In today’s world, you can no longer separate who you are from what you do. It is all tied together. As a REALTOR®, your personal brand and the brand of your business are connected. So, it is important to spend some time thinking about who you are and how you are perceived by others.
You may think you don’t have a personal “brand”—but you do. It is simply what others think when they hear your name. And everything you post on social media contributes to this perception. This may sound daunting, but the reality is that you have the power to shape those perceptions. By being aware of what a personal brand is and how you can make yours stronger, you can control what your reputation is, and, ultimately, build your business. And while developing your personal brand isn’t hard or even all that time consuming, it is so hugely important for everything that you do from this point forward. Your personal brand is your story. And once you have crafted the key points of your story, knowing what to post on social media becomes easy!
Why Is Personal Branding Important?
People are attracted to people. We like people who are like us, who inspire us, who we learn from or share similar values with. This is especially true in social media; human interaction is the driving force behind the phenomenon. We enjoy doing business and spending time with genuine people who share our values. But we don’t know what those values are unless they are communicated to us, which is where personal branding comes in.
Let’s take your clients for example. They have a lot of options when it comes to choosing a REALTOR®. A home buyer or seller is ultimately going to choose you over another REALTOR® because they like you and they trust you. Your goal is to let them get to know you (the real you!) so they can decide if they like you and you can start to build trust. This starts with knowing who you are and what makes you unique and then sharing those values consistently on social media, so your potential clients know what you are all about.
This is how personal branding can help your business. When you know what is important to you and share those values with your clients and potential clients(whether through conversations or what you post on social media) you will draw like-minded people to you. This is called the law of attraction.
Not only does having a strong personal brand attract the RIGHT kind of customers and clients, but it makes doing business more fun. But in order to attract like-minded people, you need to be sure that your personality and values (i.e. personal brand) are being clearly communicated.
How to Develop your Personal Brand
We know that personal branding is important, but how do you build yours? You already have a personal brand—you just need to uncover it and share it. Here is how to do just that.
1. Make a list of what is most important to you: What defines you? What are your core values? What are your passions—both personal and professional? What makes you uniquely you and separates you from others? If you don’t know, ask others around you who know you well and whose opinion you trust. Write down as many words as you want. Here are a few to get you started: family, wellness, travel, golf, technology, service.
2. Prioritize your list: Now go through your list and pick the top five that are most important to you. These are your personal brand values. These are the things you should be posting about on social media!
Once you’ve chosen those magic five, focus on them. Posting about them consistently will help others get to know you and what is important to you. They will start to know your personal brand. When I first did this, I was afraid that I would be limited by focusing on only five things, but I quickly found that I was naturally posting about them anyway. That’s the beautiful thing about personal branding, it isn’t hard to do, because it is really just sharing with the world who you are, but doing it consistently.
Personal branding is an important concept, especially in today’s increasingly digital and competitive world. It allows people who have never met you to feel like they know you and what it is like to work with you.
We all have a personal brand, whether we are aware of it or not. Once we know our brand values and focus on consistently sharing our unique story with others, we can strengthen our brand, attract the right clients, and build our businesses. This also makes social media marketing more fun and takes the guesswork out of posting.
Teah Hopper is a social media strategist and the owner of Teah Hopper Consulting. For more social media tips from Teah, follow Teah Hopper Consulting on Facebook or check out her blog at teahhopper.com