Personal Branding Mistake #4: YOU'VE BECOME A LITTLE LAZY

As January fades away so does your New Year’s resolution to post. Don’t give up on your personal branding goals! Keep posting and keep engaging your network. 

If you have become a little lazy and figure that you can take a few weeks off from posting and engaging on social media, then you are sadly mistaken. Just because your profile is strong doesn’t mean that you don’t have to work regularly on maintaining its strength. Posting content about relevant information to support your brand story ensures your audience’s continued engagement. Remember to use visuals to spice things up as they are processed 60,000 faster by the brain than text. Be proactive to sustain and grow your brand’s relationship with your social media audience. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #8: YOU'RE NOT ELEVATOR PITCH READY

When opportunities arise, will you and your personal brand be ready? Knowing what your brand stands for and presenting it effectively is key for the perfect elevator pitch.

You never know when you may meet someone who has the potential to become a client or a meaningful asset to your business. Given this, it is absolutely essential that you’re ready to communicate your brand promise quickly and effectively at any given time. The average attention span of a person is 8.25 seconds, so the first few seconds of your pitch are crucial in capturing their attention. Some of the most meaningful professional interactions occur outside of the office when you least expect it. Know your brand promise inside out and deliver a consistent pitch to friends, family and business people. If you don’t have a clear brand message, then why would you expect anyone to get it? 

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Personal Branding Mistake #10: SO YOU'VE GOTTEN A BIT SLOPPY?

Content is important, and keeping it relevant and interesting is key to engaging your network and creating new business opportunities. Post clear content that connects to your personal brand.

The purpose of your brand’s social media platforms is to engage your audience, maintain relevance with your network, and build new relationships and opportunities. The most essential part of your brand’s online presence is content. Valuable content has magnetic power. Create an interesting mix of relevant content to earn audience mindshare and trust. Do not post to post. Your brand’s audience does not want their feed filled with random content. Share clear content with your network that is aligned with your brand and its value. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #12: TOO MANY POSTS

You are focusing on quantity not quality posts. One quality lead is worth 100 leads that do not have much hope.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in personal branding is posting too much content. There’s tremendous pressure to be constantly visible in your ever changing social media feed. The volume of posts will depend on the specific platform. LinkedIn for instance is a low volume/high value platform. Twitter is a high volume/low value platform. Our instinct is to just post, post, post. It’s not about the quantity of your posts; it’s about the quality of your posts. Quality content is what makes your brand stand out. Engage your audience and attract new relationships and new opportunities with great content. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #14: YOUR BRANDING ISN'T CLEAR

If your brand promise isn’t clear and consistent on your social pages, how can you expect your audience to know what you stand for? 

If your brand promise is not consistently presented to your audience, then your brand runs the risk of becoming confusing. It takes 5-7 brand impressions before someone remembers your brand. To build real value, stay on message in all your social platforms. If one social media page does not align with your brand promise then your brand strength will suffer. Your brand made a promise and it is up to you to deliver on that commitment. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #15: WEAK NETWORK

You need like-minded people in your social network that can help you achieve your business goals. Say yes to invites and get out there and find them! 

What is the point in having hundreds of connections on social media if they are not aligned with your brand and its value?  76% of LinkedIn members' primary use of the platform is for networking with other professionals. You want a network of like-minded people who share similar knowledge, experience and goals. Maintaining a network of these individuals gives you a great advantage over your peers. Sharing advice, ideas and content with your network benefits both your brand and theirs. Actively pursue these relationships by accepting invitations and initiating meaningful communication. Like-minded connections make social media work for you. 

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Personal Branding Mistake #25: WHY SO SERIOUS?

Your profile picture and background should look professional, but try to have a little fun while you’re at it!

75 of the Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn as an important part of their corporate hiring solutions. Companies are looking for solid citizens but pay more attention when your portrait breaks through the boredom barrier. Don’t do a deer in the headlights portrait or OMG no portrait at all. Turns out 65% of your audience are visual learners so engage them with stimulating imagery! Social platforms achieve 94% more total views with compelling images. Keep it professional but keep it engaging.

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Personal Branding Mistake #34: FIRST THINGS FIRST: YOUR HEADLINE

Your professional headline is a critical piece of your profile. A proper headline determines how you’ll be categorized in a search and how you’ll be perceived by other users.

A strong LinkedIn headline and summary is important. A headline’s optimal number of words is 6 and a summary of 40+ words makes you more likely to turn up in search. Your headline should deliver your brand promise in a compelling way and use strong keywords for search engine recognition. Your picture and brand story work together to support your headline to further engage your profile viewers. Headlines matter on LinkedIn in the same way they matter in a successful advertising campaign.

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Personal Branding Mistake #35: DON'T MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Keeping your eyes open is important on any social platform. Check out profiles of professionals you admire, see what works and what doesn’t, then update your profile.

Looking to peer professional profiles is a great way to pinpoint best business practices that will benefit your brand. The average time spent on LinkedIn is 17 minutes so make sure the time spent on your profile counts. Eliminate practices that have proven ineffective for others and implement the ones that have helped build strong personal brands. 74% of all Internet traffic in 2017 will use video as a medium so consider creating, posting and sharing video content on your pages. Keep your eyes open for great personal brand profiles to learn how to improve yours!

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