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23 Steps To Build Your Personal Brand

Written by - 31 Comments
Categories: Personal Brand, Personal Branding, Social Media, Social Media Marketing

We live in one of the most exciting times in the world’s history where you can build a personal brand faster and broader than anyone has even imagined. Most people are underestimating the reach and power of the internet that has really only been available for barely 15 years. Facebook marketing  is less than 2 years old and YouTube and Twitter have only been in existence for a few years.23 Steps To Build Your Personal Brand

The previous generation built their personal brands on televison, radio, magazines and newspapers. You now have the opportunity to build a personal brand utilizing the power and leverage of social media and blogs that can accelerate the process.

The potential of the web is still evolving and will continue to surprise us as it continues to grow and challenge established thinking and disrupt business models.

So what are 23 steps to build your personal brand in a digital world?

1. Identify Your Passion

2. Think of 20 or more blog topics that you can write about or video on your passion so you can have plenty of content to publish when you are ready to launch your blog

3. Ask yourself the questions “Can I talk about it better than anyone else?” and “Am I so passionate about it that I can get up at 4.30am, 5 days a week to do it?”

4. Name your personal brand eg ”The online gaming guru” or the  ”The place to get your scrapbooking tips”

5. Buy your user name (as a domain name) preferably a .com and or .tv at Hostmonster.com

6. Choose Your Medium eg video, audio or the written word as some people can write, others are better on video and some can communicate their passion through speech

7. Buy a hosting account and a WordPress theme that suits your medium

8. Hire a web designer so that you can present the most professional brand you can afford to the online world as  it is the global front door for your digital online brand

9. Make it easy for people to share your content  and include a retweet and Facebook share buttons as a minimum as well as making it easy for fans to subscribe via RSS and email

10. Create a Facebook fan page

11. Sign Up for Ping.fm ( multichannel social media promotion and publishing software) or Tube Mogul (online video distribution platform) then select all the platforms you want to distribute your content (Twitter and facebook are absolutely essential) choose others depending on your interests

12. Publish and post your content to your blog

13. Write, video or record your posts regularly preferably once a day 5 days a week.

14. Create community by leaving comments on other peoples blogs and replying to comments on your blog

15. Use Twitter search to find as many people as possible talking about your topic and communicate with them

16. Follow people on Twitter who are following leaders in your niche (they have already identified themselves as being interested in your subject area)

17. Use Google Blog search to find more blogs that are relevant to your subject

18. Join as many active Facebook fan pages and groups relating to your blog topic as possible

19. Repeat steps 12 to 18 over and over and over and over

20. Monitor your brand with Google alerts or Tweetdeck so that you can thank people that publish your content and protect your brand from misconceptions

21. Find and use tools to make it more efficient to publish and promote your blog content such as socialoomph.com

22. When you have feel that you have gained enough traction and attention and you have fans that are spreading your message then start reaching out to advertisers and begin monetizing

23. Place a big button on your site  that invites and makes it easy for people to do business with you

These are the key steps to start creating the brand “You” that will create opportunities and open doors that were previously closed.

This blog post was inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk’s book “Crush It” I would recommend that you go and buy it!!


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  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    I often get personal brand and personal bland mixed up. Maybe it’s apathy with the term – most of what constitutes “personal branding” is just good old common sense, work ethic and responsibility. When did we start hijacking the term brand to relate to people?

    • http://www.bamsmallbizconsulting.com Nikolas Allen

      Danny,
      You are certainly not wallowing alone in your apathy towards the term Personal Brand, but that doesn’t make the concept any less relevant. The “highjacking” has been going on for a few years now, especially since our workforce (and society) has become so fractured. Every person needs to represent themselves as “The Best Choice,” just like the products on the supermarket shelves.

      Dehumanizing? Who cares? Look at the headlines on any given day and see just how many “people” blatantly LACK your precious “common sense.” Semantics is the least of our worries!

      Besides, nobody would read a post titled, “23 Steps to Build Your Common Sense, Work Ethic and Responsibility.”

  • http://www.burtchiropractic.com Eduard Burt, D.C., MUAC

    Hello Jeff,
    Since this post is about branding I would like to point out that #21 – socialoomph.com is not the best option for branding. I personally use MarketmeSuite and this is the only software on the market that allows you to spread the word about your pesonal brand. Basically when you tweet instead of saying powered by Socialoomph or any other 3rd party software you will be using your brand’s name with the link to your landing page – whatever it might be.

    • jeffbullas

      Hi Eduard
      Thanks for that tip, I have just checked it out and at first glance it looks like a great suggestion and it could be a lower cost option. I will investigate it further.. Thanks and Cheers, Jeff

  • http://www.bloggingbookshelf.com Tristan

    Awesome list, Jeff. Thoroughly enjoyed and retweeted :)

  • http://www.newbielifeline.com Sheila Atwood

    Jeff,

    This is a great list to rinse and repeat.

    I also use Google alerts for #17. I get alerts for sites using targeted keywords. Then I can visit those sites quickly and determine if I want to build a relationship there. This works especially well for small niche sites.

  • http://blog.esimplestudios.com Gabriele Maidecchi

    I would also add, create a consistent personal image across the various networks.
    What I did: I wrote a long bio, both in first person and third person, then summed it up in a short version, so that I now have 4 bios of myself.
    Across the various networks, according to the needs, I compile the “Info” part with one of these bios, and I add the same picture, on all networks.
    I also made a Gravatar account with that same pic.
    This is to make sure the “me” I give around is the same, across all media.

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  • http://www.sparkers.typepad.com Pepita

    Very instrumental but because of that very tangible and useful. I would change the title by adding the word “online” to it at the end. Or is that oldfashioned of me to distinghuish between on- and offline?

    • http://www.nburmandesign.com/ Media Designer

      Good point, because I was going to suggest meeting people you connect with on Twitter/Facebook etc. Face to face you make a much stronger connection, and they will go away with a firmer idea of your brand (you). Get out, shake hands, get rid of some of those business cards you spent so much money on!

      • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

        Yes, Twitter can be one of the best icebreakers in the world and provides a great opportinity to convert a weak tie into a closer relationship

  • David

    Great post! Thank you for sharing. Something that is very easy and simple to setup is a social media press kit. You can create one for your personal brand. Check it out here, http://whywebpr.com

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Whatever works for you, it just the commitment to “do it”

  • Woodhouse

    Jeff:

    Great list. Many of these steps hold true as existing businesses go about buliding there brand online.

  • Cathy Roselli

    perfect………a great check list for the new girl on the “social media” block…….thank you ……….but.golly I have to ask ….do you ever get time for a coffee or a pinot

  • Cathy Roselli

    perfect………a great check list for the new girl on the “social media” block…….thank you ……….but.golly I have to ask ….do you ever get time for a coffee or a pinot

  • http://twitter.com/btrounson Ben Trounson

    Thanks, Jeff. I’ve considered creating a blog, but seemingly haven’t had enough time between a busy work schedule, commuting and children. I’m sure you’ve heard this many times. My concern is not having enough daily time once started and losing potential followers due to lack of activity. 

  • Pretty Ponies

    This is great advice and a good reminder to keep blog topics focused in one area.

  • http://twitter.com/AlishaBenn Alisha Benn

    I really enjoyed this post. I recently decided to start my own social media consulting business and you have provided me with good tips on how to build my brand. Thank you!

  • http://twitter.com/himachhag hima chhag

    This is what i was looking for from long time…
    Thanks a lot..

  • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

    Thanks Jennifer :)

  • Anonymous

    Very practical and motivational. I need to pin-up the 23 points at my workplace as a constant checklist.  Keep them coming Jeff

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  • http://twitter.com/inglathcooper Inglath Cooper

    Hugely helpful tips! Thank you for sharing this!

  • Tyrone Gaines

    I just finished the book, and Jeff you nailed it. Most inspiring chapter 9…Own that chapter.

    • http://jeffbullas.com Jeff Bullas

      Thanks Tyrone and so glad to hear that it was inspiring. :)

    • http://twitter.com/FuturistLife Futurist Business

      great to hear Tyrone.

  • http://twitter.com/jonathanpross Jonathan Ross

    always challenged and encouraged by your stuff.

  • http://twitter.com/MartinReti Martin Reti

    ping.fm no longer exists – it´s seesmic.com. This is the challenge for “rewarming” former blog posts. Nonetheless tnx for the ideas

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  • http://twitter.com/SMSFCoach Liam Shorte

    Thank you Jeff, I needed those reminders to get me moving and active again