Building a Strong Personal Brand: Strategies for Success
For years, I’ve been talking about how important personal branding is, but let’s not get confused by the semantics. Your personal brand is your reputation, and your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career. People don’t understand that playing the long game and building your reputation always plays out in your favor.
The Issue with Short-Term Thinking
The issue is that people see others getting ahead in the short term and think that’s the way to go. Instead of being patient, they go for quick sales. They keep trying to convert customers on the first interaction. They try to extract money, instead of creating an experience. What these people don’t see is that short-term progress is often at the expense of long-term personal brand health, and so, they get tricked.
The Power of Personal Branding
Your brand is about how someone feels in the moment when they interact with you or your business. You all have emotions you feel in reaction to names like Coca-Cola, IBM, or McDonald’s. Whether good or bad, you have a reaction. When you hear my name, you probably get a feeling too, which I hope is positive. If you had to put it into words, I hope you’d say, “Gary Vaynerchuk, the guy who gave more than asked,” or something along those lines. I want you to think of me as someone who gave massive amounts of value.
1. Good Intent Wins in a Transparent World
In a world with all these social networks, everything is transparent. Everything you do is captured with YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, etc. Every part of your movement is on record, and anything you do will be exposed and unraveled. For this reason, you can’t have multiple personalities anymore. It’s no longer realistic to have a different persona for business, family, and everything else. In today’s world, you are who you are.
The Importance of Authenticity
In an environment like this, people who have good intentions are going to win, and you guessed it, people who come from a bad place are going to lose. The internet is going to expose all of us, so think long and hard about what your intentions are and who you want to be to the world.
2. Have a Media Company Mentality
There is no reason to do anything other than act like a media company in today’s digital age. People haven’t fully grasped the attention shift we’re living through. Why? Over the past 70 years, we’ve seen businesses sell to us constantly – there wasn’t much free content, and it makes sense. Businesses of the past just didn’t have the kinds of opportunities we have now.
The Shift to Content Creation
Now, however, you can produce as much content as you want across social media platforms. This has paved the way for a new type of marketing. Instead of selling constantly, you can now create helpful, educational, entertaining content and use it to get sales long-term.
3. Hack Culture and Buy Ads to Distribute Content
When people ask me about my mistakes and regrets, I struggle to come up with good answers. It’s not that I don’t make mistakes, I’m just incapable of remembering and dwelling on them. That being said, there is one thing I do regret – Not spending enough money on Google AdWords.
The Power of Paid Advertising
I built my dad’s liquor business from $3 million to $60 million on the back of Google AdWords. I bought keywords like “wine” for pennies on the dollar when they were underpriced. If I had spent more, I would have grown it to hundreds of millions. Find a way to promote your content through ads. If you don’t have any money to invest, flip something on eBay, take that money, and run ads with it.
4. Know What You’re Talking About
Being a personal brand for the sake of being a personal brand is usually the quickest way to not be a personal brand. The first step to building a brand is to be self-aware about what you have to add to the conversation. You have to understand what you do and the things you want to talk about.
The Importance of Expertise
I’ve talked a lot for the past decade, but within a very narrow area. I haven’t talked about healthcare or geopolitical issues. I haven’t added my two cents to every pop culture situation. I talk about the things I know – communication in a modern world.
5. Document Over Create
If you want to be heard on social media, you have to put out a lot of content. You should be doing a long-form vlog or podcast at least once a week. You should be posting on Instagram and Snapchat at least 6-7 times a day.
The Benefits of Documentation
Think of it like Keeping Up with the Kardashians vs. Star Wars and Friends. One is more practical to create, while the other takes some creativity in coming up with stories. The first is simple for most people, including myself. The second is harder.
6. Show Different Sides of Your Personality
The reason so many influencers get commoditized is because they only show one side of their personality. For example, if you’re an attractive fitness model on Instagram, brands that are looking to sponsor you will put you in the same bucket as all the other attractive fitness models on Instagram.
The Power of Diversifying Your Content
Showing different aspects of your personality will get people more invested in your journey. It shows your targeted audience who you are. Even if a number of people stop following you or stop engaging, 30% of your audience will start looking up to you in a different way.
7. Prioritize Your Brand Over Sales
My entire company is a mistake on paper. The entire VaynerX machine – PureWow, One37pm, all of it – is not smart for me to do. It doesn’t help my short-term finances.
The Long-Term Benefits of Branding
As an entrepreneur, I’m in the prime of my career right now. I’m in my 40s. I worked hard to set a great foundation for myself in my 20s by building my dad’s liquor store to a $60 million revenue business, and I grew VaynerMedia to $150 million in revenue in a short period of time.
8. Be Your 100% Authentic, True Self
In my 30s, I grew a YouTube show around my family’s liquor business called Wine Library TV. On that show, I talked to people about wine. I would describe wines in ways that nobody else did at the time.
The Importance of Authenticity
I still leave money on the table to this day because I care about authenticity over short-term dollars. The fact that I curse so much in so many of my videos limits the number of speaking gigs I can get. But I’m from New Jersey, cursing is just part of how I talk, so I refuse to water it down.
9. Be Smart About How You Distribute Your Brand’s Content
I put out a massive 86-page deck talking about how I create and distribute content around my personal brand. There are a lot of moving parts, but ultimately, this is the core piece – Source: GaryVee Content Strategy.
The Power of Pillar Content
Pillar content refers to the long-form audio or video show that you use to derive all other content. It could be a vlog, a talk, a podcast interview, or any other long-form piece that you can turn into more audio-video-written content.
10. Focus on Quality AND Quantity
When it comes to producing content, everyone always focuses on quality over quantity. I’m actually in the business of quality and quantity. Both are needed for a winning strategy.
The Benefits of Both Quality and Quantity
Think of it this way – quality is subjective, quantity is not. When you make a piece of content and you don’t post it, it’s because you don’t think it’s good enough. You’re letting your subjective opinion stop you from putting something out in the world that other people might actually like.
11. Offer High Value Content
Whether you’re making one piece of content or 100, you should be providing value. That can be through education, inspiration, entertainment, whatever – but it needs to be giving something to your audience.
The Importance of Listening
How do you figure out what your audience wants? I’ll tell you the secret – bringing value comes down to listening. When you put out content and people engage, what are they saying? What questions are they asking in your DMs or comments sections?
12. Be Consistent
Many people struggle to build a strong personal brand, not because they’re not capable or because their content sucks or they have nothing to contribute to the world – but just because they’re inconsistent.
The Importance of Showing Up
Are you willing to put in the work that it takes? Are you willing to put in your reps? It takes work. It means showing up, not once in a while, not every week, but every day.
13. Add Your 0.02
Back to bringing the value, one of the best ways to do this while also building awareness of your brand is through commenting. Add your two cents to ongoing conversations within your industry as often as you can.
The Power of Engaging with Others
By engaging with other social media users in this way, you position yourself as an authority, an expert, or at least a person of interest. People will see your name and go, “Who is this guy?” and then go look up your page.
14. Understand It’s a Marathon
Let’s talk about a common trap that people fall into when building a personal brand. They put in all the time and effort to make amazing content. They come up with a posting strategy and share their content consistently across platforms.
The Long-Term Nature of Building a Brand
Even if you do everything right, the numbers won’t necessarily reflect your effort. The good news is that these kinds of vanity metrics don’t really matter. Building a brand isn’t about having a perfect aesthetic or an Instagram feed that looks like an art gallery.
15. Do the Work
Everyone wants to build a brand. Everyone wants to be a thought leader. Everyone wants to be an expert – but an expert in what? A leader of what? Before you get your name out there, make sure you have been and continue to put in the real work.
The Importance of Execution
That is what your brand will stand on. Technology and social media accounts will help you grow your brand, but your brand is only as real as your execution.
Takeaways
- Good intent wins – The internet will tell all, so be clear on who you want to be to the world.
- Have a media company mentality – Thanks to the modern attention shift, it’s less about billboards and commercials and more about producing as much content as possible.
- Hack culture and buy ads – Put your money where your mouth is and invest in paid media and influencers to help you hack culture.
- Know your stuff – Talk about what you know, don’t talk about what you don’t know.
- Document over create – Don’t overthink it. Live your life, document everything, and post at least 1x a week for long-form content and 6-7 times a day for Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
- Show all your sides – You don’t have to fit in one bucket. Be you, diversify your content, and show your audience who you really are.
- Brand over sales – Some things won’t bring you ROI short-term but will build your brand over time.
- Be 100% authentic – Fake never wins. Don’t water yourself down to fit in – be you and let that be what sets you apart.
- Be smart about content distribution – It’s all about pillar content and repurposing. Get strategic across platforms.
- Quality AND quantity – Remember, quality is subjective, quantity is not. Put in your reps and let the market decide.
- Offer value – Ask questions, read comments, and let your audience fuel your content.
- Be consistent – You can’t build a brand if you’re not all-in. Show up for yourself and your audience every day.
- Add your 0.02 – As often as possible, leave your 0.02 under every relevant post and hashtag.
- It’s a marathon – Don’t worry about likes and followers – keep your head down and go the distance.
- Do the work – Make sure you’re an expert not just on social media, but in real life too. Don’t just build your brand, live it.
There’s an unbelievable opportunity right now to build your brand using social media – and it will go away. I hope you take advantage of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is personal branding? *_Personal branding refers to the process of creating and maintaining a reputation that showcases your values, skills, and personality.*_
Why is authenticity important in personal branding? *_Authenticity is crucial because it helps build trust with your audience and sets you apart from others in your industry.*_
How often should I post content on social media? *_You should post content at least once a week for long-form content and 6-7 times a day for Instagram, Snapchat, etc.*_
What is pillar content? *_Pillar content refers to long-form audio or video content that can be repurposed into other types of content, such as social media posts or blog articles.*_
Why is consistency important in building a personal brand? *_Consistency is important because it helps build trust and anticipation with your audience, and it shows that you’re committed to your brand.*_
How do I know what content to create? *_You can determine what content to create by listening to your audience and engaging with them on social media.*_
Is it better to focus on quality or quantity when it comes to content creation? *_You should focus on both quality and quantity, as quality is subjective and quantity is not.*_
How can I distribute my content effectively? *_You can distribute your content effectively by repurposing your pillar content across different platforms and using paid advertising.*_
Why is it important to be patient when building a personal brand? *_Building a personal brand is a long-term process, and it’s essential to be patient and not get discouraged by short-term setbacks or lack of immediate results.*_
How can I add value to my audience? *_You can add value to your audience by creating content that educates, inspires, or entertains them, and by engaging with them on social media.*_
