“For any leader in the tech community, using social media is no longer optional, it is a mandatory and influential tool to establish you as a leader”
Diane Najm, CEO and Founder, PhotoPad
Developing your personal leadership brand is a profound journey. Prior to moving forward you need to be strategic. Key Social Media questions to consider:
- How do you want to be perceived by your audience
- Who is your target audience
- How are you going to interact with them
In addition, think about how your product and how social media will blend into your overall branding. This can be overwhelming and the last thing you want to do is be perceived as promoting yourself as opposed to the brand, and/or just post with no relevancy.
As the CEO and Founder of PhotoPad, I had to establish myself as a leader in the community. Embracing social media contributed to building my brand. I am now starting to reap the positive results with Photo Pad based on this strategy.
But it did not happen overnight, it took time to build my brand. Just like building a startup, it is a process and it takes a lot of patience and effort. I had to navigate through different social media channels to see which ones would benefit best to interact with ,as well as, used the social media channels to navigate consistent messages of branding and leadership.
Lastly, I strongly believe in bringing partners on this journey with me. I think of the platform I built for Photo Pad as an elevation platform that helps others get noticed. This can be beneficial in many ways. I share my messages of support for the causes that are meaningful to me such as Olive Crest. I include photos from the events I attend or are the leader of including: Women in Technology, Founder Institute, Women in Wireless, and speaking engagements with Entrepreneur forums. These events are consistent with my message of helping startups and paving the way for other women to lead.
No matter what I do, two things remain constant:
- My posts, tweets and public appearance are consistent with who I am personally and professionally
- Social media channels serve as an amplifying platform for the causes and issues that I deeply care about
I wanted to share a few tips on creating a strong personal brand and sharing your leadership message:
- Create your vision of what message you want others to perceive. For example a mentor, advisor or consultant
- Identify what social media platforms will work for you and your brand
- Create your story and thread it though the social media community
- When using social media, do not promote yourself, however, use your story mixed with personal and professional stories and statements
- When relating to a story you share, add value to it with your thought and opinions
- Make your content relevant and don’t just post random images or story that is not consistent with your brand personally or professionally
- Engage in conversations with followers that are thought leaders and with others who can learn from you
Guest Writer-Diane Najm
A serial Entrepreneur, Founder of PhotoPad for Business, A Visual Marketing Social Hub for Business’ and Organizations to publish and share their events and activities in a ‘magazine like’ visual story. http://photopad.co/ Seattle, Director of Founder Institute, Angel Investor, Mentor and Coach to Start-up Weekend, Organizer Start-up Weekend Youth Edition Seattle, Expert Panelist and speaker on Entrepreneurship, Advisory to Board for Start-ups, Serving Board Of Trustee Non-Profit Olive Crest and Women in Wireless/ Philanthropist.