Whether you're conscious of it or not, your personal brand is already out there. If someone Googles your name and finds nothing noteworthy on the first page, that absence is part of your brand.

If they come across an ancient LinkedIn profile or a bunch of random social media posts, that, too, shapes your brand.

People often mistake personal branding for mere self-promotion, but it's so much more. It's the essence of your reputation.

It's how you're perceived by others—friends, colleagues, and the wider public. It's the impression you leave when people hear your name and the conversations that happen about you when you're not in the room.

74% of people are most likely to buy from, recommend, trust, and do business with someone with a solid personal brand.

Shape your personal brand the way you want people to see you instead of leaving it to chance.

Read on to learn the easiest and most practical steps you can take to build your personal brand and get a lot more opportunities coming your way.

Steps to Building Your Personal Brand Online

We've all got a personal brand (no matter whether we like this fact or not).

Every time we engage with someone face-to-face or online—whether we're posting, uploading, commenting, or just simply having a conversation—we're creating a narrative about ourselves.

Your reputation's already out there.

So, the big question is: Do you want to be the one steering and shaping this story? Or are you going to let chance or algorithms call the shots?

Most of us would rather take control. And to do that, we have to make some decisions to keep our brand in our own hands.

Here are a few super easy steps to practically building a strong personal brand:

1. Be Authentic

Find people you want to be like. There's always someone out there doing what you want to do. Study their methods and figure out why it works for them.

Remember, good artists borrow, but great artists steal.

But there are way too many copycats already. The key here is authenticity. Most people starting a personal brand come off as fake, and that vibe comes through in their content.

Document your own journey and create your own content. Be a real, authentic human being. Be yourself. But use their hooks, their audio, and their frameworks. The foundation they're building their content on is what you need to "borrow."

Someone else might've already made a similar video, but you need to have better clips, tell a better story, and be more authentic.

So, find the frameworks of the people you want to emulate, "borrow" those frameworks, and then be authentic and make it your own.

2. Find Your Own Style

Find your own style and voice with the content you create. The only way to do this is through trial and error.

Take the process of getting a first viral video, for instance.

After that initial success, it's common to not know what to do next and just start making anything that seems cool. You're jumping around a lot and basically throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.

Trying to find your voice is an important process, but it's not always optimal.

When people follow you because they like your story and journey, they expect more of that content. If you start making different types of videos, it might not be what they followed you for, and it can hinder growth.

But this trial-and-error process is optimized for longevity—you understand what kind of content you enjoy making, what you don't, and what goes viral or does well on your page.

Find a good mix between what works for your audience and what you enjoy creating. Balance the content that resonates with your audience and your personal style.

3. Master the Algorithms

You have to get the hang of how the algorithms of popular platforms work. TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels each have their own unique algorithms.

Short-form videos have the best ROI among any other social media marketing strategies.

These three platforms are the big players in short-form content, so master them right from the start.

The best way to crack these algorithms is to consciously scroll through each platform, watching what videos go viral, and taking notes on every video with over 100,000 likes.

"Conscious scrolling" means scrolling through each platform for an hour a day—YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok.

Grab a pen and paper, and note down four key things for every video with over 100,000 likes.

• Note the hook: what grabbed the attention and stopped the scrolling?

• Observe the emotion transfer: what did the video make you feel?

• Think about why someone would share the video:Viral videos are shared because they are relatable or entertaining. Shares are the ultimate proof of a quality video—if someone's willing to share it, they're giving it a personal recommendation, like online word-of-mouth.

• Product-audience fit: Broad appeal increases the viral potential. Your content should resonate with a lot of people. (For example, a viral TikTok showing the journey from poor to rich resonates with a lot of people because they want to be on that journey themselves).

Take specific notes for each platform—what's going viral on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts and how they differ.

Focusing on one platform is great, but YouTube Shorts is the way to go. That's because YouTube aggressively pushes its short-form content to compete with TikTok and other short-form video platforms.

Also, it's a great way to build a following and transition into long-form YouTube content with subscribers.

4. Building Other Personal Brand Assets (Social Media & a Website)

What's so great about having your own personal website is that it lets you take control of your online reputation.

It's fantastic for showing off your brand and value to others in a deeper way than a resume or LinkedIn profile ever could.

People want to work with people they like, know, and trust, and your personal website gives you a chance to share more about your personality through photos, as well as your career and life story.

Now, if you're not tech-savvy enough to create your own website, use an AI website builder.

The best AI website builders can make it super easy to design a site, put your content into the right pages, and get it live on the web.

Social media is also great for sharing your personal brand with the audience you want to connect with.

But don't try to be everywhere at once. Pick a platform that fits your goals and where your audience hangs out the most.

If you're an artist or a creative, Instagram should be your chosen platform. If you're in the corporate world, LinkedIn is your go-to.

When you're posting, focus on being helpful.

Share interesting articles relevant to your industry, post ideas or opinions that can benefit your colleagues, and like or comment on posts from people you follow.

Engage in a way that reinforces your personal brand while also adding value to others.

5. Stick With It

Once you hit the right spot with a style of videos or articles and start seeing success, you have to stick with it and not stray too far.

It'll be tempting to try out all sorts of different styles, but once you have something that goes viral, you really need to keep repeating it.

When you're building a personal brand, you have to earn the right to create whatever content you want.

Once you're famous enough, your face or even your name alone is a hook, and you can put any style of content behind it because you've already built up a loyal fan base.

But at the start, you definitely don't have that luxury.

6. Delegate & Monetize

Build your content team once you've created a solid following with short and long-form content and started making some money from ad revenue.

Hire an editor who can handle both short and long-form content and a ghostwriter for your LinkedIn and website articles. These people don't need a lot of skill but must work closely with you long-term.

Teach them your editing style to ensure consistency; otherwise, your videos and articles will feel off, and your audience will notice.

With an editor and a ghostwriter on board, you'll have more time for important decision-making.

Also, scale and distribute your content. At this point, your Google Drive will be bursting with terabytes of content.

Hire a team to recut and repurpose this into new short-form videos, increasing your presence across platforms. Drive followers from multiple secondary accounts to your main accounts and expand your reach.

Monetize your following by selling your time (consulting), knowledge (online courses or coaching), or products. Your offerings should be of the best quality possible to maintain credibility and keep your audience happy.

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Wrapping Up

Personal branding can pull in the right audience for you, get you a job, and open doors to new chances.

But you need to be taking deliberate steps in the right direction to increase your confidence in your own worth and show it off in both your life and career.

Being able to nail down and express your brand will give others a clear picture of who you are and what you stand for and help you develop genuine relationships.

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