This is an era of novelty so was every era, it’s now the push has become more noticeable and publicised. Everything’s there on the internet, from all things basic to everything original, what gets attention and what not is all about what you do, how you craft. Whereas users work on an algorithm of how to spot the right one which imparts the benefit, and what to spot.
The balls are at the both ends, creators and users, and this is where personal branding gets its own space. Spot the difference in this example:
Did you read that story?
Did you read that story? It was published on the XYZ platform.
Did you read that story? It was written by ABC writer of the XYZ platform.
Relating to the third one is a class win of personal branding. There are many personalities whose names are enough to grab the attention, Clayton Christensen who writes on HBR and Haresh Chawla who writes on Founding Fuel are among those writers of whom I try not to miss a single story. They aren’t just the writers, they are the inspirations, their articles add value to quotients of the level of your awareness-knowledge, their case studies clear the perceptions instantly and their every note makes you ponder. They have themselves become a well-known brand.
If you are not convinced yet, who will open up your mail or who will not is also a part of personal branding. Of the recent times, Arnab Goswami is one class example of personal branding who is about to start up his own venture, Republic. Arnab comes from the media industry and is now a brand who represents himself in a very unconventional way and has garnered a lot of admirers, his new venture already has a following of over 90K on Twitter when the venture isn’t launched yet.
I repeat, this is an era of novelty, this is an era where you need to have your own unique way, those days are gone where you do all those basics and still people go-ga-ga about you because they had very limited sources to avail all that they were getting at that point of time, but today, internet has brought us to a very new chapter where every tiny step counts. Before diving into it, dear millennials, be clear with one thought, there are NO shortcuts for it.
The evolution of usability on social media and the need for the virtual collaboration have together arisen the want and need of the personal branding. People weren’t keen on it earlier, but if you miss it now, you will ruin it forever on your own. Personal Branding is all about creating an image of yourself in the most original way in the minds of whom you are targeting, be it the client or your users. Everything creative and catchy, are now just the basics because everyone’s having hands on something somewhere you have no idea about.
You have to be credible. This is absolutely necessary. Make sure of all that you do for your living adds the credibility first hand and manages to convey the potential you hold. If people who look at you find you a credible source, they will admire you if not at once but sooner, and then, there will be secret admirers too. Be aligned with everyone while figuring out what makes them connected with you, offer them more with all that credibility you have in your pocket of creative desires.
You need to have a vision. How people will look at you and how you look at people, both hold the importance equally. If you are targeting your users in the right way, the users will surely get an eye on you, but if they don’t find what all you have told them, you will fall and fail, I don’t know what hurts more. Maybe, Fail. Who wants to hear that? So be assured beforehand what you serve, because clarifications don’t exist in case of personal branding, and the time you waste in justifying the act, by the time, someone has already leveraged you have no idea about.
You are your own mirror. You reflect your thoughts, beliefs, ultimately the wholesome personality. Either people will trust you, or leave you. Your approachable image will help you attract the talent too. I don’t have any idea of the numbers but I am sure, there will be some Ks or Ms in numbers who wished to be a part of Apple just because they wanted to be in the team which Steve Jobs lead. Sundar Pichai is another class example who has an image of impactful CEOs of our times, oh my google is no less than what abbreviates to OMG, I’m sure you have no doubt about it.
You hold the trust, you gain the traction, you make more money. Yes, that’s true. Money is important, for all that you do, you do it to make your living better than before every single day. Let it be clients onboard or the sign-ups on your app, if you convey the message of what people are looking up, or say if you are able to develop the connect, people will surely want to give a try, and hopefully they will not just open your mail but respond to you too. For your business, it’s easier to get the stakeholders on board too, because when they believe you, they will wanna know more about your product and all that you do.
You become an influencer in no time. Instagram and Snapchat are having some good sessions of competing with each other, with every new addition to either of them, the influencers figure out the best way to reach to their audience. I give +1 to Insta Stories because of its handy application and UX design than Snapchat (you can follow us here on Insta), more to it, influencers are busy in giving the reasons to their followers that why they should keep a track of them. On the other side, Brands are stalking those influencers to select who is the next that is going to promote their product well to make a great deal out of it.
You, be clear with your USPs. If you are aware of the fact of your differentiating propositions, there’s no way you wouldn’t be able to triumph with your abilities. Yes, you need to be perseverant while being focused, grab the feedbacks and save the feedbacks that envy you so that you can resend them later when your time is right, jokes apart, every feedback has its own value, if people aren’t telling you, force them to tell you but then don’t pester them too, because if they get irritated, you will be ignorant right away even if you have that piece of cake that they wanted. Your tiny steps make you count, never forget!
Filtration is of the utmost importance everywhere because social media is more mess than of novelty, and those who do their personal branding right, can never be filtered out. If you played well with your strategies and tracked the audience behaviour, you will be brand worthy and here, you are your own proposition. Hope one day you ask yourself, are you sold out? Trust, now is the time to make sure your personal branding is done right and the future belongs to you.
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I read. I write. A threat to humor, if one liners could kill. Twitter: @ayushxgarg