💫 building your brand

What are some strategies I can use to start building a personal brand and showcasing my thought leadership online?

Context: Looking for tips on where to begin! Tools? Growth strategies? Ways to start engaging with an audience?

📣 Kathy Bryan, EVP Head of Marketing at Electives:

When you’re building a personal brand, here are 3 things to remember:

1. Define your brand: When people think about you, what do you want them to think? It can be who you are known as now or who you want to become.
2. Start talking: Choose your platform and make your first post. The hardest thing is getting started. So don’t overthink that first post. Just go!
3. Be consistent: Once you start, be sure to post consistently (which doesn’t have to mean every day) and make sure everything you post supports that brand. You should by no means be one-dimensional, but you shouldn’t wander either.

📣 Stephanie Lemek, Founder & CEO – The Wounded Workforce:

My best advice is to just get started. It can seem really overwhelming to consider building a brand. Can you commit instead to a habit of posting three times a week on LinkedIn about things that most interest you? Also, don’t discount interacting with meaningful posts and conversations happening on the app – I actually think this is an amazing way to start building a brand.

Then, take some time and reflect on what you are most drawn to speaking about and use that to help with firming up your brand in a more deliberate way.

📣 AnnE Diemer, HR Consultant:

Oof, I struggle with this. I’ve been learning a lot from the brilliant human who helped me make my website (Patricia at Cultivation Studio). She shares a lot on her instagram about creating an authentic employer brand. 

I think the most important thing I learned from her is that I don’t want to appeal to *everyone*. I want to appeal to the *relevant* audience for *my work*. No need to appeal to the people you ultimately don’t want to work with!

Has expressing your views on corporate culture issues on social media or elsewhere helped or hindered your career?

Context: I really admire Hebba’s content and find it very relatable. I often feel compelled to share my own thoughts on social media, but I worry about the potential impact on my career, particularly since many of my observations involve leadership at my current company. I’m curious about others’ experience.

📣 Kristen Francisco, People and Purpose Consultant:

This can be delicate. I assume you’re voicing your views about how to improve your culture internally, even if leadership isn’t listening. My advice would be to separate personal brand from company critique: Expressing your views on corporate culture doesn’t necessarily require critiquing one’s current company. Focus on sharing industry insights, personal growth experiences, or general leadership principles without directly referencing your current workplace.

I would focus on the positive impacts of companies whose culture is aligned with the culture you wish to work in. For example: if your current culture is one of micromanaging, distrust, and employees constantly having to justify their work and have little to no flexibility in their work, consider posting about the positive impact of trust at work and psychological safety without mentioning your current situation. You could highlight research studies or success stories from other companies that demonstrate how trust-based leadership and flexibility improve productivity, employee satisfaction, and innovation.

Additionally, you might share your own aspirations as a leader or discuss hypothetical scenarios that illustrate your leadership philosophy. This approach allows you to build your personal brand around positive principles without risking your current position.

📣 Jen Laurie, CPO at StartOut:

Expressing my views on social media has absolutely helped my career! It can be a little tricky to do so while working in a full-time role, but it is definitely possible and I encourage you to find a way to do so if it interests you.

As a general rule, I avoid posting workplace issues in my current workplace. If you are noticing themes or issues you would like to share about in the future, you can keep a running document with ideas and notes. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas to post about outside of your current context, you can always do research on other people’s workplace issues. Scrolling LinkedIn, reading HR advice columns, listening to podcasts, even watching workplace pop culture can all be helpful to develop ideas.

If you’re worried about what folks at work will think, I know some folks who don’t connect with, remove connections, (or even block!) their current colleagues just to make it a bit easier to share. You still want to be respectful of them and not share anything specific, but it can just help with any hesitation you feel.

I hope that helps and that we get to hear your perspective soon!