Top Tips And Ways On Promoting Your Online Brand
December 13, 2016
No matter your profession, if it’s freelance or not, and/or based in the online world – your brand is essential. Your brand is everything.
Now, that doesn’t mean brand as in a normal brand. You’re not Levis, and you won’t be traded as a pair of denim jeans. It’s about showing an honest development of yourself and your goals.
For example, say you’re a budding sports journalist. You’re going to have to retweet and display every single facet of your niche via your social accounts. You’re almost going to have to be a super you. Not so superficial that it’s not you, but an intense reflections of your interests that will make you the account to follow on that certain topic. That’s not dishonesty, but an expansion of yourself.
The first thing to do is to concentrate yourself down to 140 characters. Yes. Enough for a single tweet on Twitter. This is an effective way of knowing yourself and your brand’s direction. If you can sum yourself up adequately in 140 characters, you’re onto a winning formula. That doesn’t need to be kept in the digital world, but it can act as your ‘elevator pitch’ in real life. A short, concise burst that tells a potential employer exactly who you are and what you can bring to the table is a fantastic tool for your career and for working with clients. There is nothing as reassuring as working with someone who knows what they are doing, and an elevator pitch will help you achieve that image.
Once you’ve managed to describe yourself and your worth, it’s time to start aiming big. Don’t shun compliments, don’t wait for your goals to come to you. Your brand has earned these. Respond, compliment and move forward. You should ideally become a voice people listen to, or an influencer in your chosen area. If you want to write something for a publication, find the editor make contact and pitch your writing, you may have something worthwhile for their readers.
At the start of your journey, you’ll have to act as your own publicist. At the beginning, the promotion of your brand comes down to you, and you’ll have to rely on the amount of time and effort that you and you alone are willing to put in. Remember that you’ll only get back what you decide to put in. Start looking and acting as the best you. Start pretending and imaging you as what you want to be and start off on that foot.
LinkedIn is a good way to build your brand in a professional environment. Get a great headshot sorted, fill out your profile and be sure to inject the necessary keywords that will get you seen by the people who can pay you. Be honest about your skills and expand on the 140 character biography we just talked about. LinkedIn will get you seen by your employers so make yourself an attractive hire!
Remind people of the great work you’re doing, but don’t be annoying. Retweet your best writing or send an email to your boss. Don’t assume that everyone who has an interest in you knows you. It’s key to remind them of exactly who you are and the asset you are to them. Articulate your value, but please don’t brag. No-one will stumble upon your greatness, but it’s up to you to be modest and explain your value. Stay humble and approachable throughout.
On Twitter, engage with your audience and partake in the relevant conversations that relate to your work. Twitter is the public domain, and you will get noticed. Reach out, react and talk to people who show an interest in you. Facebook is slightly different – it works a little more like Linkedin. Remind your followers of your worth, post articles of interest and display your work. That is what it is there to do.
It’s important to continually engage with other interests, and they should not be seen as competitors, but more as a community. Join and build friendships, share the work of others and collaborate. This will help get your brand shared, and your name out there and will help your form relationships with other influencers. These influencers shouldn’t be seen as a threat, but instead as beneficial partners. This is not a race, and collaboration can ensure that everyone wins.
Visuals are critical in the success of your brand and YouTube offers a valuable tool. Start a vlog and get your face known. Talk about your experiences, offer vlogs as a compliment to your written work. Every bit of content your produce helps build your brand into something bigger and every tool available should be utilised. Whether it’s YouTube or simply infographics on your site relating to your interests. Instagram is another key tool that can display your life and goals and help share them to other social media sites. Companies like Vibbi can be contacted to help market your Instagram to the right audience and add another wing to your brand.
Your ‘success story’ is an absolute commodity if your personal brand gets anywhere. People will want to be you. You can use this as an asset and produce newsletters and ebooks that will help generate leads. You will know who is interested in you and why and you can sell to them. This is not nefarious and is a two-way relationship.
It’s all about reputation. You and your brand need to be seen and heard. Your brand needs to be advertised in places the people you want following you will see. Once you get somewhere, you need to start investing. Promote your tweets and your Facebook page. Invest in marketing to multiply your interactions.
It’s important to keep in mind yourself and your goals through this process. Pay it forward and pay back those who helped your journey. You can offer everything to your followers as they chose to follow you for a reason. Now that you have the online brand, you can achieve a lot. Just don’t sell yourself and your followers out.