3 Keys to Digital Branding Implementation

Digital branding is still a relatively new practice, and a lot of information about what should and should not be done is still emerging.

For some people and some industries, having a digital brand that transfers from a meeting in person all the way back to every tweet they send can be immensely powerful. For others, it’s potentially unnecessary.

The best way to answer this question for yourself is to study the people that you are trying to influence, and do some testing.

Research, test, optimize.

In order to be effective at digital branding implementation, there are three components to consider:

 

3 Keys to Digital Branding Implementation

1. Consistency

 

Consistency is probably the most important part of branding. You can make your digital brand more congruent from platform to platform to person by following the strategy a company would.

Brand Guides

Build a branding guide template and fill it out to the best of your ability. If you want to get really creative with it, make a personal visual style guide with defined colors, fonts, phrases, images and hashtags that best represent who you are and who you are striving to become.

Effective Images

When you share your own social media posts, create images in Canva that use elements from your visual style guide. You can even create your own social media header images to reflect the unique style of your brand.

Single Profile Picture

Also, make sure that your profile picture is a close-up image of your face, and is the same across all platforms. You want people to begin recognizing your face so that when they meet you or do business with you, they feel like they already know who you are.

And being consistent doesn’t end with visuals. In order for your brand to really translate from one platform to another, you need to consider your tone of voice, content topics, and other aspects of social media like posting frequency.

Setting expectations for the people who follow and interact with you is part of launching an awesome digital branding campaign.

 

2. Authenticity

 

Maintaining an authentic digital brand comes down to deeply knowing and understanding who you are, and embodying your ideal self in the things that you share.

It is important to always ask whether or not what you’re sharing is helping you achieve your goals AND helping your audience.

Be True

Having an authentic digital brand means only sharing things that you can stand behind if you get called out. Be real and stay true to who you are because people respect others who are able to show their genuine selves.

Be Honest

Your level of outward honesty will also depend on your industry and your audience. I’m not saying you should ever lie or be dishonest, but there is an appropriateness factor that is determined once again by your goals.

What looks to some as outlandish behavior may actually be working wonders. Let’s take a look at social media bad boy Gary Vaynerchuk. He’s in a space where he can curse, yell, and be brutally honest. That’s part of his personality and a big factor into his digital brand.

But if that’s not you, and his actions seem like they wouldn’t help you achieve your career goals, don’t bother trying to emulate his ideas.

You can’t really compare yourself to someone else in a different space.

Doing “you” within the parameters of your niche and audience preferences is the best way to go about remaining sincere and respectable.

 

3. Visibility

 

Just like with a big business, building brand awareness is the first step in becoming a household name.

This means setting up and monitoring all relevant social platforms, attending networking events, and participating in industry-specific conferences.

In order to become as visible as possible, you need to build a strategy for creating original content to share with your network to further solidify your brand and expertise in people’s minds.

Other ways that you can become visible to your audience is to:

  • Book speaking gigs
  • Guest blog on relevant industry websites
  • Attend local networking events
  • Be engaging and helpful to others on social media
  • Provide valuable comments on blog posts, in forums, and in social media communities and groups.
  • Consider building a personal website and blog

When you take into consideration the people that you are trying to influence and play to their needs and wants with your content (both original and curated), you’re more likely to be successful at getting noticed by the right people.

 

Final Thoughts

Paving the road for your digital brand means that you are choosing to represent yourself to the public in a specific manner based on your personal and/or career goals.

This can mean only talking about specific topics on social media or using a predefined set of images rendered in a certain style. Even the outfits that you choose to wear to work can play into your digital brand.

Everything about you that is intrinsically “you” that you want to demonstrate to the world plays into your digital brand. Harness your passions and tailor your spirit to fit into a digital representation of yourself.

 

Now that the internet is such a huge part of who we are as individuals, defining your digital brand for yourself is essential. You already have a digital brand, the question is, do you want it to run wild, or will you groom it to become a tool for your business and your life?

Only you can identify what your digital brand will look like. Do some personal reflection and identify who you want to be perceived as and why. Then, the rest will become obvious.

What do you think? Is there anything I missed?  I’d love to talk more about it with you!

Written by
Shana Haynie

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