Watch This Episode of MwahTV About Personal brand content strategy
NATALIE: In this episode of Mwah TV, it’s me Natalie Hailey from Hot Content! Laura has asked me to be her guest correspondent this week and we’re doing a fully virtual episode recorded from here in Cumbria.
Stick around to see me sharing my advice on truly creating hotter content as part of a solid personal brand content strategy.
A Quick Intro
LAURA: Let’s begin with a quick intro Natalie!
NATALIE: If you have always wondered how to come up with a truly hot content strategy for your personal brand then by the end of this episode, you'll know how I do it for my own business, Hot Content, and for my clients too. I’ve been in business for five years now. In the last year, I’ve really niched and focused on YouTube. I work with Personally Branded Influencers to help them hone their message through YouTube content. I have my own channel called Natalie Hailey, which you can subscribe to today and the lovely Laura is going to put a link to this in the show notes below.
How We Met
LAURA: And don't forget to tell the story of how we met Mavis!
NATALIE: Oooooo. We met up in Edinburgh at the CMA event back in 2017 I think.
Then I booked you to catch me speaking on my birthday when Paul Lancaster invited me to talk at Newcastle Start-Up Week.
The Old Lady Thing
What a crazy night that was! We have been good pals since then and we even have old lady nicknames for each other I’m Mavis and you’re Doris.
Despite us being in new aged digital business, we identify as a pair of old ladies don’t we Dozza?
LAURA: Yes! That’s right. A pair of old souls who love the countryside and early nights!
Before we kick off today tell us what cocktail you’ve mixed to accompany our correspondence today.
The Cocktail Bit
NATALIE: Well Doris, this right here is my cocktail. It's one of my favourite cocktails. I'll let you into a small secret. I'm not a huge cocktail drinker. I prefer my alcohol to the taste of alcohol and I'm not too keen on fruity drinks. However, I will always make an exception for this, which is a Pornstar Martini.
With A Modification
If you are lucky enough to be able to source passion fruit, I would suggest scooping the seeds from the passion fruit, into the cocktail shaker, adding vodka, Passoa and sugar syrup, taking a handful of ice and then shaking.
You then strain it into one of these delicious Martini glasses. This one actually wandered home with me one night from the pub, you top up with prosecco and then add half a passion fruit, plonk it on top.
LAURA: Mmmmm hmmm that sounds delicious! I’ve made the same following your recipe!
So Cheers Babes!
NATALIE: Chin chin.
Personal Branding Content Strategy
LAURA: Let’s talk about Personal Branded Content Strategy then. In your opinion, how is this different from the more usual corporate content creation strategy? <sip>
NATALIE: Well put simply a personal branded content strategy contains a whole lot more of you than just a standard content strategy.
A content strategy is all about how you show up across all of your different channels. So that could be your website, your social media platforms, your YouTube channel if you have one, your blog, or whatever medium you're using to communicate and connect with your audience. It's not just about the content that you do put on there, it's about how you put it there.
With An Example
A really simple and classic example could be that you want to share on your social media platform that you've enjoyed a particular blog post from somebody that you admire. In the post, you'd share that you think it might be a useful resource for your audience too. So instead of just reposting a link to the blog content and describing what the post is all about, with a personal branded content strategy, you would do something much more than that.
To Make It More Personal
You might share your own thoughts on the blog or article. You might share how it affected you, and how it's helped you tell a story and make it more personal.
Generally, as well as with a personal branded content strategy, there's much more of behind-the-scenes. So obviously the whole idea is that we want people to get to know us as people. We want the image that we put across on social media to be truly us. And so behind-the-scenes content is a really really powerful way of letting people in, of building trust, of letting people see what life is really, really like for us and not just this kind of facade on social media.
Theme it Out To Help Make It Easier
And I know Laura, that you mentioned in last week's video about five different themes for coming up with a personal brand. I think it's really important for people to think about how they want to work and develop their personal brand. How to come up with some key things that genuinely define you as a person.
How you can then take those either personality traits or interests, whatever it may be, and actually then begin to integrate them into your personal branded content strategy. To convey them across all of your different social media channels and platforms.
Struggling with your Brand Themes?
You might be struggling with getting a handle on what your 5 main branding themes or values are. Without these, it can be a royal pain in the ass to come up with the right creative anchors to use in directing your content creation efforts.
I made this quick template to start organising your thoughts on this.
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And Influence
LAURA: And how did having this kind of strategy with your content help to build the influence you have as a Personal Brand?
NATALIE: That's a good question, Doris. Before I go on, I'm just gonna have another sip of my cocktail.
And Memorability
First of all, I think it gets you noticed. People tend to remember when you've shared something personal or shared something from behind the scenes in your life or behind the scenes of your business. It definitely makes you stand out.
I think it really builds trust as well. There are lots of people that I've got to know. Mostly just through Instagram or just through Facebook, for example, that I know that I would now love to work with: either have them as a member of my team or they would be a dream client; or I would like to be a client of theirs. It's purely down to the fact that I've come to get an idea of their personality. I know that I'm gonna like them. I know that I do like them. I've started to trust them because I've seen so much of their content. I've seen how good they are at what they do and how committed and consistent they are. It just goes to show how powerful this can be.
Going More Personal With Content
LAURA: How do you begin making things more personal if you are just getting started with a personal brand content strategy?
NATALIE: I think not everybody finds sharing themselves, sharing behind the scenes and sharing their own personal views and opinions on things necessarily too easy. And I think a lot of people, especially, to begin with, are frightened of putting themselves out there. I think it's something that just takes time. The more that you start to do it, take baby steps, and just gradually start to introduce more of yourself, and your personality into your social media content, into whatever content form you're creating, the easier it will get.
Most Importantly
I think one of the most important things to people who are just starting out is to try not to be everywhere all at once and try not to do everything. So pick your platform, think about where you most want to be and think about the kind of content that you most enjoy creating and that suits your personality type.
Find Your Joy
Sometimes it can take a while to get to that point. It can take a while to realise what those content forms are that you most enjoy.
For example, I used to have a podcast and I did enjoy doing the podcast, but it was only when I started the YouTube channel that I really, really saw how, when you find the content form that's for you, you put your heart and soul into it and it sort of consumes you, it's everything you want to do.
And Bolster it With Social
And then the only other place that I really focused on is Instagram, because for me, YouTube and Instagram, go hand in hand, I have a presence on other social media platforms, but YouTube and Instagram are where I put my most time, energy and effort and our good friends, Andrew and Pete, they always talk about the 90-10 rule, which is put 90% of your energy into one thing or one place.
Put 90% of your focus into that and the other 10% on all the other things. I do believe that that is the only way.
Personal Branded Content Strategy Inspiration
LAURA: I'm really interested to know who you've picked here but who do you recommend people take a look at when you want to give them some really good inspiration of people who have a personal brand content strategy and they're doing it really well?
NATALIE: There are loads of people that I could mention here and when I was thinking about this, I'll be really honest.
Further Ahead Examples
There are lots of people that I follow on YouTube and Instagram such as Amy Landino, Amy Porterfield is another prime example, and people like Marie Forleo.
They are pretty way along in their content creation journeys and their content is super polished, their personal brands, they have had so much time to actually get them down to a T and you will see that they are really honed and polished personal brands.
But somebody who just really jumped out for me recently is Holly Gillen...
Who is Holly G?
Her YouTube channel is Holly G Studios and that's the name of her business as a whole. Now Holly has a YouTube channel, again I'm sure Laura you'll drop a link in the show notes below to Holly's channel.
What I love about Holly is the way that in her personal brand, she shares all the different sides of her personality. We all have so many different sides to us.
For example, if you go to Holly G's website, you will see she has the most amazing photography done. She is dressed up like a Hollywood starlet, the theme of her website, because she used to work in video production is very much centred around the theme of video, show wheels. It's really clever how she's done it.
Why Natalie Likes Her
And she herself is so... I mean she's beautiful anyway, but on her website and her photography, she's so beautifully made up and so glamorous, like a screen siren. It's really clear on her website the industry she's in, and how she can help you. She basically coaches people on becoming better YouTubers.
However, if you follow Holly on Instagram, you'll see much more of the everyday Holly. She has a toddler, a little boy, but she's just recently had a newborn baby and she shows up on Instagram most days, she's talking about her business, but she's constantly doing videos just face to her iPhone and she always has the little baby strapped to her because for her the first few months of a baby's life, she always keeps them in a little papoose.
Authenticity
Holly, she's beautiful anyway, she doesn't need makeup, but she has absolutely no qualms about coming on camera, just jumping on her phone with absolutely no makeup, in her mum clothes, vests and whatever else and talking about YouTube and about her business. I think it's that honesty, that authenticity that's become such a buzzword, but in this case, that really is how she's being, she's being authentic. We have the screen version of Holly on her website, and then we have the behind-the-scenes, everyday version, mum Holly, mum slash running a business Holly on her Instagram feed.
That's just a really interesting one for those people who feel that they can't and don't want to be 100% polished, 100% of the time. It just goes to show that there are so many different ways of doing this, of creating this personal branded content strategy.
How Can You Be Personal and Keep it About them?
It's really common for people to go deep down a rabbit hole of self-doubt and obsession when it comes to contemplating how the real you is going to elevate themselves into "A Personal Brand".
This common term of "Keeping it about them" really throws a spanner into the works but it STILL applies to anyone who is on the quest of building a Personal Brand with their own Personal Brand Content Strategy.
Here's how.
LAURA: I’ve been your host Laura Pearman.
NATALIE: And I’ve been your cocktail correspondent Natalie Hailey. If you’ve enjoyed learning about Personal Branding content strategy with me today then you should take a look at this episode from Mwah TV.
And! Don’t forget to come and see me over on my Natalie Hailey YouTube channel Mwah!
LAURA: Thank you, Natalie! Mwah!
Timestamps for this Episode of #MwahTV
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