Personal branding isn’t a “set it and forget it” thing. It’s always a smart idea to check in on and evaluate your branding materials and efforts. In life, there is only one constant: change. Who we are and what we do isn’t static, so keeping an eye on things like your personal branding statement, photo, and approach is critical.

It can be a great time to look at your branding efforts during New Year’s. New Year’s Resolutions are either loved or hated. Some people swear by them, others abhor them, and others don’t care. If you enjoy new year’s resolutions, follow these suggestions. Even if you dislike new year’s resolutions, this is still a good time to look at your branding. Let’s begin!

It’s always beneficial to ensure you’re revisiting and assessing your branding materials and efforts. Personal branding isn’t a ‘set it and forget it sort of thing. The only constant in life change. Who we are and what we do isn’t entirely static, so checking in on your personal branding statement, picture, and strategy is critical.

Here are the steps to take to your personal branding on track:

Evaluate your personal branding statement. Having a strong personal branding statement is crucial. It is important to ensure that the statement fully resonates with your vision and passion for your work and your values and beliefs. It’s also critical that it fits you and your work well, so check it periodically to ensure it is still aligned.

Despite that headshot, does it still look like you?

It’s difficult to acknowledge that we don’t look the same as our favorite headshot a few years back or that we may have changed our hair color, cut, etc. Or that we’ve gotten glasses. Your headshot must match your social profiles and platforms so that people recognize you when you meet in person.

Investigate your social efforts.

Have you looked at the data and figured out how well your brand-building efforts are paying off? Have you tested different types of posts on that platform to optimize and utilize social media?

Measuring your success on social media is vitally important. You may monitor your posts across platforms with Buffer by checking their performance statistics. For example, you may sort by the most popular post within a set time frame to see the most effective, or you may filter by that if you want to know what post prompted the most comments, sort by that too. Analytics are also available if you publish directly via social platforms. The data provided depends on the platform, but all provide valuable information. For example, Twitter shows you your highest tweet for the month, your highest mention, your highest media tweet, your tweet impressions, and more at a glance.

Regardless of the platform you’re working on, it’s critical to track your performance to measure success. Seeing what types of content and visuals grab your audience’s attention.

Sure, take a peek at your competitor’s personal branding.

Competitive analysis and identifying your competitors are two things we’ve discussed extensively. While I refer to checking in with your competitors as a method to assess your brand, it’s also beneficial to do the same. What are they discussing? Which platforms are they most active on? It’s crucial to understand what’s happening in your industry. For example, to pitch to new conferences, you should learn what they’re talking about to stand out.

Be sure to look beyond the numbers when you are evaluating them. While social platforms allow for quantitative data comparisons, it is just as important to be qualitative.

Make writing a priority.

Every person possesses distinct qualities, and composing may not be at the top of everyone’s list. You don’t have to avoid it if it’s not one of your strengths; it just signifies that you have to allocate time for it.

Creating thoughtful tweets, a blog post on your website or an article on LinkedIn can be helpful if you schedule the time. You don’t have to schedule much time, which would be overwhelming. Even scheduling 10 minutes on your calendar regularly can help you sit down to write.

It’s time to check up on your personal branding strategy.

It’s important to periodically take stock of your branding and ensure you put your best foot forward, regardless of whether or not you have New Year’s resolutions. You don’t want your efforts to be unsuccessful because you never checked to see if your strategy was working. So, take some time to check your personal branding and make sure it’s in excellent shape.

Got branding images you haven’t used? Please read my post on how to put them to work.

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