
Becoming a brand that people recognize is not that easy. You need to know some important aspects while creating the brand called ‘you.’
The first thing is to know yourself better and what interests you. Figure out what you are truly passionate about.
Once you know what you are truly passionate about, take a step ahead and start hustling. Build expertise around your passion.
Start connecting with influential people in your industry whose passion resonates with yours and follow them. Carefully observe what they do. Get to know some brilliant minds in your interest area and strike a conversation. Ask for suggestions.
Join vibrant and relevant groups on social media platforms and share your opinion whenever you get an opportunity.
Be present on all the possible social media platforms that matter to your industry and start sharing your valuable thoughts whenever necessary. The aim is to build a true follower base for yourself.
Have a professional website of your own and start writing original and highly attractive articles that people would love to like and share. Promote your articles online.
Be consistent and start approaching different publishing platforms to publish your articles. Try till you succeed. It will help you Increase your reach and audience.
Small things matter. Join platforms like Quora and start helping others who are in need through your suggestions/answers. This will help you climb the self-branding ladder.
Creating a personal brand requires a lot of hard work and patience. Pure passion and consistency in becoming an expert matter a lot. For some people, it takes many years to create an image in people’s mind about their expertise. But once you create a place for yourself and build a reliable follower base, there is no one to stop you. You should be willing to give more time to enrich yourself with exceptional knowledge so that you can see an improved version of yourself every day. Personal branding gives you an edge, period.
Start imagining you as your own brand. Want to be something big and leave your mark on the planet earth? Start investing in yourself today to reap numerous benefits tomorrow.
By Pavan Belagatti
One of the youngest growth hackers from India. Google certified digital marketer and a guest blogger on various websites around the world.
