What Is Your Story? #shareyourstory

Share Your Story.

A personal brand is a very important component which showcases your values, what you do and don’t stand for and the skills / knowledge you provide within your areas of expertise.

People are better able to engage with you and do business with you when they feel that they and trust you. Just like in relationships, you must build a solid foundation first before someone decides if they’re ready to move forward with next steps. The same goes for business.

Sharing your story is imperative for both entrepreneurs and working professionals, and if you haven’t already started building your personal brand, it’s the perfect time to begin. I wanted to share four key rules to help you with the process.

Be authentic:

One of the MOST important factors in brand credibility is sharing who you are in an authentic and genuine manner. Your attitude and communication should reflect your values and ethics. Never try to be someone you’re not, this will come across as disingenuous.

Credibility is hard to develop and even easier to destroy. Its not recommended to get involved in social media controversy unless you really have something to say. The information we put onto the internet is here to stay – so just keep that in mind.

Engagement is KEY:

Networking is an important part of building your personal brand. This is something you can do both online and offline. Some basic pointers would be being active on some key platforms where your key audience ‘hangs out’ such as: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn,  Facebook, Pinterest, etc. You can like people’s posts / messages, comment and even share their posts.

Additionally, try to become an active member of local community networking events, meetings and conferences specific to your industry. This is a great way to establish and build your reputation by having face-to-face engagements. And secondly, if you’re able to speak on stage at these types of events, you can also get some media coverage as an expert in a certain field which also is useful for gaining credibility.

Mastering social media:

As you likely know by now, social media is the platform for sharing your expertise and work with large audiences. The various platforms, specific to your area of work, can be a powerful tool to gain traction and increase your popularity. The goal would be to gain a strong presence on the site(s) most appropriate for you. Research is KEY when identifying who your target audience is and which platforms make most sense for your to focus your efforts towards.

Share your expertise: 

Establishing yourself as an expert or though leader in your field of work is one of the main objectives of sharing your story. You can do this by sharing your expertise and knowledge with your online audience through your profile page and community. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or employee, its highly recommended that you have a personal / professional website where you can share your content and information.

While some individuals prefer to share via blogs others find it quite fulfilling to create video blogs to provide more of a visual effect. I enjoy the combination of the two – but if I had to select one, it would naturally be creating videos.

Another options would be to provide guest posts on popular websites and blogs is another great way to showcase yourself and your work. Once people begin seeing your work they will likely begin seeking your advice or refer to your shared knowledge to make their own decisions, which is when you begin to notice your personal branding efforts have paid off.

Personal branding is itself a fairly tiring endeavor, but it’s definitely far more interesting and enjoyable than any other form of marketing or advertising.