In the previous part, an overview about social media use was discussed. Social media are no longer only about connecting people. It also functions to support the growth of personal brand.

There are various patterns of how people post and share stuff to their social media account. Some people did not create theirs to post only certain stuff, but some others do for the purpose of, for example, endorsing or developing their own brand.

Social media can contribute well to personal branding with its nature of being accessible and open to public. When someone has a big number of followers in their social media account, they are said to have high visibility online. However, one does not simply establish a huge followers. They’ve gotta start somewhere. For some, their personal brand could be first started on a feature like film or drama, or a big stage competition. Their social media account, then, would be the supporting factor. For others, it could actually start on social media. They develop their personal brand and gain more followers through their posts shared online.

We can take a look at famous Youtubers or Instagrammers who have managed to establish themselves as someone to refer to for, for example, make up/beauty related, study related because of their contents which became popular in the online circle. Those people were ‘nobody’ before, but they successfully transformed themselves into ‘someone’ which others look up to for something they willingly shared through social media.

It may seem like a simple, easy task, right.. Just record yourself or take picture of you doing something, upload it, then wait for the responses and likes, then someday you will become famous. Definitely not. It requires an effort. Firstly, you have to be consistent. You have to post regularly and consistenly, meaning you do not post content unrelated to what you are trying to accomplish as a personal brand. For example, if one aims to become a beauty blogger, then they should post beauty related content routinely. Otherwise, your image will become inconsistent.

Secondly, it is important to engage and interact with your followers. Probably not directly, as it may become troublesome when there are a lot of them. But you can always adress them through your content like asking what kind of video they want you to make the next time. Furthermore, one should know how to adjust the frequency of your post. How often you post can also determine your exposure.

The next one is making sure that your content varies time to time. You do not want to be posting the same kind of content every time. Yes you have to be consistent with your big theme, but you also need to spice up the content to keep the audience interested and engaged.

There are more to establishing a good personal brand you can read online. One thing for sure though is it requires a commitment and constantly being updated of changes and trend.

By: Anindya Widita,B.A.,M.A