how to build a personal brand
Is Pinterest the place?
In this podcast episode, we’re answering this question. Other platforms like Instagram and TikTok are ripe for influencers, but what about Pinterest? Is it the place where you can put your face on video?
First – let’s define the term “personal brand”.
Sprout Social says personal branding is the process of defining and promoting what you stand for as an individual. Your personal brand is a culmination of the experiences, skills and values that differentiate you.
For social media influencers, freelancers and keynote speakers, building an effective personal brand is part of “selling” themselves to clients. For everyday people, a personal brand improves confidence, opens the door to new opportunities, and helps you better understand yourself.
Said another way – you’re taking who you are and broadcasting your personality to the world, or perhaps a persona you’ve created so people can connect with you.
This comes with certain ideas, values, beliefs, and styles, and this is what people come to associate with you and becomes why they follow you.
Where are personal brands traditionally grown?
Personal brands are grown on social media, think Instagram and TikTok.
For example – A bodega owner in New York has become really popular on TikTok. He uses certain words, styles, and sayings that people have come to associate with him.
Do they know everything about him? Probably not. But they follow and know this “personal brand” of him.
The most well-known personal brand is probably the Kardashian family. We all have something come to mind when we think of them, but it started by people being able to watch a show that pulled back the curtain on their life. We got to see their spending habits, relationships, food habits, exercise routines, and most importantly, buying power.
Not everyone is striving for this level of brand growth, but some are.
how to build a personal brand on pinterest
Another example is Elyse Myers, who grew on TikTok and now is huge on Instagram. She made a comment recently about Pinterest and how she doesn’t understand it or how to use it for her brand. This highlighted for us the trouble with trying to take a particular brand mission and translate it to Pinterest.
Elyse shares a lot of personal videos and Reels of her talking to the camera, with a lot of her content centered around her anxiety.
She has a lot of tools, tips, tricks, experiences, and knowledge about anxiety. Tips and tool recommendations are great to share on Pinterest, as they can be mostly evergreen AND are solving or helping to solve a problem that Pinterest users have and are searching for.
The switch in strategy is subtle, and the content is pretty much the same. It’s less about her as a person and brand, but more about the topics she covers.
RELATED: How to test your strategy on Pinterest (podcast/blog post)
what are people searching for on pinterest?
Something to remember about Pinterest is that people aren’t searching for names most of the time. So even if they follow Elyse or the bodega owner on other platforms, they’re not necessarily searching for those specific brands or names.
They want a solution to their problem, a recipe for the ingredients they have in their kitchen, a DIY tutorial for making homemade deodorant.
Whatever it is, they mostly don’t care who it comes from, just that the solution works or the recipe is tasty.
What this means is that it doesn’t really work for Elyse to be promoting her name or her personal brand, she would need to focus more on the solutions and recommendations she provides.
what if you don’t have 1 million followers to start with?
- Write down the top two topics you have the most knowledge about (or want to be talking about the most)
- Around those topics – what questions are people asking?
- Use content you already have or record some short form video around these topics (put the video into Idea Pins) – focus mainly around how what you have to offer can solve their problem or help them find a solution.
- Invest in this strategy for at least 6-8 months – posting short form videos 2-3x per week. As much as possible, have these Pins link back to your website or direct people to your site in some way.
One last thing to note – Pinterest can be a great platform for growing your personal brand, particularly if your brand is centered around a theme well-suited to the visual nature of the platform. Like art, design, fashion, food, home decor, or DIY and crafts.
Pinterest can still work for you if you’re in a different niche, like finance or building wealth. But answering the question “how to build a personal brand on Pinterest” will just look different than the more “traditional” niches listed above.
We’d love to hear from you! Have you grown your personal brand using Pinterest? Do you have any tips or strategies that have been effective for you that we didn’t mention here? Comment here on this blog post or send us a DM on Instagram.
Additional Resources Covered in Podcast:
- Simple Pin Media’s Pinterest Marketing Services
- Elyse Myers on Instagram
- Amanda of I Am Baker
- The Ocky Way Bodega Owner
Simple Pin Products and Resources:
- Is Pinterest Social Media? (podcast/blog post)
- How to Create Idea Pins for Your Business (workshop)
- Idea Pin Best Practices (YouTube video)
