According to TikTok, 30% of its users are looking for brands to show their real side. As conscious consumerism increases, businesses are no longer able to opt in or out when it comes to transparency. Thanks to greenwashing and misleading marketing campaigns, shoppers are more suspicious than ever. Consequently, demand to know more about brands – and the people behind them – is high, and social media holds the key to earning trust.
Building a personal brand can therefore help secure success in a sustainable future. There’s nothing more relatable than another human being. Studies show that customers feel more connected to brands when their CEO also has an online presence. What’s more, employee involvement can be equally valuable. This is because their followers are the most likely to make a purchase from your business.
Let’s put this into perspective… Think of social media as a show rather than a movie. Your brand is the theater, you are playing the lead role, and your employees are supporting actors. Naturally, the first to buy tickets for that show will be their friends and family - and your own fans, too! The more people you invite onto that stage, the more people will come to watch. Where does social listening come into all this? Why, it helps to write the script, of course!
So, with that in mind, here are our three tips for building your personal brand on social media (with social listening):
Stay Fresh
It’s important to keep your personal information up to date across social media platforms. Even if you are an active user, an outdated bio could signal that you aren’t. It’s important to remember this is the first thing people see when visiting your profile. Therefore you don’t want to risk them leaving before scrolling to view your content. Keep it fun and personable, but also clear in terms of who you are and your relationship to the brand. It’s not essential for your business to be present on every social media platform. Knowing where your target audience is most active will help you to choose the ones that will work best. By monitoring online conversation around your brand, related topics, or competitors, and the industry in general, you’ll be able to pinpoint exactly where and when potential customers are online.
Target Your Audience
Knowing your niche - and sticking to it - is essential for building a successful personal brand. Your audience needs to know you’ve got exactly what they need. Therefore, identifying your area of expertise, and creating content around that, will help with positioning yourself as a thought leader. In turn, you’ll become a trusted source of information, and help your business to get noticed. Learning about your target audience’s wants and needs, and using these to inform your social media strategy, will ensure your content is a direct hit. Setting up competitor alerts will enable you to keep an eye on what they are doing right, wrong, and what they aren’t doing at all. This will allow you to adjust your own activity accordingly.
Be Reliable
Building relationships with other social media accounts is particularly powerful for boosting organic engagement and following. Connecting with affiliated brands or individuals whose values align with your own can be mutually beneficial. Not only will this help you to increase awareness among their audiences, it might also provide you with some extra content. Read our post about how to achieve the perfect influencer partnerships here. Once you’ve gained all these new followers, the best way to keep them is by being consistent. Regular posting of high-quality content will prove to them that you are worthy of their attention. Another harmonious relationship: you provide entertainment, they bring engagement - and support your business, too! It’s never before been possible to reach so many potential customers, but the competition is also fierce. Don't miss an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
To find out more about how social listening can help to build a social media strategy for your personal brand, get in touch.