In this blog post, we’ll discuss how you can build a strong personal brand for your entrepreneurial success.
Yesterday, we hold a Zoom session on the relevance of personal branding in the entrepreneurial journey of any start-up founder.
The session was great as we got around 40 startup founders joining the show and sharing their thoughts with us on personal branding.
The Zoom session was hosted by Anshuman Sinha, co-founder of Startup Steroid and Chair of TiE SoCal Angels, an angel fund investing in early-stage startups.
“Personal branding is all about how well you present yourself. LinkedIn can play a key role in it. However, before you start sending messages or building connections, make sure your profile doesn’t contain political or religious posts. As these are very sensitive topics. You can rather use the platform to talk about things in which you’re interested in or that is relevant to your business. If you check out my LinkedIn profile, I mostly talk about startups and talents.” – Anshuman Sinha
New to Let’s Talk Startup? It is an online startup meetup platform organizing weekly sessions talking about the complex topics of the startup world. Let’s Talk Startup is on a mission to solve the problems of startup founders one meetup at a time and build a stronger startup ecosystem.
When it comes to personal branding, content is the king. You have to heavily focus on the type of messages and posts that you’re publishing on your social media profiles.
We’d Krishnan Ramachandran on the show. He wanted to know what should he do when people reach out to him on LinkedIn asking for favors like—join this group, like my page, etc.
Our mentor, Anshuman Sinha guided him, saying, you’ve to be selective. You need to find out which messages or posts on social media need your attention and which can be ignored.
Then we also had Dr. Christal Vitiello on the show. She wanted to know if it’s possible for a startup founder to comment on trending news and articles on social media.
Our mentor Anshuman Sinha pointed out that as a startup founder, you should comment only on posts, which are either relevant to your business or you have some knowledge about them.
Don’t forget that each activity on LinkedIn can be checked by your followers simply by clicking on the activity section on your profile. So, you should be careful before posting randomly on social media as it can badly affect your personal branding exercise.
If you comment on a post, you’d keep checking if someone has responded to it or not. But what’s the end goal of it? Even if you get some likes or connections, are they relevant to your startup?
Overall, it was an interactive Zoom session. Startup founders who attended the session asked multiple queries relating to personal branding and also shared their thoughts with us.
Personal branding is an ongoing process in which consistent communication plays a crucial role. An entrepreneur needs to embrace a growth mindset and demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning. As rightly pointed out by our expert, LinkedIn is the best social media platform for entrepreneurs and startup founders to build a personal brand that resonates with their target audience.
Personal Branding for Success: Key Takeaways
Personal branding takes time. You have to dedicate a significant amount of time to it per day. The entire concept of personal branding revolves around people. You have to make new connections and show them your true self.
Storytelling: It forms a crucial part of personal branding. Especially if you’re a startup founder or entrepreneur, sharing your personal journey and explaining the struggles and challenges you faced in your life can make your target audience feel empowered and emotional. Craft a compelling narrative that showcases your authority, besides captivating the attention of your target audience.
Thought Leadership: Your audience would keep coming back to you when they find value in your content. You should discuss industry insights, the latest trends, and your thoughts on relevant issues. Be consistent on podcasts, blog posts or social media to reach out to your followers and share your thoughts.
Be Interactive: Try to be active on almost all social media channels. Even not responding to simple hi or hello on social media can go against your favor.
Be polite and humble while interacting with your followers. Promptly replying to comments and posts helps you come across to your followers as a serious entrepreneur who values the time of others.
Personalization: You have to tailor your brand content. Don’t follow your competitors. Try to first analyze what type of content your followers want. You need to customize your personal branding content based on it. Whatever posts you publish, make sure they resonate well with your target audience.
For example; You can post an interesting anecdote relating to your entrepreneurial journey. Your audience should derive value from it. You can make it even more interesting and inspiring by describing the types of challenges that you’ve successfully overcome over the years without giving up.
In Conclusion
Once you successfully build your personal brand, you’ll enjoy a competitive advantage over others. The power and reach of your personal brand will keep you ahead of your competitors.
It also builds trust and credibility with your target audience. Besides, enhancing your visibility and recognition, too. When you build a reputation as an expert or thought leader, people would keep reaching out to you for your suggestions and insights. It’ll further amplify your reach and influence, which can bolster your business growth.
You are not alone in this startup journey of yours. Join our weekly online Startup meetups to participate in our interactive Zoom session and share your experience and talk with experts. Check out the Zoom calendar of our upcoming meets.
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