Social media may seem like nothing more than a popularity contest. Popularity does have an impact on your personal brand, but social media’s best benefits are credibility and connection.
Rather than give you a complicated list of 50 things to do to build a fan club, I share with you three simple tips for each of my favorite social media resources for personal branding: LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Why did I choose these tips? They are easy to do, are often overlooked, and will have a measurable impact on your personal brand.
Before implementing these tips, get a baseline understanding of your popularity so you can see the impact of your efforts. Note the number of connections you have and check out your page rank (right side of your profile page). Make note of your current rank (you get three scores: professionals like you, people in your company and your connections), and then follow these steps to grow your network:
1. Put the LinkedIn button in your email signature. This will send people to your profile and get them to reach out to connect with you. And you only have to do this once. After the button is added, every time you send an email, you are promoting your LinkedIn profile. Of course, make sure your profile is accurate, compelling and up-to-date before directing people to it.
2. Have a quality photo. According to LinkedIn Career Expert Nicole Williams in a NY Post article, “You’re 14 times more likely to have your profile looked at if you have a photo.” Your headshot should add credibility to your profile – so make it professional. No selfies.
3. Use the LinkedIn Connected App. LinkedIn says that members who use the app can expect six times more profile views and seven times more endorsements than members who don’t use it. It’s an extremely easy app to use because you can sit back and wait for it to let you know when things are happening with your network (birthdays, work anniversaries, new jobs, promotions, etc.). These alerts give you a reason to reach out to your connections.
Twitter is a valuable tool for increasing your visibility and engaging your network, and it’s the best way to direct people to your content on other social channels. These three tips will help you make the most of Twitter so you can expand your followers:
1. Publish photos directly to your Twitter feed instead of including a link to them. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, this allows you to really maximize those 140 characters. According to Twitter’s Blog Tweeting photos yields a 35% boost in Retweets. I use Bufferapp to publish photos directly to my Twitter feed. Choose your photos wisely, emphasizing ones that bring your brand message to life.
2. Add quotes to your Twitter mix. According to the same study, quotes get a 19% boost in Retweets. That gets you more visibility and more followers. Two of my favorite sources of quotes are Brainy Quotes and Good Reads. Find quotes that help you reinforce your values, passions and areas of thought-leadership.
3. Be interesting. Use your Twitter bio to tell people who you are, what you do and why they should get to know you. People want to follow people who are interesting. Use all 160-characters to get people to want to know more about you.
YouTube
Video will account for 90% of all online traffic by 2014 according to iMediaConnection. If you aren’t using video to build your brand, you are missing out on one of the most important opportunities to create emotional connections with stakeholders. Here are three ways to get more views and more subscribers:
1. Remind viewers to subscribe to your channel, and make it easy for them to do so. YouTube allows you to include an annotation to your video that lets viewers open a new window to subscribe. Put this at the beginning of your video because sometimes viewing drops off (hopefully, yours will be compelling enough that they’ll stay tuned to the end). Here’s a YouTube video from Derral Eves that shows you how to do it.
2. Publish regularly. One key step that will get you more subscribers is to publish new videos regularly. The popularity of your channel is directly proportional to the number of videos you have. It increases your visibility in searches. More videos means more search results, which will lead to more subscribers. And, if possible, try to publish your videos on the same day and time to create a habit among your viewers.
3. Tease your upcoming video. Just as a TV series teases the following week’s episode at the end of the show, you can use the annotation feature I referenced above to promote your next video. This will increase repeat visitors to your channel. Toward the end of your video, include an annotation like “In my next installment, I will share…”
By mastering all three of these tools, you’ll harness the power of social media to do much more than socialize. The techniques I’ve described will help you create authentic communities of followers who believe in your brand.
Follow me on Twitter and check out my latest book, Ditch. Dare. Do! 3D Personal Branding for Executives.
