Personal branding is a buzzword you have likely heard by now. If you own any kind of business and done marketing, you might be familiar with the concept. I talked about personal branding in my last post of this series. Today, I want to talk about how you can use Facebook to personally brand your business.
Should You Establish a Personal Profile or a Business Page?
Depending on who you are and how you use Facebook will determine whether or not you want to use your personal profile page for branding purposes. If you have been on there for a long time and have a lot of friends and family, you may not want to use it to promote your business.
Some people do not want to use their personal pages because they upload pictures of their children. If you are worried about privacy or safety, it is best you do not use your personal page. However, you can create another profile page with your name to become friends with your followers and customers.
Whether or not you use your personal page or create one specifically for that purpose, you will also want to create a business page. This will be a page that people can like and has all of your pertinent information for the company on it.
Either way, you need one or the other when it comes to developing your personal brand.
Post Valuable Information
This is probably the hardest thing to figure out…what to post. When you are coming up with post for your Facebook page, think about it along the lines of the content you would put out on your blog.
You need to put out a fair amount of information that your followers and friends will appreciate. Share articles that stick with your business concept. Of course, you need to share anything that you write for your blog. You should be making sure that around 70% of what you share will help your followers.
Post Personal Pictures and Thoughts
The personal branding part comes in with your personal type posts. Your personal posts should also do something to add value to your followers lives. However, these updates are pictures of you, your family, and what is going on in your day.
People follow people and they want to see that you are real. The beauty of personal branding is that you develop a following based off of who you are. If people see the person you are and like you, they will follow you.
When people see the kind of life you live and your values, it gives them something to connect with. They want to see if your lifestyle matches up with what they are looking for.
Consider putting out real pictures of yourself and updates of your thoughts. A motivational or inspirational thought is a great way to make connections with your audience.
One of the things that I love the most about personal branding, is that it doesn’t take strategic planning the way other marketing campaigns do. You just need to be yourself and show your followers who you are.
