A company is only as strong as the people working for it. This is not just a saying, there are actual facts that prove that a company cannot grow unless it’s being backed by a strong team of dedicated professionals. Furthermore, public acknowledgment of your team’s expertise and experience brings additional value to your company. Building a personal brand for professionals in your company can improve your company visibility, build trust, enhance your potential for partnerships, etc.
The road to building a personal brand is not easy, it takes a lot of effort and time but it pays off in the long run. You need to plan each step of the way with care. In order to help you, here are 5 steps that you should take in order to create a personal brand for professionals that will support your business and help it grow in the future.
Step 1 – Identify the best people for your mission
A lot of companies rely on their CEOs and founders to be the face in front of the company, however, not all companies have Elon Musk or Bill Gates in their ranks, people who radiate trust and owe with their experience and contribution to the world in more aspects than one. A company can build a brand around any of its members as long as they are experienced and have a certain amount of pre-existing social media coverage. It could be a person with active LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or even an Instagram account in some industries.
The candidate should also be a person that can dedicate some time without leaving important work behind. Building a brand is one thing but you can’t put the business on hold for any reason.
Step 2 – Optimize social media profiles for professional use
Once you decide for a person or several people who will become companies’ influential public figures, it’s time to optimize their profiles. You could use their pre-existing profiles or create new ones with professional headshots, info regarding experience, achievements, and ties to the company. Use any social network that could be useful for your company and the business that you’re invested in.
Step 3 – Create a blog
You need a place where your people are going to share their knowledge and opinions with others in order to raise public awareness to both themselves and the company. You could create a separate section within your own company blog or create a whole new blog or set of blogs altogether.
Content should be related to personal and professional expertise and posted regularly. In case there’s a sudden increased flow of work back at the office, you could look for help on the side. There are writing agencies like Proessaywriting and others that could create content for you.
Step 4 – Social network engagement
In order to develop a personal brand, you need to communicate with other professionals and the audience to get their attention. LinkedIn groups are a good place to start, Twitter can help as well, just search for hashtags related to your topic of interest and join or create new conversations.
In addition, always make sure to interact with your audience because it really increases the reach of your content. It will also help you find new people of interest to share and promote content mutually. More than that, you could have an influencer promote the content, and get even higher reach.
Step 5 – Build up the connection between personal & corporate
Once social media activity and blog kick in and more people start visiting the blog, engage in comments, sharing, etc. it is time to strengthen the ties between what’s already developed personal brand and your company. Start with promoting the corporate brand, products or services. Share corporate news and events, but more importantly, make sure that the audience remembers that it’s your company asset they trust and engage with.
Conclusion
It’s never easy to build a personal brand, however, the benefits are worth it. One thing is important to remember though, once the person is connected with your company brand, people will start looking at both as a singular entity. This is why it’s important to make sure that all public content is in line with your corporate policy and culture. Otherwise, your business will suffer instead of enjoying the fruits of such influential support.
About Guest Contributor Tom Jager
Tom Jager is professional blogger. He works at A-writer. He has degree in Law and English literature. Tom has written numerous articles/online journals. You can reach him at G+ or LinkedIn.
