The world acclaims the winners and the also-ran fades into oblivion more often than not. Presence or absence of a clearly defined and consistent personal brand can be the difference between success and failure. The essence of building a consistent personal brand lies in developing an honest and comprehensive understanding of yourself.
It all boils up to one key question how do you perceive yourself and how you wish others to perceive you. The moment you understand this, consider half the battle won. However, creating and maintaining a consistent brand is an arduous task for most of us, especially if you lack the desired knowledge. Therefore, we are offering some practical insights into developing a consistent brand that can serve as a catalyst for your success in the long run.
Relevance of the hedgehog concept
Defining and using the hedgehog concept in personal branding is the way to go for those serious about gaining success. For starters, Hedgehog Concept, a term coined by Jim Collins in Good to Great, is a convergence of what you are best at, what your passions are along with what keeps your home fires burning.
It is advisable to consider each of these areas individually and write them down while determining and defining your Hedgehog Concept. This will make the otherwise tedious affair less time consuming and convenient. Now you must be wondering why this complex concept is so relevant in personal branding.
Hedgehog Concept makes it easier for you to determine things on the bases of their importance. Stick to a golden rule, things beyond Hedgehog Concept, should not be part of your personal brand. This will make your brand much more consistent, authentic and appealing.
Recognize topics or areas of expertise
Personal branding is all about identifying and honing your skills and core competencies. Hedgehog Concept will enable you to identify few areas of expertise and themes. Choosing 3-4 themes is recommended, as this provides you with more options to explore, experiment and ascertain your area of expertise.
Create and maintain a consistent profile
Courtesy the advancements made by us in information and technology, we have social media platforms that come handy in building our personal brand. For many, electronic profiles are our billboards documenting every move. Creating and maintaining a clear and consistent social media profile enable us to create a consistent personal brand.
Being consistent with profiles does not mean being monotonous. Remaining consistent with the Hedgehog Concept can do the trick here. Profile presentation may vary but the essence should remain more or less the same. Ensure that your LinkedIn profile is professional, whereas you can experiment a little with your Twitter profile. Facebook has to be friendlier versions of your profile.
Use social media platforms to promote your brand
Constantly and consistently sharing great content with your audience will boost your personal branding endeavors. Being an active participant in relevant Twitter chats will boost your network and establish your brand in the minds of other participants. Staying dormant initially is acceptable, but do not hold back the moment you find a question where you can contribute. If your contribution is genuine and worthy, your credentials and confidence are bound to grow.
Apart from Twitter chats, LinkedIn groups too have proven credentials in promoting your personal brand among your peers. Writing a guest post to blogs you frequent is also a fine ploy to garner followers. However, if you are not comfortable with the idea of writing a guest post, prefer to be an active commenter. While commenting ensure to advance the conversation of the post. Last but not the least, you can consider joining professional groups aligning with your brand and contribute to them in form of content and comments.
Creating and maintaining a consistent brand is an arduous task for many. However, if you adopt a methodic approach, the task is not as tough as it appears to be.