Personal Branding & Blogging – Advice From Hajj Flemings

By: Nikki Little

Identity played host to the Detroit Bloggers meetup last night with speaker Hajj Flemings, who talked about personal branding and blogging. Hajj is a personal brand strategist, speaker, author, CEO and founder of Brand Camp University and CEO and Co-Founder of Gokit.

If you know anything about Hajj or have ever heard him speak, you know the man ain’t fakin’ it when it comes to personal branding. He knows his stuff! Whether you blog for personal or professional reasons, you can learn a thing or two from what Hajj shared at this event. Here are some key takeaways, plus a short video with Hajj elaborating on brands as stories and why identity is critical when blogging:

Think about how you can create a narrative about the work you do. For personal branding, make yourself known within your community.

Think about how you can operate in a particular space. What’s the space you can own?

Brands are stories. At the end of the day, people make an emotional connection to a story.

Think about how that story is being received, especially if it’s told across multiple channels and platforms.

Think and communicate in digestible chunks, or sound bites. That’s the best part about Twitter.

Your story must be able to be told in 3D – in person, print and online. And perception has to equal reality.

Creating your personal brand isn’t just creating a blog – it’s also your interaction with people in real life and online. Be a relatable and grounded person. It’s more about being a good person.

Identity is critical. Think about the identity you are creating. What’s the identity you’re communicating to the outside world? What are you really looking to build?

Your bio is a story about you. Clearly communicate that story. Put links for context in your profiles/bios. People aren’t going to work that hard to get clarity about what you do.

Think about what you want to communicate through your profile photos. Your picture should change as you change. Get rid of those high school profile pictures!