How to create a personal brand on social media & post regularly

We’ve written before about the key differences between a business and a personal brand (make sure you give that a read if you’re unsure!) If you’re a business owner or very senior in your business, a personal brand can help you make even more valuable online connections and create opportunities for yourself and your brand.

There are some big things you can get wrong though. Irregular posts, too much posing, or too much self-promotion will not build your followers. This is how to build a personal brand on social media that has genuine value and keeps up with the posts so you’re always active.

How to build your personal brand

Define your vision and brand identity

Consistency is important, whatever you’re branding. Choose a font, and colour scheme, and filter and stick to them across all posts. Instagram will give you more freedom to do this, but less visual platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are more about how you express your brand personality in written content. Define it now and it will evolve organically as you do.

Be yourself or fade into the timeline

We know this is a cliché but having a clear brand personality is just as important for an individual as it is for a business. You don’t need to create a personality this time though because you already have one!

It’s tempting to want to project a particular kind of image, and we all do it on social media to an extent, but you should stick fairly close to who you really are. On a practical level, you’re much more likely to post regularly and have lots of ideas if you’re being true to yourself – it comes far more naturally. On a promotional level, you’ll stand out more for your authenticity.

Be insightful and interesting

It’s great to be yourself and to be funny and down to earth, but people primarily follow business leaders for insight and information. They want to know why you’re successful and what they can learn from it, so make sure your posts bring that value. Think about the lessons you would have benefited from, or the realities that people don’t talk about, and you’ll have a good place to start.

How to manage your profile effortlessly

Use social media scheduling tools

Building a personal brand is a long game and you might not have the budget or freedom to hire someone to manage it for you just yet. Social media scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Buffer let you manage a few profiles for free, which is enough to get you started and keep your profiles looking active and interesting.

Create a content calendar 

You should plan and manage your personal social media profiles like your business. Planning doesn’t have to be super precise but a good idea of what you need to post and when will help you stay on track. There should be some flexibility so you can both plan ahead and be reactive to what’s going on one particular day or week.

Get used to recording what you’re doing

Covid-19 has shut a lot of us away at home or in desolate offices, so opportunities for conferences, workshops and keynotes are mainly on a screen, which isn’t quite as interesting to document. That’s okay! You can still get into the good habit of recording things as they happen, whether that’s through photos, videos, or just text. The more immediate you are the more you’ll have to post and the more relevant your content will be.

Remember! Take advantage of different social mediums when it’s most convenient or appropriate – reels, live streams, tweets, long-form, whatever works.

We’re branding experts in Bolton and Chorley

Need help getting your personal brand off the ground? Talk to the Tall Zebra Designs team today.