Building a strong personal brand might be the most important thing you can do for your career.
If you work for yourself, having the backing of a personal brand can help land you bigger clients, award you more choice and flexibility in your career, and allow you to demand more money for your time.
If you’re employed, the benefits are similar – you’ll be able to ask for higher salaries and better contract terms and you’ll be able to take your pick of employers and roles.
But perhaps more significant is this:
You can’t really avoid having a brand.
If you use the internet – if you have accounts on social media sites or industry forums – you already have a brand, whether or not you intentionally do anything with it.
60% of employers use social media to dig up the dirt on candidates. I don’t doubt most of them research people and companies ahead of forming business relationships, too.
So could a poor personal brand be hurting you?
Whatever the current state of your personal brand, taking control of it offers untold benefits. I daresay it could change your life.
It’s certainly changed mine.
Intrigued?
Read on for the ultimate, eight-step guide to building your personal brand, in which we will cover:
Designing a brand
Understanding what a brand is
Defining your values
Establishing your USP
Deciding what you want to achieve
Pinpointing your brand’s key traits
The practical stuff
Designing a website
Setting up an email address
Getting professional photos taken
Setting up social profiles
Writing your brand story
Brainstorming
Writing your story
Examples from other brands
What to do with your story
Developing your story
Blogging
Setting up a blog
What to write about
Coming up with ideas
Maximizing the ROI of your blog
Promoting your content
Repurposing your content
Guest blogging
Social media
The pros and cons of the most popular platforms
Building relationships
Deciding who to build relationships with
Ways and places to engage people
Leveraging relationships
Ways to leverage relationships
How to ask for help
Brand management
Tracking mentions of your brand
Distinguishing yourself from your namesakes
Pushing the competition out of the search results
How to handle bad press
But first, let’s look at how a personal brand can help supercharge your career with some examples of influencers who have been there, gotten the T-shirt, and reaped the rewards of an awesome personal brand.
Serial entrepreneur Chris Ducker founded both Virtual Staff Finder and Youpreneur. He’s also a writer and keynote speaker who helps people work “the new way.”
www.chrisducker.com
Ex pro-footballer Lewis Howes built his career from nothing and now spends his time inspiring and coaching others to do the same.
www.lewishowes.com
Nathalie Lussier is a digital strategist who made her first website at age 12. As a graduate, she turned down a job offer from a Wall Street firm to become self-employed, and has since become an author, keynote speaker, and award-winning entrepreneur.
www.nathalielussier.com
Founder of the now-defunct Yoyodyne and Squidoo, Seth Godin is best known for his books (18 of them, to be precise) and his blog (reportedly one of the most popular in the world). In 2013, he was inducted into the Digital Marketing Hall of Fame.
www.sethgodin.com
Let’s mix this up with someone completely unrelated to my own field: TV chef Jamie Oliver. His personal brand, rather than his skill in the kitchen, is the reason behind his incredible success – his USP being the fact that he’s a family man who wants to change the way we eat for the better.
www.jamieoliver.com
Kristi Hines is a freelance writer specializing in marketing. She’s arguably the best-known freelancer in the industry and has built that reputation on her skills and qualifications, and most importantly – on knowing how to market herself.
www.kristihines.com
Callie Schweitzer is an award-winning journalist and Editorial Director for Time. She was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in Media in 2012 and 2013. Also in 2013, she was named one of the Most Important Women in Tech Under 30 by Business Insider.
www.callieschweitzer.com
Social media expert and influencer Laura Roeder is responsible for social tool Meet Edgar and also heads up her own social agency, LKR Social Media.
Bangladeshi-born Rafi Chowdhury has founded multiple companies, including My Campus Hacks and Chowdhury’s Digital. His personal brand helps him to attract big clients, as he works to grow their businesses.
www.rafichowdhury.com
Through a series of online training programs, a digital TV show, and a book, Marie Forleo helps people “dream big and back it up with meaningful action to create results.”
www.marieforleo.com
Moz founder Rand Fishkin has to be the biggest name in SEO. That happened not because of his knowledge and skills (which are awesome, btw) but because of the brand he’s built around himself.
www.moz.com/rand
Feeling inspired?
Great! Let’s get started.
Step 1: Designing a Brand
A brand isn’t a logo, color scheme, or a font. It isn’t your tone of voice or how you describe yourself.
A brand is how others see you. It’s the emotional response people have upon coming into contact with your company – or in this case, you.
What I’m getting at here is that you can’t control your brand, but everything you say, do, and create will influence it.
This means the first step in building your personal brand is to create your vision for how you see yourself and your brand.
Ask yourself: In an ideal world, how do I want others to see me?
What are your values?
Our values define who we are. They are rooted in the very core of our personalities. Great relationships are built not on shared circumstances, but on shared values.
They come as naturally to us as breathing, but unfortunately, the innate nature of “values” means few of us really think about what ours are.
Well, now it’s time to figure yours out. This is because values don’t just define people – they define brands, too.
Your own values will define everything else you do to create and build your personal brand. It’s absolutely critical that you understand what yours are.
What’s your USP?
Many of the most successful brands are the ones that are a little bit different. They have something unique about them that makes them stand out from the competition.
Take Apple.
It wasn’t the first company to manufacturer MP3 Players or smartphones. Far from it.
Released in 1999, the RCA Lyra RD2201A pictured above was a small, well-built device that could store 32MB of music. In 2000, Creative Labs launched the Nomad Jukebox (pictured below). It boasted an impressive storage capacity for the time (6GB) but was huge – the size of a portable CD player – and required 4 AA batteries to run.
When the iPod came along, it entered a market saturated with competition, yet it very quickly dominated it.
This was because the product boasted a number of game-changing USPs, not least of which was its sleek, attractive, and intuitive interface.
Apple succeeded not because it brought a new product to market, but rather because it took a popular concept and redesigned it. The result was a product that stood out against the competition – in a very, very good way.
Of course, you’re not expected to design revolutionary technology in order to give your personal brand a USP. The Apple example is simply to illustrate how important USPs are to a brand.
Your USP will, most likely, be much more personal.
My USP is my love of adrenalin sports, but more importantly it’s what that represents – my adventurous nature. I live for the moment and with no regrets (I proposed to my wife Amy less than two weeks after meeting her, and 11 years later, couldn’t be happier). This is what defines my personal brand.
What do you want to achieve?
Why do you want to build your personal brand?
What do you want to achieve from it?
It’s important to set clear goals for your brand. This will help determine the path you’re going to follow, the steps you take right now, and what you do in the future.
I’ve mapped out specifically where I want to be in the next year, five years, and ten years. Whether I get to exactly where I want to be is irrelevant. The important thing is that deciding what I want from my life, career, and personal brand gives me direction.
What I’ve done – and what I’d encourage you to do – is to print out your goals and stick them somewhere prominent. The more you’re reminded of what you’re striving to achieve, the greater the chances you will achieve it.
What key traits do you want to define your brand?
Think about a successful brand. You don’t have to be a customer of that brand or even like them – you just have to be familiar with them.
Next, try to describe that brand in three words or phrases.
For instance, I might describe McDonald’s as “quick,” “reliable,” and “affordable.”
Apple could be “innovative,” “quality,” and “aspirational.”
Innocent might be “cute,” “quirky,” and “nutritious.”
Can you guess where I’m going with this?
You’re going to do the same for your personal brand.
I’d probably describe my brand as “adventurous,” “dedicated,” and “approachable.” I can’t guarantee that’s how others see me, but that’s how I aim to come across.
If you’re struggling to describe yourself, ask people close to you to describe you in three words. Just remember that while your inherent traits should influence your personal brand, this is how you want to be seen – not necessarily how people currently see you.
It’s okay to want to change yourself. Dream big.
When you’re happy with the traits you want to define your brand, print them out (again) and stick them where you can’t escape them. These traits should influence everything you do from this point forward.
More resources
Define Your Personal Core Values in Five Easy Steps
5 Tips to Establishing Your USP
How to Set Goals to Enhance Your Personal Brand
Step 2: The Practical Stuff
There’s a lot more to building a personal brand than defining yourself and setting goals and aspirations. A lot of practical work goes into the process, too.
Let’s talk about that for a minute – specifically, building a website, claiming an email address, getting photos taken, and setting up your social profiles.
Getting a website built
If you want to build your personal brand you need a website. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s the most important tool at your disposal.
Think of it like a digital resume. You wouldn’t expect a potential employer to take you seriously without a list of your skills, qualifications, and experience, would you? Your website serves a similar purpose – you’re just putting it in front of a much bigger audience.
The first step is to choose and secure your domain name.
Since this is your personal brand, it makes sense for your domain name to be your name (although it doesn’t have to be).
You can check the availability of your name using sites like GoDaddy or Instant Domain Search. If your name has already been registered by somebody else, you’ll be shown a list of alternatives (this is the time when those people who have been blessed with more “unusual” names can say thanks to Mom and Dad).
As you can see in the image below, Instant Domain Search confirms sujanpatel.com is taken, but I could choose from a host of alternatives like sujanpatel.net or sujanpatel.org. I could also make an offer to the owner of sujanpatel.com, but since that’s me, I’ll pass.
Once you find a domain you’re happy with, grab it quick (you never know who else might have their eye on it). If your preferred domain is already linked to somebody else, you might want to make them an offer – they may say no, or they might ask for more than you can afford, but it can’t hurt to ask.
Next, it’s time to create a slick-looking website that showcases your skills and presents you as an authority in your industry (even if that’s not quite true – yet).
Here’s some good news: building a website is easy. You don’t even need to know how to code.
Sure, if we’re talking about a large-scale Ecommerce site, you should probably enlist the help of some pros. But this is a site for your personal brand. It’s going to be two or three pages when you launch. All you need are the right tools to get it off the ground.
WordPress is the obvious choice here. It’s the most popular CMS in the world and is – pretty much – infinitely customizable.
Begin by purchasing a hosting plan. You will need this to be able to install and use WordPress.
Look for something affordable, reputable, and easy to use. You don’t need an all-singing, all-dancing super-high bandwidth plan. My top recommendation is A Small Orange. Their “startup” plans are $20 a month.They also offer shared hosting plans which are ideal for small websites and are just $5 a month.
Once your signup is complete, you can install WordPress directly from your hosting account’s control panel.
Picking a theme
While WordPress users can choose from tons of free themes, paid themes tend be more unique, secure, and offer far better support for their users.
Either hire a designer to create you a custom theme or buy a semi-customizable theme from a site like themeforest.
Claiming an email address
If you want to look professional (and you do), avoid using email addresses that end in @gmail.com and other third-party domains. There’s a level of trust and credibility that comes with having a professional, branded email, so it’s important to take the time to set one up.
All domain registration services should give you this option during checkout. But, before you do this, find out who the email provider is. This might affect the cost, security, and service you can expect.
Alternatively, you can create a professional email using Google Apps for Work.
It’s worth noting that most email providers will allow you to access and manage your emails using Gmail – so long as they support POP3. You can read about how to set this up here.
Getting professional photos taken
It should go without saying that you can’t build a personal brand without photos.
There are photos of me all over my website, and if you follow me on Facebook, tons more.
Photos let us put a face to a name. They help bring your brand to life; to humanize it. Without them, how can you expect people to relate to you, to trust who you are, and what you say? The short answer is: you can’t.
Without photos you could be anyone. So don’t be camera-shy.
At the same time, don’t use any old photos.
The photos you post online are going to affect how people see you. If you look tired and disheveled in them, you’re probably going to be perceived as lazy. If you look miserable, people will assume you’re always miserable.
Think back to the three traits you want to define your brand. The photos you share online – whether on your website or on social media – should reflect these traits.
In general, it’s a good idea to get a few professional shots taken, like these:
You’ll see these in a few places on my website. I’m also currently using them as my profile pictures on LinkedIn, Twitter, and my company Facebook page.
A good photographer should ask you what sort of image you want to portray and work with you to communicate that in your photos. Best of all, professional headshots should only cost around $100-200 dollars. Ask local connections for references or check Yelp to find a good photographer for a good price.
If you can’t afford to hire a pro photographer, here are a few tips to help you take great professional-esque headshots.
Setting up social profiles
Social media is going to play a huge part in your brand-building efforts. We’ll talk more about that later, but for now we’re just going to cover some best practices for setting up your social profiles.
Your name and username
If your name is available, grab it. I was lucky – since I joined Twitter pretty early (2009), I was able to get @sujanpatel, which also becomes the URL for my profile.
You might have noticed that the URL of my company Facebook feels a little out of place: facebook.com/sujan.uplift.
That’s because when I first started out I planned to build my consulting business under the name “Uplift”, but it turned out there were too many companies using that name so I had to go in another direction. Unfortunately by then I was stuck with the URL.
Lesson learned: be sure about the names you want associated with your brand before you go around creating digital footprints that you can’t change.
You should also, as much as possible, aim for consistency. If you can’t claim your actual name on a social site, choose a unique alternative. Use that alternative anytime your real name has been snapped up by someone else.
Your profile pic
Similar rules apply here to what we’ve already discussed about getting professional shots taken.
The photo you use in your social profiles should be professional, high-quality, and reflect how you want your brand to be seen.
Ideally, choose a head or head and shoulders shot – your face should be crystal clear. This is not the place to use holiday photos or full body shots.
And again, aim for consistency. You should be instantly recognizable across all your social profiles, so it’s important that all profiles feature the same shot, or at least shots from the same shoot (which is the approach I’ve taken).
Your bio
This is where it’s okay – advisable, in fact – to mix up the content that appears on your social profiles.
In some cases, it’s unavoidable.
Take Twitter, for example. You need to describe yourself in just 160 characters. That’s not easy (especially for a guy like me who generally has a lot to say!)
The best advice I can give for writing a Twitter bio is to pick out your most important attributes and not worry about the rest.
Alternatively, you could create a little mystery by saying almost nothing about yourself, aka Barry Schwartz “Search Geek.”
On Facebook, you’ll need to write a short description (155 characters) and a long bio (I can’t find the character limit for this – if anyone knows, let me know and I’ll update).
LinkedIn asks for a “headline” (120 characters) and a “summary” (2000 characters).
You’ve got more room to maneuver here, but that doesn’t mean you should keep talking just because you can.
Think of your bios as elevator pitches. You want to tell people enough about yourself to spark intrigue and get them wanting more. You should also include a few keywords if possible, since they can help your bios be found both in on-site searches and search engines.
Your background
Not all sites will allow you to add custom backgrounds – such as LinkedIn, for instance – but when the option’s available, use it.
This is your chance to be a little more creative with how you present your brand. Your profile pic should show a clear image of your face. You background (aka cover photo) doesn’t have to.
On Twitter I’ve chosen to use one of my favorite shots of me – this one where I’m mid-skydive and half terrified, half utterly elated:
I chose it because it shows that I don’t just talk about being adventurous – it helps illustrate that my whole life really is an adventure. It also helps humanize me and demonstrates that I have interests outside the internet.
Best of all, it gets me a few compliments and is a great conversation starter.
Utilize this space to show another side of you and your personal brand.
Your privacy settings
Last but not least, always check the privacy settings of any site you sign up on. It’s important that you make sure you’re only sharing the information you want to, with the people you want to see it.
More resources
WordPress How-To for Beginners
5 Reasons to Brand Your Email
Tips From a Pro: Peter Hurley on High-End Headshot Photography
How to Set up Facebook, Twitter, and Every Other Major Social Media Profile
Step 3: Writing a Great Brand Story
Everybody has a story. To build your personal brand, you just need to be able to tell yours. This is primarily because the modern consumer values authenticity. We’re choosing to shun the corporate giant in favor of independents we can relate to.
We want to buy from brands that share our ethics and have a sense of social responsibility, but that also have real stories to tell – not tall tales dreamt up in boardrooms.
A personal brand is no different. You need a mechanism that allows your audience to relate to you. That’s your story.
So where do you start?
Begin by brainstorming facts about yourself and your life – facts about both your personal life and your career.
Think about things like:
How you got to where you are today.
Your greatest achievements.
Your biggest failures (and how you got past them).
What inspires you?
What are your biggest passions in life?
What do you hope the future will bring – what are your goals?
What makes you different?
When you’ve noted everything you can think of, it’s time to weave the best bits into a story.
How easy you will find this depends on your natural abilities as a writer. Some people find it easier than others.
But don’t let difficulties in this area hold you back.
If you’re struggling, ask for help. There’s no shame in getting someone to craft your story for you (you don’t think celebrities write their own autobiographies, do you?) Alternatively, you might just want to hire a proofreader to check it over and iron out any rough edges.
The important thing is that your story is engaging and that it lets your personality shine through. Not only do those things make a story far more entertaining to read, but they make it feel more authentic.
Take the walmart.com story.
The opening quote isn’t so bad, but the rest….
“We feature a great selection of high-quality merchandise.”
“Our headquarters is on the San Francisco Peninsula near Silicon Valley.”
“We think of ourselves, first and foremost, as a retailer.”
That might all be true, but it’s generic and it’s boring. It doesn’t make me warm to Walmart and it certainly doesn’t make me want to know more.
Of course, writing a story for one of the world’s largest brands is going to be pretty different than writing a personal brand story, but the same rules apply – and it’s not like massive brands haven’t pulled off the art of telling an amazing story.
Take The Lego Movie, which is arguably the best example of brand storytelling of all time.
Okay, so you might argue that storytelling comes easier to a toy manufacturer than a supermarket, and I’d say… you’re right.
But what about “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes”?
The fact is, there’s a story in all of us. We just have to find it, extract it, and tell it in a manner that engages the reader.
You also need to bear in mind who this story’s for, and who it’s about. Because it’s not about you.
Sure, it’s your story. But you’re not telling it to yourself, or for yourself.
Your story is for your readers. For your connections. For your customers and potential customers.
To get an idea of what a great personal brand story entails, take a look at how your industry’s biggest influencers are telling theirs.
To get you started, here are a few great stories from some big names in digital…
Guy Kawasaki
Missy Ward
Rand Fishkin
What to do with your story
The most natural place for your story to be is – in most cases – on your “About” page.
You can accompany it with testimonials or examples of your work, or these can sit on a separate page – that’s up to you. The important bit is that the story is positioned somewhere it can be found easily.
Beyond that, you can – and should – use your story elsewhere in your online activities. Don’t republish it word-for-word – you don’t want to create duplicate content issues for yourself.
Instead, use elements of your story (reworded, of course) to help you write social media profiles or bios for guest posts. Use it in videos or reference it in interviews. Think about it when you post social media updates. Leverage it when networking.
Your story helps paint the picture your audience will have of you. It should play a part in pretty much everything you do.
Developing your story
Your story didn’t end when you hit publish. It really only just began.
Think of your story as an open-ended book that you keep adding to. From time to time, you’re going to need to update the story that sits on your “About” page. Outside of that, you’re going to be developing your story all the time.
“The great thing about a story is that it lives on. Real stories keep on telling, keep on going, and keep on connecting with people. Keep your story alive by continuing to impress your customers and give them the best experience possible.” – Neil Patel, for Kissmetrics
Each time you tell a part of your story, that story might change a little bit. That’s fine. That’s good. Let your story grow with your brand.
More resources
15 Storytelling Techniques for an Amazing Brand Story
How to Create an Authentic Brand Story that Actually Improves Trust
24 Examples of Storytelling in Marketing
Step 4: Blogging
A blog plays an integral part in building a personal brand. It’s where you get to showcase your expertise and it provides material that can drive traffic to your site and be used to push yourself on social media.
If you want to be respected within your industry – to be known as an authority or an influencer – then you need a platform that can showcase why you deserve to be known as those things.
There’s no better platform for this than a blog.
If you’re a regular to this site, you’ll know that I do a lot of it (blogging, that is), both on my own blog and in guest posts. I have no doubt it’s played a huge part in getting me to where I am today.
And it’s not just me.
Groove spends around $1,657.25 on each of its blog posts. That might sound like a lot, but it nets the company blog subscribers and trial users and has been integral to the growth of its brand on social media.
CEO Alex Turnbull said, “The blog has helped us take advantage of numerous – and big – business opportunities, none of which would have been available to us otherwise.”
If you’d rather talk cold, hard cash, The Sales Lion stated that its blog is responsible for 2 million dollars in sales.
Yann Girard has landed speaking spots and events, connected with tons of awesome people, and has been inundated with job offers – all on account of his blog.
Setting up a blog
This is the easy part. Chances are you overcame this hurdle when you were setting up your site. If not, and you’re using WordPress, all you need to do to set up your blog is post something.
To do that, just select “Posts” from your dashboard instead of “Pages.” As soon as you hit “Publish,” your blog will be launched.
What to write about
Naturally, the primary subject matter of your blog is going to be your area of expertise. More importantly, it should be about what interests your audience. Remember that while this brand is your personal brand, it’s not really about you. It’s about your audience.
Focus on what they want to learn and read about.
We’ll talk about how to find that out very shortly.
Of course, since it’s a personal blog, you might want to interject every so often with a post that’s a little more about you than what you do.
Take Rand’s blog. It’s as much about his thoughts, opinions, and personal escapades as it is about his professional life. It’s a fine balance, which works – for him.
It’s worth remembering that Rand has the kind of celebrity profile that means people want to know about him on a personal level. If you do too much of that, too soon, you risk coming across as more “self-indulgent narcissist” than “industry-expert.”
In short: tread carefully.
You also need to watch what you say. Keep controversial opinions to yourself and avoid ranting and raving.
When you’re beginning to build your personal brand, it’s critical that people respect you for what you know. In most cases, your knowledge should be at the forefront of what you write about.
That said, posts that showcase your knowledge – that are designed to share information and educate – work better when backed up by personal experience.
I do this a lot. You’ll probably have noticed it in this piece once or twice already. I make a point of writing educational posts that are driven by my own experiences, too – posts like “The Disneyland Effect” and “How I Generated 513 Leads to My Startup By Commenting On Blogs”.
Want to know something really interesting?
Posts that are based upon my personal experiences – such as the examples above – tend to drive the most interaction from my readers.
But bear the subject of these posts in mind. My life and experiences form the basis of them, sure, but they’re not really about me – they’re about my readers, and how they can achieve success by taking similar steps.
Creative brainfreeze
If you’re struggling to come up with topic ideas, don’t panic – there are plenty of things you can do (trust me, I’ve been there).
These tools will also help you identify what your audience is talking about and what they want to find out and learn.
Long-tail keyword tools like Ubersuggest and Answer the Public show you what people are actually searching for, and the questions they are asking, based on the keywords you input.
For example, let’s say I want to find out what people are asking about how to build a brand. I might go to Answer the Public and search for “building a brand.”
The results bring up tons of potential topics – just be sure to check out both the “Questions”:
…and “prepositions.”
I might also then broaden my search by simply searching for “brand.”
Buzzsumo lets you search for a topic and will show you the best-performing content around it. You can narrow your search to look at specific types of content, or certain time-frames.
Buzzsumo is also an excellent tool for gauging how popular a topic is likely to be. For accurate results, search Google for your topic of choice and run the URLs of the top relevant results through Buzzsumo.
Content that’s getting shared is a good indicator of that subject’s potential – however, bear the source of the article in mind. Big sites naturally get more shares – even when the subject matter or quality of the content could be better.
There’s also plenty to be said for simply following blogs in your industry that you like and you know regularly publish good content – not to mention ensuring that you always have the means to jot down ideas as and when they come to you.
To make following other blogs easier, I recommend getting yourself an RSS reader like Feedly. For making notes I use Evernote, but there are countless other apps and tools you can use (as well as a good-old-fashioned notepad).
Maximizing the ROI of your blog
We’ve already spoken about the benefits of interjecting some of your own experiences into your blog posts. I can’t emphasize enough how this can help build your personal brand.
It shows that you’re not just recycling ideas others have had or blog posts they’ve written. You’re demonstrating that you have the authority to write about these subjects because you have first-hand experience with them.
In addition, personalization will help humanize your brand and encourage people to warm to you.
But there’s so much more you can do to ensure you’re maximizing how effective your blog is in driving the development of your personal brand.
Add sharing buttons to your content
This might sound obvious, but I’ve seen plenty of blogs overlook such a simple feature.
In short: sharing buttons make it easier for people to share your content, and that means they’re more likely to share it.
You’d be silly not to use them, frankly.
Include sharing buttons for the sites your target audience uses most. Generally Facebook and Twitter are a given. If you’re operating in a B2B industry, add in LinkedIn. If you’re creating a lot of your own images, include Pinterest. If you share photos, add Instagram.
It’s also a good idea to make the buttons as prominent as possible. I recommend getting “floating buttons.” This means they move as the user scrolls, so they’re always visible on the page.
Look to the left of the screen and you’ll see what I mean.
Feature other influencers
Featuring other influencers helps to back up your arguments. It helps affirm the idea that you know what you’re talking about, because, hey, this person your audience already knows and respects is saying it, too.
It also gives you an excuse for contacting those influencers. This helps you get on their radar and can often lead to them sharing your content.
There are a number of strategies you might employ in order to weave influencers into your content.
Quoting them is the obvious one. If you’re making a point, find someone with clout who has said something similar, and quote them in your own post.
Alternatively, you can reach out to influencers while you’re writing your article, and ask them to provide a quote specifically for you.
This works well because it gets the foundations of a relationship in place before your article is even live. Plus, since they’ve contributed to it personally, it means they’re pretty damn likely to share it. It also gives more weight to your content, and your own brand, because it looks like you have a relationship with these people (which you actually kind of will).
Ask for questions and comments
Something you might have noticed if you’ve read my posts before is that I always wrap up by asking readers to leave a comment.
That’s because I want my readers to engage with me. I want to know who’s reading my content and what they think of it. I’ve built my personal brand on engaging with people. It’s at the core of everything I do.
My blog posts are no different – I want the people who read my content to interact with me.
It goes without saying that if you want comments, you should ask for them.
Promoting your content
You’re not going to see much ROI on your blog content unless you take the time to promote it. If you’re following the steps highlighted above (i.e. you’ve installed sharing buttons, you feature other influencers, and you ask for engagement), you’re part way there.
But you can still do more.
Sharing it socially is an obvious one. There’s no good reason why you shouldn’t be sharing every new blog post you write to each of your social channels.
If you’re really strapped for time, you can automate it. However, if you can, it’s always advisable to craft each post by hand.
Still, while sharing your content is a given, social platforms don’t make it easy for you to get traction off the back of it. Not anymore, anyway.
Facebook pages with more than a million likes can expect to reach approximately 2.27% of their audience organically.
The fewer likes you have, the higher percentage of your audience you will reach. That sounds good, but it’s not really – you’re still getting fewer eyes on your content overall.
Faring slightly better, the average tweet reaches 3.61% of its following.
LinkedIn is the winner here, with an average organic reach of up to 20%.
Thankfully, if you want to reach more of your audience, you can. You just have to pay to do it.
Most social sites now offer ways to pay to boost the visibility of your posts. It’s also pretty affordable – especially when compared to more traditional, offline forms of advertising:
To increase the visibility of your Facebook posts, head over to Facebook for business.
Click “Create an Ad,” and then choose an objective.
If you want to get more eyes on your actual posts, choose “Boost your posts.” Alternatively, you might want to drive people directly to your content. You can do this by choosing “Send people to your website.”
From there, you can choose from a huge range of targeting options including demographics, interests, and behaviors.
You can also use Facebook’s Audience network to extend your campaign beyond Facebook and reach audiences on a vari