The tumultuous Coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our lives as we know it. While we were all stuck in our homes, quarantined, we lost out on over a year of interaction with others. Especially in the workplace, the day-to-day routine you knew is gone, making it harder and harder to connect with your co-workers. Meeting individuals at the coffee shop, visiting a coworker’s office or striking up a chat with your boss are all examples of productive interactions that enhance your personal brand. It’s difficult to substitute these face-to-face connections.
However, now that the world is on its way to being back up and running, it is time to create a robust personal branding strategy. You have a choice: you can either let your coworkers and peers create the image that defines you or you can take your reputation into your own hands.
With that being said, here are 5 tips and tricks to enhance your personal branding amidst the Covid-19 pandemic:
Take advantage of social media
If there is one way to stay in touch with all of your friends, family and coworkers while not directly in front of them, it’s social media. Social media has been taking the world by storm over the last couple of years. Apps like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook have kept everyone updated about what’s going on in each other’s lives, even when you can’t meet face-to-face.
So why not take advantage of this great tool and use it to upgrade your personal brand strategy? The appearance you project to your peers often turns into power and influence internally. Time is now on your side if you’re currently working from home. You can now devote the time you used to commute to creating your virtual brand. Start your own networking blog, Facebook page or YouTube channel. Pick a medium that you enjoy working with and go with it!
Put yourself in a leadership role
If your team works from home, they’re probably having trouble getting established. Make things simpler for them by being the one who assists them. Make every effort to make this unusual process more enjoyable and productive. Try to keep them informed about what’s going on at your organization and how they can make working from home a little simpler. It is a great win for your personal brand when you step up and demonstrate yourself as a leader during these unpredictable situations.
Establish who you are
Defining who you are and what you are all about is a crucial element when developing a personal brand. You want to outline clearly who you are and not let your image be taken into the hands of people who don’t care about it as much as you do. A great exercise is to make a list of all the attributes you want people to remember when they hear your name. Then think about your personal brand for a while, until you find the one word or phrase that truly personifies who you are.
This may be hard when you are not in the office because you cannot explicitly tell people what the words or phrases are that defines you. However, when setting up your social media accounts, as explained above, make sure to exemplify these words or phrases so that everyone who views your profile knows what you are all about.
Use videos vs. emails and text
Right about now, we are all missing the human interaction that we are all used to. Being quarantined at home to then only going into the office a few days a week is hard for many workers across the nation. Since emails and texting have become the new normal for communication purposes, changing it up with videos will ensure that you stand out from the rest.
Recently, video has already been a favorite of employees across a variety of fields. Using video allows your viewers to interact with you in a manner that written content, like emails or texts, does not. Your viewers can see your face, understand your language and actions, and react to your tone of voice in a video. All of this comes together to create a powerful statement. To start, all you have to do is set up a comfy location in your home and begin filming. You don’t need any new, fancy equipment. Your smartphone is more than capable of handling the job! Your viewers will enjoy it whether you’re using YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook platforms.
Attend all the virtual events that you can
As stated previously, life as we know it has been shaken up these last two years. Events that were previously in person have been changed to online platforms like Zoom or Google Meet. However disheartening this may be for those who thoroughly enjoy attending in person events, making sure that you are attending all virtual events is a great way to increase your personal brand.
Even though these events have gone virtual, speakers and participants are still needed. Take some time to practice virtual public speaking if you haven’t already. Sitting in front of a computer screen does appear to be more convenient than standing in front of a crowd. However, you’ll discover that there’s a lot more to keeping a virtual audience’s interest. To deliver an attention-grabbing speech, spend time practicing your delivery and technique. Then, when the time comes that all events are back to being in-person, you’ll be a professional!
In brief, since the Coronavirus pandemic has been in full effect over the last two years, it has made it harder to focus on the things that matter in your career, like personal branding. Most of us are just trying to do what we can to get through the pandemic, but if the virus does not go away soon, you must think long-term about your career and find ways to help it. By using these tips provided, you can ensure that your personal brand will grow exponentially, as if you were in-person!