How to build a personal brand people will remember

How to build a personal brand people will rememberHow to build a personal brand people will rememberToday, one of the most common questions industry professionals ask themselves (or get asked) is how they plan to build themselves into a brand.Ten years ago, this question didnt even exist.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIn fact, 10 years ago, in 2009, vlogging on YouTube was just starting to gain (niche) popularity. Blogging was still seen as this weird basement-dwelling hobby, facebook inc was starting to warm people up to the idea of sharing their thoughts online, and Twitter was where you shared the thoughts you didnt feel comfortable sharing on Facebook (still true).Fast-forward a decade, though, and now the concept of building yourself as a brand on the internet is not only popular and accepted - its actually seen as a viable career path.By Building Yourself as a Brand, You Become One (or Several) of the Following ThingsInfluencerThought LeaderPersonal Branding ExpertOnline PersonalityInstagrammer / YouTuberNow, some people argue this societal shift happened because social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., democratized peoples ability to gain social status. I first heard it framed this way when I was talking to a friend,Nico Bossi, who is part of the venture capital firm,Alpha Edison- and I agreed. Before the digital landscape made it possible to create and gain your own status, elevating yourself in society was largely dependant upon some sort of validated, external source saying so.For example, you couldnt gain status as a musician unless you were signed by one of the major record labels. Or, you couldnt have your own TV show unless you were signed by a major network.Today? If you have 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube, the world is at your fingertips.There Are Massive Benefits in Todays Society to Building Yourself Into a BrandMy personal belief is that all of us, whether we are conscious of it or not, are in some way, shape, or form, building a brand for ourselves on the internet.And the reason is because, by definition, if you are online in any way, shape, or form, you are playing the game. Even if you have almost no presence at all, your lack of presence is actually still sending a signal. Your half-hearted social profiles are still telling a story to anyone who comes across them. Your Facebook status updates, no matter how simple they are, represent you at scale. Which is why, my personal philosophy is this youre playing the game whether you know it or not, so you might as well play it consciously.Here are three simple ways Ive gone about playing it myself - and how you can be more deliberate in the way you build yourself into a brand.1. Everything You Do, Have Done, and Will Ever Do in Life, Has a Place in Your StoryI started taking my personal brand seriously when I was 23 years old.Id just graduated from college with a degree in fiction writing, and I knew I wanted to build a career for myself as a writer - specifically a best-selling author. At the time, I was working at an advertising agency as a copywriter. I learned very quickly (from my mentor, who was the creative director) that people dont buy products. They dont buy books.They buy brands, and they buy authorsSo I started to think about what unique pillars I could associate with myself and my personal brand. What stories could I come back to over and over again?The first one that came to mind, of course, was the fact that I spent the entirety of my adolescence playing World of Warcraft - and becoming one of the highest-ranked players in North America. The second was the fact that (at the time) I was a full-on bodybuilder, eating six meals per day and lifting seven days per week. So, I took these stories and built on them endlessly. I wrote about them online. I reflected on the lessons they taught me. And I us ed them as cornerstones for everything else I wanted to write about and share.Instead of shying away from parts of your life you think not everyone will understand, appreciate, or be open to, do the opposite. Include them. Find the common threads. These stories are part of you, and they will help others feel like they know who you are as a human being.2. Control What People See by Being Deliberate About the Media Attached to Your NameThe internet is a TV screen.The most exaggerated example of this would be a YouTuber, sitting in a Lamborghini, counting a stack of hundreds talking about real estate. It doesnt matter whether this is the YouTubers real life or not - this is TV, remember?What matters is whatyouchoose to do withyourown brand.Very early on, I realized that the quality of the media you publish online tells another story. If people see you being filmed with a high-grade camera, they assume youre professional, successful, etc. If your photos are clearly taken by someone who knows what theyre doing, people assume you have resources to invest in your content - which means youre professional, successful, etc.So, get a professional headshot. Fix your Twitter cover photo. And realize, it doesnt matter what industry youre in quality of media tells a story.3. The Best Way to Write About Yourself Is to Be DirectAnd the more direct you are, the faster youll scale your message.Ive worked with more than 200 founders, executives, NYT best-sellers, Grammy winners, international public speakers, angel investors, venture capitalists, and more, helping them build effective personal brands for themselves. And one of the most common mistakes I see, over and over again, is people thinking saying less is saying more.Let me tell you somethingThis strategy works incredibly well in the real world. Right? You walk into a room - lets say a private event or dinner. You dont feel the need to zustrom around and tell everyone how great you are. You let conversations unfold natu rally. And then, later in the night, usually after a few glasses of wine (and after youve already played the humility card), you decide to divulge.This isnt rocket science. I see this exact situation happen four nights a week.However, this is a horrible strategy on the internet. You gain nothing by writing in your LinkedIn bio, I help make the world a better place. As a reader, a user, and someone who clicked and wants to know what theyre looking at as quickly as possible, I have no idea what that actually means. Do you work for a non-profit? Are you the founder of a social impact startup?I find people avoid saying the truth for one of two reasonsThey fear coming off as being egotistical (because theyre talking about themselves).They want to be mysterious. (Which, theyre not. Theyre just being confusing).Youre 10x better off just saying what you do, how you do it, and why.Dont say, I help make the world a better place. Say, Angel Investor. Formerly VP of company. Passionate about st artups working toward a sustainable future.Clarity is king.This article first appeared on Medium.