Episode Summary
Your personal brand is your golden ticket to building a successful career. And there are tremendous benefits to developing your own brand — from attracting new clients to generating new opportunities for your business.
But personal branding is not strictly reserved for entrepreneurs. On the contrary, everyone can and should have a personal brand.
In this episode of the Rep Your Brand podcast, our host Nick Bennett welcomes Erin Balsa, the founder of Erin Balsa Content Marketing and, as of this year, a full-time self-employed content marketer. They talk about the perks of having a strong personal brand, how to build relationships on social media, and why consistency is critical.
Guest Profile
- Name: Erin Balsa
- What he does: She's the founder of Erin Balsa Content Marketing.
- Company: Erin Balsa Content Marketing
- Noteworthy: "As you can probably see, I like kind of weird art. I have tattoos everywhere. I always wear really bright lipstick, and I just try to be myself and not be afraid to be seen as unprofessional. I'm a freaking head of content. I'm a marketing director. I've been managing people for ten years. I'm a professional. It's okay to look like me. It's okay to talk like me. It's okay to be a little sassy and edgy and have an attitude. So I just try to be myself."
Key Insights
- Build your brand by building relationships. Authentic relationships are the building blocks of a strong brand. If you want to develop a long-lasting personal brand, focus on creating relationships with your followers. "I really do want to have connections. Of course, I want it to grow my business. I'm a business owner. I'm not going to lie and pretend that that doesn't matter. I like getting inbound leads from the content I create, but I also like making friends, and I actually do feel like I've made some solid friendships."
- Try to reply to each comment and DM. If someone takes the time to leave a comment on your post, try to give back by replying to them. Genuine interactions will lead to a strong brand presence on social media. "It was really important to me to interact with every single person who left a comment. Even if I didn't really have anything to say 'cause their comment didn't really speak to me, I still wanted them to know that I cared, and I'd leave them an emoji or just something like that to kind of show them I appreciate them."
- Everyone can benefit from having a personal brand. Even if you're not a business owner, you can reap the benefits of personal branding. Erin and Nick talk about the power of branding in the professional world. "If you could have that and you could have the pick of the litter, and you wouldn't have to really even interview, you just kinda talk [because] they already know you. How amazing would that be as a candidate to be able to negotiate your salary, and you're the one dropping the anchor. It's not the other way around. That's why I would say it's absolutely the case for building your brand."
Episode Highlights
Content marketing provides structure and frees creativity
“I actually fell in love with content marketing — a really great fit for me because there’s some structure as opposed to sitting at home and trying to [write]. I remember when I was living in Portugal, I tried to write a novel just for fun. I had enough time. I couldn’t freaking do it because the possibilities were too vast and endless, and I am someone who needs a little bit of structure. So content marketing provided just enough structure, and you know what they say, ‘Structure frees creativity,’ and that’s definitely true.”
Social media demands consistency
“I don’t really think I had any problems or big hiccups. I’d say the biggest hiccup was just the consistency and knowing that I needed to be consistent. And on the days when I was exhausted, and my kids woke me up at night, and I had worked 60-hour weeks for months on end, I had to keep going. And during the pandemic, daycare was shut down. I had a four-year-old, a three-year-old, and a five-year-old at home with no daycare. My parents couldn’t come near us, so they couldn’t help, and I was still working a ton. And I had to keep posting on LinkedIn no matter what because I knew I was going to lose momentum if I didn’t just stick in there. So probably the biggest challenge was finding the energy and motivation to be consistent.”
Employee personal branding can benefit the employer
“I loved working at The Predictive Index. I was super happy there. So the more that I build my brand, the more attention I’m getting for my company; it’s a win-win. Imagine all the millions of views that I’ve gotten on my content over the last few years. I don’t know how many of those people learned about The Predictive Index for the first time. So it really is a win-win for companies. And if you’re going to say, ‘Oh, my employee is going to get a better offer and leave.’ Well, if you really value them, match that off or pay them better.”
