For introverts, the notion of personal branding may seem daunting – ridiculously out of character if not oxymoronic.
But Goldie Chan, an introvert who has built a LinkedIn following of 400,000 people for her branding advice and consults with large corporations, believes introverts can create memorable personal brands without feeling the pressure to change who they are.
“Anyone, even a shy or anxious or withdrawn person, can grow a strong personal brand that helps their careers and lives,” she writes in Personal Branding for Introverts.
She stresses that a personal brand is not about being someone you are not. You don’t have to turn yourself into an extrovert to succeed. You just need to choose how you want to present yourself to the world, get over any fears you may have about self-promotion and use tools and techniques that are comfortable for introverts.
“The more truly authentic your brand is, the more your audience will resonate with it,” she says.
Branding can be vital for consultants, entrepreneurs and freelancers, helping you to stand out in a competitive world. But she argues that even in technical or non-public roles, having a modest personal brand can still be beneficial. Establishing a robust LinkedIn profile and regularly updating it with your latest projects and skills can keep professional connections alert to your accomplishments and open doors for future job opportunities.
A good place to start is with identifying keywords that you will use to present yourself. She breaks those into two types, soft and hard.
Soft keywords showcase your attributes, values and interpersonal skills – words such as expert, helpful, creative, empathetic, strategic thinker, passionate, driven and collaborative. Hard keywords are directly related to your profession and role, highlighting your expertise. Perhaps you know digital marketing or Python programming, are a CPA, have financial planning expertise and are a product manager, software engineer or chief data analyst.
She recommends coming up with a list of 10 to 20 soft keywords and similar stack of hard keywords, and then whittling them down to a total of three Golden Keywords that describe you. That limit helps clarify your brand, making it easier in the long run to communicate to others.
The internet, she stresses, is for introverts. Online you can control how and when you appear and how you want to present your story (and keywords). You can take time to craft the perfect message.
“The internet removes the anxiety of one-on-one conversations, the pressure for instant responses and the fear of awkward silences,” she says.
You can grow your audience on your own terms by picking a social media site that matches your own skill set – what you naturally gravitate toward. If writing is the most natural way to express yourself, LinkedIn is probably the platform of choice. The quick engagement of short-form videos is offered by TikTok, while YouTube excels at long-form videos in which you can aim for a deeper connection with your audience. She points to Twitch if you want the authenticity in real time of live-streaming. And if it’s images you wish to proffer, Instagram is the standout. You can also choose to own the online space you use for branding through a website, blog, newsletter and the video-sharing platform Vimeo.
As for in-person social gatherings and such networking, which can be draining for introverts, she recommends establishing your own group or identifying small ones that fit your work or non-work interests. Also, look to partner where you can with extroverts. Identify five extroverts you regularly interact with who you might team up with.
Attending an event, you might mingle along with an extrovert partner. Also look for places you can go during the event to recharge. Take such pit stops when your energy wanes.
“It may take time to reach your brand goal, but persistence is what counts,” she concludes. “If introverts like me (and Taylor Swift) can succeed by staying true to ourselves, I know you can too.”
Quick hits
- Jenny Wood bombed years ago when interviewed for a senior position at Google, told she lacked executive presence, which means she talked too fast and her voice was too high-pitched. Now a career coach, she shares in her newsletter the advice of a CNBC reporter who says in interviews you should be “low and slow” – lower your voice and slow your pace.
- To use exclamation marks or not to use exclamation marks is an email Hamlet’s quandary. A series of recent studies offered an answer. Recipients felt more positively overall toward a communicator when the message included exclamations. They also thought the communicator was warmer and more enthusiastic but lower in analytical thinking and power. All this applied regardless of gender.
- “To win in the race to the future, you need to decide to show up at the starting line,” says Guelph, Ont.-based futurist and innovation speaker Jim Carroll.
Harvey Schachter is a Kingston-based writer specializing in management issues. He, along with Sheelagh Whittaker, former CEO of both EDS Canada and Cancom, are the authors of When Harvey Didn’t Meet Sheelagh: Emails on Leadership.
