In case you’re wondering, my audience has grown a bit since filming this episode! Building a personal brand has been the most fulfilling side hustle I’ve ever done because it lets you speak on things you’re passionate about and help people. I wanted to share my 8 tips to building a personal brand and growing your followers.
If you’re looking for your next side hustle, I highly encourage you to look into content creation because it’s completely changed my life. And if you’re thinking it’s too much work or you wouldn’t be able to do it – I was in the same boat as you, so don’t let that fear stop you. I think anyone has that capability of making it work for them.
How I Built a Following of 700k+ Followers (8 TIPS TO BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND IN 2022)
Transcription
Below is a transcription of the podcast. This transcription was taken from Otter.ai so it might not be completely accurate:
Hey guys, it’s Sharon from digital nomad quest and today we’re gonna go over how I was able to build a following of over 630,000 amazing individuals. Now you guys are new to this channel welcome. I’m all about teaching how to build passive income become financially free and design your best life. So we get to interested in that make sure to subscribe and hit the bell button to be notified on my latest videos. So it’s been a pretty amazing ride, I’ve been able to build a following of over 480,000 individuals on Tik Tok 118,000 individuals on Instagram and over 33,000 people on YouTube, I honestly would have never expected this all to happen. So it’s been pretty wild. And because of this, I kind of wanted to make this video I wanted to go over kind of my learnings and hopefully it will help you when it comes to building a personal brand. So building a personal brand has been one of the most fulfilling side hustles. For me, I’ve attempted many different side hustles. And this is one where I can actually be impactful and help people on their journeys, where you may be going through the same struggles that I was going through back in the day. And I love that I can spread my knowledge to hopefully help you guys in your financial journeys. If you guys haven’t heard about my story, go ahead and check out my channel trailer where I talked about going from 30k a year to millionaire by 30. With my personal brand, I’m able to talk about personal finance, side hustles and investing. And these are all topics that I really love. And I’m so happy that I get to share my passion with you guys as well as help you guys along your journey. So hopefully you guys are getting value. Now I would say that this video is talking about how I was able to grow that following with my personal brand. But I’m gonna say this that you want to make sure that your goal shouldn’t just be to build a following of a bunch of people, whenever you put like a number that you want to achieve all the time, it becomes less and less fulfilling. And the journey honestly becomes harder and harder if you are trying to build a personal brand. Because if you don’t achieve those numbers, you might get disappointed and stuff like that. So it’s important to make sure that your self worth doesn’t get tied into this. But I did want to talk about this today because my life has dramatically changed from building this community. But again, as a note, you want to make sure that your ultimate goal is to provide value or to talk about something you’re passionate about. Because that will allow you to pursue this over the long run without having to get burnt out and give up tying this to your why and your mission makes us a lot more sustainable. Now let’s just go over the different tips that I have when it comes to growing your personal brand and growing a following number one, you want to test different content ideas, it’ll actually surprise you which different content will actually hit. So you want to make sure you keep turning out different content ideas. So for me, let me give you an example. So when I started building my tic toc following I was just doing it for fun. First of all, I wasn’t thinking anything of it. It was just like a fun experiment, I decided I wanted to challenge myself to post every single day. Now when I started doing that, I found that certain pieces of content about making money online or making money through real estate really resonated with my following. So I realized that side hustles and real estate investment definitely resonated with my audience. The video that actually went viral first was one where I talked about how much I make on a four Plex that I purchased. I didn’t know that was gonna go viral. But basically, as I started testing more and more pieces of content, I realized what people wanted to see, you just need one or a few pieces of content to really get you in the spotlight. And that goes for everything like on YouTube and on Instagram and things like that, from my experience. If you consistently put out content, you never know which one’s going to go viral. So you may as well put out more and more content and test different ideas because it ups your chances of getting that viral hit. And I would say that once you find which one does hit like which one is getting views, or which one’s getting traction engagement, make sure you keep that learning in mind and start making more of those types of videos. I know some people make the mistake of just continuously like doing other things, but you want to make sure that you take note of what’s going viral because you can totally work off of that, right. So when I saw that my four Plex video got hits, I started making more of those types of videos where I talked about how much I make on this property and on this property and stuff like that. So that’s how you’re gonna figure out your niche after experimenting with a lot of different types of content. And that brings me to tip number two, make sure you specialize in that one thing I would say it’s much easier to grow as a specialist over a generalist. Here’s the problem with me, right I talk about a lot of different things because I do get bored about talking about one thing over and over again. However, I’ve seen so many content creators blow up because they only do this one type of thing. Or they only do one type of format when it comes to their tic tock videos right? Because they have created that strong brand where when you think of like personal finance you think of this person or if you think about stocks you think about this other person. So specializing in that one niche makes it so that you are on top of mine as the thought leader in that niche going back to the problem of if you’re getting bored about talking about one topic, I would still make sure to master one niche before you go ahead and talk about all these other things. So for me right now, I’m
kind of more focused on real estate more focused on side hustles it seems like that resonates a lot with my audience and in the future. Who knows maybe I will talk more about stocks and crypto doesn’t seem like you Wanna hear that from me from this whole I created but that makes total sense. Because I’ve only been talking about these other topics, right, I’m being more top of mind for those topics over stocks and crypto. However those other topics still interest me. And in the future, I may branch out to those. So make sure you specialize before you branch out. I would also say that when you branch out, it should be kind of related. So over time, if you become a master at one thing, they’ll start possibly being more interested in you as a person in general. But again, I’m going to emphasize that being a specialist is better than being a generalist. Because you can’t just be good at every single thing. You want to be known for that one thing number three is engage with your audience. One of the things I find that a lot of Instagramers mess up on is that they think social media is a bulletin board and they’re not realizing that social media is social. That’s why it’s called social media, I’ll see some accounts, just post a bunch of infographics and hope that like something will happen, and they don’t engage with their comments ever. They don’t engage with their DMS, but you can actually build a stronger community. If you’re actually responding to your audience, you should collaborate with others respond and actually take note of what they actually want to hear. That’s an important thing listening to your audience. Because again, that goes back to tip number one, when you listen to your audience and see what content actually hits, you will get such good insight on what you should make next. But going back to collaboration, I think it’s so key to actually work with some of the people in your industry, and you can actually grow a lot faster in that way. If you guys do collab posts, I’ve seen this so much where people shout out other people’s posts, and repost what they’ve created. And they start building a relationship, or they do that back and forth with each other. So then they can tap into each other’s audiences. And then going back to replying to people, if you reply to someone’s DM, if you reply to someone’s comment, you don’t realize how much it makes their day that you are actually interacting with them, then they know you’re not just like some bot that’s posting a bunch of random stuff, you want to make sure that they know you as a person and know that you are a real individual with a personality. And that makes it so much easier to grow a community. When you grow a community like that you’re creating super fans who actually really believe in what you do these people really appreciate it when you take the time to put attention on them. Number four, you want to learn from other successful creators, I really respect when people get inspired by other creators and actually learn from them. I’ve seen it before where friends get jealous of other friends. And then they stopped pursuing their passion because they feel like Oh, someone else is doing better than me now, like, what’s the point of me doing this, whereas if you learn what made them successful, you can join them as well. And here’s the thing, when you wish other people the best and learn from them, you’re basically saying that there is enough room for everyone to win. And that’s very true. When you have a scarcity mindset over an abundant mindset, you’re going to feel like, oh, this person is taking away from me because they are better looking, they’re making more money than you they’re doing better in their social media profiles. So if you can get back to that mindset of abundance, you can take notes from other successful people and put that back into your own work. So you want to ask yourself how you can learn the formulas of other successful creators and adapt them to your own story and put your creative spin on it. Number five is repurpose content and be everywhere. People like Ryan Panetta are just spending a little bit of time every week on content. And then their team actually repurposing all that content into all these other platforms. For example, He’s basically making YouTube videos and YouTube interviews of other people in his team cuts that up into tic TOCs, and reels with that onto a podcast. And me personally, I
do some of those same steps. But I’m also dabbling into Twitter, I also have a blog that I can repurpose that YouTube video over to. So basically, you can actually use the audio from your YouTube videos, and then put that into otter.ai. transcribe that and put that into a blog post. Or you can take that audio and also put that into a podcast. So there’s so many different ways you can repurpose content that you can be everywhere on multiple platforms without having to extend yourself and burn yourself out. So see how you can build systems and delegate tasks to be on all these different platforms, because different audiences live on different platforms, right, I was just doing YouTube. And then I started expanding on tick tock, and that’s actually where I kind of blew up and then moved it to Instagram as well. And that’s the thing you don’t know what’s going to hit. So you might as well test on multiple platforms as well. If you can outsource that to other video editors and have them chop it up even better, right, you are not wasting time on editing and all that stuff, you are having them repurpose in all these other platforms. Number six, do the same thing over and over again, or switch it up when necessary. So that sounds like I’m just saying both things, right? Here’s the thing, if you do the same thing over and over again, you’re going to get the same results over and over again. So that means if you like those results, keep doing the same thing over and over again. But if you don’t like those results, you need to know when to pivot, I’m gonna be real, I would say my tick tock right now is kind of stagnant and I’m trying to figure out how I can pivot and switch it up. So you guys will probably see a little bit of a shift as I’m starting to create content. I’m trying to learn from other creators to see what’s successful for them and I’m trying to adapt that into my own content. So make sure to pivot when you need to and make sure you stick with what you’re doing if you need to. Number seven, I would say once you learn the fundamentals of each platform, make sure you are focusing on value. This kind of goes back to what I said in the beginning of the video where I talked about instead of focusing on the money, the amount of followers and stuff like that focus on providing value for your audience, and the money will come anyway. And then secondly, people really do get too wrapped up on the algorithm changes and things like that all these little hacks and tips, but the people I find that really get successful are the ones who are figuring out okay, what is my audience wanting to learn? And am I really solving their problems? Am I doing it effectively? Am I doing it in an entertaining way? Am I really doing a comprehensive step by step tutorial where they can go from A to B. So that’s what you really want to understand. And I think those people who really focus on that and hone in on how they’re speaking about a certain topic, or writing about a certain topic, those who are going to do the best. At the same time, it is important to learn stuff like SEO for YouTube, it might be thumbnail creation, and stuff like that. But don’t get just completely wrapped up in that where you are in analysis paralysis, and you just don’t want to do the actual work because you’re like, oh, I have to learn everything about this platform. Before I start, just go for it. Don’t worry about perfectionism. And also just worry about making the best stuff. For example, too, when I google certain topics, the ones that do really well and rank well on search, I will read through the entire article. And I’m like, okay, that deserves a number one spot, because it’s actually super comprehensive. It could be like, you know, a 20,000 word article, I’ve seen those created, right, they are trying to go step by step to bring you from A to B, and they’re really putting in the effort to make sure the article is comprehensive, or the YouTube video is comprehensive. So make sure what you are creating is actually valuable for your audience and focus on that piece. Last but not least, number eight, keep building when I started my brand, I looked at it as a five to 10 plus year endeavor. So I’m consistently building I can’t just randomly disappear from my audience, you have to consistently put out pieces of content every single week. And because I’ve managed my expectations, or I don’t feel like it’s gonna be something where my following skyrockets right away, then I won’t get distraught right. I’m viewing this as a long endeavor. And I’m going to continuously build so it makes it easier not to give up so just keep making good stuff regularly and watch your brand grow over time. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode on how I was able to grow a following of over 630,000 individuals and let me know if any of these tips resonated with you or if you have anything to add on this list, make sure to smash the like button subscribe and hit the bell button to be notified on my latest videos. I’ll see you guys in the next one.Transcribed by https://otter.ai
kind of more focused on real estate more focused on side hustles it seems like that resonates a lot with my audience and in the future. Who knows maybe I will talk more about stocks and crypto doesn’t seem like you Wanna hear that from me from this whole I created but that makes total sense. Because I’ve only been talking about these other topics, right, I’m being more top of mind for those topics over stocks and crypto. However those other topics still interest me. And in the future, I may branch out to those. So make sure you specialize before you branch out. I would also say that when you branch out, it should be kind of related. So over time, if you become a master at one thing, they’ll start possibly being more interested in you as a person in general. But again, I’m going to emphasize that being a specialist is better than being a generalist. Because you can’t just be good at every single thing. You want to be known for that one thing number three is engage with your audience. One of the things I find that a lot of Instagramers mess up on is that they think social media is a bulletin board and they’re not realizing that social media is social. That’s why it’s called social media, I’ll see some accounts, just post a bunch of infographics and hope that like something will happen, and they don’t engage with their comments ever. They don’t engage with their DMS, but you can actually build a stronger community. If you’re actually responding to your audience, you should collaborate with others respond and actually take note of what they actually want to hear. That’s an important thing listening to your audience. Because again, that goes back to tip number one, when you listen to your audience and see what content actually hits, you will get such good insight on what you should make next. But going back to collaboration, I think it’s so key to actually work with some of the people in your industry, and you can actually grow a lot faster in that way. If you guys do collab posts, I’ve seen this so much where people shout out other people’s posts, and repost what they’ve created. And they start building a relationship, or they do that back and forth with each other. So then they can tap into each other’s audiences. And then going back to replying to people, if you reply to someone’s DM, if you reply to someone’s comment, you don’t realize how much it makes their day that you are actually interacting with them, then they know you’re not just like some bot that’s posting a bunch of random stuff, you want to make sure that they know you as a person and know that you are a real individual with a personality. And that makes it so much easier to grow a community. When you grow a community like that you’re creating super fans who actually really believe in what you do these people really appreciate it when you take the time to put attention on them. Number four, you want to learn from other successful creators, I really respect when people get inspired by other creators and actually learn from them. I’ve seen it before where friends get jealous of other friends. And then they stopped pursuing their passion because they feel like Oh, someone else is doing better than me now, like, what’s the point of me doing this, whereas if you learn what made them successful, you can join them as well. And here’s the thing, when you wish other people the best and learn from them, you’re basically saying that there is enough room for everyone to win. And that’s very true. When you have a scarcity mindset over an abundant mindset, you’re going to feel like, oh, this person is taking away from me because they are better looking, they’re making more money than you they’re doing better in their social media profiles. So if you can get back to that mindset of abundance, you can take notes from other successful people and put that back into your own work. So you want to ask yourself how you can learn the formulas of other successful creators and adapt them to your own story and put your creative spin on it. Number five is repurpose content and be everywhere. People like Ryan Panetta are just spending a little bit of time every week on content. And then their team actually repurposing all that content into all these other platforms. For example, He’s basically making YouTube videos and YouTube interviews of other people in his team cuts that up into tic TOCs, and reels with that onto a podcast. And me personally, I
do some of those same steps. But I’m also dabbling into Twitter, I also have a blog that I can repurpose that YouTube video over to. So basically, you can actually use the audio from your YouTube videos, and then put that into otter.ai. transcribe that and put that into a blog post. Or you can take that audio and also put that into a podcast. So there’s so many different ways you can repurpose content that you can be everywhere on multiple platforms without having to extend yourself and burn yourself out. So see how you can build systems and delegate tasks to be on all these different platforms, because different audiences live on different platforms, right, I was just doing YouTube. And then I started expanding on tick tock, and that’s actually where I kind of blew up and then moved it to Instagram as well. And that’s the thing you don’t know what’s going to hit. So you might as well test on multiple platforms as well. If you can outsource that to other video editors and have them chop it up even better, right, you are not wasting time on editing and all that stuff, you are having them repurpose in all these other platforms. Number six, do the same thing over and over again, or switch it up when necessary. So that sounds like I’m just saying both things, right? Here’s the thing, if you do the same thing over and over again, you’re going to get the same results over and over again. So that means if you like those results, keep doing the same thing over and over again. But if you don’t like those results, you need to know when to pivot, I’m gonna be real, I would say my tick tock right now is kind of stagnant and I’m trying to figure out how I can pivot and switch it up. So you guys will probably see a little bit of a shift as I’m starting to create content. I’m trying to learn from other creators to see what’s successful for them and I’m trying to adapt that into my own content. So make sure to pivot when you need to and make sure you stick with what you’re doing if you need to. Number seven, I would say once you learn the fundamentals of each platform, make sure you are focusing on value. This kind of goes back to what I said in the beginning of the video where I talked about instead of focusing on the money, the amount of followers and stuff like that focus on providing value for your audience, and the money will come anyway. And then secondly, people really do get too wrapped up on the algorithm changes and things like that all these little hacks and tips, but the people I find that really get successful are the ones who are figuring out okay, what is my audience wanting to learn? And am I really solving their problems? Am I doing it effectively? Am I doing it in an entertaining way? Am I really doing a comprehensive step by step tutorial where they can go from A to B. So that’s what you really want to understand. And I think those people who really focus on that and hone in on how they’re speaking about a certain topic, or writing about a certain topic, those who are going to do the best. At the same time, it is important to learn stuff like SEO for YouTube, it might be thumbnail creation, and stuff like that. But don’t get just completely wrapped up in that where you are in analysis paralysis, and you just don’t want to do the actual work because you’re like, oh, I have to learn everything about this platform. Before I start, just go for it. Don’t worry about perfectionism. And also just worry about making the best stuff. For example, too, when I google certain topics, the ones that do really well and rank well on search, I will read through the entire article. And I’m like, okay, that deserves a number one spot, because it’s actually super comprehensive. It could be like, you know, a 20,000 word article, I’ve seen those created, right, they are trying to go step by step to bring you from A to B, and they’re really putting in the effort to make sure the article is comprehensive, or the YouTube video is comprehensive. So make sure what you are creating is actually valuable for your audience and focus on that piece. Last but not least, number eight, keep building when I started my brand, I looked at it as a five to 10 plus year endeavor. So I’m consistently building I can’t just randomly disappear from my audience, you have to consistently put out pieces of content every single week. And because I’ve managed my expectations, or I don’t feel like it’s gonna be something where my following skyrockets right away, then I won’t get distraught right. I’m viewing this as a long endeavor. And I’m going to continuously build so it makes it easier not to give up so just keep making good stuff regularly and watch your brand grow over time. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode on how I was able to grow a following of over 630,000 individuals and let me know if any of these tips resonated with you or if you have anything to add on this list, make sure to smash the like button subscribe and hit the bell button to be notified on my latest videos. I’ll see you guys in the next one.Transcribed by https://otter.ai
