How to Be Personal With Your Brand Without Sharing Secrets
When it comes to building a personal brand, many people have this misconception that being personal means you have to share a bunch of secrets about yourself. There are many influencers and entrepreneurs online that do this too, sharing with the world their addiction stories, depressive streaks, and sometimes even their family drama. Sometimes it isn’t even negative things, but positive stuff like videos of them with their friends, photos of activities with their children, and sharing the names of their relatives while talking about them. However, not everyone wants to be this personal when it comes to your brand, and you might be one of those people. The great thing is that you absolutely do not need to get personal with your secrets in order to build your personal brand. So down below are a few ways on how to be personal with your brand without sharing secrets.
DON’T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T WANT TO
The first point is simple. If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t. If you don’t want the world to know about how your divorce came to happen, you don’t need to share any details about it. If it’s part of your story to achieving success, it’s enough to simply mention you had a divorce. Or if somebody close to you passed away, you don’t need to share all the details of how you felt and how it happened. If it’s part of your story, simply mention it. But if you don’t want to get into the details of it, then don’t. And if these things are not an important part of your personal brand story, you don’t need to mention them at all.
AVOID SHARING NAMES OR FACES
If you want to protect your family or friends identities, or if they simply aren't comfortable with you sharing their information, then avoid saying any names or posting faces. It’s okay to share a story without saying a specific person's name, and it’s okay not to post pictures of your family's faces. An easy way to show the world that you have a family you love is to take a photo of them that does not include their face. This is great for protecting your children from online scrutiny, if this is something that you wish to do.
SHARE STORIES ABOUT YOUR BRAND, NOT YOU
If you take a look at my own strategy, you’ll notice that I don’t actually talk about myself that much, besides just a few key stories that were part of my journey to success. During my day-to-day life though, I don’t share much about the parties I go to, the dinners I attend, or my family reunions. I share a lot about my brand though. If I’m speaking at an event, I’ll always share some exciting videos and content during and from that time. If there is some advice I want to share or something inspirational is on my mind, I’ll always record a video of myself and share with my followers. It doesn’t always have to be about me, but it always ties into my brand.
USE YOUR FACE
This may sound strange, but use your face! As I mentioned in the previous point, I don’t talk about myself that much. However, I always share videos and photos of myself. Sometimes it’s just a selfie at the airport, but most of the time it’s a quick video with some advice or a snippet from a podcast I was interviewed on. It doesn’t matter how little I talk about myself; as long as my face is there, it’s considered personal.
SHARE YOUR VALUES
As much as using your face comes in handy and talking about your brand is nice, it is important to share some personal things about yourself. Once again, this doesn’t have to be your deepest, darkest secrets. This can simply be some of the values that you hold in life. Some examples of this include:
The most important trait you look for in employees or friends
The most important rule in your business
The #1 thing you admire in other people
The one thing that always catches your attention
The one thing that always gains your trust
The one thing you wish everyone understood
Advice and tips for others in your niche
If you talk about the things that you value, you’ll gain a connection with your audience without having to go into detail about your personal life.
BUILDING A PERSONAL BRAND IS SIMPLE
Getting personal doesn’t mean sharing secrets. However, you can still do that if you choose to. Sharing personal stories about your life is one of the best ways to gain another person's attention as well as trust. But if that isn’t the type of thing that you like doing, you don’t need to push personal branding away and label it as something ‘not for you’. Every entrepreneur can benefit from personal branding, and there are many different ways to do it. Find an approach that works for you, and stick with it.
If you’re looking for more ways to build your personal brand without getting too personal, you may want to consider PR for your brand. Getting featured on podcasts, TV, and articles is the perfect way to show the world who you are, build a connection, and establish trust. Apply for a free call here to get started on your next PR move.
