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Today’s entrepreneurs are using their platform and voice to advocate for the issues they care about most. While being passionate and vocal is valuable, businesses must remain viable – and the key to this is an impeccably personal brand.
A well-built and strategically personal brand opens doors and creates a long-lasting sense of community. It provides a foundation for a shared voice and mission. By standing up for what you believe in, you can build a strong brand that can help you make a meaningful difference in the world.
Gaining access to this kind of power starts with building a brand around your core values. Your core values ​​are the critical set of values ​​by which you live, communicate and make decisions: what is right, what is wrong? What’s good, what’s bad? When you align your values ​​with your actions, your brand gains credibility and trust.
Related: The Only Way Out Is Through: How To Survive The Backlash Against Your Business
Therefore, when considering the option of taking a public and high profile position or position, you must decide how and when to align the messages you want to propagate with the values ​​you hold dear. Ask yourself questions like: Why do I feel compelled to speak out? Am I the right person to raise these issues publicly? Have I thought about my position? How can I protect myself from misinterpretations?
I’ve spent years teaching executives to build strategic brands and speak their truth authentically. Here’s my best advice for using your personal brand to address the issues that matter most to you.
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1. Create context
In the age of social media, consumers want to know what the leaders and companies they follow stand for. But when a leader takes a stand without a plan or proper consideration, he can communicate ignorance – or worse. How should an businesskinda.com proceed?
There is a common misconception that the less you post about your beliefs, the less likely that what you say will be misunderstood or give rise to resistance. In fact, sharing and posting consistent content that reflects your values ​​and beliefs creates context around all your future words and actions. This context protects you from misinterpretation and gives you an air of authenticity that is hard to find on social media.
Start by identifying your core values ​​and sharing what matters to you across the platforms you use. When you communicate your insights, views and beliefs, you bind them all to your values.
Aim for a narrower focus rather than a broad, all-encompassing set of values. Taking a stance on every trending topic or news headline could weaken the effect of what you stand for. Alexander Hamilton once claimed, “If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything.” In other words, if you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. If we go too far in our values, we risk watering them down.
Related: Why consistency is key to your branding efforts
2. Build a network of supporters
Spreading a message means finding the right people to share it with. A network of people who embrace your values ​​becomes your greatest asset.
The good news is that the context you build with intentional content will do much of the heavy lifting for you. Being clear and consistent about what matters to you will naturally attract others who share your beliefs, want to learn from you, and help you advance your views.
If you want to be more proactive in gaining visibility, look for others whose brand reflects the brand you are creating. Share their posts, communicate and cross-promote where possible to bring their network closer to yours. The name of the game here is still authenticity, to check in with your core values ​​as you start amassing more followers.
Related: 3 Examples of How to Build a Strong Brand Community
3. Use your voice to argue
Once you’ve built a consistent, authentic brand and engaged audience, you’ll have the ability to speak up when current events hit your heart and you can’t sit still.
Even if you’re backed by a strong, authentic brand, stay conscious and strategic to get involved. When you choose to speak out about an issue in public, make sure what you say aligns with your overall personal brand. Start with your values ​​and look for the common thread.
Take my advocacy for veterans as an example. I have no official direct connection to the military, but as a grateful citizen I wanted to have a citizen voice in veterans’ advocacy. I found the common thread between the values ​​I espouse as part of my brand – gratitude and generosity – and the issue I wanted to take a stand on. I put the context of gratitude and generosity in my veteran messages, resulting in a more authentic and compelling message. If the issue aligns with my values ​​and brand, I’ll make my voice heard.
Related: To Build a Powerful Brand, Start Inside and Go Outside
4. Avoid Reaching Too Far
Many online audiences are inundated with disingenuous messages from leaders and companies whose behavior doesn’t match the values ​​they claim. As a result, these audiences are adept at recognizing inauthentic content and immediately lose confidence in the poster. Worse, they can expose the inconsistency publicly, causing others to worry or upset as well.
That’s why sometimes it’s better to stay on track if you’re tempted to talk about a topic that doesn’t suit you. If you can’t find the thread that contains the topic you want to reply to with your values, you can choose not to reply publicly. This is especially true if your motivation for commenting or jumping into the conversation is to go along with a trending topic in which you don’t really have a personal interest or passionate opinion.
If you feel the urge to speak up despite a missing thread, take a step back and be clear about your motivation. Are you joining because of genuine interest or concern or because of an opportunistic desire? Understanding the outcome you want—whether that’s profit, social or political change, personal motivations, or popularity—can give you clarity on how your engagement might be received by your audience.
Related: How do you form a clear voice and tone for your brand?
5. Give yourself the space to step back
In online spaces, there are instances where entrepreneurs and business leaders feel pressured by their audiences to comment publicly on current events or topics. You may not be willing to participate in the conversation for a number of reasons. Perhaps you have not worked out your views or reconciled your values ​​and feelings. Or maybe the topic triggers you in a real, personal way and that’s what you’re dealing with first.
You shouldn’t feel obligated to publicly reconcile anything that triggers trauma or deep-seated concerns for you. I think you can keep quiet if you need to, provided the issue isn’t critical to the reputation and position you’ve already advocated publicly for. In this case, communicating that you are responding may be a wise move.
It is important to be clear about which values ​​will become a core part of your brand. For example, if inclusiveness and diversity are the guiding values ​​you’ve chosen, don’t be surprised if your audience expects you to comment on current events surrounding racial equality or gender discrimination, but may not need to hear your views on changing environmental issues.
Your personal brand can expand your audience, protect your image, boost your business and be a force for change. The process of building that brand is a rewarding one that opens up limitless opportunities to spark meaningful conversations and take bold stances.
Don’t be afraid to spread your authentic voice to a wider audience. Chances are, you’ll attract like-minded people along the way and empower them to lean into their own values ​​and passions.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.