During photo sessions for business professionals, people sometimes shyly laugh and say, “Actually… What am I going to do with so many photos of myself?”.
Our answer? Use it for social media content!
The variety of headshots and lifestyle shots that you get from one photoshoot gives you plenty of visual content to post on your social media channels for a while.
The idea is to accomplish two things with your visual content:
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Build your personal brand presence online
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Create content that your audience will value
Of course, when you’re doing this, you want to avoid sounding or looking repetitive so people don’t lose interest. Planning your social media content by “pillars” helps you avoid this. (You’re probably not going to only use photos of yourself for all your social media posts, but they will come in handy every few weeks or so.)
Here are the five types of content pillars that can help you build your personal brand and ideas for each.
1. Educate
Photo by Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash
This kind of content is meant to educate your audience. You can use it to share your ideas and solutions, give them fun facts and information about your craft or your industry, lifestyle tips and hacks that are within the scope of your expertise, or bring them behind the scenes and show them your creative process for work.
More ideas:
- Talking about what you learned from a book
- Sharing your favourite podcasts’
- Sharing life and business lessons from your favourite films or the latest movie
- Create “How To Tutorials”
2. Entertain
Photo by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash
These could be videos, memes, illustrations, and photos that are just plain fun, sharing truths about life but in a funny, engaging and easy to relate manner. Or it could just be a sneak peak into what your daily routine looks like. It’s all in how you tell it – be entertaining!
More ideas:
- Your morning / afternoon / evening / routine
- Funny Behind The Scenes moments
- An interesting or weird experience you recently had
- A few of your favourite things or what you can’t live without – this shows quite a bit about your personality.
3. Inspire
Photo by Fionn Claydon on Unsplash
Make a difference in your audience’s lives by inspiring them. Content like this is meant to evoke emotions, be motivational, and can cover topics of life issues and the bigger picture. For corporate branding, this is also known as “brand love” content. It has the potential to make people feel good about your brand when they can resonate with the kind of values it stands for. The same goes for a personal brand. When people are encouraged by what you have to share, they’ll be genuinely interested in who you are.
More ideas:
- Interesting work experiences and personal wins
- Remind who you are and how you got started on this journey
- Share a success story from someone else, or about an inspiring person you admire
- Express your opinions, talk about what inspires you
4. Offer
Photo by fauxels from Pexels
In corporate branding, this kind of content is usually linked to the value of a specific product or service. It is meant to convert audiences into customers by motivating them to action. However with personal branding, offering something looks more like extending a helping hand. It’s rarely about getting anything in return, yet you will potentially get an expanded business network, insightful ideas from others, and maybe even a customer who is willing to continue paying for your expertise in the long run!
More ideas:
- Help people connect on your social media post.
- Share your challenges and invite people to recommend solutions
- Host an interview with a guest and offer their expertise
- Share about an event you’ll be attending and crowdsource questions prior
- Do a giveaway – this works better for tangible products
- Offer your resources and time or do an “Ask Me Anything” post
5. Inform
Photo by little plant on Unsplash
Posting informative content positions you as someone who is knowledgeable and up to date on what’s going on. It also helps your audience do the same. If you’re posting up the latest industry news or current affairs that matter to you, remember to also share your take on it. Informative content can also be about your business: Behind the scenes videos that show what you do and how you do it, stories about how you started the business, or how you run your business.
More ideas:
- Latest industry trends and updates (and your take on it)
- Reposting good deals / sales
- Directing your audience to valuable resources
Create a content calendar using one or two, or a combination of all five pillars and spread them out throughout the week and month. When you write your content ideas according to a specific pillar, remember to relate it back to your brand message whenever possible, and also topics that your target audience will value.
If you’re hearing about a Personal Brand for the first time, check out our previous articles in this series here. And if you’re already game to build a visual content bank, starting with professional headshots and lifestyle content, our Visual Brand Kit is just what you need. Find out more below!
Featured image by bruce mars on Unsplash
