How to Build a Personal Brand Organically (Proven Ideas)?
88% of consumers said they value authenticity when choosing a brand or a personality to support.
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” – Jeff Bezos.
Mind you, personal branding is not the same as business branding. They are correlated but one individual in nature. Personal branding is very much about building a connection with people and creating a psychological impact.
Personal Branding Plays on Psychology
1. The Mere Exposure Effect
Life itself is the biggest example of the mere-exposure effect. All values, opinions and biases you have is because it has presented itself to you repeatedly. When you see something often, you tend to build a familiarity with it – it builds a connection with you. It is the same thing with personal branding.
It is the Mere-Exposure effect. The best definition is by social psychologist Robert Zajonc -“Mere repeated exposure to a stimulus is enough to enhance an individual’s preference for it.”
This is why consistency is so stressed when building a personal brand. Posting regularly and appearing in front of your audience often increases familiarity. This is how every brand starts, with a soft launch then a hard launch and essentially launching again and again until people develop that trust. Brian Chesky did the same thing with Airbnb, for a whole year.
2. Empathy and Emotional Connection
Once that foundational trust is built, people start to relate to you. This is why popular influencers and thought leaders are popular – they speak to everyone. After the mere-exposure concept, the next step is building an emotional connection – and that comes from authenticity.
Leadership coach Kristi Hedges in her study says, “Emotional authenticity is the most inspiring feature for leaders”.
The nakedness of one’s personality is perceived as vulnerable and open. Sharing personal stories and struggles is a great way to make connections. Everyone has made mistakes and your emotions about it allow them to resonate with you.
Building an emotional connection is step one of personal branding. Struggles are what make a person – they humanise them. Share challenges
3. The Halo Effect
The Halo Effect is a type of cognitive bias that works on likeability. Notice how sometimes when people do something bad, we have a lot to say – but when people we know and like do the same thing – we brush it under the rug. This is due to the Halo Effect – our brains highlight the positive qualities of people we like.
Isn’t that how all relationships are formed? And if we look at social media today, endless opinions about a small YT joke divide the spectrum. This is simply because of how much people like a particular creator.
Simply put: Because of people like you, there is an imaginary Halo around over your head with heavenly music playing in the background.
Step-by-step process of building a captivating personal brand
1. Define a solid purpose.
Actions are meaningless without intentions. Personal branding is all about presenting yourself most authentically. The audience loves real stories – knowing what is truly behind the screen allows them to connect with their ‘heroes’. Social media is a powerful way to make that contact.
Every CEO and thought leader brings intention to the table – apart from building a reputation. It aligns with their values and beliefs in what they post on social media – and the crowd goes wild.
2. Stay true to yourself and your audience – You are what you Portray
We have been taught to always stand with the herd but building a personal brand needs you to stand out. And that rarely happens when you are a yes-man. There are endless controversies attached to famous people – and these controversies become a part of their brand identity.
But what do you do when there are people pointing fingers at you? You either stick to it or you defend yourself. Nonetheless, however you choose to respond will add a layer to your personal brand.
Take Kanye for example: he has so many controversies against him especially recently about his wife. Yet there are millions of Ye fans backing him with different justifications and all said and done, his followers are only increasing.
This is because when Kanye has an opinion, he will say it forever.
3. Connect on a personal level
Let’s get one thing clear – people do not like lies. They tell lies, but no one likes being lied to. This is why authenticity is so important in personal branding. Creating a strong brand for yourself requires you to be 100% yourself. Sometimes it also means your imperfections will come out.
The best example of this is Oprah Winfrey. Her personal branding thrives under authenticity. She created her identity as the first black woman to have her own daily show. This platform gave her a fabulous opportunity to connect with the audience. The show gave her audience a space to place their opinions and confessions and henceforth coined the term ‘Oprahification’.
Her incredible storytelling power deterred her from a successful career as a co-anchor to a beacon of inspiration of happiness.
4. Tell stories not narratives
“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing. It feels like a story worth following.” — Seth Godin
Today’s social media has moved on from just quirky posts to elaborate storytelling. Personal branding is all about portraying a story in front of the audience. Stories, not narratives, the difference – A narrative comes with opinions while a story is an unbiased structure that has a beginning and an end.
When narratives come on the screen, they are usually tainted with justifications and intentions. This is why only good storytelling can captivate an audience. This is why Oprah is so loved – because of her ability to make the audience feel emotions through her stories.
The power of storytelling is such that it even inspired her audience to speak about their confessions without the fear of judgment. Her captivating storytelling inspires millions of people to change their perspectives. She has even framed her mistakes beautifully with the power of storytelling; it only humanises her and allows her to connect with people on a deeper level.
5. Stay current and keep evolving
Social media is ever-evolving and it is important to keep up with the trends to build a strong personal brand. More than just posting, staying consistent and showing up is what drives your audience.
A study finds that posting consistent content increases engagement up to 5 times.
First of all, if you don’t post, how will you have engagement? But put yourself in the audience’s shoes – you see a very informative reel about the effects of high cortisol levels. You follow the account expecting to see how to lower cortisol levels, but even after a week – nada.
Now it doesn’t matter if the admin got busy or just lazy – it will cost them a follower. This is not a chance one can take should they take personal branding seriously.
Along with posting regular content, you also have to socialise within social media. Make collaborations with influencers and creators that align with your values. Eventually, you will find yourself in a similar category in the eyes of your followers.
Examples of Strong Personal Branding
1. Taylor Swift
If you like a life of drama, you must be a Swifty. The 35-year-old has been making strides in the music industry since Romeo saved Juliet. And her 14-year-old army worships her. Even with her C-minor music, Swift is an excellent example of personal branding.
To begin with – she is omnipresent. She’s on Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and apparently in Harvard Syllabus. Over her career, she has faced a lot of criticism, backlash and downright hate from Ye fans. But she never tried to defend herself – in fact when an allegedly fake phone call between Kanye and Taylor was made viral by Kim – fans started pouring the internet with snake emojis. The first wave was because Taylor allegedly was onboard and tried to come into the limelight through controversy.
So what did she do? Her 2017 album, ‘Reputation’ highlighted the very controversy with her take on it this time. The ‘snake’ emoji became a symbol in her videos and outrage about the fake phone call garnered empathy from her fans.
Needless to say, she has an excellent PR team that turns the tide with every controversy. Here’s why this example is so important:
- Her fan base connects to her music and lyrics. She talks about love, heartbreak, revenge, growth and more. She speaks through her songs whether it is to criticise the media or answer back to the critics.
- Taylor always Tweeting is how she maintains her connection with the fans – by simply putting her thoughts into words and hitting send.
- Swifties considered themselves a part of a movement and Swift enables it with small easter eggs and collaborations with Google to keep her fans active. A good example of this is the Google Scavenger Hunt featuring Taylor Swift.
If we were to narrow it down to 4 words, it would be: Relatable, Inspirational, Symbolising growth and coming of age.
2. Mark Manson- The subtle art of not giving a fuck
As a writer, it is relatively easy to build a personal brand- especially when your book is a New York bestseller. In its true definition, we are all building a personal brand with what we choose to say and how we choose to act.
Mark Manson is known for his crude style of writing and unapologetic presentation. Known for his outrageous book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K’ is one of the most quoted no-nonsense books and is now a podcast. But people don’t know him just because of his works, most know his books because of him and here’s why:
- His personal brand is represented through brutal honesty. He does not give a f**k. He writes what he thinks he does not apologise for it.
- He is running against the tide. In a time of constant toxic positivity, Manson decided to swim against the stream and preached prioritising what matters rather than just sugarcoating problems.
- He is known for insightful and controversial opinions. In his second book, ‘Everything is F***ed’, we see deep-researched insights that blend psychology, philosophy and personal life stories.
His summarising 4 words would be: Cut-throat, controversial, inspirational and wise.
3. Bill Nye – the science guy
The next time you see a lanky granda wearing a bow tie talking science – you know it’s Bill Nye the science guy. About decades ago Bill Nye had his own science show for kids. His charming happy-go-lucky personality made him an adorable nerd that everyone wants to learn from.
Nye’s personal brand is a framework of knowledge, entertainment, relatability and nostalgia. Here’s how he has maintained his image with 3.3 M followers on Instagram:
- Look at this composure and presentation – he wears a simple suit with a signature bow tie that reminds the audience of simpler times – making him a friendly and relatable nerd.
- He is a climate activist (like most millennials and GenZ) and pours his content advocating space exploration, and climate change awareness. Now he positions himself as’Bill Nye, Climate Guy’ along with his series ‘The Earth is on Fcking Fire’.
- A certain retrospective bais also work in favour of the Science Guy. His adorable presentation and the thematics of his reels trigger nostalgia in the audience.
If we had to sum it up it would be: Friendly, Activist, Nostalgic and knowledgeable.
4. Anupam Mittal
Let’s get a little serious now! The investor, entrepreneur, and founder of Shaadi.com hops on trends from time to time, his personal branding presents itself on a serious note. Anupam Mittal is a man of strong opinions – with strong critical thinking capabilities.
His LinkedIn talks about his struggles and stories that led to his successful career. As a sassy Shark, Anupam Mittal retains his personality on the cloud. His posts are a mixed bag of motivation, quirk and inspiration. Let’s break this down:
- He is usually the first one to talk about current events in industries like business, sports, AI and startups. His vocabulary aligns with the GenZ, unlike businesspeople who only talk numbers.
- Motivation is one of the subcategories of LinkedIn. Anupam Mittal’s stories on Linkedin are a mix of motivation and inspiration with a touch of personal struggles. This practice itself makes him relatable and connected with his audience.
- Anupam Mittal does not shy away from controversy, he stands by his opinions even if his audience disagrees with him. His remarks on the 70-hour work week outrage sparked flares on social media yet he maintained his stern face.
Not easy to frame this man in a few words but let’s try: Motivational, Opinionated, Kind and friendly (sometimes scary). And that is a very good recipe.
Should we have to summarise his profile so far it would be: Young, authentic and genuine, knowledgeable and fun.
5. Neil Patel
We all know who Neil Patel is – one of the earliest digital marketers, or as we know. Seth Godin is actually considered one of the pioneers of thought leadership in digital marketing.
So why is Neil seen in so much spotlight – it’s because of his foundational services that allow all digital marketers to function. It is his presence across corners of the internet that makes him an important personality among other things:
- Neil is highly associated with content marketing. His value of ‘Content is King’ drives many platforms that help many digital marketers. Sites including website analysis, and tools to drive growth, provide free services that increase his credibility and trust immensely.
- His newsletters are another ballgame of personal branding. He works with in-depth research on digital marketing topics including SEO, copywriting and more through a weekly mail, – which keeps him connected to his audience.
- The digital marketer has also built an image that solves complex marketing ideas in simple, friendly and communicative ways.
(personal email)
His personal brand in a few words would be: Credible, serious and educative, simple and easy.
Final Words
Think of personal branding as a way to interact with people to get what you want – it’s like a currency. Building a personal brand isn’t just about visibility—it’s about authenticity, consistency, and connection.
Be it Taylor Swift turning controversies into fan engagement, Mark Manson standing out with brutal honesty, or Neil Patel educating marketers through simplified insights, the key is to create an identity that resonates with your audience.