The most important thing you can do for your company is position yourself as a thought leader.
At least that’s what the numbers say.
According to LinkedIn founders have 10x the reach of their company brand online. Brand messages shared by you are reshared 24x more frequently than brand messages shared on your company’s socials. And leads that you generated through your channels are 7 times more likely to convert than other leads.
Need we say more?
Especially in such a small industry like crypto, where good names (and very, very bad ones too) rise to the top like foam, you should be working towards becoming one of those at the top.
However, most founders seem scared. Whether their project is still in testnet so they think “they have nothing to say yet,” or they have to accomplish something before speaking their mind, loads are missing out on key baby steps for them, and their companies.
Luckily, Chainstory is here to help–so let’s build your personal brand.
Here’s our tried and tested top 6 tips for building your personal brand and catapulting your company through thought leadership.
Where’s Your Informational Advantage?
This is what most founders struggle with most when thinking about what to talk or write about.
First things first, this isn’t a marriage decision. What you will be known for can change down the line, just like your startup might pivot at some point. The words you speak today won’t necessarily be handcuffs for tomorrow.
So, if you want to be famous (or influential) for something, you have to be famous or influential for something. But, you need to know what you want to be famous for.
Let’s say you are a crypto founder that wants to build the next Twitter. First, you should start posting what you think is wrong–or right–with Twitter. Prove that you know what you are talking about, and point out things that people might overlook. Or, just say what others are saying but in a more unique way.
Then, show that you care. Maybe social networks helped you find your boyfriend, or perhaps they united you with a long lost childhood friend. Offer some one-of-a-kind backstory to your mission.
And then, start building–in public. Build out the Twitter alternative by explaining what’s wrong with the current one (or by what’s right, sometimes that can be even more powerful), and then stack informational blocks on top of each other.
Before you know it, you’ll be the Twitter Assassin, building the Twitter Killer.
Pick Your Content Buckets
Once you’ve figured out what you want to be famous for, it’s time to pick the content buckets.
Pro-tip: don’t be afraid to niche down.
Most founders, and content creators in general, are frightened to niche down because they think they will market themselves out of their market. That’s anything but true!
Your informational advantage–that thing you know more than anything about–lives at the center of your niche. The idea is to place yourself in the top 0.1% of people who truly understand what they are talking about.
From there, you can expand.
So, once you have your informational advantage, it’s time to pick 2-3 content buckets to start talking or writing about. That’ll give you ample subject matter to toss into the world and start building the lego blocks of your personal brand.
Never Stop Talking About Those Topics
Being consistent is probably the most difficult, yet important, piece of the puzzle.
Having the ability to play the long-term game is what sets apart most founders. Jeff Bezos has been at the head of Amazon for more than two decades. Same goes for Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, or Tesla founder Elon Musk.
What do they have in common? They’ve built some of the most important companies in the history of mankind.
And what else do they have in common? The ability to stick with it.
Now, you might be saying, “why don’t I just focus on building my company instead of my personal brand?” Well, in the age of social media and in the times of the attention economy, we live in a world where great products sell themselves, but many times the founders also need to go out and sell.
No industry has this harsher reality than crypto. We are a social media-centric ecosystem, where our voices elevate our brands, and thought leaders move markets. You can berate and hate all you want, but that’s the reality.
So, pick your informational advantage, expand through the 2-3 content buckets, and then never stop talking about those subjects.
Much like you won’t go to the gym once and expect to see the results, the same goes for this strategy. But when you’re strutting the six pack at the beach, who’s laughing then?
Avoid Selling Your Company
Copywriting 101: never sell, always educate.
The idea when building a personal brand is not to explicitly sell your company. The idea is to educate people on what you know a lot about. Prove to them that you are an expert in your field.
Because when people are looking for whatever your company does, they will:
- Look for your advice, because you’ve become an expert in the space.
- Run across your company and already trust it because you are building it.
However, most founders make the mistake of selling their company, its products, and services.
“I know a lot about this because my company does XYZ,” they say. Big effin’ mistake.
Instead, you want to be writing about everything that surrounds your company, or the sector your company operates in, but never touching the company itself–unless explicitly asked. Remember, people want to arrive organically at your company and then pin it next to you, rather than get pushed into it.
Re-use, Reduce, Recycle
Imagine wearing a beautiful dress just once. Of course not! If you look great in it, then you crush it time and time again.
Well the same goes for your content. If you’re only publishing on LinkedIn, and avoiding X like the plague, you’re missing a whole lotta market share.
Some of the most important influencers in the world–the word might be ghastly but the success is real–talk all the time about reusing their content across all social media platforms. Besides, something that people don’t tell you is that what doesn’t work on Twitter might kill it on LinkedIn.
Or that short video on TikTok that only your mother saw went viral on Instagram.
You never know what’s going to hit.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Feedback
For better or worse, the internet offers immediate feedback.
As soon as you hit publish, your ideas are in the world. What does that mean? Instant iteration. In real time you can see what works and what doesn’t. What’s resonating and what’s attracting crickets. What topics people are interested in and what they are tossing out like yesterday’s bread.
Use the internet to your advantage. Grab those replies, and start working on your next piece of content.
The idea isn’t to be incredible on the one go, but like James Clear, aim to be 1% better every time.
Do that, and you’ve put yourself in the 1%.
Conclusion
Building your personal brand can be cringe, and at time annoying.
But those that do it properly, will see success faster, greater, and heartier, than their counterparts hunkered down typing away at the keyboard.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be building your brand not just for yourself, but for your entire company.
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Telling the stories of the people covering crypto
