Social media is an extremely powerful tool for anyone interested in reaching their targeted audience and building their brand. There are a lot of social media channels that have made word of mouth marketing strategies available not only for businesses big and small, but also for people in building their personal brand, one of which is Facebook.
With the massive popularity of Facebook, it is a fantastic avenue to interact with your friends, families, colleagues, and even new acquaintances. But we must be mindful that everything that we post gives the public, especially those you’ve never personally met, bits of information on how they can define you. While it is a great tool to engage with others, Facebook is not just limited to social conversations. It also helps in promoting your personal brand. This is the reason why it is important “to know and understand how to leverage this tool as it will do more harm than good”, as Andrew Foxwell (Director of Social at PPC Associates and our recent #brandchat discussion special guest) puts it.
How to promote your personal brand
#1. It is important that you know your audience. There has been a shift in how Facebook is utilized over the years. It has become more than just a communication avenue for your personal connections, it is also a tool to network with other people whom you have professional relationships with.
Facebook’s advertising function gives you the opportunity to segment and to target your message by demographic, interests and even by company. If you’re searching for an opportunity with a company, it’s a great way to create visibility and top of mind awareness with people in that company or even within a certain department.
If you write a blog, you can utilize Facebook’s Domain Sponsored Stories, to drive more people to your blog and to know who from our Facebook connections are actually reading your blog. A Domain Sponsored Story doesn’t show up on your Facebook page. It shares when friends click on or view your blog post link that you share within Facebook. It’s an excellent way to promote yourself without coming across as promotional.
#2. Know your branding strategy.
There should be a roadmap on what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. [tweet this]
A hit-or-miss approach (when one approach fails, you can just erase it altogether and start anew) just doesn’t work in personal branding. Your strategy depends on your life goals and what you are passionate about. In line with this, post useful status updates or links that will have a positive impact on your brand. But be very mindful not to treat your Facebook page as a “pulpit to preach,” as Jonathan Barrick (@j_barrick) puts it. Needless to say, avoid talking about yourself all the time.
#3. Leave the “boosted posts” alone and get good at using Power Editor.
Power Editor provides the segmenting you’re seeking and even the opportunity to test segments of your target audience to see how they perform (who’s clicking through and who’s responding to your call to action).
Boosted posts, right now, don’t provide that and are really built for general visibility and not the targeted recognition you need to focus on.
#4. Grow your community by networking and engaging with others.
The only way you can use Facebook Advertising is if you have a business page or profile for yourself. You cannot do any of the items I’ve shared from a “personal profile”. Additionally, you can use Facebook as a way to organize events that are related to your industry because this will help you in building an image as a leader in your industry.
Facebook is an incredible platform in expressing your personal brand. In this world where more and more business leaders emerge, it is high time that you harness the power of this tool.
Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks– a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand. Maria Duron is founder and moderator of #brandchat – a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.
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