Blog 4 - Personal Branding

Personal Branding

"Personal branding is the practice of marketing people and their careers as brands. It is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual, group, or organization. Whereas some self-help practices focus on self-improvement, personal branding defines success as a form of self-packaging." (Henderson, 2019). Personal branding can play as a huge advantage for a company or brand. Building a personal brand comes down to gaining the trust and loyalty of your followers by showcasing your knowledge within your field. Building this relationship leads to network growth and an increased client base. According to Hall (2019), 73% of consumers are willing to pay more for products that guarantee total transparency. 

Social media is one of the most efficient ways to shape your personal brand. It gives you the opportunity to network with a large number of people over a diverse range of platforms. To successfully grow your personal brand using social media you will need to identify your target audience and research trends relating to your area of expertise. Making an informed selection of which social networks to use based on your target audience ensures efficiency of social media posting.  

Posting quality content is the most crucial aspect of building your personal brand. Posting different types of content, regularly ensures your following remains engaged. Video content is the fastest growing in popularity due to the simplicity of ‘stories’. ‘Stories’ are short videos in which you can post instantly on socials such as Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. “Stories are growing 15 times faster than newsfeeds. More than one billion users are already hooked on the format” (Holmes, 2018).

Gary Vaynerchuk has built an empire of followers via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. His personal brand has been built as a motivational speaker, sharing ‘straight to the point’ content. With 7.8 million Instagram followers, Gary posts informative videos showcasing his insights and views on topical subjects. The topical everyday content allows the viewer to relate to and therefore trust Gary and his brand. He posts regularly and remains relevant with fresh imagery, quotes and videos. 

Brittney Saunders begun creating YouTube content from a young age. It is clear the majority of her audience throughout her career has been younger women who are able to relate to her content. Through posting topical videos, the use of Snapchat and Instagram stories and aesthetically pleasing images, her following has grown significantly, therefore building her personal brand. Since creating this personal brand and becoming an influential public figure, Brittney has been able to collaborate with companies and build her own clothing business. 

References

Henderson, G. (2019) ‘What is Personal Branding?’ Digital Marketing Blog. Available at https://www.digitalmarketing.org/blog/what-is-personal-branding [Accessed 20 Feb 2020]

Basu, T. (2019) ‘How to Build a Personal Brand (Complete Guide to Personal Branding)’. Available at https://www.thinkific.com/blog/personal-branding-guide/ [Accessed 1 March 2020]

Hall, J. (2019) ‘Personal branding trends to tap into on social media’. Available at https://sproutsocial.com/insights/personal-branding-trends-social-media/ [Accessed 15 April 2020]

Holmes, R. (2018) ‘ 4 tips on how to succeed with Stories’. Available at https://www.fastcompany.com/90252767/4-tips-on-how-to-succeed-with-stories [Accessed 15 April 2020]

Blog 3 - Inbound Marketing Methods

Inbound Marketing Methods

Each organisations approach to inbound marketing

Both Subject A and Subject B’s clear focus of inbound marketing is social media content. Social media would create the highest traffic for these particular organisations targeted audience. They place an emphasis on delighting the consumer by sharing helpful hints and offering giveaways on their Facebook pages. 

Subject A goes a step further by creating insightful blogs published on their website. This draws the customer in by contributing valuable information such as ‘How to’ articles and support on the products and services the organisation provides. 

Subject B targets the local community by incorporating a detailed history and subjective mission statement on the homepage of their website. This creates a farther personalised experience for the intended audience.

Both organisations take a subtle approach to their inbound marketing strategy with aesthetically pleasing, yet simple graphics posted regularly on their social media.

Strengths and weaknesses of the inbound marketing approach used by each organisation

Subject A’s use of insightful blogs showcases the knowledge the organisation has about the products and services in which they offer. This acts as an extremely valuable inbound marketing approach as it gains the trust of the consumer. Although subject A does share a handful of stimulating short videos on social media, they could certainly increase in this avenue to attract a more intimate experience. 

Subject B gains the assurance of consumers by taking a community targeted approach. They tailor their marketing to demonstrate their connection to the community. Subject B’s content is quite basic and doesn’t offer enough information or insight of the organisation’s knowledge. 

Both organisations have links to their social media pages as well as call to action links on their webpages which is a simple way of bringing potential customers a step closer to conversion. Each organisation would advantage from encouraging consumers to sign up to an email loyalty subscription option.

Which organisations was best at is inbound marketing and why

It is clear subject A takes a more appropriate approach to its inbound marketing strategy by creating a personalised experience based on the products and services the organisation has to offer. Subject A’s use of relevant blogs demonstrates the organisation is very knowledgeable within their industry. Showcasing this knowledge in blogs, offers a relaxed way of gaining the trust of potential customers. Sharing short videos containing helpful product information attracts the attention of consumers and educates them on the organisation’s products. 

Give examples of how each organisation could improve its inbound marketing

Subject A could take their strategy a step further by incorporating infographics on their webpage. This is a simple yet effective method to provide insightful information in a time efficient manner. Posting blogs more regularly will also help the relationship growth with prospective customers.

Subject B’s first step to improve its inbound marketing strategy will be to create relative blogs for their webpage. Sharing the links to informative blogs on their social media will see increased traffic on their webpage. 

Both subjects could benefit from posting more engaging content on social media. Relative video content is a major aspect in which both organisations need to focus on, to attract a broader audience to the business. Short ‘how to’ guides is one of the simplest methods to demonstrate not only the organisations knowledge but what products and services the business has to offer. 

References

Bond, C. (2019) 9 Examples of Inbound Marketing that Gets Customers. Available at https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2018/11/05/inbound-marketing-examples [Accessed 27 Feb 2020]

Optimizely (2019) Inbound Marketing. Available at https://www.optimizely.com/anz/optimization-glossary/inbound-marketing/ [Accessed 27 Feb 2020]

Subject A - https://www.wolfstores.com.au

Subject B - https://echovoicedata.com.au