Compiled by Salma Mgandi Chizi

With unemployment rates already over 50% in some nations, access to work is a rising barrier. For many, the transition from education to a full-time job does not run smoothly: They lack the necessary skills, there are no available jobs in their area, they find it difficult to move house to find work. In this article I look at personal branding for successful entrepreneurs to inspire the many graduates to build theirpersonal brands.

What Is Personal Branding?

Personal branding is the process of creating a brand identity for a person or a company. As the name suggests,this is a brand for you or your business. Essentially, it is how you project your brand and its values to the world and ensure that your target audience knows who you are, what you stand for, andwhy it’s worth choosing you over your competitors.

Why Is Personal Branding Important?

Helps One Stand Out from the Crowd

It is more important than ever to have a strong personal brand in today’s competitive job market. A personal brand results from what others think and say about you when you’re not in the room. It is your reputation, and it can make or break your career. So, why is personal branding so important? For starters, it helps you stand out from the crowd. In a world where everyone has a degree, employers are looking for candidates with something extra that makes them unique.

By developing a solid personal brand, you can make yourself the one they remember. In addition, personal branding can help you command a higher salary. There are many ways to develop a personal brand, but it starts with knowing who you are and what you want to be known for. By taking the time to define your brand, you can set yourself up for success in your career and beyond.

Leads to Opportunity

We live in a competitive world where everyone vies for the same jobs, clients, and opportunities. To stand out from the crowd, it’s essential to have a strong personal brand. A personal brand is the unique combination of skills and experiences that make you who you are. It’s what makes you unique and sets you apart from everyone else. By developing a personal brand, you’re giving yourself a competitive advantage. People will remember you and your brand when they look for someone with your particular skills and expertise.

Your Audience Will Trust You More

Personal branding is the process of creating an identity for yourself as an individual or business. This involves developing a well-defined and consistent look, message, and presence online and offline. There are many psychologybased reasons why you might want to work on your personal brand. For one thing, it can help you build trust with your audience. When people feel like they know who you are and what you
stand for, they’re more likely to trust you.

That’s because they feel like they have a relationship with you. They know what to expect from you and that you’re an authority in your field. When employers or clients see you have a strong personal brand, they’ll be more likely to consider you for their next project or job opening. So, if you’re looking to build trust, attract opportunities, or stand out from the crowd, personal branding could be the answer.

People Will Always Screen You Online

In the digital age, personal branding has become increasingly important. With social media and Google, it’s easy for anyone to find out information about you with just a few clicks. As a result, it’s essential to be aware of how you are presented online. Personal branding can help you control the narrative aboutyourself and introduce yourself in the best light possible. It’s also a way to stand out from the competition.

In a world where everyone has a website and an online presence, personal branding can help you make yours stand out from the rest. Personal branding can also help you build trust with potential customers and clients. If they can see that you’re an expert in your field and have a solid personal brand, they’ll be more likely to do business with you. Therefore, personal branding is essential for anyone who wants to succeed in today’s digital world.

The 3-Step to successful Business Branding Process For those graduates with entrepreneurial mindset, there are three essential steps to set up your personal brand:

1: Position Your Brand

To describe your brand in one simple sentence
Your personal brand = something you love you do + something that other people need and will pay for
Start with the first half of the formula,
“Something you love to do.” Ask yourself:
• What activities or work do you find consistently satisfying?
• What are you really good at?
• What do you want out of life?

Once you know what you want to do (and again, there may be multiple answers), you need to find out whether it’s something that people need. They have to need it enough to pay for it and keep you in business. This is your cue to do some market research. It doesn’t have to be expensive or sophisticated.Just start by talking to the people around you! Tell them your business idea, and ask them whether they’d be willing to pay for it. How much would they pay?

2: Build Something to Show Your Brand

Now you know who you are and who you’re marketing to. How do you share that with everyone else? The answer is content. Content is how we demonstrate authority, build trust, and stay in touch with online audiences. You’re going to use content to build and expand your personal brand on social media accounts. Remember that the focus here is on your personal brand. Your content must be consistent with your brand.

It needs to be genuine, consistent, and manageable so you can produce it without burning out. Here are the absolute basics to include in your personal branding content strategy.

i. Photography
The internet is a visual medium. You can’t have a website or social media without using images, especially when you’re trying to promote a brand that centers on a real human being! You’ll need some well produced, professional shots that tell your story.

ii. Brand Identity
Your brand identity is more than just a logo. We’re talking letterhead, email signatures, digital image files,
physical versions of your logo to use in photoshoots, brand colors, typography, and web design! Every visual element of your brand has to be consistent with the personality that you’re projecting and
the niche you want to fill.

iii. Website and Social Media
Photography and brand identity will both contribute to your personal brand online. But when you set up your website, you’ll also need to think about copywriting, navigation, and the user’s experience. Similarly, for social media, you’ll need to script your bio, plan how you share links, and get into a regular posting schedule and style.

#3: Promote Your Brand
The most effective promotion channel for any successful personal brand is social media. It’s easy to access, is often free, and gives you a high level of control over how you promote your brand. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to be on every platform out there.

To find the right promotion strategy foryour personal brand, start with the three Ps: parameters, priorities, and platforms.

i. Parameters
There are two key parameters to consider: the time you have to spend and your goals for promoting your
personal brand. How many hours per week can you dedicate to posting, commenting, exploring, and connecting with new followers? Remember that on most platforms, you’ll need to post at least once a week. If you can’t dedicate enough time to commenting and other interactions, you’ll lose out on half theimpact of social media. It’s important to find a level of commitment that’s both sustainable and effective for you.

Next, is it easy to achieve your goals on the platform you’ve chosen? Each social network is different. They have different ways to post content and interact with followers, and different rules about how you can share links or direct people outside the social network. Does your chosen channel offer the type of engagement and follower interaction you need?

ii. Priorities
There are also two categories of priorities: what you want and what your target audience wants.
Start by thinking about which social media you actually, personally enjoy. After all, we’re still talking about your personal brand. It’s easier to be genuine, consistent, and engaging when you enjoy the platform.
After that, you can start thinking about what your audience likes to consume within that social media platform.

Do they prefer short-form or longform content? Are they more engaged by videos or by text? What are their priorities for being entertained and informed? A great way to generate content topics is to screenshot or make a note every time someone asks a question on one of your social media channels.When they ask a direct question, your followers are telling you what they need; they’re explicitly outlining their priorities. That’s an opportunity for you to respond and demonstrate the value of your personal brand.

iii. Platforms
It’s actually better to be great at just one platform than to post half-heartedly on 10 different social networks. In many cases, you can grow your brand faster by starting strong on one platform and
then expanding when you feel ready. The ideal is to have a strong presence on around three different social networks.

Try to choose a mix; for example, one channel for long-form posts and two that prioritize images or short-form video. It’s a good idea to have at least one channel of long-form content, whether that’s a podcast or a video channel or an in-depth blog. Not only does this kind of content show off your expertise but
you can also recut and repurpose it into multiple pieces of short-form content.

Conclusion

The hard truth is that if you – Do Not Become a BRAND you become A Commodity! Regardless of age, title or gender, you must be the CEO of your own and your top priority is to be head marketer for the brand called YOU. Self-branding is a very important strategy that you must consistently work towards creating a brand for yourself in the personal and professional worlds.

It entails your goals, accomplishments, career growth, current endeavors, success stories, and any form of credibility that would contribute to future initiatives as a result.

The writer is a Trained Teacher &Educational Manager