In today’s age, business owners and CXOs who don’t leverage their Personal Brands for their business and career will just survive, not thrive
Words by Gurnoor Kaur Behl
When it comes to Personal Branding, everything has changed. Especially in the realm of building your Personal Brand on Social Media, in this internet age, saying that the advancements are rapid is an understatement.
Gone are the days when we’d sit around and wait for Social Media to show us the magic, eventually.
The Power of Personal Branding via Social Media can be seen everywhere in the Creator Economy and beyond, and those who are aspiring have lost their patience. They want results. They want ROI. In the time of AI, and the shift in what ROI in Social Media actually means in 2024, Personal Brands will have to do things they’ve never done, and even in the impatience, quit playing short-term games like sales. It’s time to stop going with the flow, and do what has worked for you to build a community that lasts.
Every year, I release a trends sheet for the same. While many themes exist, there are 5 extremely relevant themes for Business Owners and CXOs looking to thrive with their Personal Brands, as well as in their business and organisations.
One thing is for certain: Those business owners and CXOs who are not leveraging their Personal Brands for their business and career will survive, not thrive.
Personal Branding is a business development activity. It’s no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.
The 5 main trends that are shaping the Future of Personal Branding, especially for Business Owners and CXOs are as follows.
Faster ROI From Social Media
In 2024, it’s all about ROI. At this point, strategies around Personal Branding have been tried and tested, and those who are invested in it are looking to get faster ROI from Social Media. Entrepreneurs and CXOs do not have the time, and are losing patience. This is justified. They are willing to invest in experienced consultants who have not only built their own Personal Brand, but also built others’. This is simply a matter of getting better ROI in the fastest way possible.
Note: An Entrepreneur or CXO must also try to define what ROI means to them. Is it building Thought Leadership, showcasing Credibility in the industry, or increasing Visibility? Clarity must be there when investing in Personal Branding otherwise all efforts will be futile.
Not On Every Social Media Platform, LinkedIn Takes Lead
Unlike the yesteryears, being on every social media platform is like putting your hands in too many baskets. It is very important to build one platform first, dominate it substantially, and then move to the next one. In 2024, Personal Brands do not want to be everywhere. In fact, many have quit, are going to quit, and will focus on the social media platform which is giving them results.
One of the ways that Personal Brands are narrowing on these platforms is simply based on where their audience is spending the majority of their time.
When it comes to Social Media platforms that provide ROI, LinkedIn takes lead in being the most trusted platform, followed by Instagram and WhatsApp.
It is said that 1 LinkedIn follower = 100 Instagram followers.
Community Building Is Key
One of the best ways to build your Personal Brand is to build communities. It is based on the age-old concept of “Relationship Building”. Building communities and fostering relationships take lead when it comes to organic and long-term ROI. As Nuseir Yassin of NasDaily fame once said on his Threads post that it’s not going to be called “Creator Economy”, it’s going to be called “Community Economy” very soon.
Unlike before, a simple “Post and Ghost” will not do. To build a Community which fosters ROI, Personal Brands need to not just focus on creating engaging content, but will actually have to engage with their audience.
When I was being trained by the YouTube Creator Academy, the trainers suggested we “name” our community. Several years later, I took that learning and named mine #GTribe. The next thing I did to monetize my community was to build it on Nas Company’s nas.io with all my digital assets (paid + unpaid) and offerings. This has kept my community, which spans over 10 countries, connected, and has ensured repeat business!
This is what I’ve done. You should try it, too.
AI Is Your Teammate
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Is all this content written by AI? It isn’t. In-fact, even the ideation of all this has been the old-school way: Research from multiple trusted sources and my experience of 13+ years.. Having said that, and I’ve said it on an AI podcast wherein I was a guest, I use AI for many things. Content ideas, reviews, predictive analytics, text-to-speech, creating video bytes – life has become easier, sure. This has also allowed me to churn out more content to build my Personal Brand. However, AI is my teammate. It is not my voice. It is generic and its information is outdated. One needs to do due diligence before using the information.
The increase in AI use is because of the lack of patience seen in 2024, and the fact that it increases efficiency. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who (all) created your content, only that it was a pleasurable experience for your audience.
Sales Is NOT Your ROI Metric
If sales defines your Personal Brand’s ROI then you’re doing it wrong. Sales is a very short-term ROI metric. In 2024, Personal Brands need to focus on community building to manage customer/client relationships. Apart from that, if you’re focusing on self-promotion through your Personal Brand, be assured that it will not get you sales – it’s a hard no!
How, then, can you promote and get sales? Create content which is Raw, Real & Relatable, and that it has a warm approach. Make people buy from you rather than you having to sell to them.
Personal Branding on Social Media has changed. However, the concept of it still remains the same: People buy People FIRST, and then their products/services/ideas. The greatest of brands – Ford, Hewlett Packard, Versace, Jindal, Tata, PriceWaterCoopers (PWC), Rolls Royce, and more, are all names of people. It is the oldest concept. Keeping up with all the trends that help a Business Owner or CXO thrive at the workplace is almost as challenging as the show Keeping Up With The Kardashians (mind you, what a brilliant way to build a Personal Brand for the Kardashians!). However, investing in just the above 5 trends should make you and your Personal Brand future-ready!
With 13+ Years of experience, Gurnoor Kaur Behl helps individuals become Personal Brands & Industry Influencers via the Power of Social Media. She works with Coaches, Trainers, Serial Entrepreneurs, Decision Makers, Celebrities & select Organisations.
Gurnoor has trained 5000+ individuals via workshops/webinars, corporate (including Fortune 500s) & non-corporate trainings, globally.
She is considered as a Global Digital Leader and has been awarded as The Most Admired Digital Content Creator 2023 by World Digital Marketing Congress & CMO Asia, and Pride Of India Award for Social Media, recognised by NITI Aayog and Ministry of MSME, Govt. Of India. Gurnoor is a Guest Faculty Member at the Apeejay Stya University, the ex-Social Media Consultant for National Disaster Management Authority, Government of India, a LinkedIn Top Voice 2024, and is an alumnus of YouTube Creator Academy, LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program (India’s Top 200 LinkedIn Creators), and leap.club Creator Program. Gurnoor is a recognised Professional Speaker, Certified Master Networker, and Events & Experiences Curator.
