Developing Your Personal Brand to Achieve the Goals
Updated: Nov 3, 2018
Image credit: Vladimir Pustovit
Achieving the Global Goals isn’t just a job for our political or business leaders; it is the responsibility of every human being on planet earth. One way you can work to achieve the Global Goals is to build your personal brand.
What is a Personal Brand?
Your personal brand is the marketing of yourself and your career. It is the act of establishing your presence both online and in the business and not-for profit community.
How Do You Build Your Personal Brand?
The first step of building your personal brand is to get a strong understanding of who you are. This sounds far simpler than what it is. Strip away your family, your friends, your career, your hobbies, your home, your belongings; what is left? Who is that person?
What are you passionate about? What do you believe in? What are your strengths? Your weaknesses? What is your purpose? Your personal brand should not just be about personal gain - it should be about making a meaningful difference to your community.
Top Tips for Developing Your Personal Brand
1. Define your brand
#WhatDoYouStandFor is one of Global Goals Australia’s favourite hashtags. This is a great place to start when defining your brand. Why not use the Global Goals as a guide to answer this question? Maybe you are passionate about the environment: take a look at Goal 7, Goal 13, Goal 14 or Goal 15. Maybe health and nutrition is more your thing: try Goal 2 or Goal 3. Or maybe you are most passionate about social equality: why not read into Goal 1, Goal 5, Goal 10 or Goal 16?
You don’t need to work in a certain industry to share a certain passion. There are many people who actively campaign for something outside of the industry in which they work. Plus, with the interconnectedness of the goals, it is rather easy to link your passion to your industry, even if it is indirectly.
2. Build a website
“If it doesn’t have a website, it doesn’t exist.”
It’s the belief of many professionals that websites define what is real and what is non-existent.
Your website should reflect who you are. It should reflect your personality. You should not just appear as another person trying to change the world and make impact - you should appear as YOU. Showcase your strengths, highlight your uniqueness.
Write blogs, share your stories, record videos, take pictures, give your audience a peek into what makes your life special, what makes them want to follow you and what you do.
3. Build your social media
A great way to share what you post on your website is through social media. There are many social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google and many others. Pick three or four and focus on those. Trying to stretch yourself across too many platforms will consume a lot of your time and will begin to disengage you from developing your personal brand.
When using social media, don’t forget to use important hashtags, such as #GlobalGoals #SDGs, #WhatDoYouStandFor. You may even look at specific hashtags like #GenderEquality or #SocialJustice or #Environment.
4. Monitor your online presence
I will be the first one to admit I google myself rather frequently. I like to know what is being said about me online. And you should too. Building a personal brand means keeping track of what people are saying about you - both good and bad. If you see anything positive online, you can then post this on your website and in your social media channels. If it’s negative messaging, read it and see if it has any merit. If it does, learn from the feedback; if not, move on.
5. Build your associations
Those who are passionate about one or more of the Global Goals and their achievement in Australia are actively encouraged to contact the Global Goals Australia Campaign to discuss potential involvement in the campaign.
Becoming involved with an established brand is a fantastic way to develop your own brand further. There are so many different organisations you can become involved with - all it takes are a few emails and a few phone calls.
6. Network
Attend events; get to know people who engage with your profile; set-up conversations; keep in contact. Network, network, network.
There are so many ways you can become involved in the achievement of the Global Goals, and they can do wonders for the development of your personal brand. Contact us today to see how you can become involved!
This article was originally published on the Global Goals Australia Campaign website.