Have you ever thought about the brand that you’re projecting through your blog? Whether you’re blogging for business, to build a social network or just to connect with friends and family your blog is a powerful instrument for expressing and portraying your personal brand.
One of the beauties of blogging is that it allows you to establish an on-going relationship with your readers. And of course it allows us as readers to get to know the bloggers, the writers, the authors over a period of time and in different moods, styles and circumstances. The downside (or upside, depending on which way you look at it) is that you need to keep on paying attention to the tone and the style, the impact of each and every post not just the ‘big picture’ that you tried to create or design at the beginning.
Darren Rowse has a useful article on this at the Problogger site, highlighting the need to pay attention to the detail as well as the big picture. That might include the way you handle comments and questions on your own site, and also the comments that you leave on other people’s. All of this adds up to your personal brand:
Don’t just think about ‘what’ you write either – it’s about ‘how’ you do it also. Your style, tone, language as well as they way in which you interact with others all have an impact upon how people will perceive you and the words that they’ll associate with you.
One point to remember about personal branding is that it is just that. Personal. It’s about you. That can make it a little more challenging than writing you might be used to doing. (You need to take off the mask.) But once you’ve got there it becomes easier and easier to pay attention to those details, to write in your own style, to develop your own brand, because you’ll be writing as your self.
Meantime, I’d suggest three tips to help you develop your own voice and strengthen your personal brand:
1. Express your values
2. Tell your story
3. Build rapport
you are absolutely right. Your blog is your face to your audience, so it must be credible, competent and believable.
Hi Dan, that’s a good point about credibility. I think (hope) that if people focus on things like authenticity or believability it will make it easier for them to write – it’s not so much about the grammar rules or dreaming up amazing content, it’s much more having the ability or the confidence to be yourself.
Joanna