4 Lessons From Entrepreneur Ryan White

In 2021, your personal brand is everything. Trust me – this isn’t an overstatement. If you want to make a place in your field, industry or even simply your workplace, you need a personal brand. It’s not a logo or catchphrase, or a multi-step social strategy. Personal branding is more about how you interact with people and what you bring to the table everyday.

In a world where everyone is fighting for attention, the consistent interactions you make will solidify your personal brand and make your voice heard.30-year-old Ryan White is familiar with this process.While working as a baseball coach, he started exploring the social media world nearly five years ago when he started promoting accounts and building partnerships with brands. Turns out, he had a knack for making connections online. His efforts yielded pages that grew by 50,000 to 100,000.

But ultimately, growing social accounts wasn’t fulfilling, he said, so he decided to sell his platforms and forge a new path. He started testing social growth theories, and experimented on his own pages and his friends’ pages to see if the strategy worked. As he watched his theories prove true, he decided he would start a digital marketing company using the insights he gained from experimentation.Social Revelation Marketing, White’s digital marketing company, helps businesses and brands increase their digital footprint and awareness online. Now, White’s company makes more than seven-figures in revenue and works with several high-profile clients.The principle that sustains his strategy, and brings success to his clients, is that any social growth requires a solid personal brand.

Build a Bank of Interactions

It’s probably been said a million times, but having a steady stream of content on your platforms is the most dependable way to create brand recognition. Think of it this way: every time you send a message, post something on a social site, share a resource, or communicate with a colleague, you are building a bank of interactions that solidify your personal brand. 

These interactions are like currency in the digital world, they add value to your personal brand. Strategically, consistent interactions and content aligns with the algorithm and provides more opportunities for your brand to be discovered.

Cultivate Culture Around You

In his years creating and sustaining large social platforms, White said he learned that culture is the most important factor. It’s not about the number of followers or customers. If you have a loyal and inclusive following, your personal brand will go further.

Cultivating culture looks like cashing in on those consistent interactions mentioned before. Make sure that you build meaningful relationships with your network, whether they are customers, colleagues or followers. Though these interactions will primarily take place in the digital world, cultivating culture is almost like creating an atmosphere in a room. Make sure that others can participate and interact with your brand.

Be Bold and Network Directly

White’s biggest, and perhaps most surprising, tip building a successful brand is to go direct to the source. Every day, White reaches out to three industry leaders through Instagram’s direct messages. His goal is to form connections with 100 leaders in his industry, and he’s doing so through the medium where they all work: social networks.

He said it’s about more than just saying “hello.” You need to offer them something of value: whether a meaningful interaction, a tip, a connection, or a resource.

Use the Tools You Already Have

No matter the platform, work smarter and not harder in order to grow your following and extend the reach of your brand. If you’re using social media, note the tools already available to you. TikTok has great editing software. Instagram allows you to add captions to Stories now. Twitter has an alt-text option. 

Using these resources not only simplifies the process on your end, and makes content creation and brand interaction more simple, but it also makes you more relatable to your followers or customers. White said this is one of the best strategies for building a brand without coming across as someone trying to grow their following without offering something in return.

Building a personal brand is essential in 2021. The most important thing you can do for your brand, whether you have one established or not, is to stay consistent and bring something to the table every day. Work smarter, make your interactions meaningful, and you will sustain growth over time and extend the reach of your network.