You’re on the wrong path

When building a personal brand, there are three different paths you can take:

Influencer
Content Creator (or simply Creator)
Thought Leader

Yes, these overlap and blend in ways, but they each have very different goals initially.

People come to me wanting to build a personal brand but are stuck on what their next steps should be.

You’ve been following these fun Influencers and Creators thinking those are the only paths to building a brand on social media and you know, while those are very entertaining accounts to follow, you don’t want to show up online in those ways.

You’re confused thinking that’s the only way and maybe you’ve already tried emulating what those influencers do on social media but it just doesn’t feel like you.

You didn’t realize there’s a third and COMPLETELY different way to build a personal brand online – Thought Leadership.

You want to be known as an expert, to grow more as a person, to have a bigger impact, and to express your values – that’s the Thought Leadership path.

To get started in that direction, follow the individuals that you are inspired by related to the work they do.

Follow the CEO on LinkedIn, identify the researcher who posts obscure findings on their Instagram Stories, connect with the lawyer on TikTok who does deep dives on fascinating cases, and be influenced by their presence more so than others trying to get you to buy their outfit through their Amazon link or the person who does the wild effects on their videos which look really cool but don’t necessarily translate to your world.

Find the right social media inspiration for you. And if you need a place to start, follow these STEM and space leaders.