In today’s competitive landscape, personal branding isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the key to standing out, attracting recruiters, and unlocking new career opportunities. And with impressions being made with just a click, it is considered as your digital handshake and it’s what shifts you from being lost in the crowd to being a candidate that recruiters can’t help but notice.
Think of it as if you are an established business, what would you want others to say about you or view you? What would be your style? what is your personality? And what is it that you value as a person? Answering the questions can help you in the process of creating a personal brand of your own.
You might be wondering “Why bother creating a personal brand is of any importance? As long as I have solid experience and a strong resume, employers will notice, right” Additionally, many younger people, especially (Gen-Z) prefer to keep a low profile on social media platforms, which might make creating a personal brand insignificant. While there’s some truth to that, there are few reasons why investing in your online personal brand is worth considering.
Why you should consider developing a personal brand:
It helps you stand out in the job market.
Building a personal brand will help you differentiate yourself from all the candidates that are competing over the same role as you, giving you a competitive advantage. By crafting a unique identity that communicates who you are, what you value and what sets you apart will help recruiters recognize the value you bring to the table.
Build connections and find like-minded people.
Establishing a unique presence online not only attracts like-mined individuals, but also grants you access to a wealth of knowledge and experiences of others, which enhances your own knowledge base. Building connections with others can spark discussions where ideas are exchanged, allowing you to see things from a different perspective. Moreover, having a presence online allows you to connect with people globally, providing a broader view of your industry or niche, essentially laying the foundation for meaningful relationships that leads to future opportunities and collaborations.
It helps you build authority, trust, and credibility.
Sharing your expertise and knowledge to the people within your industry will get you endorsed by many like-minded professionals. Building a personal brand can cultivate a reputation where you can have some influence within your industry and on your target audience.
Build a community that you can influence.
Once your brand gains recognition within your community, your opinions will carry weight and influence. By consistently offering valuable knowledge and sharing your expertise, you become a reliable resource that people can learn from and eventually turn to for guidance and potentially becoming one of the top influencers within your industry or niche. As you continuously provide value to your target audience, others will increasingly trust your insights.
Also Read: From Certificates to Careers.
Now that you understand what it is and why is it important, let's dive into the:
4 Steps of building your personal brand
Building your personal brand is not simple, but it's impossible either, as long as you understand what is required to create your personal brand, the rest will be a matter of remaining consistent with it, here are the 4 main steps of creating a personal brand.
Step 1: solidify the foundation of your personal brand.
Creating a brand requires a solid identification of certain elements that are creates a whole brand. and through identifying the following you will be able to establish the foundation of your personal brand that will position you in a unique way.
Here are the main Key-points that you need to identify:
Your values
What you offer to other people
The industry / field that you want to work at
Your target audience, who are you trying to reach?
The message that you want to share
The way you want to narrate your story and journey.
Through answering these questions, you will set the foundation towards creating a brand that is uniquely yours and help you stand out in the competitive job market.
Step 2: Create a strong online presence.
Once you lay out the foundation and answer the questions above clearly, Do the following:
1- Optimize your social media platforms
By writing a short intro about yourself, creating headers, taking a professional image, creating your own theme and adding your contact info.
2- Share valuable content.
Through sharing your expertise, your unique knowledge, and your career journey, make sure that it is what your target audience is looking for, and to help you tailor content that is specific to your audience, ideating content that reflects your expertise, interest, and personality before creating it would be very beneficial.
3- Engage and interact with others.
Reply to your comments and DMs, and engage with other posts and communities, this will help you showcase your unique knowledge, and create connections.
Step 3: Showcase your expertise.
Show your skills, share your knowledge and your unique perspectives through writing and communicating it through different mediums and platforms, for example you can build a website, or use a dedicated platform related to your industry or field of expertise where you can share your work, research, designs, or writings.
Step 4: Network strategically.
Attend industry events, webinars, conferences, and engage in online forums or groups related to your field. This will help you gain more exposure, establish connections, and find new opportunities.
Tips on maintaining a strong personal brand.
Once you establish your brand, make sure that you maintain it through the following tips:
Stay true to your target audience.
The more authentic and original you sound the more people will be drawn to you. You don’t have to mimic others, because we are all different and we express ourselves in different ways.
Focus on a target audience and adjust your brand accordingly.
Target a group of people, in a certain industry and create content that resonates with this group. don’t try to be everything for everyone. Look at the field or industry that you are working in and try to place yourself in a way that is distinct from others yet offers unique skills that could attract opportunities within the industry that you are interested in working in.
Tell them your story.
We all have our own original stories, so use this opportunity to tell yours to the world and share your experiences, journey, passion, and your unique perspectives. Sharing your story will give you control over your own narrative and will allow you to appeal to and influence your target audience.
Stay consistent.
Try to maintain the same type of content that you share online through offering the same value, sharing the same message and thoughts both online and offline, because it is much easier to get recognized for one topic rather than continuously changing and creating different personalities.
Embody your brand, don’t try to fake it.
Trying to mimic other to be part of a community will not sustain you in the long run, as it may impact your reputation. When a brand is intentionally imitating others, people will notice it and potentially criticize the person behind it for it.
Personal branding isn’t just a trend – it’s an essential approach that candidates should consider approaching in today’s competitive job market. By understanding and harnessing your distinctive attributes, you will stand out from the crowd, build meaningful connection where you exchange knowledge, experience, and potentially position yourself as an influential figure in your industry. Remember to be authentic, focus on building your skills and to share your journey with the world. Consistency and authenticity is key to maintain a strong brand.
Now that you have reached the end of the article, what do you think? would you consider investing in your personal brand and elevate towards higher levels of success and achievements?
If you found this article helpful, share it with a friend, a colleague, or on your social media, we’d love to inspire and help more people to reach new goals and elevate towards new heights.
Also Read: From Certificates to Careers: Here's What They Don't Tell You About Post-Grad Job Search!