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Gaya

Building a personal brand on social media is just as important as having a portfolio. A personal brand can have a huge impact on any profession, similar to what your portfolio does.&nbsp;

It's simply about making your social media account professional, but you can still be carefree and make it your identity. Unlike a portfolio, you don't need to think too hard to build a personal brand on social media. You might already have a personal brand on social media and not realise it.&nbsp;

No matter your profession, be it a creative, entrepreneur, corporate, or freelancer, having a strong online presence will make you stand out in your industry. If you’d like to scale your personal brand to a definite level that makes you visible to an audience you’re targeting, having a social media presence is essential and a worthy investment.&nbsp;

How do you build a personal brand on social media that fits you? It’s quite simple. As long as you're ready to pull your hair a few times a month (just kidding), here is a step-by-step guide to building an amazing personal brand.

Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room,” and I couldn't agree more. Before you post anything on your social media, you need to think hard about how you want people to see you. Once you figure out who you are, you can define your brand and share it with people.&nbsp;

Your brand isn’t just your job title. It’s the vibe you give off to the people who see your brand, the values you stand for, the kind of content you put out, and the way people feel when they interact with you. Think of it as your digital reputation that makes people trust you and your content.&nbsp;

While you want to keep a professional vibe to your brand, you need to let your personality shine through your content. You don't need to be too serious about everything you put out. With the help of AI, it's become easy to come up with captions or short write-ups, and it's okay to use them. Although you might want to try writing your content exactly how you speak. In your specific time, that lets your personality show. Authenticity makes you trustworthy, and your followers will appreciate an honest brand.&nbsp;

Before you create content for your brand on social media, ask yourself, what topics do you love talking about? What do you want to be known for? Once you have your answer, you've hacked the first step to building a personal brand. Do not follow the crowd by doing what you feel people want to see or what you see people doing. If it's not something you enjoy or you're pretending to be someone different, you'll have problems staying consistent.&nbsp;

&nbsp;2. Pick Social media platforms wisely

Not every social media platform works for everybody. I'm sure you have a favourite social media app or prefer one over the other. I'm active on many social media platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, but enjoy spending most of my time on Instagram and tiktok. It all comes down to preference and strengths when choosing a platform to build your brand.&nbsp;

You can be on every platform, but don't have to be everywhere. It can be exhausting jumping from one app to the other to keep up with posting content and engaging with the audience. Also, most of the social media platforms don't work the same way. Instagram and Tiktok are heavy on visuals and video content, and LinkedIn are for community building and good written content.

Choose 1 or 2 platforms that you enjoy using, understand, and where the majority of your audience hangs out. LinkedIn is perfect for professionals and career development, Instagram works best for creatives, coaches and lifestyle brands, Tiktok is amazing for storytelling, humour and lifestyle content, and X, formerly known as Twitter, is known for hot takes and controversial threads. If you're not scared of dropping your unsolicited opinion and are good at replying to people in case your post goes viral, you will love X.&nbsp;

All you need is just one platform that you make your space on, learn the patterns of posting content and the audience, and build your brand to the best of your ability.&nbsp;

The first thing people see on your social media profile is the aesthetic. It's the first impression they get of you, so you have to make it count by creating a cohesive look that fits your brand. Start off by using a high-quality and friendly profile picture of yourself across all the platforms you're using, add a catchy bio about who you are and what you do, stick to a consistent colour or aesthetic for your personal brand.&nbsp;

If you're using an established personal social media page of yours but want to clean it up to fit a professional personal brand, you'd have to delete any content you don't want your audience, potential employers or clients to see. When people mention digital footprint, you have to take it seriously as someone with a personal brand. You can always have two accounts. A private profile for only your friends and family to share your shenanigans, and a professional profile that is perfect for your brand.&nbsp;

As Forbes puts it, “Authenticity is what makes personal brands stick. Be relatable, be real, and be consistent.” People will follow you for your personality, no questions asked. You can have strong visuals that intrigue people, but if there's no unique voice, they'll be quick to forget your brand.&nbsp;

You need to stand out by posting quality photos and videos from your work life or daily activities and still let your personality showcase by sticking to your tone, either through captions or tweets.

People love watching a good aesthetic brand, but if you're not offering value in the long run, people will be quick to follow the next best thing. Your content can fall into many categories that allow you to share new things. There's education, entertainment, enlightenment, engaging and empowering. Sharing value might not be the forefront of your brand, but doing it once in a while will do you plenty of good.&nbsp;

You could share your journey, what you've learnt or currently learning or something impactful you came across. They don't have to be hard. It can be as easy as sharing relevant news or breaking down trending stories for your audience. This step has helped many build their brand, and you can be one of them.

Because you have a personal brand, you shouldn't be posting on your page simply for the sake of posting or showing up. You need to make people care about your brand. Share your thoughts, your work, your wins and losses, and the things that make you, YOU.&nbsp;

Don't make the mistake of being consistent by posting every day. Been there, done that and regretted it. To build a personal brand on social media, it's very important to stay consistent. You can't expect your page to grow when you only show up once a month or twice a month. No one is going to pay attention to such a brand or give it the time of day. Most of my favourite brands that I follow on social media, I love them for being consistent. They show up every week with fresh contents that give you a reason to stick around.&nbsp;

To be consistent with building your brand, you can start by creating a schedule that is easy for you to maintain. Have in mind that you're a one-man team, so consider your strengths and schedule. You can choose to post 3 times a week for platforms like Instagram, Tiktok, or Facebook with 2 stories a day, and for platforms like X and LinkedIn, you can schedule posts for 2 or 3 times a day. With a detailed plan and content calendar, it makes it easy for you to plan your content ahead of time and stay consistent without burning out.&nbsp;

Don't be like me, who posts once a year and disappears off the face of the earth. You need to take building your brand on social media as seriously as a full-time job. If you're a busy person who finds it hard to keep up with posting consistently on social media platforms, you can use cross-platform tools to make things easier. For example, there's Hootsuite. A tool that helps you schedule your social media posts in advance and share them across multiple platforms like Instagram and YouTube. All with just a button on an app.&nbsp;

Your audience knows you by what you share and what your brand conveys about you. They don't know you on a personal level like your friends do, and this might seem like a gap. Well, it doesn't have to be. You can close that gap by engaging with your audience and connecting with other people like you on social media. It's not a one-way street. You have to give as much as you take. Whenever you make a new post, engage with the audience for the next hour and don't ghost. Reply to all your comments, send a DM to certain people and also leave thoughtful comments on other creators' posts.&nbsp;

Engaging with your audience helps you build real connections. One amazing online personality I follow, Neil Patel, once said, “The more you engage with others, the more they’ll engage with you. That’s how relationships and brands are built.”

No one likes someone who only talks about themselves. Be part of the community you’re trying to reach. Make new contacts and friends as often as you can, especially on LinkedIn. Consider it like networking but in a more laid-back manner.&nbsp;

You can also do fun activities on your social media by creating polls with interesting questions. This can help you boost engagement on your pages. If you're a busy person who finds it difficult to stay on social media or gets carried away easily, you can fix a specific time in a day or week and take time to engage with your audience.&nbsp;

As humans, we are constantly growing. Your brand is a version of yourself, and as you grow as a person, your brand should grow with you, not remain static. It's okay to start with one path and eventually shift into something bigger as you grow. This creates a journey for your audiences to grow alongside you, be a part of the process and share your milestones. It effortlessly makes your audience trust you and have a close relationship with you without ever meeting you in person.

Building a personal brand on social media isn’t about being fake, flashy, or always “on.” It’s about showing up with purpose, consistency, and personality. I promise building a personal brand is a process you'll enjoy and never get tired of. You'll learn so much about yourself, and it can improve your career in ways you never imagined.&nbsp;

Building a personal brand on social media isn’t about being fake, flashy, or always “on.” It’s about showing up with purpose, consistency, and personality.

Art & Design

How to build a personal brand on social media

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