How to Not Annoy People with Your Brand Content
Remember a time when you scrolled through social media (maybe even in the last few hours) and you catch yourself after 30min not having done anything. Just not being smarter, happier, or more inspired than before? Hold on to that feeling when you think about creating your own personal brand content.
It's easy to create marketing material especially on social media that is simply useless and most people do!
But especially in business, and when you create a personal branding strategy, this approach does not work. Your personal brand content is not only about you, it's about creating value for others.
Now, why is social media so important for you in the first place? Isn’t your website, email marketing, or a personal connection to your clients way more important when showcasing your brand online?
Well, both yes and no.
Social media is a great way to
Get in touch with new people —> create connections
Keep in touch with existing people —> build long-term deeper connections
Cost-effective marketing —> creating brand content is free
Enable you to have an ongoing conversation with your audience —> brand loyalty
Enhance your SEO —> increase traffic to website / products & services / newsletter / job profile
Social media is not your business, though it can be if you seek to become an influencer.
You can have 100k followers but without conversions, you don’t have a business. You can have an online presence but not a brand.
Before anything, think about the type of content you want to create before you pick which social platform is the best to create it on.
How to create great content:
Communicate (naturally)
Educate (constantly)
Inspire (deeply)
Effective personal brand content is about being memorable and leaving a positive impression consistently.
It's about people knowing what to expect from you so that they look forward to always coming back to that.
Communicate:
Many people don’t create content, they just sell.
What does creating content mean?
Content creation is when you come up with topics, information, and ideas that connect an audience to your brand. You can create content through audio, visual, or written media, such as a blog, video, podcast, infographic, or other formats.
So the question is, how do you create great content that represents your brand well?
Communicate naturally with the people you want to reach.
That is how you build a strong personal brand, that people will become fans of forever.
Instead of thinking "Look, this is how amazing my brand is”, think “Let’s speak about this topic”.
Think about what information about your journey is relevant to people and share it with them. It’s not so much about what makes you look good but what people can relate to and find a connection with.
Remember:
People who talk about what they do, are more successful than people who are better at what they do, but don’t talk about it. - Sina Port
Choose a communication platform that actually fits who you are, the brand content you want to create, and the audience you want to reach.
The secret to choosing your platform is to create what you consume:
Focus on what you know, and enjoy.
For example:
If you're a visual learner and you work in design, create brand content on Instagram and YouTube.
If writing is more your thing, create content on your blog, Twitter, Medium, or LinkedIn.
If you love listening and learning through podcasts, finally start your own podcast.
Chances are that when you consume a lot of brand content on one channel, you’re more likely to understand the platform better, and to feel excited to create content on there yourself.
Educate:
Share your insights and your expertise. Be generous with your knowledge.
You might (naturally) think “If I give my audience all my knowledge for free, what can I sell them in the end?” or “Am I not creating my own competition by sharing my expert secrets with everyone?”.
Valid questions! Though human psychology works differently.
Think about this:
You can find most of the knowledge of how to create a drop-shipping business on YouTube. Sure, you will need to know what you’re searching for and somehow create your own training plan by combining videos from different people together. But you could make it work. Why then do people still buy courses about “how to create a drop-shipping business” for (lots of) money? Because we like to get things delivered on a silver platter!
We like when information is organized for us.
I’ve made the experience, when I shared a lot of content about how to start your own podcast on my social media, for free. But people wanted to buy an A-Z Podcasting Course, in which at the end of it they’d have a published podcast and an entire year of content planned out for them.
It’s all about convenience!
If your brand content educates, you attract loyal fans and customers forever!
Educate people on your expertise, share your insights and thoughts, ideas, and experiences with them. It creates trust and they are looking forward - once you’re ready - to support you monetarily because you have already proven that you are of value!
Inspire
Brand content that inspires doesn’t only make people feel better about themselves. It's about showing how your brand and your message can change their outlook on their own life to the positive.
Inspiration content shows your brand while speaking to a deeper message you and your brand stand for.
Look at Apple’s “think different” campaign:
An inspirational piece of brand content is not easily forgotten, it sticks into your mind way beyond the campaign itself is over!
The better you understand your audience, the easier it is for you to create inspirational content!
For instance, I talk a lot about valuing your voice in your field, because I know that my audience is ambitious women who are historically not given the platforms to speak up. How do I know that? Because through the brand content on my podcast, I created meaningful connections to listeners who shared with me their fears and goals. That is why our last innovative brand campaign “Make Your Voice Heard”, increased our brand engagement by 150%.
When you know the deeper struggles and visions of your audience, you can create more impactful brand content that inspires your audience on a deeper level.
So the next time when you think about generating branded content, make sure you think about these three rules of creating great content.
Comment below, which one you liked most!
And if one of your preferred content platforms is podcasting, check out my course on how to Start The Right Podcast.
