May 1 2020

What Is It and How to Use it to Build Your Personal Brand

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What Is It and How to Use it to Build Your Personal Brand

Social currency is the power and influence you yield in your social networking circle to influence the world around you. If you’re looking to build your personal brand, you can borrow social currency strategies from major brands and influencers to transform your online persona into genuine connections and influence.

When building your online personal brand, you likely share posts to increase your reputation in a viewer’s eyes. When publishing posts, you’re putting your reputation on the line, a.k.a. “spending” your social currency. Successful social brands are those that show authenticity, trustworthiness, and reliability on every post. They create a community of like-minded individuals from all around the world.

Keep reading to for a more detailed description of how social currency works and how to spend it or jump to our infographic below.

How Does Social Currency Work?

Social currency increases the more loyal, authoritative, and reliable your brand becomes. When posting, you’re focusing on what makes you different and better than the rest. That’s why the most authentic influencers out there are known to have the most loyal audiences. Viewers truly feel like they are part of a community and take their advice seriously.

Businesses can leverage their social currency by showing the behind the scenes of projects in the works, product teasers, and some potential hardships that got in the way before completing projects. This provides individuals and brands the ability to relate to viewers through storytelling daily.

The 6 Attributes of Social Currency

There are six key attributes that optimize your social currency: affiliation, conversation, utility, value, advocacy, information, and identity. Leveraging one or more of these attributes can help

you build a successful online presence. When working on your brand, there are some ways to use your social currency to grow your authority in your industry of interest.

Affiliation

When growing your personal brand, you want to foster a community of those that are interested in the same things as you. To gain the right audience, post industry-specific content that would only attract those that are interested in the same thing as you.

Conversation

Once you’ve created a community, get the conversation going! When posting a new image, article, or video, ask your audience a question to answer in the comments afterwards. It’s just as important to comment back. At the end of your day, schedule out a chunk of time to respond to your audience’s answers or questions.

Utility

Consistently post tips, tricks, and other valuable information for your audience to read. For instance, share interesting podcasts, free pintables, or eBooks that your viewers would find appealing.

Advocacy

As most individuals trust social media influencers more than they do businesses, make sure you’re always staying true to your brand. Only share products and services that benefit you rather than your bank account. Sharing products or services that aren’t as good as you thought could damage your personal brand and viewer loyalty.

Information

Share industry specific information within your niche. Share relatable blog posts about your experience within the industry or helpful guides your audience would find useful. Whatever it may be, provide valuable and unique insight into your community’s niche.

Identity

While your audience grows, consistently communicate how similar you all are. You most likely have similar passions and interests. Let your audience know they are a community of like-minded individuals throughout your posts and videos to create more personal relationships.

Using Social Currency to Build Your Personal Brand

Your personal brand plays a leading role when setting your career and salary expectations. Recruiters look at the community of followers you attract and how you choose to interact with them. Since 92 percent of individuals trust recommendations from individuals, compared to businesses, what you choose to share leaves a mark on your personal brand.

As 79 percent of the U.S. population has a social media profile, it’s a terrific way to highlight your brand as a young professional. Using social media, you can show your audience the authenticity that goes into your work, services, products, and passion for whatever you’ve been working towards. The more your audience resonates with your personal brand, the more your engagement rates and trustworthiness grows.

Employees who have a strong personal brand shows their authority and trustworthiness in that specific industry. Recruiters will look at what audiences you attract and how you communicate with them. Adding an employee with a strong personal brand to your team adds value to the business’ overall brand. Your personal audience will show loyalty in the brand you work for through the exposure and opinion you portray on social media.

Here are a few straightforward ways you can use social currency to build your brand and improve your career:

Check your audience monthly: Consistently check who follows you and who you communicate with, since recruiters look at the followers you attract and how you connect with them.
Add five or six hashtags to every post: Evey post you publish, add at least five to six relevant hashtags in your description, in your comments section, and bio.

Create a private and professional account: Create two separate accounts. Switch your account setting to private for all the accounts you’d like to keep personal and leave your professional accounts open for other professionals to see!
Google yourself regularly: Control your Google image by creating your own online portfolio. That way, when other professionals search your name, all your achievements will come up first.
Have a consistent message across all platforms: Keep all your profile bios, profile pictures, and content aligned. That way, when professionals cross-reference your profiles, they won’t find any differences.

To reap the benefits and grow your social currency, check out our infographic below for five ways to grow your social investment.