A Beginner's Guide To Social Media Personal Branding

Building a personal brand on social media can lead to many new opportunities, from building personal relationships with other industry experts to easily selling products and services with a single social media post.

So how do you grow from zero to thousands of followers?

Which social media platform should you publish on? How often should you post content? What's the difference between great and mediocre content?

This post answers all of these questions and provides an actionable, step-by-step guide that anyone can use to grow their personal brand on social media from scratch.

What is Social Media Personal Branding?

Social media personal branding is a marketing strategy where an individual posts content about a specific niche on a social media platform to earn followers. The end goal is to become recognized as an authority on that topic.

Given that people frequently turn to experts for product and service recommendations, there are endless ways to make money through personal branding, from affiliate commissions to selling proprietary products and services.

An Example of Social Media Personal Branding

It might seem far-fetched that you can make millions of dollars by posting content on social media.

To help you understand the power of personal branding on social media, consider the following example:

Let's say you're interested in improving your cooking skills.

Therefore, you start following cooking influencers on social media.

After reading or watching a cooking influencer's content for several weeks, you'll likely trust them if their tips improved your cooking skills.

If they later recommend a specific pot to improve your cooking, you'll likely purchase the recommended product.

When you purchase that product, the influencer might earn an affiliate commission on the product they're promoting. Or, it might be their own product.

So most businesses first build a product and then spend thousands of dollars on marketing to find buyers. Whereas individuals with a personal brand first build an audience. Then, they can listen to their audience's needs and then sell them the right products and services with a single social media post.

You can also build a personal brand in any niche, from marketing and startups to beauty or hiking.

How To Build Your Personal Brand On Social Media

There's much more to building a brand on social media than simply publishing content. Where you post content, how often you post, and what you post all impact the success of your personal brand.

This step by step blueprint lays out exactly how to build a personal brand on social media and specific pitfalls to avoid.

Step 1: Select A Specific Niche

Step 2: Conduct Audience Research

Step 3: Select One Social Media Platform

Step 4: Generate Content Ideas And Formats That Work

Step 5: Publish Consistently

Step 6: Collaborate With Other Influencers

Step 7: Talk To Your Audience

Step 8: Create A Content Repurposing Strategy

Get More Help With Social Media Personal Branding

This post contains all the best practices you need to build a personal brand on social media, but it might take some time to find your own style and figure out what content resonates with your audience.