How to use Instagram to create an authentic personal brand?

Personal branding is the way to go in the modern job market.

If you don't have a personal brand, you are risking being overlooked for more qualified candidates.

What's more, it's easier than ever before to create an online presence that will allow you to stand out from the crowd.

You just need to know how to do it on Instagram, which is my favourite social media platform for personal branding.

Why? Because,

It allows users to share their work, ideas and personal life with the world in a non-serious way.
It provides an array of content formats to share your message. This includes Photos, Videos, Reels, Guides, Filters and Micro-articles. Isn’t it already a lot?
Easy collaboration features with other creators.
Organic traffic. Maximize the free traffic until Instagram cracks it down for paid reach similar to Facebook.

It can be used to create an online persona for yourself, which can help you stand out from the competition.

But, how exactly create an authentic personal brand on Instagram?

1️⃣ Show what you cannot show on any other platform.

Use the liberty of being on a platform that provides a safe place to show your personal life. Be it sharing your goofy selfies or BTC bloopers.

This not only helps build a personal connection but also helps bring authenticity to your branded field.

Feel confident sharing pictures of yourself, and embrace the idea that people who don't already know you will get to understand and follow along with what's happening in your life. You're human after all! Who doesn't want to get to know one?

2️⃣ Going with a niche vs creating content for everyone?

This is a very debatable topic.

There are pros and cons to being on either side. Let me first give you an overview of the PROS and CONS of both and then maybe you can decide for yourself.

Pros of creating for a niche:

1. You have comparatively less competition. Imagine competing with every creator vs competing in your niche only.

2. Your engagement metrics is high.

Why? Because If you have 100 followers who are interested in food content and you share this content, it is highly probable that they will interact with your content. Say 70 of them liked your post. Your engagement rate is 70%.

Opposite to this, if you have 100 general followers out of which only 30 are interested in food, out of which 70% liked your food post (21 people), then your interaction for any food content will be 21%.

3. You get more organic reach through explore section and similar posts feature.

Cons of creating for a niche:

You limit your audience.
You limit the variety of posts or topics you might create content for.

Pros of creating general content:

You can cater to a relatively large audience.
You have the liberty to create content for so many topics.

Cons of creating general content:

Low content CTR
It’s difficult to create deep and researched content on topics that you might not be fully into or have subject matter expertise.

Examples of niche creators: @saptarshiux , @anushkarathod98 , @kabitaskitchen

Examples of non-niche creators: @abhiandniyu , @dhruvrathee

3️⃣ Collaborate with other creators

Trust is not something that just happens, it takes time and patience to find your true audience that trusts your content. It also takes time to find people who will support you in your journey too.

When you collaborate with other creators, you both benefit from a mutual audience. It makes your content reach 2x people. The give and take nature of collaboration is what helps everyone grow.

Also, it is always a delight for your audience to see you collaborate with other creators they follow.

4️⃣ Never show-off

The very basic difference b/w movie stars and creators is the connect with the audience. People in general feel more connected to creators than movie stars.

The more humble you are with your audience, more the people will share and interact with your content. We all love to interact with creators who are humble in nature.

5️⃣ Create a unique hook/theme

Have you seen Jay Kapoor’s “Achha laga, share karo” Ranveer Alahabadiya’s profile or Naval’s short videos?

Did you find any patterns here?

Yes, they all have their unique style and formats.

Observe the fonts, creative design and the video format they use. You can easily spot a Naval’s video just by looking at its format.

That’s the power of creating a unique style.

This might not come straight at first, but you can figure it out in your journey. Don’t pressurize yourself to come up with a unique style overnight.

6️⃣ Optimize profile

Put a professionally clicked dp if available. Doesn’t matter if clicked with a phone or camera. A high definition dp is a proof of your seriousness for your personal brand.
One of the most important aspects of your Instagram page is your bio. The perfect Instagram bio is short, sweet, and to the point.
Use story highlights to add important information. E.g, Giveaways, previous meetups, branded content, achievements, reviews/testimonials etc.

Conclusion: Develop a personal brand story that people will love.

It is important to take the time and think about how you want to present yourself on Instagram.

How you portray yourselves on your feed is a representation of who you are. The way that you craft your feed will influence the way that others perceive you.

Content creators need to put some thought into what they're putting out there.

They should ask themselves some questions before putting content out there: What is my message? What do I want the audience to feel? How does this content relate back to me? Is this content something that would make me proud of myself if I saw it on someone else's page?

Lastly, keep the faith! You may not be where you want to be right now but there is always hope. Just mix some action and strategy to it and you’ll be unstoppable.