I'm a Successful Entrepreneur — These are the 5 Things All Successful Personal Brands Have in Common

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Katrina Julia360
Create, Transform & Inspire. You Are Born To.

To say 2020 transformed us all is an understatement. While some of us worked online before 2020, no one thought virtually all of our 2020 year would involve many of us working remotely. 

Did you know in 2020, podcasting alone grew to 200+ million listeners? Or that LinkedIn grew to over 600 million users, many of whom are focused on business-to-business services and hiring others? Did you know Pinterest reaches 83% of women aged 25-34, who account for 80% of the purchasing decisions in U.S. households? Or that according to Business Insider, billions are invested annually in influencer marketing?

Likely, many of these figures were impacted by our increased time at home and online in 2020 globally. 

Whether you work for yourself or with a brand, I have no doubt you have expanded and evolved your online marketing in 2020 as you spent more time online. I know I have in more ways than one. The key to learning how to market yourself (or your brand) is taking it one step at a time while learning to automate and scale.

Whether you are at home working virtually or going global like I am, here are the best ways to build a personal brand online. 

1. Start and grow a show.

Maybe you aren’t ready for a YouTube channel quite just yet. Starting and growing a podcast is a great way to invite people to your experience and brand in an authentic and engaging way. I started my show, CREATE with Katrina Julia, 2+ years ago, and it has been one of the best ways to connect with the community.

I recommend starting with a great tool like Anchor that is free, distributes your show to 5 or more platforms, and gives you ad opportunities too. Having a show is a great way to integrate into your launching strategy no matter whether it is online, physical products or both.

If you do have a YouTube channel, you may repurpose your content for a show, too. 

2. Learn LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a great place to optimize your profile and share videos, shows, and posts regularly. I regularly post and share, and outsource to Virtual Assistants via Efficise as well. 

I recommend you update your bio and profile for keywords, include feature items, and ask for recommendations to help your LinkedIn stand out even more. You should also connect with others regularly. I regularly have my VAs reach out to key decision-makers in wellness, marketing, business and travel to create connections and relationships.

3. Pinterest powerfully.

For years, I wasn’t exactly sure about Pinterest. I tested and tried different things and tools. I learned from people like Melyssa Griffin and Jenna Kutcher. I kept at it. After setting up themes, boards and starting to post regularly, my Pinterest has grown now to near 300,000 views monthly and growing exponentially. 

I have learned that a combination of stories, videos, Pins, automating and scaling Pinterest is the not so secret sauce. Take a look at your current Pinterest profile, boards, and visuals. Honestly assess your strategy and consistency. Consider automating and scaling with tools like IFTTT, Tailwind and Hootsuite.

Pinterest pays off.

4. Blog better.

I love to write and share both on my blog and my show. It is easy to repurpose between the two. You can record on the show and use tools like Otter.ai to translate the audio into words. You may also decide to write a blog post, and then do a recording for your show.

I have found the most effective way to blog and create shows is to align them into themes with your marketing plans. This helps educate both people and brands on both the B2C and B2B side on who you are, what you do and what it may be like to work with you.

Evaluate your blog for keywords, backlinks to prior articles, and integration to offers to blog better.

5. Influence through Instagram.

Of course, there is a lot of focus on Instagram. At the same time, I want you to consider other avenues with long-form content and return on investment. It is important to realize there is time you need to spend upfront to grow your online presence on any platform. Instagram is no different. It's key to be consistent and share value authentically with your existing and future community. Speaking of authenticity, are you fully sharing who you are and what you love? 

It took me a while to get to sharing freely and developing a flow. I am always evolving and learning too.

At the same time, evaluate the time you spend vs. your current return on investment. Consider the type of posts you share on Instagram like Stories, Highlights, IGTV, Reels, Swipe, Lives and regular posts. 

Outline your focus for your purpose for Instagram as a platform.

Determine who you want to show up as and for, what you are sharing, when you create value and why you create. Identify what types of partnerships or collaborations you want that align with who you are. 

How do you market yourself online now? Out of these five ways, which one is your favorite? What will you take action on next?

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Katrina Julia is a lifestyle entrepreneur, transformation coach and founder of Fit Life Creation. You can find her on Instagram at @katrinajuliafit and @fitlifecreation.