Disclaimer: While I’m not an influencer, and my Instagram page does not boast even one thousand followers, I have developed these tips through canvasing my Instagram explore page, reading countless blog posts, and watching popular Youtubers share their success stories. These steps are by no means hard and fast rules to personal branding, but rather are the key takeaways I have learned from my inquiry into the wonderful world of social media branding.
Open up the Instagram explore page and what do you see? Influencer after influencer with a picturesque white aesthetic over all of their feed. How about YouTube? A video platform now dominated by lifestyle vloggers and beauty gurus. In a world where people are building their own personal brand into a business, you might ask yourself, can I do this too? While I can’t guarantee that you’ll make big bucks off of your socials, I can tell you that developing your personal brand online is possible with the following steps.
Step one: Find your niche.
This may sound cliché and one of the most predictable things you’ve heard everyone who has ‘made it big’ say, but that’s because it’s an essential step. In order to create your own personal brand, you need to define what your brand is first. This just means identifying what you want to make your content about.
Now, you may say to yourself, why can’t I just post photos of my life and what I do? Why do I need a niche? Well, you totally can do this. This would be considered lifestyle content which is very popular on social media today; however, if building a large following is your goal, know that lifestyle content is a competitive genre to jump into. As explained in a recent Forbes article, being unique is a great idea when it comes to making a brand that will last online.
“How many unsuccessful “lifestyle” bloggers are out there? Chances are that you have a friend who’s tried it. They have the passion for fashion, food, and travel but they couldn’t get a following. Why? Because they’re like everyone else. Be different than your competition.”
Tom Ward, 2017
That being said you can define your personal niche as many things — mainstream or unique; maybe it’s lifestyle-based or maybe it’s all about how to chalk paint furniture — there are tons of options. The point is that you want to create content that is true to who you are and your interests because this will give you motivation to post and share.
Step two: Give your Instagram a set theme/aesthetic and make it public.
If you’re like me, the prospect of making your Instagram public is daunting; however, if you want to gain any kind of following to your page it needs to be done. And bonus, once you make your account public you can turn it into a business account, which will then allow you to access information like how many views and shares your content is getting.
When it comes to creating a theme for your feed, this is key. If you’ll notice, most of the ‘big’ Instagram accounts are ones that have a clear theme or aesthetic to their content. Having a set theme for your Instagram will not only look appealing to the eye, but it will allow for consistency with your personal brand— that is your content.
If you want some help with achieving that perfect Instagram theme, I would suggest searching “how I edit my Instagram photos” on YouTube. I took the liberty of including a few of my favourites below:
Lauren Elizabeth
Instagram: @laurenelizabeth
Followers: one million
Maggie Macdonald
Instagram: @maggiemacdonald
Followers: 181 thousand
Aspyn Ovard
Instagram: @aspynovard
Followers: 2.2 million
Step three: Create a digital platform that you consistently share to (YouTube, blog, etc.) and link it to all your social media sites.
This is the most ‘work-intensive’ step, you might say; however, it is a great way to showcase your brand online. Instagram is great for posting that picturesque snap of your latte, but when it comes to branding yourself you need to share more with people and establish a connection with them. Creating a YouTube channel or a blog are great ways to showcase your personal brand in a more in-depth way.
Love brunching with your friends? Make a blog post about your top five favourite brunch spots. You think you’ve mastered how to make the perfect overnight oat recipe. Film a YouTube tutorial on it. Use these platforms to fit your skills and interests.
Blog
Blogs are arguably the simplest and most discreet way to start producing content and showcasing your personal aesthetic online.
While blogs may sound like a concept stuck in 2005, it’s true that many of the top influencers out there today actually got their start through creating blogs. Popular Youtuber, podcaster, and beauty influencer, Lauren Elizabeth, who has over one million subscribers to her YouTube, credits her lifestyle blog as being what kickstarted her YouTube success. This success is mirrored by up-and-coming Boston Youtuber Maggie Macdonald, who has close to 300,000 followers on her channel and says that her following also started because of traffic to her personal blog.
While many bloggers do gain big readerships, this process is not going to happen overnight. One thing I have learned is that the key to gaining traffic is to promote your blog to people. This means linking it to your other social medias and promoting it on these other channels, so that people go read it, and then hopefully tell their friends about it.
As Forbes explains, when it comes to launching a successful brand online it’s important to remember that “it’s 20% content creation and 80% promotion.”
So, if after reading this you’re eager to start your own blog, the following are some great platforms to help you create your own blog:
- Tumblr
- Wix
- Squarespace
- Blogger
- WordPress
Additionally, if you’re curious about the intricate steps into making a blog, popular blogger Ryan Robinson offers an extensive guide into the world of blogging.
YouTube
This probably sounds like the most intimidating platform to tackle, at least for me it does. When I consider the prospect of putting myself in video form onto the internet for literally anyone to see, yes, I admit it makes me nervous — and it probably would not be my first choice. That being said, if you think YouTube may be for you, starting a channel is not nearly as hard gaining viewers is.
To give an idea into the steps involved with starting a YouTube channel, I spoke to a friend of mine who just so happens to have launched her own channel in December 2018.
Juliana Murphy, better known as @jmurphyfit on Instagram, is someone who has defined her personal brand and launched it online through her Instagram and YouTube. I wanted Juliana to share her experience with the process of launching a YouTube channel from the ground up, explaining which tools and skills are needed.
Contrary to popular belief, she insists that having an expensive camera and Final Cut Pro is not needed, when your iPhone and the built in iMovie software will allow you to film and edit videos just fine. Instead, she stresses that your focus should be on creating a consistent posting schedule and an upbeat intro to your videos.
When asked what advice she’d give to anyone thinking about launching their brand or starting a YouTube she says to take the plunge and do it:
“Go for it! After that, be consistent above all else – posting times, your theme, and your brand. When it comes to criticism and hate, take it all with a grain of salt, because you’re the one potentially monetizing your hobby anyway. Good things come to those who are consistent, genuine, and believe in their own brand.”
So, there you have it — building your personal brand online is not that hard, and if done well it just may provide you with that picture-perfect influencer lifestyle you’ve always dreamed about.
Sophie Blondin, BPR Student
