TAKEAWAYS
Connect, Create & Conquer - Unlocking Personal Branding potential
Building your Digital Empire - Optimising online presence for better results via LinkedIn & Instagram
From Unknown to Unstoppable - Levelling up your personal skills to stand out!
CONNECT, CREATE & CONQUER
85% of all jobs are filled through networking, highlighting the importance of a strong personal brand. (LinkedIn Talent Blog). So if something so crucial is a key determining factor then how can one unlock this potential?
Think for a minute why do you buy items from specific brands? It may be because that particular brand is attractive. reliable? authentic? functional & efficient? It can be some or all the factors at once. The Same happens when we place ourselves in the job market, networking platforms, and social media. Hence, our identity should speak volumes! Our presentation on these platforms is what determines our chances of standing out amongst millions of other people who are looking for the same opportunities as us.
Today, social media platforms are the most common way to find out about a person and reach out to them. 92% of companies use social media platforms for hiring, and 3 out of 4 hiring managers check candidates' social media profiles. So our primary step should be to curate an outstanding profile on platforms like LinkedIn which are most commonly used for networking and job search.
BUILDING YOUR DIGITAL EMPIRE
How to set the right tone on LinkedIn which creates a valuable personal brand for YOU?
Profiles with photos receive 21 times more profile views and 36 times more messages. Which means that a good professional profile picture of you is the first step to catch attention.
Creating relevant, authentic and engaging content. You can share your work achievements, workshops, fellowships and sessions you have been a part of, current project and strategic takeaways from the same. This informs people about your interest and expertise and lets people from similar backgrounds connect with you.
Adding images and infographics- Visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media. Using free design tools like Canva and Adobe you can create eye-catching visuals to enhance your content for increased engagements.
According to a case mentioned in Harvard Business Review, brands that use storytelling in their content see a 30% increase in engagement. This makes another aspect i.e storytelling an important personal branding skill.
Last but not the least CONSISTENCY is the key! What most people have is the knowledge required to kick-start their journey towards developing their personal brand, but they are often at a loss when it comes to efficiently executing this knowledge. Being regular with your engagements on digital platforms, upskilling yourself and maintaining a consistent online presence can improve your branding a lot.
How to optimise Instagram for personal branding, attracting target audience and reach ?
Define Your Personal Brand - Determine what sets you apart and the specific topics you’ll focus on (e.g., fitness, entrepreneurship, fashion etc). Develop a consistent message that aligns with your values, passions, and what you want to be known for. Use consistent colours, fonts, and imagery to create a recognizable look and feel.
Content Strategy - Lack of consistent and planned content leads to reduced engagement for most people. Planning content in advance through stories, reels, posts can help in efficiently engaging with the audience.
Increasing engagement - Responding to comments, hosting Q&A sessions, polls on stories, hosting live sessions can help audiences stay connected with your brand and look forward to what you have to post next.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) & Keywords - Including relevant industry keywords in your bio, captions, and post descriptions to improve discoverability.
Collaboration - Guest posting and collaborative posts with industry peers or organisations working in similar fields helps in amplifying reach.
One can find several instagram personalities/ influencers and people in general who have curated their personal brand which has helped them promote a greater cause or collective initiative through their own identity in an industrial niche.
Your unique identity and personal value adds credibility to any and every work you are associated with hence making you an asset in professional space.
FROM UNKNOWN TO UNSTOPPABLE
NETWORK is your NET WORTH!!
Your network of people accounts for a major chunk of your personal branding. It helps you establish yourself as a well connected person. It helps you stay relevant in your field with access to latest trends, new developments and changes. Reaching out to people builds trust, improves your interpersonal communication and enhances your individual outreach.
Here’s also 7 STEP GUIDE on how to build your personal brand from scratch - https://hbr.org/2023/05/a-new-approach-to-building-your-personal-brand
Working on yourself improves your brand
A long term plan on how to polish your overall identity is by continuously upskilling yourself. While all the exterior work you do on enhancing your digital presence, the core of you, remains your skills (both soft and hard skills). These can be improved by becoming a part of programs that target on helping you alleviate professional presentation and gain insights into leadership roles. LedBy Foundation’s Accelerator Program and Corporate Leaders Fellowship focuses on these key areas, designed to cater to your professional, leadership and personal branding needs, particularly for Indian Muslim women.
You can also access courses offered by different universities, companies and institutions regarding both technical and soft skills on places like Coursera, Udemy, edX (management soft skill), Google digital garage (digital marketing)& LinkedIn learning. Courses offered on these sites are -
mostly free
self-paced
range from basic to advanced levels as per individual needs.
Networking events, conclaves and different conferences are the moment when your offline presence and presentation comes into play. They are essential events where you can directly build connections, get people interested in any business, project, role or cause you are working for. Here your interpersonal skills are the prime determining factor.
Personal branding is one of the facets that help you in work. Your progress is not limited to it but leveraging this can exponentially benefit you in the workspace. Maximising your potential through personal branding can definitely open new avenues, give you an alternative perspective and level up your game. It helps you become a unique identity and people value you as an independent asset at any organisation, because of you as an individual and not simply as someone catering to a role. You give a new meaning and importance to yourself and your work. Authored By Rumish Ali Saif Miranda House '27 | Strategy Consultant - LedBy Foundation
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