Tom Peters is the name behind the personal branding craze. It all started with an article named The Brand Called You. This is the point behind the concept: if you want to have a successful career, you need to brand yourself.
If you want to improve the results that potential employers see when googling your name, you’ll have to work on your personal online brand. YouTube is a big part of that effort. It’s one of the most popular websites, and people’s interest to watch more videos is nowhere near its end.
How can you use YouTube to develop your personal brand? We’ll share the tips you need.
1. Introduce Yourself to the World
What’s the point of personal branding? It’s all about letting the target audience who you are and what you do. That’s what you need to do on your YouTube profile.
Personal branding is great for career coaches, freelance writers and graphic designers, marketing experts, and everyone else interested in professional progress. Your personal brand has to be related to your interests and personality.
Think: what kind of videos are you going to film? The niche is important. If, for example, you want to become a successful freelance writer, you won’t film prank videos with your friends. You’ll probably want to focus on tutorials and experiences.
2. Plan What You’ll Film
Nataly Peterson, a marketing expert from EssayOnTime, gives us an important tip regarding personal branding via YouTube: “The videos have to be connected to one another. Personal branding is not about posting random vlogs. A hiring manager doesn’t care how you feel when you go shopping. You want the channel, not individual videos to become popular. You can reach that goal when you stay focused on your niche and film videos that convey your professionalism and expertise.”
You’ll keep attracting visits on your channels if you film a session of videos on connected topics. You can create playlists that will keep the viewers there. It’s important to attract more views on all videos you film. That’s why you need subscriptions. For subscriptions, you need focus. Make a plan and stick to it.
3. Play with the Profile Settings
How will you name your channel? Remember: you’re not branding a business; you’re branding yourself. Thus, it’s okay to use your own name as the channel’s name. However, you can also think of another name that captures the essence of your channel.
YouTube allows you to play with the settings. Will you film a feature video? You can do that, but you can also set the last video to show up as the one featured at your channel. You can also change the layout, so people will recognize your channel when they land on its main page.
Don’t forget to update the About section of your page. Explain what the channel is about and include contact info. Hiring managers will appreciate seeing links to your LinkedIn profile and social media channels, so they won’t have to do the search.
4. Be Recognizable!
Pick one of the popular channels you’re subscribed to. You’ll probably notice there’s an intro to each video. Let’s take the Food Wishes channel as an example. You’ll notice that each video starts the same way: you see the channel’s logo and you hear the recognizable intro: “Hello, this is chef John from FoodWishes.com with…” It’s really simple, but it works.
Think of your own brief, attractive intro that makes people familiar with your channel. That’s what personal branding is all about: leaving the stamp of uniqueness. The topics you pick, the tone of your voice, the body language… all these elements make you recognizable in the crowded YouTube community.
5. Be Active!
Let’s say you film one video and it’s so cool that it goes viral. Will it turn you into a brand? No. Remember: you want to make the channel popular. You’re not there for instant success; you’re there for consistency that builds the impression of expertise.
Regular YouTube videos are a lot of work, but the results will be awesome. The more content you upload, the more views you get and the stronger your personal brand becomes. When a potential employer looks you up and sees a channel with such activity, they will definitely want to interview you.
Are you ready to start working on your YouTube channel? It won’t be easy and you’ll need some practice to get comfortable with the camera. However, your YouTube activity will get you many contacts. You’ll develop skills that are important for your professional and personal growth. This type of personal branding will lead to long-term results.
Joan Selby is a life coach and a content marketer. She also runs her own blog about productivity, self improvement and writing tips. Joan is a Creative Writing graduate and fancy shoelover. A writer by day and reader by night, giving creative touch to everything. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.
