The Dos and Don’ts of Creating an Online Personal Brand

For professionals, building an online personal brand is beneficial. It can help you find clients, develop your career, and generally create a better reputation for yourself professionally.

If you haven’t tried to build a personal brand before, you might make a few mistakes in the early days – ones that could cost you. You want your online brand to tell people who you are, what you do, and what your values are. That might not happen if you don’t do adequate research and learn the common mistakes to avoid.

To help you build a positive online personal brand that showcases you in the best light, here is what you should and shouldn’t do.

Do: Use Social Media 

Social media gives you ultimate control when it comes to building your brand. With so many users on there, it makes sense to take advantage of that.

For professionals, LinkedIn is the most obvious choice. Create a professional-looking profile that details your skills, experience, and offerings to make the most of it.

TikTok is another social media platform to consider. You might think it’s just for kids, but the truth is that TikTok has over 80 million users. With TikTok creator marketing, you can show off your creativity to create a more interesting online brand.

Do: Identify Your Target Audience

When building a personal brand, you need to consider who you want to appeal to. If you are a professional looking for clients, for example, who are your clients? When you produce content, who are you speaking to? Once you identify your audience, you can adjust your brand to appeal to them.

Do: Sharpen Your Content

Content creation is crucial if you want to build a brand. It’s more about quality over quantity, though. Remember – everything you put online is a representation of your brand.

Whether posting on social media or your website, make sure your content is genuinely good. Not only will it boost your reputation, but well-written posts will also help your SEO rankings.

Do: Stay Up to Date

It’s not enough to build a personal brand and then leave it – you need to post consistently if you want to have a real effect. Staying up to date with the goings-on on social media is helpful, as you can post about relevant trends there. When people search for you, they will find a brand that is current and in the know.

Do: Use SEO 

SEO is important for everyone trying to make a name for themselves online. With SEO, you can make your website appear higher in search engines, helping more people discover your brand.

Some general advice for using SEO includes using the right keywords, creating content, and ensuring your website is mobile-friendly. With the right combination of SEO practices, you can pull your website up the search engine ranks.

Do: Take Professional Photographs

You should know by now that how you show yourself online is a representation of your brand. That includes the profile pictures you use. If you have snaps of yourself on your website, LinkedIn, or any other online site, you must make sure they look professional. A quality photograph gives the impression of professionalism, whereas a bad photo will tell people you are the opposite.

If you have a friend or family member who owns quality equipment and knows what they are doing, consider enlisting their help. Otherwise, you can always hire a professional photographer to take quality images for your online brand. It will cost more than a simple snap taken on your smartphone, but it will be worth it!

Do: Understand Your Values

Every brand needs well-defined values, and that includes yours. You should identify them early on and understand them enough to let them be a part of everything you do.

If one of your values is honesty, for example, you need to make sure you stick to that constantly. In every piece of content you publish, every email you send, and every online meeting you join, you must let honesty be a part of it.

Just remember to choose values that represent your personal brand accurately. As an example, if you are a professional psychologist, it makes sense for your core values to focus on empathy and professionalism.

Don’t: Ignore Newer Social Media Sites

You might be comfortable on LinkedIn or Facebook, but some of the newer social media sites can also help you build a better personal brand. Depending on your brand, some of them might be even better.

As previously mentioned, TikTok is a great platform to get creative on. There are tons of creators posting there, ranging from fitness professionals to beauty influencers. If you can find an audience on there, it would be a waste not to use this social media platform.

Don’t: Forget to Communicate

Part of building an online brand is making connections. You need to directly communicate with people if you want them to know who you are and what you are about. So, alongside posting your usual content, you should also make sure you respond to comments and messages. Don’t forget to keep a consistently friendly tone.

Don’t: Spread Yourself Too Thin

While it is good to get on board with newer social media sites, you also need to make sure you don’t spread yourself too thin. More often than not, it is better to have a large audience on one platform than it is to gain a smaller audience size on multiple platforms. If you find that using too many platforms makes you put in less effort, then cut down on how many you use. Quality over quantity!

Don’t: Ignore Your Competition

You might think your brand strategy is enough to overcome the competition, but in reality, they are likely doing things that could also benefit you. Ignoring them will do you no favors, as you won’t know what they are up to, which will make you lose the competitive advantage.

Keep an eye on your competition and take note of what they do and whether or not it works. That will help you make moves to become the better option out of the two.

Don’t: Keep Changing Direction

Your brand needs consistency. If you keep changing your marketing strategies or your targeted audience, you will not see significant progress. In fact, you will only confuse those who were previously interested in your brand.

Figure out who your brand is early on and stick to it. That means sticking to your goals, values, and audience.

Don’t: Share Too Much

While it is good to be open and honest with your brand, there is such a thing as oversharing. Sharing too much can compromise your brand’s reputation, leading people to believe you are unprofessional.

For example, sharing some vacations snaps is fine, especially if they relate to your brand. However, it is usually not a good idea to rant about your vacation’s dilemmas. If you were double-checked at the airport or got into an argument with your spouse – keep it to yourself! Not everything needs to be online, especially when you are trying to build a positive personal brand. Remember – most other online personalities do not share everything, even if it seems as if they do. Building an online personal brand takes time, effort, and focus. You need to know what your goals are and make plans to achieve them. By following the dos and avoiding the don’ts, you will have an easier time creating a positive personal brand.