Building my personal brand (and what’s actually working)

So I've FINALLY decided to get serious about my personal brand. Bit late because personal branding is literally everywhere, but better late than never right?

And I'm desperately trying to not turn this into me just posting on Instagram twice a week, or maybe even finally launching that TikTok account, but actually trying to put myself out there. So being consistent, being transparent, and making sure that when people hear 'Lucy from Elevating Ecom' they really know what I stand for.

But honestly, I'm only about a month into this and I did not realise just how big the world of personal branding is. I'm learning that it's not just about my tone of voice, but about what I wear, how I look, the 'lifestyle pillars' I talk about, the type of social posts I do. Every part about you needs to be clear and needs to be consistent. And if that doesn't seem hard enough, every expert out there is saying something different: post daily but also post quality over quantity; niche down but also appeal to a broad group; be personal but make sure you're professional.

I simply don't think it's possible to follow it all. At least not for me. So I thought I'd do a roundup of what is actually working for me to help others cut through the noise.

What I'm actually doing (that's paying off)

• Picking three core content pillars: I talk about web design, AI, and business strategy. That’s it. (Well, mostly. I still rant about bad UX sometimes.) Keeping it simple means people actually remember me for something.

• Injecting more me: I'm leaning into my natural tone of voice, sharing personal insights, and not filtering everything to sound ‘professional’. I've realised that the easiest possible way to have a clear personal brand is to quite literally just be yourself (groundbreaking I know). But the more I tried to sound like who I thought I should sound like, the harder it was and the less clear my personal brand became. So I took my own design advise of how people relate to people, and stopped trying to be something I wasn't.

• Giving away free value: Whether it’s website tips, SEO hacks, or just business lessons I’ve learned the hard way, I’m making sure I’m actually useful to people, not just another person posting for the sake of it. A book I recently read that really shaped my thinking on this is The Personal Branding Playbook by Amelia Sordell. She shares so much good insight on how you can stand out by just being yourself, and on how sharing your expertise for free allows people to trust you enough to pay for it.

There is a lot more here that I am doing. For example I completely get the whole 'lifestyle pillars' element about sharing bits about you outside of your work to make you feel relatable. But I don't really think I've nailed that yet. I like running but no one is following my business account for a screenshot of my Strava (or my personal one to be honest!), but if you've got a clear overlap area then definitely think about this for yourself too!

The unexpected challenges

• Overthinking everything: The number of times I’ve scrapped posts because ‘what if no one cares? ' is far too many. But the literal worse case scenario is if I try something new and it gets no likes and no leads, I know not to do it again in the future. I've never looked and laughed at someones post so I doubt anyone else cares that much either.

• Balancing ‘personal’ with ‘professional’: It's weird figuring out how much of me to put into my content while still being taken seriously. I am still navigating this one, but I am generally just trying to get much more comfortable with sharing my voice and my face on my accounts.

• Showing up consistently: I don’t want to be that person who disappears for months and then suddenly posts 10 things in a week. For me personally, I know I cannot commit to posting more than 2 to 3 times a week, as I am using social media as a marketing tool and it's not paying me any money. So that's how many times i post. Consistency is hard, but I’m working on it and reminding myself that consistency doesn't mean spending my life only marketing.

But honestly I mainly just think the amount to learn is the biggest challenge! I find it super interesting and love all the information and examples there, but definitely need to prioritise cutting through the noise and doing what works for me.

My game plan moving forward

• Writing more personal blogs (so hi! You’ll hopefully get to know much more about me).

• Posting more ‘thought leadership’ style content instead of just tutorials or sales posts.

• Experimenting and adapting: Because what works now might not work in six months, and I’m OK with that.

But also, I’m going to check in with myself regularly to make sure this is actually working. Is it sustainable? Am I enjoying it? Is it helping me build real connections? I don’t want to create for the sake of it; I want it to feel right.

The takeaway for your personal brand

If you’ve been thinking about building your own personal brand, then my advice is to just start. You don’t need the perfect niche, aesthetic, or strategy. You just need to start showing up, sharing your expertise, and letting people see you.

I'd love to hear if you're working on your personal brand too? And what’s working (or not working) for you? This is still a work in progress for me, but I’m excited to see how it evolves and hopefully will be able to write an update on this again in the next 6 months!

P.S. If you need help making your website align with your personal brand, check out my website design services here. And let’s make sure your online presence is as strong as your content!