Branding + Marketing

Personal Branding for Business Leaders, Part 1

Mini challenge for you: Think of a few top companies that everyone knows. You know, those super successful, Fortune 500 companies, type companies. Did you think of Apple? Amazon? Tesla?

Now, take a moment to think name as many CEOs of those companies as you can. Bet you can name them all.

It’s no coincidence—prominent business leaders have well-thought out personal branding strategies.
BrandFog’s annual Global survey explores CEO personal branding, their social media use, and more, and its connection to the overall company’s brand trust and image. In their 2014 edition, they noted that

“82% of US respondents and 71% of UK respondents overwhelmingly believe that executive use of social media raises brand awareness.”

A strong CEO image = a strong brand image.

In a political landscape that seems more polarizing than ever, it can be tempting for business leaders to avoid creating an online presence. Call it risk aversion.

But consider this, a worst case scenario happens, a PR nightmare. As a business leader, your first thought is probably to address the situation in any and every way possible ASAP, including on social media. But the first time you jump on Twitter or Instagram shouldn’t be in the middle of a crisis.

Being able to effectively address a brand crisis immediately isn’t the only reason to consider creating a personal brand strategy as a business leader. Today’s post will dive into one benefit of having a personal brand: increased site traffic. Stay tuned for a future post that will explore how your personal brand will help to increase brand loyalty for your business! Without further ado, let’s dive in:

Increased Site Traffic

Your personal brand should serve as an extension of your company and everything you post online should ultimately loop back around to your company and its website. Here are a few strategies you can implement that will boost traffic to your site:

1. Establish Thought Leadership

Your online presence isn’t limited to social media. You can also position yourself as an expert in your field through email marketing, blogging, and publishing articles. Personal branding goes beyond what happens online though—speaking engagements, hosting conferences and panels, and more all help to build your credibility and reputation. But specifically looking to the online opportunities, as you continue to link back to your company’s website, you’ll help to improve your SEO!

2. Have A Branded Bio

As you start getting published as a guest contributor or speaking on panels, you’ll want to be sure you have a consistent and well-written bio you can easily send along. Creating this bio is a great first step to take in defining your personal brand since you’ll have to think critically about who you are and what you want to convey. Your bio should always include a sentence or two about your company as well as its website. In addition to your A+ bio, don’t forget to include a great photo! Investing in a professional headshot will instantly elevate your brand.

3. Post On (Almost) Any Social Media Site

While we’ve mentioned social media briefly, it’s important to note that as a business leader, you’re able to reach people on a variety of platforms. As a general rule for social media, it’s important to go where the people are, but while your company may have specific audiences that only use certain platforms, your personal brand is more flexible! CEOs and other notable business leaders frequent LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. And the type of content you post may differ depending on the platform. On LinkedIn, you may share articles you’ve written while Instagram is used to show aspects of your personal life. How can you leverage all sides of who you are by posting on multiple platforms? With your various social media accounts, be sure to have a consistent bio/about section as well as an easily accessible link to your company’s website to drive traffic there!

Don’t forget to check back soon for part 2 of this personal branding overviews for business leaders!