What Is A Personal Brand?

Over the last few years, I’ve been trying to develop a personal brand. But if you asked me what the heck a personal brand was, I’m not sure I’d be able to answer.

Honestly. What the heck is a personal brand?

In the social media age, there are so many people and services striving for greatness on the Internet. Everyone is fighting for their place on the Internet (which quite frankly, there’s room for all of us). And then there’s this whole idea of personal branding. So let’s get into it, shall we?

My own definition of a personal brand, is the way that you curate your social media feeds and blogs to fit a specific lifestyle or image. I can take it one step further to say it’s how you curate your life to come across to others. Nowadays, it’s so important for bloggers and influencers to stand out, so having a personal brand is critical.

Pink Champagne Problems: The Brand

When it comes to my own personal brand, I’d have to say that I’m all about being real and having fun in this crazy blogging industry. I want every single thing I do on my blog/social media and in my business to reflect FUN. No, it’s not always easy, but this blog has always been fun for me. And that’s something I really strive to point out to my readers, followers, and the brands I work with. When I started Pink Champagne Problems, my tag line was: “Just a girl navigating through the world of fashion, usually with a glass of champagne in hand.” I mean, if that doesn’t sound fun, then I don’t know what to tell ya!

Creating A Personal Brand

If you’re an influencer, in some ways, you’ve already created your own personal brand.

Just by creating a blog name, you’ve created something that you want people to know and remember you by. When I started Pink Champagne Problems, I had no idea that it was going to become the center of my brand (we’ll talk more about that later). The most important thing to keep in mind when creating a personal brand is that YOU are in charge of being the head marketer of your brand. YOU have to do the work, no one is going to do it for you. Yeah, there’s help with creating a personal brand image for you, but only you should be deciding which lane you want your personal brand to be in.

When you’re developing your personal brand, think about what makes you YOU. This can kind of relate to my Find Your Why post. My whys (both personal and professional) are definitely part of my personal brand. Over the last few months, I’ve been shifting my blog focus in order to remain REAL with my readers, and be able to connect with you on a more personal level. I want to be known for actually influencing and engaging with my readers – as opposed to just trying to get up a pretty outfit post and telling you where to click to find it.

Maintaining A Personal Brand

This is definitely a tough thing to manage. There are so many people out there with GREAT personal branding, and sometimes you might feel like you want to replicate that. But let’s be honest, YOU CAN’T. In a world full of hundreds of thousands of bloggers, being YOURSELF already makes you unique. At this point, I don’t follow people or read their blogs just because they have the numbers. I read someone’s blog and follow them across social media because I think they’re interesting and genuine. Can’t beat that in today’s society. The easiest way to maintain your personal brand is to just be yourself and commit to that. Find what you do best, and do it better than anyone ever could.

Thinking like a brand will certain help you maintain your personal brand. The second I became a business, I started thinking of Pink Champagne Problems as a brand. It’s really helped me stay focused on my main goals. Now that I’m a business, I have to remain cohesive in the content I’m publishing across all social media platforms. I have to now think smarter, not harder when I’m creating content, and work hard to come up with new and exciting content to keep my business running.

Maintaining a personal brand is a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of time, effort and patience. At the end of the day, I’ve learned a lot just by trial and error! What is your personal brand and what’s your favorite part of maintaining a brand?

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photos by allie provost