Defining your personal brand on social media: 18 tips from the experts

The best move you can make is to stop treating social media like a popularity contest and start treating your brand like the client that matters most. Most people fail because they chase likes as a vanity metric, but my team and I figured out that the best approach is to start with the end result first and build actual content that gets you there.

Within the past year, this strategy got my agency more than 4.8M views and 50 new qualified leads a month. We did this not by being “famous,” but by being very specific. I’ve realized that a niche brand with 5k people is way more profitable than a generic brand with 500k. For example, I use words like “cart abandonment” or “LTV/CAC ratios” in my thumbnails. This boring jargon acts as a filter; it deters beginners and attracts senior leaders and entrepreneurs, exactly the people who have the problems my agency can solve.

To refine your persona, ask: What do I want to sell and who’s the perfect person to buy it?

Once you’re clear on this, apply the 40-40-20 rule to your content: 40% of your posts should solve a problem (Impact), 40% should share your story and perspective (Authenticity), and only 20% should be promotional. So instead of focusing on likes, you’re digitizing your reputation as one worth trusting because of your results and testimonials. Data shows that 76% of millennials are more likely to buy from someone with a personal brand, but this won’t be due to how many likes they get. Treat your brand like your biggest client and the money will follow the reputation.

One piece of advice for defining your personal brand on social media would be to build it the same way you’d build a company: by owning a clear position in the market.

Most professionals struggle with personal branding because they try to appeal to everyone. In doing so, they dilute what they actually stand for. But credibility forms almost instantly. Research from the Nielsen Norman Group shows that users make trust judgments in under 50 milliseconds, and consistency plays a major role in shaping perceived authority. Put simply, the fastest way to clarify your personal brand is to stop trying to be broadly interesting and start being unmistakably relevant to a specific audience.

What helped me clarify my own online persona was treating it as a positioning exercise, not a content exercise. Instead of asking, “What should I post today?” I asked, “What do I want to be known for?” I focused only on areas where I had repeatable execution experience, where senior decision-makers consistently sought my perspective, and where there was clear, measurable business impact. That meant narrowing my content to performance-driven marketing and influencer economics, rather than offering general or surface-level marketing commentary.

This kind of focus compounds over time. Forbes has consistently highlighted that strong brands win through clarity, not volume. LinkedIn data also shows that creators who publish consistently around one or two core themes tend to see stronger engagement and faster follower growth than those who post broadly across multiple topics. The Edelman Trust Barometer reinforces this further, noting that demonstrated expertise and consistency outweigh posting frequency when it comes to building trust.

McKinsey echoes this insight, finding that focused brand positioning improves recall and conversion efficiency.

Once I committed to this discipline, my content became easier to create, easier to scale, and far easier for others to associate with a clear and credible value proposition. Over time, that clarity did more for my personal brand than any growth hack or posting schedule ever could.

I started a global branding and digital marketing firm 24 years ago. You do not exist today if you cannot be found online. Being invisible online is a terrible strategy. You have to meet your audience where they are to stay relevant. If we learned anything during Covid, it is that your online presence is only growing in importance. Social media is 24/7, so it is easy to get sucked into it, but don’t let it drive you crazy; you do not need to be everywhere; it does not matter which platform you choose; just pick one or 2 that are authentic to you. Don’t spread yourself too thin. You do not need to blog or be on all social media platforms, but make sure you are active on the ones where you are.

It should look and sound like you and the brand you have built. Tell a consistent story to build trust. Everyone is not going to like you or hire/buy from you, but for the ones who would be a great fit for you, make sure they feel and keep a connection and give them a reason to remember you so that when they have a problem your product/service can solve, they think of you first. If your customers do not use Facebook, Twitter/X or Instagram to find you, then you do not need to make them a priority.

For professional service businesses like mine, LinkedIn matters the most. Just pick one primary platform and build a clear message by sharing educational content that reflects your expertise. I focused on LinkedIn as my main channel and used content marketing and thought leadership to consistently communicate a cohesive set of themes. Reinforcing those points across my professional channels helped clarify my online persona.

You know when you’re talking to your friends about your work, and you’re excited and passionate about it and it’s just spilling out and you’re flowing and having fun? That’s your personal brand.

And you know that other version of you that you think is your personal brand? Where you get all stiff and formal, and you say what you think you’re supposed to say, and you do what you think is expected of someone in your position? The one that gets uncomfortable on camera because you’re stiff and shy and “don’t know what to say?” That’s not the real you. That’s the fake you. That’s the clunky, heavy armor you put on to hide yourself. That’s your personal insecurities and unresolved traumas coming out.

I’ve had multiple experts in their fields tell me they don’t want to be the center of attention, don’t want to be an influencer, don’t feel comfortable on camera, etc., and then turn around and have an amazingly fun, insightful, exciting conversation that would have literally been amazing if someone had just recorded it and put it on YouTube.

You don’t have to become something you’re not for your personal brand. You just have to realize you’re already there and have everything you need.

You’re faking, hiding, burying your brand because of your insecurities. The solution isn’t to work on your brand. The solution is to work on your insecurities.

Go back to the beginning and ask yourself why did you start on the path you’re on.

Before algorithms, aesthetics, or trends, there was a reason you decided to show up and put yourself out there. That reason is the foundation of your personal brand. Doing this very thing helped me get back to my personal brand, which has allowed me to clarify my offers, show up more confidently, and better connect with the right clients. At the end of the day, your personal brand isn’t created by posting more. It’s created by getting honest about your story and letting that guide how you show up.

Here’s a key takeaway: Don’t spread yourself too thin. Choose a specific problem you want to be recognized for addressing, and stick with it. What worked for me in defining my online presence: I quit trying to guess what would get the most attention and began sharing what I actually knew, believed, and had firsthand experience with. When I aligned my content with my true expertise and perspective — and kept at it — the clarity of my personal brand improved, becoming more genuine and easier for others to identify.

In an era of hyper-curated feeds, many professionals fall into the “Performance Trap” — the exhausting struggle to maintain an artificial image. However, a sustainable personal brand isn’t something you invent; it’s something you align. To find your authentic voice on social media, you need to analyze four fundamental pillars.

1. Personal Interest and Comfort

A brand built on a topic you aren’t genuinely interested in is a fast track to burnout. Ask yourself: What can I talk about for hours without preparation? Your brand should live in the zone where your curiosity is limitless. If you aren’t comfortable with the topic, your audience will sense the friction.

2. Skills and Strengths

What do you do better than most? This is your competitive advantage. Whether it’s high-level strategic thinking, a specific technical skill, or a unique communication style, your strengths provide the “proof of concept” for your brand.

3. Audience Pain Points and Fears

A personal brand isn’t a monologue; it’s a solution. You must identify the “silent struggles” of your Target Audience (TA). What keeps them up at night? When you speak directly to their fears and offer a way out, you transform from a “content creator” into a “trusted guide.”

4. Marketable Qualities (The Monetization Filter)

Finally, look at the skills and qualities for which the market is ready to pay. A hobby is for you; a brand is for the marketplace. By identifying where your expertise meets a high-demand niche, you ensure that your online presence is both influential and profitable.

The Goal: Connection Over Reach

The ultimate secret to a successful online persona is shifting your mindset: We are not chasing an audience; we are broadcasting our passion. When you speak about what truly “makes your eyes light up,” you create a magnetic effect. You aren’t just collecting followers; you are attracting a highly engaged audience that is on your exact wavelength. This genuine “Match” — where your authentic interest meets the four pillars mentioned above — is worth a thousand times more than millions of empty views.

In the world of modern marketing, depth beats breadth every time. Focus on the “Match,” and the brand will follow.

I believe that our online personas really are about what we choose to share. It’s easy to try too hard to come up with everything on your own, but you can curate pages and information that reflects you, and you’d be surprised how many people pay attention when it resonates. For me, Facebook has really opened a lot of relationships for me, personally and professionally. And I don’t really talk about work. My Facebook is mostly about a certain flavor of humor, mostly dark, but not always. I’ve had acquaintances from high school and college become legitimate friends and brief professional relationships solidified. All because I share such funny things, things a certain type of person consistently enjoys. I do also share my own statuses about my life, and people honestly care because I gave them a small moment of laughter during a tough day.

This all culminated organically into my business, a collection of divorce greeting cards and merch that are sometimes funny, but also wade into deep territory. At my age, most people have either gotten divorced or seen it up close. This all fits right in with my online persona, but I didn’t set out for things to happen that way. Humor is something that I gravitated to online, and then my business was rooted in that type of humor. Find things you love and share them. Share the things that make you feel like other people are missing out if they don’t have a chance to see it. And then once in awhile, share what’s on your mind, too. If these connect easily, you’re there. If you have random people from high school saying, “I told my wife to friend you because your page is so awesome,” you’re on the right track.

Think about how you want to be remembered.

What helped me define my personal brand was stepping back and focusing on the reputation I wanted to be associated with my name, rather than trying to keep up with whatever was trending on social media. Early on, I realized I wanted to be known for high-quality standards in my field, and that became my compass for everything I shared.

Once I was clear on that, branding decisions felt more natural. It was easier to decide what was worth posting, what didn’t fit that image, and how to show up in a discussion without it looking forced.

I’m responsible for the brand persona of a boring, secure email service. Making people engage on social media with such a brand is tough: Everyone needs email, but no one really likes it or cares much about the provider they use. So how change this? We decided on a clear mission-driven strategy. Our brand persona on social media, and in other communications, clearly communicates the mission of our brand (and not so much the product and what it can do).

In our case the mission is to fight for people’s right to privacy. The brand persona on social media does this by not only highlighting how we and our security and privacy standards differ from other solutions, it also engages with the community to fight for the greater good so to speak: We inform about upcoming dangerous legislative initiatives that could undermine the right to privacy. In doing so, we also alert people to the political debate and motivate them to speak their mind publicly, and also to contact politicians directly. This brand strategy not only helps with actually achieving the goal — for instance the EU draft law called Chat Control will not force service providers like us to undermine their end-to-end encryption — but also has a positive effect on our brand image.

So my advice for someone looking to define their personal brand: Look for your main mission. What do you want to achieve with your personal brand? What is the greater good you are working towards? Once you have clarified this, you can build your brand around this mission.