Personal Branding Using Social Media

 

1.      

The importance of personal branding

A personal Brand help the customer or the prospect to distinguish the individual over the business, It is someone online reputation that has been generated over time through the demonstration of skills, abilities, and knowledge - if I mention just few - in a way that make the individual stand out of the crowd and build a long lasting relationship with the right audience (Business.com Member, 2020).  According to Edelman 2020 research trust took the second position as one of the main farctors in driving purchase decision.

Trust and Brands Source: Smart insight.com

Building a personal brand that people can trust is an ongoing time consuming process. Some of the biggest companies have genuine people, who love their brands, are passionate about them and help to build, advance and share their brands’ values and missions (Stelzner, 2019). GymShartk have Ben Francis, Apple had Steve Jobs and Hubspot have Darmesh Shah and each of these people found their uniqueness that helped them build their reputation and enhanced their companies’ visibility (Stec, 2017).

So, Personal branding is “The practice of marketing people and their careers as brands” (Henderson, 2019)

The 3 components of Brand. Source: Gartner.com/smarterWithGartner

2.      

How to use social media for personal branding

Social Media before and above everything is about relationship building and can highly benefit the SEO processes through link building and improve the webpage authority and it’s ranking (Barysevich, 2017).

Although google stated that social media sharing does not affect directly the SEO ranking, the sharing allow more visibility for the content, increase traffic to the website and engagement (Hall, 2019). Moreover via social Media it is possible to reach the most influential voices in the business sector to propose guest posting and request to be mentioned. Therefore, building a reputable, impactful personal brand is a key to influence people, stakeholders, clients, employees and so on (Stelzner, 2019).

It is important to keep the social profiles active, accurate and current that they carry in the most transparent way the academic and business history and showcase succinctly achievements and future career objectives.

LinkedIn began as a recruitment tool but nowadays it is the most appropriate platform to demonstrate the knowledge and abilities (Stec, 2017).

Facebook, if it was a country, it will be the most populated one, far in front of china. Therefore, it is more likely to find the target audience in there (Stec, 2017).

John Jantsch said “Personal branding is the art of becoming knowable, likeable, and trustable”, Videos, public speaking and podcast are nowadays the most popular ways to present valuable content, build relationships and create connections in the most unique and intimate ways that voice and image can allow (Espencer, K 2017).

3.      

Good examples of using social media for personal branding

With over 19 Million followers on Linked In, 12 Million Followers on Twitter and more than 3 Million likes in Facebook Richard Branson is one of the most popular entrepreneurs in Social Media. He applies the main social media practices that are increasing is influence and likeability.

     He connects with his followers in a human level: He shares content that is showing his concern for the earth and the climate and support healthy life style. Aboulhosn (2019) stated that although there may be an overlap of the targeted audiences, it is still important to tailor the messages to each platform. So, they have the highest impact.

 

     Even though he have a high volume of followers, he is still welcoming customers’ inputs, and answer a number of tweets and comments on a daily basis in a transparent and authentic manner. According to Aboulhosn (2019) Audience craves human interaction with the person they are following. They want to know that there is a real person on the other side of the computer who can answer their questions

 

     He uses social media to naturally build engagement trough storytelling, participate in challenges and encourage positive online behaviour. Making engaging with the brand and the personal brand alike fun is an important component of social engagement, therefore finding ways to motivate the community and reward them for achievement can increase sentiment, retention and loyalty (Bolsinger, 2021)

Rory Vaden is probably not as rich as Richard branson in terms of followers’ number or the number of likes but he also follow the social media usage best practices. He is an author and podcast host. According to him one of the leadership fundamentals is being able to influence people’s thinking (Stelzner, 2019) 

 

     Sharing thoughts with the public may bring opportunity for the individual and the company he represents. People may start listening if they find value in what is shared with them. Besides, valuable content send traffic to the website and convert engagement into leads and leads into transactions (Hutchinson, 2020). According to (Bolsinger, 2021) it is wrong to limit the content to promotional updates only which is a common practice of the outbound marketing practices, The marketing efforts nowadays are build based on trust, engagement  and two-ways communication. 

 

     According Ellering (2015) social media scheduling help sharing a steady flow of content in order to keep a top of mind position. While it is important to spend time into content creation to be able to share with the followers quality and value, it is also important to be able to test which frequency of sharing, what times of the day, which tone and what type of content works the best for your personal brand. It is also necessary to be able to me sure the impact of the social activity and track the engagement.

Inbound & Social Media Marketing Method: Review of Rubyzchoice.co.uk and Oceanbluu.com

Inbound & Social Media Marketing Approach

Following my recent blog post "Digital Development: Consumer’s use of technology " I decided to deepen my knowledge and acquire new skills by diving into inbound marketing and find out what are the best practices to apply it. This is why the present article has been dedicated to study and present how two companies who started recently their activities online approach inbound marketing. 

According to HubSpot (2019) inbound marketing methodology is about drawing peoples’ attention through quality content creation and social media tactics that will spread brand awareness, attract visitors, and encourage engagement to finally help with decision making. 

Rubyzchoice.co.uk approach to inbound marketing is product oriented. Although their website is easy to navigate and mobile friendly, they are active in social media and regularly create and publish blog content to attract visitors, there are no call to action, No gated content such as ebooks, webinars or Live Q&A to engage the visitors and convert them into leads. Moreover, there is no social media button imbedded in the website to ease the engagement with the visitors.

                 

Oceanbluu.com is customer oriented. Their website is mobile friendly with social media button at the bottom of the website. They provide their ideal buyer persona with the appropriate content such as information about the charity they are working with, where they source their products from to build relationship based on trust with their visitors and encourage conversion into leads. Among others, they got a call to action in the format of discount to help with decision making.

    Strengths and weaknesses of the marketing approach:

Rubyzchoice.co.uk

·         Blog Content: The published content lack the use of images, videos, and infographics... They also have no specific hierarchy in their website organising the pillar pages and the sub-topics with backlinks that are taking both in and off pages

SEO strategy: Based on Semrush analysis, the websites authority score is low, it ranks organically for a small number of keyword that are generating no traffic. Moreover, all the pages that have ranked for those keywords are positioned between 50 and 100

·         Review and testimonials: the readers are invited to leave reviews at the bottom of the blog’s articles but due to the low traffic generated no reviews has been recorded yet.

·         Social Media: The website cannot send traffic to social media platforms as there is no social media button.

·         CTAs: No call to action form has been detected on the website apart from the contact us webpage.

 Oceanbluu.com

·         Blog content is visually attractive, it is mainly educative with intent to grow the number of prospects. It has imbedded links that can take the reader off the website to read more about their charitable activities, evidence of where they source their products from, industry research and check out educative videos. Unfortunately, the blog content haven't been updated since Oct 2019.

·        Social media is well used to engage and delight. Facebook is clearly their main social platform with they got over 9000 follower. 

·         SEO: According to Semrush analysis, their authority score is allow as well as the monthly traffic but they are well positioned for some keywords.

SEM: They use occasionally search engine marketing through the use of Pay Per Click

·        CTA: They have different forms of call to action that encourage visitors to leave their details and gain information related to the buyers and their positions in the buyer journey.

Which organization is best at inbound marketing?

Based on the analysis realised, “Oceanbluu” have a better inbound marketing approach. Their website is made in a way that inspire empathy as they showcase well the charity they work with and the source of their products.  They have a better presence in social media platforms making conversation easier, the blog content is visually more attractive even if it hasn’t been updated for over a year.

 

What could be improved?

Although both companies possess easy to navigate websites that are mobile friendly both could benefit from optimising the speed of their mobile sites. According to testmysite the mobile page speed is slow.

They also need to rethink their SEO strategy including the keywords targeting, content creation based on those keywords and the backlinks to increase their authority and traffic. In addition, they need to use CATs to increase conversion into leads and encourage their customers to leave reviews and Testimonials.

Rubyzchoice

will benefit enormously from connecting their website to their social medial platforms, having a better structure and hierarchy in the blog content as well as enhancing the blog’s visuals (infographics and videos).

Oceanbluu

needs to be more regular when it comes to content creation and provide topics that can interest different prospects wherever they are in their buyer journey.

Digital Development: Consumer’s use of technology

The easy access to information changed our existence. It boosted our instinctive likelihood to connect with the other members of our specie and the eventual consequence of being influenced by them.

The internet revolutionized the way we communicate and interact. We are not anymore tied to a specific geographic location. It made us closer than ever before. it became part of our everyday lives, hardly any task wouldn’t need access to the internet anymore. It is involved in our education, entertainment, and healthcare. It even changed the way business is conduct and complicated everything that is related to the government and democracy.

According to Thinkwithgoogle (2020) we are online more often, our expectations as customers are rapidly changing, and the marketers need to comprehend, predict and respond with a finer brand experience.

This last year - due to the covid-19 - we witnessed even more dramatic changes in the way we use the internet and our devices. As we continue to face uncertainty, it is ultimately important for every marketer, in every industry to revise and adjust their strategies to face the accelerated consumer behaviour changes.

1. Access to the internet

The latest statistics showed that the majority of the internet users worldwide are aged between 25 and 35 years old. In Great Britain, the access to internet became a common thing just like access to water or electricity.

In January 2020, 96% of the households got access to internet with 3% increase from 2019 and 39% from 2006. The use of internet among the adults aged 65 years old and over have also increase to reach 80%. Moreover, 76% of adults over the last 12 months shopped online with a significant and a remarkable increase among the 65 years old and above category which sore to reach 65%.

2. Digital devices usage

In 2020, about 59% of the world’s population were online active users with the telephone mobile as the main medium for internet access.

In the UK, in 2017, 92% of the respondents owned a mobile phone while 77% had a smart phone.

Almost 50% of the adults between 25 and 34 years in Great Britain used a virtual assistant smart speaker or app. Moreover, 35% of the adults reported usage of the “internet of things” devices.

Although the usage of internet and digital devices is increasingly used over the world, a significant percentage of the population haven’t been educated about how to secure their personal data and make their utilisation of these devices more private.

3. How consumers search for information

The internet revolutionised the way people search for information and make purchases, actually 81% of the customers start their buying journey online. Although the purchase path may seem to be complex and involves multiples channels and devices, the consumers often look up the first few results suggested at the top of the search engine and compare few options including the prices and offers, investigate specific features and quality, and check reviews and stars ratings

4. What consumer buy online

In 2019, The UK market is driven by the millennials with a preference for fast fashion and the best bargains. They tend to have high expectations, a desire for foreign brands, fast delivery and flexible free returns conditions. This behaviour did not change over 2020 where 55% of the adults online purchase behaviour were mainly related to clothes, shoes and accessories followed by a demand for fast food from 32% of the adults

Consumer purchase behaviour changes due to the covid-19

As consumers around the globe adjust to what may be called the new normal, a significant variance has been noticed in the consumers sentiments and behaviours across countries.

Right after the second wave of the covid-19 as well the discovery of the new variant there was a renewed sense of caution as coronavirus cases soar in parts of the world such as here in UK. While the uncertainty from COVID-19 persists throughout the world, the consumer sentiment is different across the countries. As a result, there is significant variance in how consumers feel the impact, respond to it and adapt to it. Except for China, India and Indonesia who expressed high optimism and showed positivity towards the changes as well as willingness to spend into discretionary categories. A large number of the glob’s countries remain less optimistic about their countries’ economies and continue to limit their spending to the essentials such as groceries and household items.

The crises also showed an important and significant shift in the consumer's purchase habits with an increase of online food shopping of about 30%. Moreover, more than 65% of them intend to incorporate the new behaviours in their daily lives postcovid-19. In addition, the impact of the crisis has been reflected in the consumption expenditure which fell by over 10% in the second quarter last year due to the raising worries about contracting the virus. People are more than ever before concerned about their physical and mental well-being and that of their family members and friends.

Television and radio programs were promoting programs dedicated to mental health as the level of anxiety rose dramatically. The possibility of losing jobs due to the current global crisis were the second reason of consumers holding on their earnings. Therefore, consumers have cut back on the non-durable goods such as clothing, makeup … and so on. As well as on the services such transport, and food services, travel and accommodation.

5. Video consumption

Over the last few years, videos became more important in a way that we show to our kids their favourite shows online, we watch video tutorials, and we follow virtual events and so on. Actually about 5 billion YouTube videos are viewed daily and over 27% of online users spend more than 10 hours per week watching videos. Although the popularity of the videos is driven by the generation Z and the millennials, it has been present for centuries starting from the black and white screens to smartphones and smart TVs. Now, the world of video productions is expanding and involving every platform, in fact marketing videos are all over social media and marketers should incorporate video usage more often in their marketing strategy.

 

6. Consumer trends

Heraclitus once said that “the only constant is change”. The last two years showed a significant change in the consumers’ habits and a large number of businesses, even the well-established one did not or hardly managed to face the unpredicted and surprising trends which accompanied the current health crisis. Therefore, those able to predict, analyse, and anticipate may be the one able to withstand the storm.

• Consumer’s health and wellbeing worries.
• Consumer’s usage of digital channels and devices.
• Consumers going green and concerns for earth.
• Consumers prioritizing value.
• Consumer’s concerns for privacy and digital security.

Conclusion

New technologies have empowered us. We got access to information, increasingly and more than ever before speaking up our opinions and raising awareness. This evolution did not only augment our abilities it is also constantly and continuously shaping and directing them.

Albert Einstein

“Our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally, could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal”

The last few years proved that most of us do not understand how complex technologies are. In fact, 17% of the adults who use a smart phone did not have a security on their mobiles and a significant 32% did not know if they have security or not. Unfortunately, the giant corporations, the egocentric elites are not ashamed of misusing their potential which is ultimately leading Humanity towards a new dark age.

• Access to SlideShare Presentation: https://www.slideshare.net/secret/lv8q2YJTY9NCJC

Apple's Marketing Mix.

The marketing mix refers to the 4P’s developed by McCarthy in 1964 providing marketers with a tool that can be used to develop a long term marketing strategy and a short term tactical marketing plan in order to manage a profitable customer relationship. (P. Kotler. et al., 2009)

Traditionally, the marketing mix refers to 4 variables “Price, product, Promotion and Place” that marketers can manipulate, adjust and improve to set up the most suitable mix allowing them to maximize their competitive strengths. (G, J. Tellis, 2006)

• Price

Source: Inverse (2018)

• Products

Source: MacRumors (2019) 

• Promotion

Source: Zdnet (2018) 

• Place

Source: MacRumors (2018)

Although the marketing Mix resisted great criticism over the years and remained a powerful relevant concept that members of the profession can easily manipulate its components and control them to influence a brand’s competitive position (C, L. Goi, 2009), the holy quadruple has been criticized massively for:

- Considering the consumer as a passive spectator.

- Focusing on Product in singular while most of the marketers deal with much more than one and only product.

- The products involve the element of service as well.

Hence, to cope with the strong, complex and competitive environment, the mix has been reframed to become the 7P’s (E. Constantinidesi, 2008) including “Physical evidence” which refers to the general customer experience through the look and feel when interacting with the business, “Participants” call attention to the service provider’s skills, motivation, and professionalism. Finally, “Process” is about the standards, the coaching, and the practice as well as the supervision of the people based on the data management backed up by the information technologies. (Ahuja, 2016) in other words, Process refers to the overall process of delivering the product and/or service and the demeanor and performance of those who deliver it (CIM, 2015). The new mix puts the customer forward and focuses on providing a meaningful customer journey starting from the awareness stage until the after-sale and beyond. 

Participants:

The participants’ notion refers to the people who are responsible for the service delivery, their expertise, and training, social interaction, behavior, and level of professionalism and performance at service delivery (H. Mohammad, 2015).

It is widely known that retaining a customer cost five times less than acquiring a new one this is why over the last decade service quality has been one of the most attractive areas of investigation. After all, to survive in a highly competitive environment, customer satisfaction should be at the top of any organization’s priorities with bearing in mind that what would help to excel today may not be satisfactory tomorrow.

Source: Apple (2019)

Although, participants are considered one of the “tools” available to the manager to manipulate, alter and deviate to maximize the competitive advantage (H. Mohammad, 2015). The service cannot guarantee the quality before the sale because it cannot be quantified, tested or verified. While assumptions can be made, it is still difficult to forecast clearly how the customer may assess and judge the quality of the service (K. O. siddiqi, 2011). On the other hand, it appears that there is a positive link between service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. According to (K. O. siddiqi, 2011) research, service quality is a primary key to achieve customer satisfaction and this later is the essence of customer loyalty.


Apple’s People:


Public speaker chief executive: Apple started under the leadership of the charismatic and visionary Steve Jobs who have done a great job establishing a brand which slowly became a trusted giant. Unlike Jobs who pushed competition among the teams, Cook after him worked on intensifying the collaborative the aspect between them (J.Swartz, 2019). Cook always took the clients’ side showing his opposition to personal data collection, misuse, and misinformation. He also expressed his willingness to comment and opine on human right and environmentalism (L, Weber, 2019)

Source: Inc (2017) 

Non-Executive Board Directors: monitor and verify the day to day competent and ethical the functioning of the CEO and the key senior management. Their duties encompass also ensuring business success through maintaining the highest ethical and responsible performance as well as making sure that the shareholders' interests are well served (Inverstor. Apple.com, 2019).
Key Senior Management team members:

Deirdre O’Brein is one of the 20 members of the key senior management team members. She is Senior Vice President – Retail + People of the company. She is responsible for over 400 high street stores as well as the online stores. Her main role is to develop and care for the company’s employees and help them to connect with the customers and provide the best retail experience that educates and inspire (Reuters.com).

Certified Apple service providers: Apple offers a program for companies, educational institutions, government organizations to get the necessary expertise to undertake repair services and deliver outstanding customer service to apple customers. This program is designed to get closer to the customer who will still benefit from similar service to the one provided in store (Apple.com, 2019).

AppleCare Protection Plan: Every product sold by Apple comes with complimentary telephone technical support for 90 days. In addition, Customers could opt for a paid service and support via telephone from Apple experts which is distinct from the legal rights provided under the consumer protection laws. These services are additional and offered to those who prefer to have the privilege of having their issues solved faster following a single call (apple.com, 2019).

The AppleCare Professional Video Support: Professional package for high quality and high-performance editing specifically for professionals who work in audio and video production (Apple.com, 2019). 

Working for Apple is Hell or Heaven?


According to Forbes (2012) article, the company’s C-suites are generously compensated while the employees are not fortunate enough to enjoy that wealth. The same source argued that they are offered low paid stressful jobs, exploited until they are burned out then disposed of.

Source: Brandonmlewin (2019)

Despite everything and although Apple’s employees regret the low pay they recognize that it is a fun company to work. In addition to the annual discounts they frequently face opportunities to learn and develop their people skills, train through challenging projects and stretched responsibilities, attend seminars, courses and group meetings. (Inc.com, 2017)

In conclusion and although it is unfair to pay the CEO the highest salary possible and propose the minimum wages to the retail employees, Apple roles are still strongly wanted and the company is still seen as the coolest place to work. In 2016 Angela Ahrendts stated that they ended the year with the highest retention rate they ever had 81% (Hrzone.com, 2016).In 2019, after Deirdre O’Brien took over her position, She explained that the retention rates were always high.

Do you know that influencer marketing is the easiest way to enhance your brand recognition?

 How many of us consult reviews, ask friends and family, check comparison websites before finally deciding whether to buy or not. People are constantly connected online and more than ever before. In our world, each individual is influenced by someone else's experiences and decisions. Moreover, today marketers could see the high immunity that has been developed against traditional advertising. Nowadays people are rejecting strongly one-way communication and that might be one of the factors standing behind the influencer marketing rising and success. 

Digital advertising: do brands and consumers think the same about it?

Nowadays, each individual has his own Smartphone, a laptop or a tablet. The days that used to gather people around a movie that is interrupted every now and then by an advert are gone. The rise of internet streaming services, video gaming, and social media platforms just made it worse. We would think that that's it, TV advertising does not worth it anymore, people are spending much more time online than watching television. Obviously, technology change and people habits are changing even faster, but brands are still extremely reticent about allocating a large portion of their advertising budget to the internet.

Black Friday, Boxing day and Cyber Monday: Aggressive customer behavior

I had the chance to witness Black Friday, Boxing Day and many other special shopping holidays and I was fascinated. Long queues, a surprising patience, and some pretty crazy chaos as well. On one hand, for retailers as well as for customers these are huge sales opportunities. On the other hand, they are a lot of pressure. Excited, confused and frustrated, a number of shoppers exhibit an aggressive and potentially dangerous behavior.

Even though these exceptional dates find their origins in the US, The figures show that they are very profitable in Europe as well and it is fair to say that these events acquired strong European identity. Thus, the holidays shopping periods uncovers many facets related to the consumer behavior and it deserves a closer inspection.