Personal Brand Building. Photo by Cara the Blonde Unicorn.
Let’s take a bit of a break from discussing the various social media platforms and how to use them. Don’t worry, we will get to a few other platforms in the future. But let’s dig in a little bit deeper into strategizing for your personal brand.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a strategy is “a plan, scheme, or course of action designed to achieve a particular objective, esp. a long-term or overall aim” (n.d.). Your strategy should be clear to understand, implement, and a trackable plan of attack to achieve your goal. For example, you have a goal of having one hundred followers on Instagram two months after beginning your profile. With that goal in mind, you must outline your plan to hit that goal.
SMART Goals
Photo courtesy of Indeed.
While you are deciding on your goal, it should be a SMART goal. You’re probably asking, “Cara! What is a SMART goal?” Let me tell you. SMART is an acronym for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
- Specific. Having a specific goal makes it easier to ensure you are on the path to achieving the goal. A specific goal helps you measure the distance between where you are and where you want to be. A goal that is not specific does not allow for that type of measurement. If your goal is, “I want to gain a following on Instagram,” you will want to revisit this to ensure it is more specific. “I want to gain fifty followers on Instagram,” is a better start as it is specific.
- Measurable. Having a measurable goal is important to determine how you are doing. “I want fifty followers on Instagram after having my profile for two months.” This goal has two measurable items. The first being the follower count. This is easy to track and to watch. The second measurable item is the timeline. Your goal has a month end date to it. Now this does not mean if you do not achieve it in a month that you must give up. Simply adjust your goal.
- Attainable. A goal which can be achieved is everything. Goals should be realistic and steppingstones to even bigger goals. When a goal is too hefty, it can be very defeating and lead to failure. You do not want to fail, right? Remember, you can always add more goals. Take baby steps. Keeping in mind the Instagram goal, saying you want to get a thousand followers is a hefty goal. Start out with a smaller number, like one hundred or two hundred. Work your way up to those one thousand followers.
- Relevant. Your goals must align with your strategy, with your plan, with what you are trying to accomplish. You want success on Instagram, do not make a goal about Facebook. Enough said. Right?
- Time-Bound. Setting a specific timeline to your goal will keep you motivated and working to accomplish the goal. When a goal doesn’t have an end date, it is easy to forget about it or not put in all the effort you could. “I want to gain one hundred followers on Instagram within two months of creating my profile.” This goal is time-bound, you are working with two months to crush the goal of one hundred followers.
“The SMART acronym is a framework that will enable you to write goals that drive great impact. Write goals with each of these aspects in mind, and you’ll be able to quantify how far you’ve come and how far you have left to go against your goal” (Alexander, 2022). Check out more about SMART goals at HubSpot, they have several articles defining and describing ways to utilize this process.
What comes next?
Once you have your SMART goal, you can start on your strategy. Remember, your strategy is the plan you create to achieve the goal. The strategy is you reverse engineering your goal.
Have you heard that before? Reverse engineering? It is where you take your goal and figure out what it takes to get there. Most of the time, we hear reverse engineering being used in terms of technology, but for us, it’s about our goals. There is a great article from Atypical Finance by Tim Jordan and I know he is applying the concept to financials, but we can use it too (n.d.). He even talks about SMART goals!
Anyways, in his article, he outlines the four steps to reverse engineering:
- Pick your goal.
- Determine your milestones.
- Set Your Steps.
- Start the Climb.
Let’s start with the first step. You have already defined your SMART goal. “I want to gain one hundred followers on Instagram within two months of creating my profile.”
When you move on to determining your milestones, think about little markers along the way. At these markers, you can assess the situation and continue with the current plan or make adjustments. For your goal, you may want to check in with your follower count once a week to ensure there is growth happening.
Setting your steps is where you will be doing some heavy lifting and planning. The steps help you reach the SMART goal. Using your Instagram goal, let’s think about some steps we can use in our strategy.
- Create an account and develop your profile while keeping your brand in mind. The profile picture you use should be a nice headshot or your logo. The cover photo should relay what it is you do. Do not forget about the bio portion! You want your bio to be an honest description of who you are and what you do. If you want more information on Instagram, check out my previous blog post.
- Next you will want to decide on the cadence of your posts. Do you want to post daily, three times a week, once a week? What time or times of day do you want to post? Whatever you decide to do, be sure to track your impressions and engagements. You will learn when the best time is to reach your intended audience. Maybe your posts crush it on Mondays at 3:45 PM, but flop on Wednesdays at 11:15 AM. You’ll discover this and won’t post on Wednesday mornings anymore.
- The most crucial part is deciding on your content. The content will attract people and lead them to following you. Your content needs to be a continuation of your brand and be exciting. Since you are using Instagram as the platform of choice in your goal, be sure your content has a visual aspect as Instagram is a highly visual platform. You might also want to take advantage of Instagram Reels too! Reels are a great way to reach a lot of people.
- You must interact with people who are engaged in your content through comments. They take the time to leave a comment, you should take the time to respond. Whether it is a positive or negative comment, respond.
- Becoming consistent will help you with the algorithm. The algorithm is important because when you end up hitting it, more Instagram users will see your content.
Once you have completed your steps, it is time to start climbing that mountain! You can do it and I have faith in you. Follow your plan, adjust it when needed, and have fun. The more you work at your steps, the closer you will be to reaching your goal at the top of the mountain.
Share with me what your SMART goal is for your brand and what your strategy is to accomplish it. Tell me how it’s going, I would love to know!
References
Alexander, L. (2022, January 25). How to write a SMART goal [+ free SMART goal template]. HubSpot. https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-write-a-smart-goal-template
Jordan, T. (n.d.). 4 steps to reverse engineer your goals and make them easier to reach. Atypical Finance. https://www.atypicalfinance.com/4-steps-reverse-engineer-goals-make-easier-reach/