We’ve all seen countless personal brands on Twitter. Some of them are pretty good and some of them are great. But what do great personal brands do to get so much exposure on Twitter? This week on #TwitterSmarter, we wanted to talk about how personal brands can use the platform and get the most out of their daily activities. We invited social media and personal brand coach, Katie McKiever to discuss personal branding.
Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Katie McKiever
Topic: Maximizing Twitter to build a personal brand
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
The easiest way to differentiate the two is to think of who faces the audience. If you’re a personal brand, you’d interact on social media as yourself, but if you’re a business brand, you’d engage on behalf of a logo and the business itself.
A1: A personal brand is operating online as the face of your brand in the first person. It gives the individual the maximum flexibility to pivot online presence throughout one's professional life.
A business brand typically operates behind a logo.#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/VwuDkwAA15
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Masooma put it another way, along with examples. If you’re a one-person or a small-team business, like a consultancy, coaching, or service-based business, you’d have a personal name attached to the business and you can always engage with your customers on a personal—and often first name—basis. Bigger organizations with traditional hierarchies and decision-makers tend to have a business brand, where the business speaks for itself.
A1. A personal brand is usually for one-person teams like service-based businesses, consultants, and coaches.
A business brand is for corporations and large teams.
But, both serve the same purpose: creating an impression/public identity for your audience. #TwitterSmarter
— Masooma | Content Writer (@inkandcopy) August 5, 2021
It’s important to be realistic. Even though Twitter is a great way for personal brands to establish themselves and grow a stable following, it also largely depends on the type of your business, your industry, your location, and your ideal audience. While Twitter is effective as a medium, if it doesn’t make sense for you to be on it, you don’t need a presence.
A2: As much as I would like to say "yes," it's not always the case. As a coach & strategist, I look at each person's entire online ecosystem from an owned channel perspective & align to their unique goals for their brand. Sometimes, Twitter doesn't work into that.#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/cP6v41sVHC
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
On the flip side, Chris argued that having a Twitter account can still give you a competitive advantage and serve as a customer service channel.
A2: All brands should have a Twitter presence, even if it is just a case of competitive advantage! It is needed nowadays due to the networking potential and especially from a customer support angle. #TwitterSmarter
— Chris Dack (@chrisgrahamdack) August 5, 2021
Our friends from NOW Marketing Group affirmed that idea, adding that because Twitter is such an efficient way to build relationships and network with a large group of people, it also helps with building awareness and generating leads. It could be a small side channel that gives you a handful of leads every month, in addition to your major sources.
A2: absolutely! It’s a great way to build relationships and connect with others. Also, establishing your audience on Twitter can support your growth on another social media channel too! #Twittersmarter https://t.co/eyJGw5KxDw
— NOW Marketing Group #SMWL21 (@NOWMG) August 5, 2021
All that said, though, if your audience isn’t on Twitter, I’d suggest not investing too much in it, especially if you’re a one-person or a small-team business. Maintaining an active and successful Twitter account takes a lot of time and effort, and if you’re already strapped for resources, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Focus instead on developing the channels you have engagement in.
There’s no one right answer to this one. Many people agree that Twitter is the best one for them, but there’s an equally strong case for LinkedIn and Instagram as well. If a majority of your audience is in a country like Australia where Facebook and Instagram are the most prevalent social channels, Facebook would make sense for you too. Whichever you choose, make sure it’s where your audience is.
A3: This is super unique to each person depending on their goals. *MY* favorite is Twitter. There's typically always a case for LinkedIn and Instagram as well. I can typically assess very quickly where someone should be, but it's going to vary person-to-person.#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/KdCeo2JxNJ
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Lance explained that your ideal social channel would vary depending on your type of business as well. For instance, if you design mobile phone covers, Instagram and Pinterest might be better options than LinkedIn.
#TwitterSmarter A3: Personally, Twitter is THE social media channel for personal branding. Use LinkedIn to reinforce your brand. Instagram might be for you if you're a VISUAL brand/influencer.
— Lance A Schart (@LanceASchart) August 5, 2021
The first rule of building a personal brand is to make sure people can recognize you. How? Your profile picture. Don’t be an egg, show your audience who you really are and tell them what exactly you can do for them. If possible, use a professional headshot for your profile picture and a clear statement in your bio.
A4: Rule 1 – put your face clearly in your avatar. Preferably a professional shot and not one where you've cropped out the person standing next to you, but yet you can still see their arm.?
Speak to your ideal audience in your bio and state how you help them. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/SsL7JLsY4m
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Dewi pointed out the value of using branded colors. He reminded us all how Christine, our chat regular and Madalyn’s co-host for the #TwitterSmarter after chat on Spaces (5pm ET—join us!), uses a particular shade of vibrant red that’s now synonymous with her.
A4 Choose a brand colour and run with it. @cgritmon is a prime example of this.
Understand colour psychology when choosing your colour. Getting the right one is important #TwitterSmarter pic.twitter.com/qsPTDSd2M1— Dewi Eirig Jones ??????? (@DewiEirig) August 5, 2021
Rachel from Express Writers told us about one of the most important things to remember when building a personal brand: never give up. It’s going to take longer and much more effort than you expected at first, but don’t let that derail your focus.
A4: It's going to take time to build your brand, so don't be so quick to give up. Be consistent with showing up, sharing content, and engaging with others. #TwitterSmarter
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) August 5, 2021
Twitter is your way to meet new people and network with them. That’s its key role in your social media strategy.
What you share on Twitter depends on your goals and how you leverage Twitter to achieve them. As Madalyn said, use Twitter as a tool to guide your social media goals. For example, if you want to grow your audience in a particular state or town, engage with people who live in those areas and see what conversations interest them most. That could be your research, and you can then build your future content plans based on what you learn. If you’re a baker and you want to capture the attention of a small coastal town, you could perhaps introduce a range of fish-themed cookies. Twitter can tell you if that community would like the cookies or if they’d prefer fish rolls instead.
A5: You want to use Twitter as a tool to help you reach the goals you’ve set for your personal brand. What would you like to achieve by being here? That will shape how you use the platform, what you share, etc. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/RODgReBezZ
— Madalyn Sklar ? Digital Marketing Since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) August 5, 2021
In addition to that, Twitter is also an easy and instant way to know what’s going on across the world. Every major news media, journalist, and influential figure is on Twitter, sharing breaking stories from all over the globe. Use that information to inform your social media content and personalize it to your industry and audience.
A4: Twitter is a way to directly connect with key individuals.
It can also guide your online content in a lot of ways. News and trends break on Twitter & you can get a jump on what people will be talking about on other platforms by paying attention to Twitter. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/xIuqDcEemD
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
It differs from person to person, but our guest recommends auditing your profile at least once a year. This will give you a chance to update any details about your job, life events such as moving to a new city, any strategic changes in your business like your goals and upcoming campaigns so that you can set the right expectations for your customers and audience. Many of our #TwitterSmarter chat members suggested quarterly audits because they give you enough information to analyze your progress but it’s also not too much that you’re overwhelmed.
A6: It's smart to do a good deep-dive once a year. Things about you, your employment, your focus, your message, can change often so that'll give you time to tweak and move things around accordingly. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/eDQSFxijlv
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Jennifer told us about how she audits her profile. She looks through her analytics dashboard every month to understand how her content is performing month-on-month. This can be stressful to some people because it means you’re looking at lots of fluctuations, but at the same time, it can also tell you early on how well your current campaigns are working. It gives you the opportunity to make small changes periodically so you can test new ideas without it hurting your brand. However, remember that Jennifer is a social media pro—if you think monthly audits are a bit much for where you are at the moment, don’t do it. Do only what’s right for you and your brand.
A6: I take a look at Twitter's analytics dashboard month-to-month which gives me a good sense of when I am or am not on point. #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) August 5, 2021
As people, we change every day, even in the smallest of ways. When you audit your profile, note down what’s changed for you as a business and person since your last audit. This could include your goals, your business conditions, links, target audience, and content. Identify and update them so that they reflect your current status. If your audience demographic has changed, make sure you’re updating not only who you’re following but also public lists you’ve subscribed to and lists you’ve created.
A7: Changes to their goals. Any outdated copy, avatar image, changes to your link. Who you're following.
Look at your Twitter lists and update those.
Ask yourself, does your profile speak to your ideal audience? #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/5O4NgGOKdL
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Adding to that, Cindy reminded us to refresh pinned tweets as well. Then, look at what’s worked for you in the past and try to understand why it’s been so successful. That’ll help you replicate your success in the future.
A7. Take a close look at tweets. See what worked and what didn't. Check your likes too! Also, updating your bio, pinned tweets. #TwitterSmarter
— Cindy Peña (@cindympena) August 5, 2021
Katie’s favorites include Latesha Bryd, Gary Vee, Rachel Rodgers, and Stephen Art. Have a look at their profiles to see what they’re doing well, and how you can interpret them for your brand.
A8: Some of my favs that I get inspiration from: @Latesha_Byrd@garyvee@RachRodgersEsq @stephenahart#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/IpIVrWhoUm
— Katie | Social Media Coach & Personal Brand Expert (@KatieMcKiever) August 5, 2021
Yatharth also vouched for Gary Vee (Well, who wouldn’t? His social media use is inspirational), as well as Christina Garnett. Christina’s been on our chat a few times and is also a community manager for HubSpot—look her up too.
A8: Definitely ??
• @garyvee
What an authentic, hard working guy who always provides tons of value without expecting anything in return.
.
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• @ThatChristinaGThe community queen who is always there to help & support people.#TwitterSmarter
— Yatharth Sharma✨ (@yatharthcreates) August 5, 2021
Other favorites included Alexa Heinrich, Christine Gritmon, Janet Machuka—all of whom are familiar faces to the #TwitterSmarter community—and of course, our own Madalyn Sklar.
Well, that’s all from me, folks. Thanks a lot for reading through, and for more great insights from our chat with Katie, check out this Twitter thread. If you found value in this summary, let us know! We’d love to hear what you think. Even better—join us live for the next #TwitterSmarter chat. We hang out every Thursday at 1pm ET. See you then!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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