It's time to get personal (with your branding) - Emma King and Charlotte White

It's time to get personal (with your branding) transcript

Emma

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Scaramanga podcast. I'm Emma and I'm the Social Media Manager at Scaramanga and I'm joined by Charlotte, my wing woman, and she's the Social Media Assistant at Scaramanga.

Charlotte

Like Batman and Robin.

Emma

What is it? Timon and Pumbaa. I'm Pumbaa, obviously.

Charlotte

I can't remember which one's which. Which one's the meerkat?

Emma

It's Timon. You're Timon and I'm Pumbaa. Pumbaa's the fat one.

Charlotte

Oh no! For the record, Emma's not fat at all.

Emma

It's alright. It's okay. I've come to terms with it.

Charlotte

Okay, well anyway. Today we're talking about personal branding. It's become such a big thing in 2024. So we wanted to come on the podcast and perhaps if you're not sure about what it is or how to do it or the best codes of practice, then we're going to take you through everything and why we think also that it is something that you should be doing.

Emma

Yeah, I feel like personal branding as well as like a big thing for people in digital marketing and social media.

Charlotte

Massively.

Emma

Like it's a huge thing. But we're going to break it down for you. So the first step is obviously setting up your profile. And when setting up your profile, you want to make it nice and clean. You want to make your objectives really clear. So a nice headshot. I noticed in my notes Charlotte's written 'sexy headshot'!

(Laughter)

Charlotte

I don't mean sexy, I just mean like... because we tried to record this podcast once and when we were recording the previous podcast, I said sexy and then as soon as I said it, I was like 'I shouldn't say that. But I thought I'd put it in the notes because it's funny.

Emma

A professional headshot.

Charlotte

Professional, yeah.

Emma

That looks nice and clean. And then when you're writing your biography, you need to just be really precise and highlight your main skills, your experience and who you're targeting basically. And obviously on LinkedIn, get your branded cover and make it all about you and really advertise yourself.

Charlotte

Yeah, I feel like with the cover photo on LinkedIn, if you don't know what it is, it goes on the top of your profile when someone's viewing it as a banner.

Emma

Yeah.

Charlotte

Yeah, like the banner. It's good to add there potentially your contact details too. That's quite a good place to do that. So put it nicely together, perhaps in Canva or Figma. Emma's favourite is Figma.

Emma

I'm a Canva girl, I'm through and through.

Charlotte

Figma is like a more complicated Canva basically. With Figma, you start from scratch basically, but with Canva, you have the templates. So you can use either. I would say Canva.

Emma

It's got more examples.

Charlotte

It's got more examples. So if you're not a graphic designer at heart, Canva is definitely a good place to start because they have those templates for you just there and ready to go. So Figma is if you want to express yourself a little bit more.

Emma

I feel like it's more personal design. If you know what you're doing, obviously.

Charlotte

Yeah.

Emma

But also I've noticed that some people put their other social handles in their banner as well. So they'll put like a little Instagram logo or Twitter (X) and they put their handles as well. So there's also that option.

Charlotte

Yeah, I think actually when I'm thinking about it as well, it might also depend on if you're working for a company because our banners are the Scaramanga branding. So perhaps you work somewhere where they have a banner available for you that basically promotes the business that you're in. So it might be that too. There's different things you can do with that.

But for a self branded cover photo, that's more for people who are perhaps job searching or freelancing or working within a business that they just don't have the branding. Or perhaps you don't want to use their branding, which is perfectly valid. It's your profile. I think it's nice that we use the Scaramanga.

Emma

I think that it's uniformed and we do it for our clients as well and make sure their headshots are all matching.

Charlotte

Yeah.

Emma

Their banners are all matching. It just looks nice and clean.

Charlotte

Yeah. I would say circling back to headshots as well. It's definitely something you can do yourself. But I know quite a lot of people in digital marketing who go and have photos done.

And I think it's interesting now because this year particularly, I've seen more, I have a lot of connections in social media. They have more, what I would say, are fun headshots.

I've seen people kind of, you know, posing as if they're on the phone like, and holding their phone and being like...

I mean, I could forget that we're on a podcast and they can't see what I'm doing!

(Laughter)

Emma

Oh yeah! Haha!

Charlotte

Sort of like as if someone's looking down at their phone and they're like got a shocked face, a shocked expression when they're looking down at their phone. That's the expression I just did for the cameras.

So I think there's room to express yourself in your headshot.

Emma

It's just got to be done the right way and tastefully.

Charlotte

Definitely. Well, I guess that leads us onto the next step quite nicely, which I will introduce. So once you've got all that set up, it's looking clean, it's looking professional. The next step is to really decide what you want your profile to be.

And as with anything, most things before you start a project, you would do research on how to do that project in the best way. And I think with personal branding and setting up your profile, that also applies.

So do research and learn from others about what works well in terms of how people in your field personal brand themselves and get some inspiration from them.

I would also say, obviously, follow them, comment, regardless of what platform you're on. And really just, yeah, just use their posts and the way that they present themselves online as a blueprint for what you're then going to do.

Emma

Yeah, you're not copying. You're just taking inspiration and ideas and creating your own.

Charlotte

Yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, when you're doing research and stuff, you'll have your own ideas, reading someone else's... it's like when you're in work and you bounce ideas off one another, someone says something and it makes you think of something else. That's more the activity that you're taking part in as opposed to looking at someone's post and going, 'oh, I'm going to lift that straight from their profile'. That's not what you want to do.

Emma

Who's your inspiration? Maybe I'm putting you on the spot.

Charlotte

I, yeah, you are a little bit, but I just write one down. There's two brothers on LinkedIn that I'm really enjoying at the moment, the Ratcliffe brothers. I think they've got like a reasonable following. I think the guy I follow, Niall, has like maybe 25,000 followers on LinkedIn.

But they are just really good at storytelling and it makes you buy into them as people as opposed to a business. And I mean, that tied in with the way that they promote their business and the statistics that they have, just, is literally, it makes me want to hire them for a project I don't even have!

Do you know what I mean? So I would say them at the moment. I look at people more on LinkedIn as opposed to anything else.

Emma

Yeah, LinkedIn is a place to go for personal brand. Because people are pushing themselves up to obviously get engagement from people, find jobs, you know, get the work coming in. I feel like it's the place to do that. I mean, Instagram does have it, but I feel like it's more like a lot of the ones I follow, they'll be like, 'here's my top tips on how to go follow us on Instagram' and they'll do a carousel on that. Less more about themselves.

Charlotte

Yeah, sure.

Emma

That's how I see it.

Charlotte

Yeah. But I remember you saying that you quite liked the guy from In The Style.

Emma

Yeah, I do. Yeah.

In The Style is like the one that I follow the most probably. And I really liked his story. That's the thing that I think is really important. You have to tell your story from start to finish of how you got to where you are. And he does it really well.

And there's some posts on Instagram, you know, he started in a bedroom that is, I think it's in his nan's house, literally with like, say, a hundred pounds, bought some t-shirts and now he's got like one of the biggest clothing brands.

It's just a really nice story. And he still flips back to every now and then, like, he'll put videos of his nan up and say, like, the impact that she's had and the belief and what he's done since he's had the company and like the things that he invests in.

And like, for instance, plus size fashion, inclusivity, diversity, like all that. So that just highlights it even more. And it's all like really genuine, it's not fake. Because a lot of brands will be like, 'oh, we need to be inclusive, quick, whack a plus size person in a campaign'. And then they don't follow it through. So, yeah, I think that's pretty important.

The other one is Steven Bartlett, I think he just the perfect example.

Charlotte

Yeah, definitely,

Emma

Obviously he's got a team of people now. But he executes it brilliantly.

Charlotte

Yeah. I mean, it came from him in the first place, I guess. He had to get that somehow. And I guess an extension of that, I totally feel you on the Steven Bartlett thing as well. But also I follow some of the team that he surrounds himself with, like the social media girl and etc.

Emma

I've follow the photographer. And there was a really brilliant post he did about this image of him. And I just thought it resonated with so many people.

Charlotte

I mean, they're employed by him for a reason, huh?

Emma

Well, yes!

Charlotte

So it's good to follow people that you saw, you would aspire to be in that position. You can learn a lot from them entirely for free. It's great.

Emma

Yeah. I think that rolls on perfectly to step three. So like the example of the Ratcliffe Brothers is that they gave examples of like how to structure posts that catch people's attention.

Charlotte

Yeah.

Emma

So when you're planning your posts, you need to structure like your tone of voice, make sure the brand and like choosing the colours and your templates and everything like that is all, you know, synergised and it works perfectly.

Formatting your posts, obviously each platform is different. You know, format and post for Instagram and LinkedIn are going to be completely different. So be very aware.

Charlotte

I think, yeah, before we move on, I would say if it's I think because we personal brand perhaps more on Instagram and LinkedIn between us.

Emma

Yeah.

Charlotte

So if we're talking about those two platforms, for example, and in terms of optimising content, like you said, making making the content for each platform.

Emma

Yeah.

Charlotte

Instagram would be more, if you're trying to convey information, you would probably put it in a branded carousel. They are a set of rolling images that read kind of like a PowerPoint. So you could do that on Canva, for example.

But if you're posting the same content on LinkedIn, likelihood is you're just going to put it all in a post with one picture perhaps. So that would be, yeah, that would be an example of optimising your content.

The other thing I would say is LinkedIn, which I think is quite funny, to be honest. I buy into it. I just I don't really understand why it's like this, but posts work really well when you say what you got to say in the text and then you post a selfie.

Emma

Yes. We were having this conversation yesterday! And I was like, every time we write something about ourselves, we're like, 'oh, it's a bit, it's a bit icky that we've got to put a picture of ourselves'.

Charlotte

Yeah!

Emma

But it catches people's attention.

Charlotte

Yes, it does.

Emma

You know what I think it is? It's the personalisation of it. So they see your face and then they feel like they know you can relate to you.

And then when you pop up on their feed again, like I done one that went up once this morning and I was like, 'ahh!' But I was like, right, what picture do you put? I don't have any professional, new headshots or digital marketing photos. So I just had to use what I've got.

But it was really important, I feel like, to add that. So when you first introduce yourself, put a picture up, not one of like, I've seen one this week and I just thought it was a bit inappropriate. It was like a selfie, but she was in her swimwear.

It was just like, yeah, she wasn't wearing appropriate clothing and I thought it was catching the wrong attention for me and sending the wrong message. So I think that's important.

Charlotte

I think it's important to, in a more traditional sense, remain professional. You know, just, unfortunately, I feel like girls potentially have to think about it a bit more. But this one's for the girls.

But like, sort of like the neckline of your shirt and the length of your skirt and that kind of thing. I think in a more traditional sense, you do need to pay attention to those things.

It's a lot more relaxed than it was as well. But I totally get what you mean about that.

I was going to say something else. I can't remember.

Oh, you said, yeah, I liked what you just said about doing an introductory post. That's a great idea. I see a lot of people doing that, saying, 'hi, I'm Charlotte. I'm a social media assistant. I've done this, I've done that.' They work really well.

Emma

And they're good people. You can actually redo them. So say for instance, you're on there for three months and you notice that you've gained a lot of connections, you can redo it. Like, either repost it or make a new one, add an update in it, and it catches people's attention again.

Charlotte

Yeah, that's a good point. You're full of good points today!

Emma

I'm on the ball today!

Charlotte

Yes, literally. Like, that's another really good point with posting as well. Like, you are allowed to repeat yourself. And it's good to repeat yourself because you want to find things that people can know you for.

So if you're sort of rehashing sort of two to three themes every so often, it's going to clock in people's heads. 'Oh, she's the girl that knows about XYZ.'

I think that where we work with Scaramanga as well, we'll come to this later, I personal brand a bit in line with the business. But I feel like what is working well for my personal branding as well at the moment is aligning what we do with accessibility with my personal branding and therefore indirectly promoting the business.

And also, obviously, promoting the message of accessibility, which we are very passionate about. But I feel like every time I post about it, more people recognize that we work for Scaramanga and specifically I do when they when they see my post and think, 'oh, she's the girl that posts about tips for accessibility.'

So you don't necessarily have to find something as niche as that because that is quite niche. But having two to three things that you 'think, right, that that is what I know a lot about. And that is what I'm going to post about periodically.' It's a good place to start.

Emma

That's like since we've taken over the socials since we first started working here, we have been very on TikTok and Reels. And one of the things that we do actively is social media updates because they're really quick.

They're normally about a minute long. But so many people have said to me, 'I really love your videos that you're doing because I literally take the information within 30 seconds and I've actually learned something when I don't know loads about social media'.

Social media is changing all the time. So I think it's really important if you're in a certain industry where you know things are changing and there's updates, be hot on those updates and just push them out.

And don't be afraid to get in front of the camera like LinkedIn content wise is changing.

Charlotte

Yeah.

Emma

There's a lot more video content and ours does really well.

And also, like we'll talk about repurposing. When sometimes when you repurpose it, it actually does better than the first time.

Charlotte

Yeah.

Emma

Because it could be relevant, there could be something that comes up and it just boosts it and you know, it does a lot better. So never be scared to reshare.

Charlotte

Yeah, that's true. Perfect. Shall I move on to step four?

Emma

Yeah.

Charlotte

Yes, you've set up your profile. You've done your market research and then you started drafting your posts and sending them off into the universe. It's going well. You're getting likes, you're connecting people in your industry.

You're, you know, becoming a sort of thought leader. It's good vibes.

Now, I would say step four is if you feel comfortable, you got to try and take it offline. I think this is really important. And I know our director Claire is a massive advocate for going to in-person networking events.

But I know that networking is one of those things that sort of...

Emma

It's like Marmite.

Charlotte

Yeah, people either love it or they really don't. It really stresses them out and it really makes me nervous, which trust me, I've been there.

So I'll give you some tips because before I finished university, I was doing a music degree and I was doing a lot of concerts and because I wanted to do more concerts, I would go to these in-person networking events. At one point, almost weekly, and when I first started going, I hated it. I just felt so awkward.

You literally stand there and you're like, you're like that emoji of the man just stood there. Do you know the one I mean? With the red top on and he's like (off camera, Charlotte mimics standing straight, silent and awkward).

That's how you feel.

Emma

Someone please to talk to me!

Charlotte

Yeah, and it's really hard when you first walk in to pluck up the courage to start conversations.

But the trouble with networking events is you kind of have to start conversations. Someone's not always going to come up to you and start a conversation. They might do, but in the event they don't, what are you going to do? Just stand there?

Emma

But you'll also be surprised at how much you have in common with people that you meet.

The first time I went to mine, I started talking about what we do as an agency and straight away they were like 'we've just got a marketing budget and we'd really like to speak to you'. Then we also spoke about Digital Accessibility and straight away Sophie was like 'I need you. we're a charity, we're creating a website. It's got to be accessible.'

Then you talk to somebody else and they're like, 'oh, I know them!' Then you somehow create this chain and then you slowly get a little bit more confident.

Charlotte

Yeah, it's just plucking up that confidence and that was going to be literally my first tip as well. As with anything, practice makes perfect. You need to just practice going.

You might have a few events that you go to where you walk away and think, that was not my best work. You're going to walk away and be like, that was not my best socialising work in my life. That was a bit awkward.

That's OK because most people, unless they're seasoned veterans, they're going to feel the same. Just throw yourself in, go to a few.

My second tip, leading on very nicely, is just relax. Everyone feels the same way. Just be yourself. Do the best you can. Don't beat yourself up if you don't feel like you did your best.

My other tip was going to be if you are nervous, it might be good to script yourself a little bit. Write down a few questions that you can use to open conversations with people.

Emma

That's a good one.

Charlotte

If you are like, 'I'm going to go and start a few conversations today' and you want to approach some people, knowing what you're going to say in your head before you go over there is going to help you relax.

Emma

I feel like, be prepared. If you've got your cards, contact cards with your business stuff on. That's really important so do not forget.

Charlotte

Take all that and definitely be hot on getting people's contacts if you think that it's worthwhile.

Emma

Always remember that the people that you're networking with there might be a contact with someone else. Someone else that knows someone else and you'll be surprised that how many people go, 'well actually I've got a friend who does this'. It's just mental.

The most important thing when you get cards, add them on LinkedIn and connect and just write a simple message. Say, 'hi, it was really nice to meet you today.' You can talk about something maybe spoken about. 'If you need our services, please reach out to us.' And then there you go.

Charlotte

Following up, yeah, 100%. That's really important.

Yeah, that was four steps to be honest. We have a piece of paper with what we were going to talk about, but we kind of already touched on it in terms of do you align your personal brand and with your company?

That obviously is totally up to your discretion. For me, I mean we align our branding with Scaramanga, but partly because we want to, because it's a great place to work and I'm happy to do that as it helps the business. But also because it's more effective sometimes than posting on the Scaramanga page itself.

And our director sees it as if we're working on what works best, she doesn't mind that we're putting time into posting on our personal account. If that is what is going to draw in more impressions and reach each, it just makes sense.

Emma

We've had people inquire through the posts that we've put out ourselves. I've had someone reach out, I used to work with, 'oh I see that you're a social media manager now, oh actually we need somebody, can I put you forward' and the ball starts rolling.

Charlotte

Yeah, exactly. So I would say, if you're with a company that gives you time to do it, then yeah, there's great benefits to aligning your personal branding with your company.

Emma

Yeah, and I would go and follow me and Charlotte.

(Laughter)

Charlotte

Shameless plug!

Emma

Just like for example. But yeah, I think it's good, like we have good examples on there.

Charlotte

Yeah, yeah.

Emma

Posting and stuff like that.

Charlotte

Yeah, yeah, as well. It's just like we'd always be willing to give tidbits of advice.

Emma

And follow Scaramanga, obviously!

Charlotte

But yeah, I guess I don't think there's any cons to honestly aligning your personal branding with your company.

But like I say, if it's not something that your company allocates you time to do within what, then it's up to you. Because then it becomes a more of a voluntary thing that you're doing.

So it's totally up to you. But there would be no harm if you don't, if you're not allocated time for it as part of your company, of you just keeping it to your own branding.

Emma

Yeah, and I think what's really important is be consistent, especially on social media, because if you're posting say once a month, it's not going to do anything.

So I would consistently post, and always remember to just always be authentic and not be false and not push out content that you think should go out. It should be stuff that inspires you and that you think your demographic or like your audience want to see. And actually being authentic does a lot better on social media.

Even in videos, people are trying to get it pristine and everything has to be correct. Actually, when it goes wrong or something happens that isn't supposed to happen, it actually looks better because it's natural.

Charlotte

Yeah, exactly. Exactly, I agree with you. Yeah, well, I think we've reached a natural end.

Hopefully that helped everybody. I'm expecting to see some...

Emma

Follows!

(Laughter)

I wasn't going to say that. Some follows wouldn't go amiss. I'm not going to lie. So if you want to follow us, then please be my guest.

But yeah, if you ever want advice from us, our DMs are always open.

It would be really nice if someone was to listen to this and then be able to show us what they've done. That would be lovely.

Emma

That's much better than what came out of my mouth!

Charlotte

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Emma

yeah that would be lovely to see. And like Charlotte said, our DMs are always open.

Charlotte

Definitely. Okay, perfect. Well, we'll see you guys in another episode. Fingers crossed.

If you don't know, we talk about all things marketing, a little bit about accessible marketing. Me and Emma come on here and yap about social media quite a lot as per today's episode.

So if you're looking for advice, beginner, mid-level, then give us a listen. Listen to the rest of the episodes. We've got some really interesting ones to be fair.

Emma

We have. Bigging ourselves up but!

Charlotte

I was actually thinking of the old, old episodes like pre Emma and Charlotte as well.

(Laughter)

But I think ours are solid too. So if you like listening to us, yeah, give those ones a listen too.

So yeah, right. Thank you guys.

Emma

Until next time.

Charlotte

Until next time.