PERSONAL BRANDING FAILS: ARE YOU PUTTING OFF POTENTIAL CLIENTS?
Remember, when I did all those Facebook personal profile audits that everyone loved so much?
There was a huge reason why I decided to offer to do them publicly. Your personal profile is THE place where any of your Facebook connections check out before they get to know you more. (Or sometimes if they got to know you a little inside a group you share.)
Your Personal Profile
It is THE place where you have just 5 seconds to grab their attention and, pre-qualify those who are attracted to your personality. This filters them into two categories:
1. Those who also are attracted to your professional offers. I am not saying they are interested in hiring you, but you clearly will be mentally tagged as “something they need” and
2. Everyone else, who when the attraction is really strong, could be still your referrals, even if what you do it not what they are looking for.
Therefore your personal profile plays a HUGE role – whether you consciously realise it helps you attract clients or not yet, and even if you try to convince yourself that you keep business and personal separately.
When we do business with people – it is ALWAYS about people. If you are a coach, a trainer, a service provider or anyone who relies on face to face interaction (even if “face to face” is them looking at you on screen, in case of online course creators) – if you are one of those people, this means client attraction IS a concern at some stage, and you NEED to listen to my advice right now very carefully!
Your Content
Optimising your personal profile to make the first crucial 5 seconds count is PARAMOUNT. It means clarity, no noise and well defined next step for them to take if they ARE interested).
BUT!!! From the 6th second, if all of the above worked, the attention will go entirely on what you posted recently. And THIS is another point where you can “make or break” the relationships with your potential dream clients.
When your posts are about how hard it is for you to do XYZ, how you hate this, and how disempowering that is – what impression do you think you are leaving?
This is even worse than if you’re not posting anything authentic and hiding behind sharing links to other people’s content and motivational quotes all the time. (Another disastrous area.)
One of the most powerful strategies I teach inside my programs is about creating authentic content that empowers.
Your readers and YOU!!!
Yes, vulnerability is essential. No one believes 24/7 happy, flowers and unicorns, and you should talk about your past struggles, and occasionally current ones – but ONLY when added strategically, ONLY when they serve a purpose to connect, but also to show that you are looking for the solutions to your struggles.
NEVER POST ANYTHING THAT COMES FROM A VICTIM MINDSET!
Victim mindset stinks, and it stinks HARD!
So hard that one post like that is enough to turn off someone who has been following you with excitement and might have been ready to take the next step and work with you. And then your potential perfect people see you showing this really disappointing disempowered side, and not to say, “Hey, I have some of those struggles too”… You are simply moaning, complaining and clearly showing that you are not in the growth mindset…
Do you think they will want to trust you to invest with you at that point?
Again, no one needs unrealistic perfection from you. But unless you are strategically creating content to deepen that emotional connection – DON’T post your vulnerability or anger all over your profile. Find a group, join a mastermind, a place that is created to support us when we need it, and a place where you are not turning to for prospecting.
My clients know that they can come to our calls and spill their guts out if they feel like, and we can find a solution together. But this will NEVER affect their brand positioning as they know the importance of every word that is posted or said in public – as this can damage their efforts massively. (Think what happened to Tony Robbins recently.)
First Impressions Count
My advice – always treat your personal profile as a client attraction tool even if it merely means controlling your rants and public complaints.
Always think about the impression you are making if your dream client was to stumble upon your profile. Make sure that when you are sending people friend requests – your latest post is authoritative and serves you, not hurts you!
Go check your profile now as if you were a complete stranger and look objectively – what is the picture that your last 3-5 posts paint about you?
And to make sure your branding positioning is spot on – check out my Ultimate Visibility Kit today
Juliette Stapleton
Splenic Projector 1/3
YOUR VISIBILITY GUIDE
Juliette Stapleton is a Visibility Strategist for coaches and experts. She teaches how to attract clients online, creating your OWN marketing experience that feels good, easy and aligned with who you are and brings results.
Juliette has been featured in Forbes and several major business and marketing podcasts, like SocialChatter, 365Driven, Rising Tide, iHeart Radio, and Confident Live. She is an active contributor to world-leading online publications, such as Entrepreneur.com Influencive, Addicted2Success, Thrive Global, Good Men Project and many more.
She lives in Tallinn, Estonia.