It’s important for marketing professionals to build powerful personal brands and understand the effect their online content has on their networks.

Sponsored content: this article was commissioned by RMIT to encourage readers to consider refining their personal brand through postgraduate study, such as an online Master of Marketing.

Social media provides a platform for both a healthy conversation and heavy critique. The ability to thoroughly understand the impact social media has on our community, and then use it in your favour, is key when building your personal brand and online presence.

The way in which you present yourself, the networks you create and the content you share are equally important to the development of your brand and credibility within an industry.

Know thyself

It’s extremely difficult to build a personal brand without really understanding who you are and where you want to go in your career. In essence, your brand should be a true reflection of you – your goals, ideas, opinions, and interests. This approach is far less exhausting than conveying a different version of yourself, and it also builds a sense of trust between you and your audience.

People are more likely to form a connection with you because you’re relatable and authentic. Once you can define your who, what and why, you’ll be on the right track to developing a strong and successful personal brand.

Harness professional networking sites

Although entertaining, social media platforms are for more than just cute animal videos and snaps of colourful culinary delights. They act as springboards for exposing your brand to your professional networks. LinkedIn and Twitter are as popular as they are influential, making them ideal. They are fast, efficient and cost-effective platforms from which you can get your content consumed and start meaningful conversations around the field of marketing; be it thought-provoking leadership articles or interview pieces.

Consider submitting a guest post to an influential blog or look at other digital assets that can connect you to strong brands, as this can also positively impact your own brand. If you can effectively harness LinkedIn and Twitter’s ability to influence and reach a broader audience, they are extremely powerful tools.

Add value through your conversation

It’s all good and well to post several times a week, but is your content adding value? Does your audience find this information useful? It’s essential that your content is meaningful to your audience and ties back to your brand and what you’re trying to achieve. Show purpose in what you share and be strategic. It also pays to be well-versed in the latest marketing trends and challenges that affect your particular area of expertise. Upskilling and updating your existing marketing knowledge is important to nurturing your brand. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to build your professional networks and engage with like-minded marketers.

Furthermore, if you’re consistently adding value through your content, people of influence will begin to see that you know what you’re talking about and invite you to be a part of their content. This will also amplify your brand to become even more powerful.

Be aware of your online presence

Having a sense of awareness is just as important as any of the other building blocks to a powerful personal brand. Google can be a simple and easy form of assessment, allowing you to perform a quick audit of your online presence. This is something that you can start to monitor over time and improve where possible. Are you reaching the most relevant people? Do your profiles have enough information to represent yourself in the best possible light? It’s also essential to be aware of your weaknesses. The only way forward is to be aware of how you’re coming across, analyse your performance and apply your learnings.

The skills needed to successfully develop a powerful personal brand can be refined through postgraduate study. An online Master of Marketing at RMIT University provides a flexible study approach, where you’ll be able to implement the theories you learn and apply to your workplace immediately. Learn more about our online study experience by getting in touch with an RMIT Student Enrolment Advisor on 1300 701 171.