Kate Wright is a brand and marketing strategist who specialises in branding for female start-up owners. In this piece, she points out that the current trend of hyper-personalised branding isn’t for every business owner – and suggests some steps to take if you want to ‘personalise’ your brand without putting yourself front and centre.
Personal brands have exploded in recent times. With platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and even LinkedIn, everyday people are empowered to become creators, educators, entertainers, and influencers in their niche, building massive audiences. Personal brands are now media channels.
Add in that trust is at an all-time low, where consumers are skeptical of big corporations and their over-polished marketing, opportunities are ripe for individuals to monetise their personality, expertise, and story to create thriving businesses.
But building a personal brand is not for the faint hearted. To build trust, the person behind the brand needs to be authentic and real. Personal brands that feel human, vulnerable and honest are ones attracting loyal followers and clients. It’s their realness that’s magnetic. Hiding behind a curated façade simply won’t work.
To grow a community and connect with your audience, you’re required to show up and continually put yourself in the limelight. It often requires sharing personal stories, your values, your wins and your losses.
Why building a personal brand can be challenging
To be vulnerable and authentic, it requires removing your ‘mask’ and being exposed. Everyone suffers from self-limiting beliefs and imposters syndrome, let’s be honest! But the really engaging, witty and honest brand personalities are the ones that have the toolkit to overcome these blocks. Despite their fears, they are courageous and show up anyway.
Without the awareness of how the ego works, the tools to manage negative self-talk or how to show up regardless of being fearful, building a personal brand could be triggering and could further impact how you feel about yourself. A strong sense of self is really important when creating and building a personal brand.
How to build a personal brand without being overly vulnerable?
If you are willing to build your confidence muscle, the business growth opportunities available to you are endless. But if you are fearful of being seen, criticised or judged, here are some tips on how to feel safe when posting online:
- Story tell through written captions or stand-out graphic carousels rather than using photos or videos of yourself.
- Let your products or services be the hero – if you are a chef you don’t need to be Nigella, you can use photography of your food rather than images of you.
- Remove ‘distractor’ followers off your social media accounts that you feel may judge you (old friends you don’t really like or family members who are triggered by you stepping into the limelight). I recently removed my family members off mine for this very reason.
- Surround yourself with a ‘wolfpack’ of people who belief in you – when you feel wobbly, talk to your strongest supporters; they’ll back you in.
- Unfollow competitor social media accounts who you compare yourself with. Comparison kills confidence so say bye bye to seeing their stuff.
For most people, building a personal brand is a staged process. You don’t wake up one day being bold; it takes time to build confidence and resilience. With practice and the right tools and support, eventually showing up and being vulnerable becomes second nature.
Still not for you?
If it still feels scary to put your face to your brand, there are other options. Phew! Some of the most impactful brands on social media are faceless, meaning they allow their products, client stories or quotes to do the talking. Examples include:
@humandesign – most of the content is just graphics with educational content
@the.holistic.psychologist – most of the content is advice and tips on self healing from trauma
@shygirlmoney – uses being faceless as a value proposition and part of her offering
Another option is to simply create a business brand, where the brand is all about the product and services, rather than the person behind the business.
