the

personal
branding
playbook

what will you be known for?

content.
2

• introduction 2 We're all becoming brands

• get started 7 What do you want to be known for?

• get going 13 The personal marketing routine

• closing words 24 Invest in yourself

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• introduction
We’re all becoming
brands
For the first time in history, over half of the world’s population
are active social media users. An impressive milestone.
Entertainment for some. For others, career-defining tools.
The rise of the social employee
If you’re a professional and active on social
channels with a memorable personal brand, you’re
more likely to outperform your peers in every
category: from out-selling as a salesperson, to
more trustworthy as a CEO.
If you’re a recruiter you’re going to out-hire, and if
you’re a job-seeker you’re more likely to get the job
you want.
If you’re a company, one of the smartest things you
can do for your brand is to help build the personal
brands of your people online. As a consequence
your brand will be strong, and in many cases even
your bottom line.
And it’s not only about being present online. It’s
about investing the time to create a digital identity
for yourself. Building your personal brand, and
building a following. Even if it’s micro.
3
The rise of the micro-influencer
Most say the micro-influencer is the future of
influencer marketing, especially for professional
categories. What is a micro-influencer? An expert
in any field with a moderate but strong social
following (e.g., between 5-10k).
The way brands are working with influencers is
changing. From short term, high-fees, high-follower
superstars, towards moderate-fees, moderate
followers and long term partnerships with micro-
influencers, with more relevant followers. It is
less about a high following count and more about
connection and engagement.
Micro-influencers are becoming a lucrative industry
- representing a real opportunity for anyone to turn
their expertise into a career and into revenue. The
playing field is open.
But this isn’t new - the value for professionals and
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influencers has been there for a while.
Gen Z's take
What’s interesting is the way the younger
generation looks at the influencer industry.
Close to 60% of Gen Zs want to become
online influencers. They see building a
digital presence and a following as a real
career opportunity to earn revenue, have
flexible working, and create impact.
As if that wasn’t convincing enough, there’s
a new reason to start building your digital
presence - and it’s even more inspiring. It 4
has to do with you, and how your interests
and passions could really make a change
while providing you with new revenue
streams.

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• introduction

Welcome to the
creator economy
Also known as The Passion Economy, it’s a new and inspiring
era where people are turning their passions into careers, side-
hustles, small businesses and into livelihoods.

Because of new digital tools, not only can you

create and distribute content on the topics you
care about, but you can generate revenue while
doing it.

Create content on topics you enjoy, and generate

income

We’ve seen it all around us for years; food lovers

on Instagram, and independent consultants on 5
LinkedIn. But things are evolving rapidly, with tons
of new tools and mechanisms for us to monetize
the content we create. Now you can earn income
from newsletters on Substack, teaching courses
on Udemy, writing on Medium, chatting on Podia,
live on Twitch.

The possibilities are endless. The magic - you get

to do what you love, and how you love to do it. It’s
about the opportunity of leaving a life of endless
PowerPoints, to scaling your own educational
curriculum on Skillshare. It starts as a project,
evolves to a side-hustle, and transforms into a
livelihood. We’re becoming our own brands. It all
starts with our digital presence.

The key to success in The Passion Economy:

your personal brand People should pursue what
It doesn’t matter if you’re a corporate executive,
they’re passionate about.
new professional, ambitious student, or aspiring That will make them happier
entrepreneur - the first step to achieving your
goals is to build your personal brand and digital
than pretty much anything
presence. We call this personal marketing, and else.
have developed this playbook to get you up and
running like the pros. ELON MUSK
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The playbook
The goal of The Playbook is to help you Though the contents will certainly help
build your personal brand on digital even advanced users, the Playbook
channels with a methodology we call and Routine are designed for begin-
The Personal Marketing Routine. ners and intermediates, and those who
don’t have a team to help them.
We’ll take you through basic, inter-
mediate and advanced tactics - from
perfecting your LinkedIn profile, to
getting started with podcasts. We’ll go
in-depth on the most popular personal
branding channels today, notably Linke-
dIn and Instagram.
6

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• get started

What do you want to be

known for?
This simple question can answer many of the
things you’ll need to define in your planning -
the topics you’ll speak to, the color scheme,
the tone of voice.
It’s cliche, but creating a plan is one of the
smartest moves you can make that will pay
off down the road. Be clear on who you want
to be, where you’re headed, and how you’re
going to get there.
Get out the pen and paper and ask yourself
these questions.
What is your objective?
Increase your network. Get hired. Reach 5k
followers. Start a side-hustle. Achieve financial
independence? Goals can be short or long term.
Think big!
What are the topics you want to
be known for?
Just one topic - sustainable fashion? A 360
view of you - actor, writer, CEO, mom? 7

Who is your target audience?

Colleagues, customers, employers. Data scien-
tists creating AI for healthcare in Europe?

What channels are they active

on?
LinkedIn vs Instagram vs TikTok vs WeChat.
Maybe email and not social media.

What’s your tone of voice?

We are CEOs of our own
companies: Me Inc.
To be in business today,
our most important job is
to be head marketer for
the brand called You.
Direct. Smart. Nerd. Humorous. Humble. Chal-
lenging? It doesn’t mean you have to stick to
just one, but there should be some consistency.
What kind of content will you
share?
Are you best with written or spoken words? The
difference might be focusing much more on live
video, or more on written articles. Mix it up, but
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stay true to who you are and what you create

TOM PETERS - FASTCOMPANY best.
 • get started

Define your
visual identity
It doesn’t matter if you are marketing yourself or your
business, since these worlds are merging. Humans are
becoming brands, and brands becoming human. Therefore,
you can use these principles interchangeably.

8
Use a mood board
A physical or digital collage of ideas and designs that can really help
the brainstorming process of defining your personal brand, and what it
looks like online. Check out this article from Canva on How to Create a
Mood Board.

Select a color palette & font

Some colors work well with each other and some don’t. Sometimes
that decision is best left to the design pros, like Coolors.co for color
templates and inspiration.

Create content templates

These bring your mood board, colors and fonts altogether, and can be
used for quotes, memes, images, carousels, videos and more.
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Image source: Jillian Harris on Instagram

• get started

Enhance your LinkedIn

profile
We understand the user reach of the platform - but but are we
aware of the power it holds for active personal marketing? 9

Of course building a digital presence is about being

active and sharing, and so we’ll preach this through
The Playbook, and through our blog posts: 5 Steps
to Build Your Profile on LinkedIn.

But even if you just nail the profile itself - optimized

for search and visually appealing - it can be a
powerful tool.

The perfect photo

Smile! And don’t even think of using a logo for your Searchable headlines
personal profile image. That’s what company pages
are for. This article has some good tips on how to When choosing a headline, think 1) customer needs
take a professional LinkedIn photo. and, 2) SEO.

If your official job title fits those criteria, then go

Creative cover
Don’t rush this one, and get creative. It’s the first
thing that will pop on your profile. If used wisely,
it can reflect your personality, ambitions, industry,
or all of the above. Luckily we’ve provided 20 free
for it. If not, put yourself in your target audience’s
shoes. What are they searching for on LinkedIn, and
how can you make sure to rise to the top of the list?
Are customers more likely to search for “Executive
Director at Paper.li” or something related to personal
branding?
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LinkedIn background images, formatted and ready

to use.
• get started

About section

Arguably the most important section of your profile. Use this section to describe how you’re the answer to
your audience’s problems, or what value you can bring to connections. What’s your area of expertise? Is it your
passion? How can you help others?

Keep in mind that LinkedIn truncates this section, so make the first 2-3 sentences the most important. And think
SEO as always - use keywords that help you rank in search.

Sprinkle in links and images

In your About and Experience sections, you can add

links, images, and documents. Use them! Media
will add depth to your profile and your experience.
The visual aspect also helps.

Feature your top posts

It’s obvious that first you have to post (see sections

below). Now you’ll want to feature the ones that
10
best represent your personal brand.

Skills, recommendations and follows

These sections demonstrate that you’re a human with a community. Add skills, and ask current and former
colleagues for endorsements and recommendations. Following companies and joining groups will also appear
automatically, so get active!

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• get started

Enhance your Instagram

account
Instagram is less complex and easier to get right, since there
are only a few elements to your profile.

Name and handle

The key thing to think about here - if you want to be

known for a specific topic, whether it be recipes or 11
marketing, you might want to include a keyword in
your name or handle, so that you’ll pop up during
search. Again, think about the user behavior of your
audience.

Bio

A best practice for Instagram bios is to use short

bullet points based on what you share or why
someone should follow you. Combined with emojis Image source: Jillian Harris on Instagram
of course! Example below from @davetalas. Who’s
also a great follow! The Grid

The grid is how your Instagram images look

collectively when someone lands on your profile.
For the most part the grid is about consistency -
colors, photography styles, image types, etc. Not
to imply that all images should look identical, but
rather complement each other.

Posting images in selective ways can create

interesting patterns. If your account is for both
yourself and your business topic, it’s good to keep
the grid pattern in mind. For example, you might
post three images about your business and then
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one of yourself, to create a pattern and rhythm.

Open more channels
Your audience, goals, and category will define what channels
you should have a presence on, and how active you should be. It’s
impossible to create a list that will suit everyone, but here’s a starting
point for popular western channels.

Must use channels

LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook (business/public figure pages)

and your own website. 12

Channels you should think seriously about

Tik tok, WeChat, ClubHouse, next-level newsletters.

Channels for rockstar status

Podcasts, live-streams, private communities (e.g., Discord, Facebook

groups)

The most important things to get right about setting up a multi-

channels’ digital presence:
Think differently - understand how your audience differs on each
channel and how to use each
Think the same - use consistency in your branding, tone of voice and
look & feel. For more on this, see the next section
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 • get going

13

The personal
marketing routine
Ask any social influencer, community manager or thought
leader, what the keys are to growing a digital presence, and
they will most certainly say content and consistency.
Paper.li has developed a simple system and set of tools to
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make personal marketing easy and part of your daily routine.

It’s designed to make creating and sharing a regular habit.
 • get going

01.
Stick to a schedule
Setting aside a few minutes every day to read
news and share content on your topics is the most
effective way to stay motivated and continuously
grow. First thing in the morning, lunchtime or after
hours - pick a time that suits you best and commit
to it every day, or at least Mon-Fri.
14
For example, every day at 830am, make sure
to read between 2-5 articles on your topics and
share at least one post. On Friday, add an hour to
your calendar to share a deeper perspective, and
produce long-form content. If you’re building a
business or personal brand full-time, you’ll want to
up these numbers.

If you’re a Paper.li user, setting your schedule

is so important to the flow of the platform and
determines when you’ll receive your Daily Digest.
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• get going

02.
Be inspired
You’ll be surprised by how motivating it can
be reading just one great article or listening to
20 minutes of a top podcast, just once a day.
Inspiration and creativity comes from unexpected
places. Consume as much content and be exposed
Consume as much content and
to as many thought leaders as possible. follow as many top creators as
15
Here are a few suggestions to keep you inspired possible.
every day:

Unfollow - especially on Instagram. Remove

the noise and load up on following top content
producers on your topics.

Sign up for Content Economy type channels like

Substack, Medium, Spotify. Much easier to find
great content on niche topics.

If you’re a Paper.li user, then getting content on

targeted topics is at the center of the platform.
Choose from an endless list of topics, keywords,
locations, domains, social accounts, and RSS
feeds. We’ll send you a Daily Digest with top content
to read, and relevant people you might want to
connect with. paper.li
 • get going

03.
React
Recording your reactions is a smart way to add
depth to building your personal brand, and is the first
step in creating original content. Reactions should
be interesting, bold and meaningful, and can come
in a number of different formats. The key thing is to
think about why your audience should care about
16 what you’re about to tell them.
What to react to?
• New developments in your niche
• The perspective of other thought leaders or
influencers
• The future of ____
• Articles, videos and influencers in your
Paper.li Daily Digest or Suggestions
Curate content with commentary
If you’re sharing links with no commentary...stop
doing that
Reading for just five minutes each day on your
topics can be enough to stay motivated, trigger
thoughts, and fuel content creation. And content
curation services are perfect for this.
Not only is it content to comment on and share,
but as original content creation is critical, using
third party articles to build knowledge and generate
ideas, which can turn into your own content! How
can you capture these thoughts that surface from
time to time?

Formats:

• Create a candid recording yourself. Just go

for it!

• Short audio clips, or long-form podcasts

• Written comments and long-form articles

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 • get going

04.
Create content
Creators create! This can be intimidating for Keep a notepad of ideas
beginners, but keep in mind - creating content can
This is key to any goal - building a business, reaching
mean many things. A comment can be considered
your career goals, or creating content.
content creation. First stop: planning.
When an idea strikes and you’re not ready to turn it
into content - record it somewhere and come back
17 Planning
to it later. You’ll be impressed by how much content
you can generate. Once you add to it a few times,
Keep a “content mindset”
you’ll have such a backlog of ideas. Then you can
Great content originates from thought-provoking take one day, flesh them out, and start to schedule
opinion. your posts for the week ahead.

We look at the Gary Vee’s of the world and think, As an example, this Playbook has been on our list
“How do these guys come up with this stuff!?”. Our (for longer than we will say).
argument: we all have it in us. The difference is
that Gary looks at life through the lens of listening,
reflecting and sharing. And turning his thoughts
and perspectives into content. Let’s label this as
“keeping a content mindset”.

And it’s important to understand that great content

ideas often come from your personal life. So keep
your eyes open, your thoughts flowing, and most
importantly, read on your topics everyday to stay
inspired, and record your thoughts as you have
them!
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Content types

There are two types of content that you’ll want to create: Hero content and micro-content.

Hero content is long form. Examples include podcasts and in-depth articles and videos. They take time to create
but can be turned into TONS of pieces of micro-content.

Micro-content includes short bits of information that can be text or visuals. It’s the most common form of posts
on social channels. The advantage is that they can be produced easily.

This disadvantage is that they may not help define your brand like a in-depth piece of hero content, and not as
SEO friendly.

A blog or podcast is a piece of hero content made

up of 20+ pieces of micro-content. Picked apart and
packed properly, they are now a calendar of posts.
For example, we’ll turn that last sentence into a tweet
on the @Paper_li Twitter handle. Done.

Grab quotes, powerful sentences, create top 5 lists,

summaries, and easily turn them into texts, audio
clips and visuals for Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
18 email and more. Then, take all those images and
turn them into an Instagram story or Slideshare
presentation. You’ll invest some time in the blog post, but it will fuel your marketing channels for weeks.

Check out Gary Vee’s deck on how to create 64 pieces of content in a day.

Content formats

Text-only

Depending on your goals and channels, text could be

the only content you need. I don’t recommend it, but it’s
possible. And recently there has been a renaissance
in text posts, with LinkedIn and Facebook giving them
more prominence in their algorithms than images
(unconfirmed). Here are a few tips on text.

• Good for LinkedIn, Facebook and can be done

well on Instagram via carousels

• Must be BOLD (not the format, your opinion!)

and interesting

• If you have a link to share, add it in the

comments for LinkedIn. Your post will reach more people.

• Write like you speak - remove the jargon, even on LinkedIn.

• Use spacing for readability

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• Image source: Daniel Abrahams on LinkedIn

 • get going

Raw, informal video Audio-grams

Video is arguably the most powerful personal
branding format, for obvious reasons. It’s the most
transparent view into your personality, passions,
tone, perspective. Even if your brand is highly
technical and very professional, do not disregard
video in your content mix. A few tips:
• Can be filmed on mobile (and even
encouraged)
• Try live streaming
• Invite a guest for Q&A
• Use annotations/subtitles, since most
channels don’t auto-play the audio
Audio grams allow you to turn short pieces of audio
into engaging and visual posts. These are awesome
and underused. Add audio-grams to your mix and
you’ll stand out like a pro.
Use them as micro-content by sharing voice clips
whenever you have something to share. Or turn your
long form video and podcasts into tons of posts.
Great for increasing their lifespan and promoting
your hero content.
Check out this article from Later on great apps for
audio-grams.

• Video source: Gary Vee on Facebook

19
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Podcasts

Podcasts are gaining massive traction and are very deserving of it. As of 2020, there are currently 850,000
active podcasts and over 30 million podcast episodes. Check out the Paper.li blog on how to get started with
Podcasting. And here are the highlights:

• Take notes from top podcasters

• Build a calendar of topics

• Identify co-hosts and guests

• Get the proper gear

• Find royalty free music

• Create your podcasts art

• Upload, distribute and promote!

Carousels

Create carousels now! They are easier to create than they look. Canva has tons of templates. Add a logo and
text, and you’re ready to rock.

20 Carousels are favored in Instagram’s algorithm, are visually engaging, and perfect for story telling.

And remember to repurpose your content. Turn your text posts into carousels.
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05.
Distribute
Probably the most obvious, but something creators
don’t do enough of. Multi-channel distribution should
be part of your daily routine and should include a
number of channels to reach your audience, beyond
social.
The shift from professional to informal
21 Years ago the rule of thumb was that only top
notch professional content
should be shared. So people
and brands spent tons on hiring
top videographers, script writers
and editors. It subsequently took
them weeks to publish a piece
of content; only to realize that
in many cases viewers perform
raw, candid and real video
footage. As long as you have
something interesting to say,
the finest doesn’t matter. Being
consistent does.
The channels - owned, earned
and paid
To maximize your reach, you
should include a mix of channels that belong to you
and to your partners. Consistency and relationships
are key to both.
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Owned
Website
This is your online home base, bringing together all
the elements of your digital presence: who you are,
what you’re reading, thinking, sharing. Whether it’s
a personal site or one for your business or topic, a
website is a must-have to stand
out from the rest. And unlike
social channels, it’s a destination
that you own. Get your own
URL and add it to your email
signatures, social bios, CVs, and
so on.
Social
Social is where most of your daily
activity should take place. This
is where over half the world’s
population are active every day.
Your social channels will help
you achieve all your goals: from
distribution to engagement to
networking. Aim for as much
social activity as possible, and every day. Just make
sure you use it to listen first to understand what
your audience is looking for.
For Paper.li users, social sharing is made easy. You
can completely automate social sharing to LinkedIn
Facebook and Twitter, so that your channels are
fresh with little effort. If you choose manual sharing,
you can review your content, add commentary and
perspective, and choose which channels to share
to and when.
 • get going

Newsletter

As social algorithms change and reach decreases, the reach of your

posts could continue to decline. A newsletter and email database
ensures you have a 1:1 relationship with your audience, and serves
as a super-valuable distribution channel for all your content, including
the things you share on social. A database takes time to build, so get
started as soon as possible.

For Paper.li users, newsletter creation is fully automated and easy to

create. If you pick just one article each day and pair it with a comment,
by the end of the week you’ll have a rich, personalized newsletter to
send to your audience. If you aren’t making use of this feature yet,
you should!

Earned Paid

Distribution is about where your audience exists,
22 and that is definitely in more places than your own
channels. Earned media represents a massive
opportunity to increase your reach and build your
digital presence. Here are a few examples to think
about:
• Groups and micro-communities e.g., LinkedIn,
Facebook, Reddit, Clubhouse, Twitter chats,
podcasts, and so on.
If you want to accelerate your growth to a relevant
audience, paid/sponsored content on social
channels could be an effective tactic, and done
with a budget. Even for $10/day, you can add reach
to your content and build relevant followers. Most
major social platforms like Instagram, Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn, offer a self-service paid ads
platform.

• Guest blogging - connect with bloggers on

relevant topics and see if they are interested in
featuring your editorial. They are often looking
for blog content for their audience.

• Influencer collaborations - find people who

have a similar follower base as you and build
mutually-beneficial relationships to create
content and cross promote each other. This
is very popular and effective on channels like
Instagram, and backlinking for SEO.

• Media mentions - Sign up for free journalist

services, like HARO - Help a Reporter Out.
Or reach out to contributors and columnists
directly (e.g., Forbes)
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06.
Connect & follow
Last and absolutely not least, connect. You’ll want
to think about connections in a few buckets:

1. People to collaborate with - other creators,

bloggers, journalists

2. People to follow for inspiration - influencers,

23 creators, thought-leaders

3. People who can be potential customers or

your audience - lots of options here.

4. People who can help you distribute - creators

with similar follower counts, journalists,
bloggers, affiliates/partners

5. People who can be great to add to your

network - lots of options!

Pro tip: Connect with your target on channels

they may not be using as their main channel. For
example, if trying to connect with an Instagram
creator, try them on LinkedIn. It will help you cut
through the noise. Likewise, if you’re looking to
connect with an investor, their LinkedIn is flooded.
Send them an @mention on Twitter.

For Paper.li users, check out the Shared By link in

your daily digest, and identify and connect with the
authors of your favorite articles.
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 Closing words
Digital marketing changes from one day to the next. We’ll do our best
to update this Playbook frequently with the latest and greatest personal
branding tips. Meanwhile, make sure to follow our digital channels for
the best content each week.

How can Paper.li help? Regardless of your goal - building a digital presence
can help you achieve it. Start a business, grow your network, shine in your
workplace, get hired, impress your colleagues, or just spend more time
sharing your passions. But building a digital presence online can be hard
to keep up. We want to help you do it, and do it well!
Paper.li is a next-generation personal marketing platform - simple to use
and designed to keep you active. We’ll bring you daily content on your
interests, to add to your personal website, share on social and newsletters,
24
and help you excel with tips from marketing pros. Start your free trial! We
also have a solution for brands that want to help their people shine.
paper.li