Personal branding as a professional skill
Personal branding can be defined as the process of presenting and promoting yourself to your audience, leveraging the experiences, skills, and values that distinguish you [1].
This process underlies a skill itself, indeed. And one that deserves to be nurtured, since:
- it improves your credibility by sharing your skills and knowledge
- it differentiates you and makes you stand out as you exhibit your specialties and highlight what distinguishes you from everyone else
- it leaves a lasting impression on your audience
- it builds a deep connection with your audience, who gradually gets to know you and understand what you represent and what values you identify with
- in your professional field, it creates more opportunities for your growth path
But how to build effective personal branding?
Exploiting the exposure offered by social platforms is not enough; it is necessary to study a real strategy that will revolve around a cornerstone: authenticity and genuineness in how you present yourself and communicate with your audience.
1. Focus on your goals
You must first focus on what best represents you, your strengths, the uniqueness of your profile and of your experience. You need to understand what you want to be known and recognized for as a professional. Are you a young professional who is always up to date on the latest industry trends? Or are you a senior figure with in-depth knowledge of the profession?
2. Identify your audience
Based on these aspects, you have to identify your audience, i.e. those who represent your ideal interlocutors: these could be the professionals you’d like to offer your consultancy to, eventually from a specific industry.
3. Plan a precise strategy and define contents
At this point, evaluate in more detail the nature of the contents to be disseminated, their frequency of publication, and the most relevant channels for sharing them. Establish your own blog or write guest posts for notable blogs within your niche. Vary the nature of the contents (text, images, videos, infographics, podcasts, etc.) and use the most appropriate channels to promote them. Are you a creative looking to promote your work? Channels like Instagram will enhance the visual content of your work more. If you primarily produce text content, it will be easier to promote it on channels like Facebook and LinkedIn. However, a transversal presence will multiply your exposure and possibilities for interaction: in any case, always provide value and be consistent on all the channels you use, as authenticity and coherence are the foundation of your credibility.
4. Interact and nurture relationships
Interact with your audience, respond to comments, make the most of the feedback you receive, and nurture the relationships you establish, even outside of your social profiles. Follow those you consider to be communication models from whom to learn. Over time, you may even succeed in proposing partnerships with mutual promotion of published content.
Two excellent examples of personal branding
Moving beyond the scope of pure business, let’s look at two examples of effective personal branding to understand how these strategies apply to any context, theme, and audience.
Jessie Inchauspe, also known as the Glucose Goddess, is a French biochemist and one of the most popular scientific influencers on Instagram, with over 1.5M followers. She’s recognized as an expert science communicator since she does not target a professional audience but rather ordinary people. Jessie explains, in a very accessible language, using colorful and fun graphics, how to eat healthily and how to take care of oneself through nutrition. Making complex themes “pop”, funny and accessible, she manages to tune in perfectly with her audience.
Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier is a Mexican photographer and marine biologist with a following of 1.6M users on Instagram. Although the topics she addresses are serious and tricky, through the evocative power of her images, she manages to connect with her followers and encourages other women to participate in the commitment to protect the oceans. That’s the power of visual storytelling.
Originally published on Medium, October 24, 2023
REFERENCES
[1] The Sprout Social glossary: personal brand. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/glossary/personal-brand/
[Accessed September 27, 2023]
Sprout Social (February 9, 2023). The complete guide to personal branding. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/personal-branding/
[Accessed September 27, 2023]
Harvard Business Review (September 28, 2022). How to Build Your Personal Brand at Work. Available at: https://hbr.org/2022/09/how-to-build-your-personal-brand-at-work
[Accessed September 27, 2023]
Harvard Business Review (May-June, 2023). A New Approach to Building Your Personal Brand. Available at: https://hbr.org/2023/05/a-new-approach-to-building-your-personal-brand
[Accessed September 28, 2023]
Forbes (November 28, 2022). Why Personal Branding Is Important And How To Build Yours.
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/karadennison/2022/11/28/why-personal-branding-is-important-and-how-to-build-yours/
[Accessed September 28, 2023]
Oberlo (July 19, 2023). 9 personal branding tips that will elevate your business in 2023. Available at: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/personal-branding
[Accessed September 28, 2023]
Fig. 1. Bustle (April 28 2023). Why Is Everyone Talking About Blood Sugar Spikes? Ask The Glucose Goddess.
Available at: https://www.bustle.com/wellness/glucose-goddess-jessie-inchauspe-book-interview
[Accessed September 29, 2023]
Fig. 2. glucosegoddess 2023. A post from Jessie Inchauspe profile. Instagram 27th of June 2023.
Available at: https://www.instagram.com/glucosegoddess/
[Accessed September 29, 2023]
Fig. 3. mitty 2023. A post from Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier profile. Instagram 13th of July 2023.
Available at: https://www.instagram.com/mitty/
[Accessed September 29, 2023]
Eva De Crescenzo 