In this week’s issue, I want to break down the 3 most common personal branding mistakes people make and how to successfully build your personal brand.

While my newsletter is intended to be about leadership development and career advancement, it’s hard to build a successful career without a good professional reputation. Do people know you? Understand what you’re good at? Recognize your value? 

Personal branding is one of the best tools to master because you can gain the right attention and then leverage it. But none of that can happen if you can’t master personal branding. And mastering personal branding doesn’t mean doing what you see other popular accounts or influencers doing.

So today, I’m going to break down:

• The 3 most common mistakes I see people making
• 3 examples of me making those same mistakes early on
• What I’d recommend to do instead when starting out

Mistake #1: Being confused

If you want a Personal Brand because you see everyone on social media talking about it, then this is not a good reason. 

Personal branding is about standing out from the crowd. It means you must be clear about whom you’re standing. The first step in understanding your brand differentiation is getting clear about what you want to be known for and who should know you for it.

I didn’t know what I wanted to be known for when I started. I didn’t know how to present myself with a clear message about who I am and what I do. I was confused and so were people. When people don’t understand what your strengths are and how you serve, they don’t think of you when opportunities arise.

Building your personal brand is about knowing yourself first so you can leverage your strengths to create more opportunities.  

Mistake #2: Hiding your story

There is a difference between sharing your story and sharing your private life. 

Your private life remains private. You don’t have to expose your kids, family and whatever you don’t feel comfortable with.

You get personal when sharing the chapters of your life, challenges and lessons learned that have helped you become the person you’re today.

I used to focus on providing value, showcasing my expertise but my personal brand took off when I started to share my story, the behind the scenes, the doubts and lessons learned. This is how you create a real bond with people.

As a (future) leader, your main responsibility is to inspire people to take action towards common goals. Your story is what people want to know. They want to hear about your ups and downs. How you started, the barriers you overcame, the lessons learned.

Get personal. Share your journey and let people see how you pushed through so they can be inspired to take action.

Mistake #2: Overlooking organic content

If you're 'somehow' active on Linkedin but exclusively share content published by other people or by your company, then we need to talk.

It’s great to give shout outs to your peers or to share articles on given related topics. But the problem is that by doing so, you’re convincing your audience to go elsewhere for industry knowledge. Not to come to you!

So rather than relying only on shared content, make an effort to create your own by sharing your tips, and anecdotes. Content that your audience will care about because you’re sharing a little piece of you.

Bottom line: what does your online presence say about you? 

To Recap:

• Don’t stay confused
• Don’t hide your story 
• Don’t overlook social media content
• Do an introspection 
• Do share your story
• Do create content that looks and sounds like you

See you next week again. 

With your success in mind...Darine