3 Social Growth Hacks For Personal Branding

When it comes to branding on social media, businesses and individuals need to adopt very different strategies. For the good part, social media branding strategies for businesses are built upon pretty much the same set of rules. But when it comes to personal branding, things get a little bit tricky for the very reason that you can naturally brag about something you created rather than yourself. As a result, marketers have to take each step very carefully when handling personal branding for a client.

To help individuals and marketers overcome challenges of personal branding, FATbit Technologies discussed it with the world’s leading digital marketing expert Sam Hurley and following is his valuable advice on the matter.

I propelled my Twitter account and online presence to what it is today in 15 months. @Sam___Hurley Click to tweet

How? I haven’t launched a website – it’s just a single page sign up right now. I don’t advertise or pay for leads.

My social presence drives business.

You might be looking at that, thinking you could never do the same. But the truth is; you can.

Brands saw a median annual follower growth of 42 percent across the five major social networks this year. That’s a great trend…just because you’re one person doesn’t mean you can’t follow a similar path.

Social media is insanely powerful.

With a little dedication on the right networks for your business model, you can achieve anything you want to. I never thought I’d be sitting here today writing this article, but I am. If you apply similar techniques, there’s no stopping you! It could all happen much sooner than you think…

Follow these 3 social growth hacks to achieve similar personal branding success:

1. Choose 3 social media networks

No more, no less.

Pick your platforms wisely – and stick to them religiously.

Treat these networks as your key to a world of opportunity. There’s no need to spend years trying to optimise for visibility like you would with Google. The audience is already there, and they are immediately accessible. I selected Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook because they have huge audiences and are perfectly suited to my Digital Marketing expertise.
This is extremely important…to find your ideal networks, balance user base volumes with the existing interest towards your niche.

Taking these stats into account, Instagram may well be an excellent addition to my portfolio – but it’s not one that I see bringing the most (or fastest) ROI at this point in time…so I’m not pursuing it just yet.

Now, if you’re an expert hairdresser for instance, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook would be perfect for you! Just be careful not to spread yourself too thinly and dilute your efforts…you will be no good to anyone and end up with a sea of mediocre content (with no energy left to create better at the end of the day).

Don’t waste your time on platforms which will take too long to flourish your brand. Ask yourself a few simple questions: – Ratio of user total base / those interested in your industry? – Number of influencers (in your niche) active on there already? – How long will it take you to share content, engage and build a following?

You can use handy tools like:
internetlivestats
moz.com
statista

Check this out!

There’s a myriad of tools available at your disposal. Speaking of which…

2. Select the right tools

The top professionals own the best gear. It’s the same with anything – sports, music or business. When it comes to social media; you can’t keep up with the trends if you don’t have the support of automation on your side.

It just isn’t practical to sit there all day scheduling! Here’s some of the top tools for you to try today:

• Buffer
• Post Planner
• Hootsuite
• Sprout Social
• Agora Pulse
• Sendible
• Edgar
• Audiense
• Yotpo
• DrumUp
• CoSchedule

Be prepared to spend some money on these apps – nothing comes for free if you want the best.

I highly recommend using a scheduler that recycles your content…it would be such a waste to post something once and then be done with it. Hell no! Make it count – there’s absolutely no harm in reposting the same content after a tasteful amount of time.

This differs from network to network – when using Facebook you might wait a couple of weeks. Twitter is much faster paced so you could even repeat a tweet several times throughout the same day.

Also Read: How to Increase Sales Of A Business Using Social Media Marketing?

3. Build solid relationships & hustle

It’s common knowledge that sometimes it’s not what you know; it’s who you know.

When hacking your way to the top online, I can guarantee that relationships will get you there if you invest enough time into building them. How can I say this? Because I’ve done it.

You must know how to approach people and use your character to establish a rapport.

When searching for influential figures:

• Use tools like Onalytica, Klear, Klout and Kred
• Select 5 ideal influencers in your niche or close to it
• Explore their past work and triumphs
• Gauge their personalities with a tool like Crystal
• Apply additional search functions like “author”, “influencer” or “leader”

When connecting:

• Be polite
• Be yourself
• Be different
• Don’t expect something for nothing
• Don’t just dive in asking for something – spend a good deal of time getting noticed by these guys without being annoying

The last point is absolutely critical. Some people just don’t understand how this stuff works. I receive hundreds of requests every day…some follow me and then immediately send messages as blunt as this: ‘’I need funding for my new startup please help” or “I need more followers can you like and share my tweets” I mean, seriously?
Apply courtesy, skill and common sense when approaching piers, new connections, influencers…anyone! It will pay dividends further down the line.

Nurture relationships by:

• Including connections in regular ‘thank you’ posts
• Sending humorous visuals
• Just saying ‘hi’ with a compliment
• Including others in content pieces or blog roundups
• Mentioning them in posts or publicly recommending to others

You might be thinking you haven’t got time for this…you want to growth hack, right? Well, the energy you invest here will rocket-boost your personal brand’s success tenfold. Connect with the right people and huge doors open up for guest blogging, interviews and credible features.