This is a guest post by Sharyn Sheldon from BusinessContentPLR.com
Have you become wrapped up in the personal branding quest? Between social media consultants, life coaches, marketing experts, and other blogging gurus; creating your own personal brand can sound like a complicated exercise.
Among other things, you’ll need to discover what really matters to you and your target audience, where you provide unique value, and how you want to be perceived.
While the process of putting together your total personal brand “package” sounds daunting, it’s far easier to communicate to the world than you think. It’s not as if you’re creating a product from scratch. You already exist!
One of the things that all your consultants might forget to tell you is that the real you is what matters most in building credibility. As soon as you start trying to market an artificial personal brand, people will see right through it and you’ll lose the trust you were striving for in the first place. And we’re not just talking about bloggers here. These principles apply to everyone.
With those thoughts in mind, try on these few tips for making sure it’s the real ‘you’ that shows up in your personal brand and on your blog:
1. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
You may specialize in words for a living, but no matter how many times you tell the world what your personal brand represents, it’s what you do in real life that will communicate it most.
If you say in your blog that you’re an innovative content marketer, then you’d better have some real life, active marketing campaigns going on that take the word “creative” to new levels. If you say that your mission is to help people realize their dreams, then I hope you are out there in the world doing just that.
Before you start defining your brand, think about whether your words are really wishes. Or, do you truly intend to put those words into action immediately? Successful bloggers have their actions planned out ahead of time and always make sure those actions are aligned with their image.
2. A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Always use a good picture of yourself for all your profiles and other places you can post it. While we’d like to think that the way we look doesn’t matter, it does. People will always get a first impression of you from your face, hair, clothes, posture, etc. If they see you face-to-face, they’ll look at the way you move, sit, stand, gesture, or even blink your eyes. If they’re just seeing your picture, they’ll note every little detail in just a glance.
Make sure your visual image reflects the brand you want to communicate. You may prefer to blog in your underwear, but unless you’re an underwear model, that image is not something you want the world to see.
3. Drop The Artifice
While there are some parts of yourself you don’t want anyone to know about, you’ll also find it difficult to fabricate something that you’re not. You might be able to learn some new skills to push the edges of your comfort zone, but you still should be aware of where you are most comfortable as yourself.
If humor is your main trait, you’re not suddenly going to become the serious pontiff who blogs about the political hazards plaguing the third world. On the other hand, if you have a really bad sense of humor, you shouldn’t start trying to tell funny stories.
Strive to be yourself and focus on you finest qualities. At the same time, be selective in sharing some of your weaknesses and faults. That’s real life and nobody likes a perfectionist.
4. Stop Reinventing Yourself
Some bloggers like to reinvent themselves as if they’re trying on the latest fashion trend. It’s confusing to every reader who arrives on your site and it defeats the entire purpose of having a personal brand. Attempting to build a community on shifting sands is pointless and self-defeating.
Once you’ve spent the time to really figure out your personal brand, stick with it. You’ll certainly refine it as you learn more about your market and yourself. But you won’t even know if your brand is having the impact you want unless you stay consistent and let it grow on its own.
5. Don’t Be A Hermit
You may know who you are, but does anyone other than your mother read your blog? The whole point of a personal brand is to use it to show the world who you are and what you have to offer. No one will know your name at all unless you are visible in some way – whether through your public actions, marketing, word of mouth, social interaction, or other efforts.
As part of your personal branding, you need to create a plan for how you’ll communicate it to the world. And that doesn’t have to mean a big speaking tour or hours spent on social media. Depending on who you’re trying to appeal to, it may be as simple as networking with other bloggers or participating in blogging challenges. Keep it simple where possible and, whatever you do, stay true to the real you.
Do you have a personal brand? What do you do to make sure it’s the real you?
Top 10 Search Terms:
• identify yourself • twitthis com
Branding always an important part for any blog! nicely written and all things are absolutely true.
my points :
create unique content from your experience and post it
blog for humans and to spread the knowledge.
Use social media effectively-no over promotions please!
Hi Dennies (or is it John?), thanks for adding those tips. And great point about blogging for real people. So many Internet marketers are still mired in their keyword focus, which ultimately damages you if you forget the real reason for creating content – to fill a need. “Spread the knowledge”, as you said.
Thanks Sharyn.
I like your point no 4.
It is only those who don’t have focus that tries to re-invent themselves with the latest news around
For personal branding one should know, how the world works and also try to use social networks as they demand as social networks play vital role for personal branding and to enlist the site in organic searches.
Hi Sharyn,
Keen insight here!
I intend to come from an authentic place in all I do. From writing posts, leaving blog comments, interacting on social networks, I put my stamp on what I do, by being me. This is challenging. It’s tough to be you all the time, because the fear of criticism rears its ugly head at times but if you remain true to you, life becomes infinitely easier. You can work and sleep with a clear conscience.
I write with MY voice and let fly…honestly 😉 The key is to churn out content, your content, do 1 edit, and hit “Publish”. This way, you make sure that YOU are speaking, that you are writing and publishing your own words, because beyond a few edits your voice gets watered down in a lame way.
Thanks for sharing your insight Sharyn!
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
It’s great that you’ve been able to really stick with your own voice. The point you made about overcoming that fear is so true. I still have a strong tendency to over-edit in the attempt to make things perfect. But as one successful marketer told me recently, your goal should be to strive for excellence – not perfection.
Glad you liked the article!
Sharyn
Okay, this is something different from the other posts, I totally agree that the bloggers should behave in & out as the same.
My personality is to become an authority in my niche. I’m really striving for it, and leaving insightful comments whereever I find great blog posts like this.
Thanks for the comment, Rahul. Aiming to be an authority in your niche is definitely the way to go for creating a long term business. Good luck! I’m going to head over and take a look at your blog post myself. Sounds intriguing. Great title!
I definitely agree with these tips! There are some who are still confused with the meaning of “personal branding” they tend to make people think that they’re like this and that but they’re actually not, yet it’s what they’re going to be known about and I have no idea how they live up to it.
I don’t know how anyone can keep up an artificial identity for long either. I guess you have to be trained as an undercover agent! Still, the Internet is also a great place to reinvent yourself if that’s what you want and it’s still the real you…..just another side of you.
Personal branding is a term that causes much confusion indeed. I love your comment and I totally agree with you.
Thanks Maddie. I just love it when people agree with me, especially since my kids never do!
“Creating” a fake personality is what most bloggers are after these days. They try to set themselves into the stream of their niche (trying to re-define their trait and trying out funny things that is not actually their style).
Thanks for the brilliant post Sharyn. A topic which is very vital for today’s blogosphere!
Hi Jane,
I was just thinking again about that whole issue of trying to create a fake personality. I believe a lot of it comes from comparing yourself to the big “gurus” and thinking you have to be like them to be successful. But there’s no way you can compete with someone by trying to be just like them. Far better to focus on what’s unique about you. (Love your blog by the way!)
– Sharyn
How about telling the world about your accomplishments and how did you achieved it? Does that help in personal branding? I think it is wise to speak up about your accomplishments. It’s one opportunity to promote yourself and you rather do it yourself that others do it for you. That’s just my opinion though.
Hi Clyde,
I absolutely agree that your accomplishments are part of your brand. The trick is to focus on why you accomplished what you did. For instance, what particular strengths contributed towards that achievement. Of course, sometimes it’s difficult to recognize your own strengths, so it can help to ask someone else what they think too.
– Sharyn
Hi Sherlyn, Indeed all tips are actionable and considerable when trying to build the personal brand. The most important point which i liked most is that Actions Speaks Louder than the Words! , that itself shows us that what we do in real life defines our real existence hence instead of reinventing ourselves into a fake form in online media , we should make a fine bridge between our real life tasks and online tasks! this is same like the synchronization !
Hi Adrian.
I like that word – synchronization. It definitely describes how you have to be consistent with everything you do when forming your personal brand. And that’s a lot easier when you are focusing on the real you!
– Sharyn