Personal Branding: An Authenticity-first Approach to Branding YOU!

Speaker A: Hey, friends, today we're talking about personal branding. So sit back, relax. Let's do this.

Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Casual Fridays podcast with Tyler Anderson, your go to podcast for what's working today in digital and social media marketing. And now, here's your host, Tyler Anderson.

Speaker A: Welcome to the Casual Fridays podcast. I'm Tyler Andersen and this is the podcast for marketers and business owners looking to get on the digital marketing fast track. Coming to you today from an always, not always who am I? But a really beautiful sunny San Diego on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio app and wherever you listen to podcasts. Thank you for making us part of your day. I'm really excited about today's show. We're diving into the importance of personal branding and specifically how to build an authentic personal brand. But first, would you love to grow your following on Facebook or Instagram? Of course you would. Well, let me tell you about my friends over at Smirl. That's S M M I I R L. Smirl helps you transform your customers into followers. How? You ask. Smurl makes high quality social media counters. These counters display your like or follower counts on Instagram in the update in real time. The Smurl counter for Instagram and Facebook is a surprisingly powerful way to talk about your business's social media pages in real life. The concept is dead simple. They're connected objects that display the like or follower count for your business in real time. So imagine when your customers see that and they, of course they're gonna have some curiosity there and they'll follow you and then it'll update within real time. It's really co. Um, your customers, when they hear those split flaps into action, it's just pure magic. And uh, they'll have no choice but want to follow your business right there. The possibilities are endless. You can display these in your retail store through special displays throughout your store. And again, if you work from home or you're, you know, you have a virtual business, you can even display them behind you while doing zoom calls. Facebook lives, Instagram lives, whatever. They are official partners of Facebook. They ship to over 85 countries and they have a hundred day free return policy. So there's really no reason not to give this a try. And check this out. Casual Friday. Friday's podcast listeners can save 20 off of any Smurl. Just use the promo code Casual Fridays in all caps. Again, that's Casual Fridays altogether. Check it out at S M M I I R L dot com. That's Smurl dot Com. And again, promo code, casual Fridays. All right, and joining me on the line right now is the CEO of Simply Be Agency, a premier personal branding firm based in Chicago, working with clients throughout the globe. Uh, named a personal branding expert by Forbes, a top digital marketer by Inc. Uh, she's the recipient of the gold and silver Stevie award for female entrepreneur of the year in 2018 and 2019. She facilitates sold out workshops and speaks, uh, on the power of personal branding to corporations including Google, Salesforce, Virgin, Nike, Red Bull and more. And you can connect with her at Jessica Zweig. And that's J E S S I C A Z W E I G. She is none other than Jessica Zweig. Jessica, welcome to the show.

Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me, Tyler. I'm so happy to be here.

Speaker A: Well, I'm fired up. Uh, you know, definitely you got a great background in. And I know you wrote a book that is called be A no BS guide to increasing your self worth and net worth by simply being yourself. Such a novel concept, yet so many people struggle with it, right?

Speaker B: Absolutely. That's why I wrote the book.

Speaker A: Uh, that's great. Now, so what's, what's fascinating, when I was flipping, uh, through that, your book is kind of your, your personal story and how you kind by accident stumbled across the power of your personal brand. Isn't that correct? Right?

Speaker B: That'd be correct.

Speaker A: Why don't you go and share that with us?

Speaker B: So, yeah, thanks for reading my book. Clearly you know my story, so I talk about this in the book. So my background's been in digital marketing my entire entrepreneurial career. My first business was an online magazine that I ran for seven years in Chicago from 2008 to 2014, it was the largest online platform for women. For seven years strong, we published 35 articles a week covering the city, nightlife, restaurants, fashion, fitness, arts, culture, partnered with major Fortune 500 brands, grew a massive audience of 150,000 readers, all organically, really capitalized on Twitter, Facebook at the time. And this platform was like what I poured all my energy into. I didn't really think about me, my brand, my myself as the face of that business, but nonetheless, I had started my own personal channels, right, and was telling kind of my story very organically, I guess, along the way. And when I left that magazine in 2014 to start my own agency, that's why I left. I was, uh, run its course. It was time for something new. I launched this brand new business with zero clients, right? And pretty pretty much no strategy. I had no products I just really wanted to go and consult. I was a little burnt out for the magazine, wanted to kind of keep it simple. And I launched this business with a Facebook post. That's all I did, was announce online that I was leaving the magazine to go start this one little thing. I amassed a full book of clients within a week. I had more money in my pipeline than I'd ever had in my career. That was an aha, uh, moment that I had, was one of the biggest inflection points of my career. Really set me on this path of, oh, my gosh, I have a personal brand. People know me, and the equity of my reputation and my story and perception that it was enough information without even knowing exactly what I was doing to call me and ask me for the business versus the other way around. And it really set me on this path to build a space, to carve a space for people when it comes to getting online intentionally. Because when I was running my magazine, my clients, the brands I was working with, are the biggest brands in the world. Fortune 500 lifestyle brands like Nike and Miller Coors and Coca Cola, that we're navigating that space, the beginning of it all, too. And I was sitting at the table with those folks. So I took all of that, and I've really applied so much of it, but more into bringing people online, because I don't think that anything can connect like people. And personal branding is definitely a space that has a lot of misunderstanding, according to me. And I'm, um. I'm really excited to talk about it today and really kind of open up, I hope, open up people's eyes to really what it's about, what it can do.

Speaker A: So I want to unpack your story a little bit, because I think there's a lot of lessons there. So you mentioned that, you know, the. The. The magazine had run its course, and you were, you know, you just did a single Facebook post. So this is, I was assuming, on your personal Facebook profile. Right. Okay. But obviously then did you kind of, um. Did you become, like, a face of the magazine? Like, were you writing a lot of the articles? Were you the one out there? So people obviously started associate Jessica with the magazine. But then did you, like, you know, obviously before this did. Unwilling or not unwilling, but unknowingly, did you kind of direct people, like, hey, if you want to connect with me personally, here I am? Is that how you grew your following, or were they, like, really just your friends?

Speaker B: They know they were my following. I definitely positioned myself as the face of that business throughout Those seven years to connect and network. And, like, you know, our readers were women my age. They were me. They were my. I was my demographic. No one could connect with them like me. What I, what I guess I didn't realize was, like, how much power that platform of Jessica actually wielded. Like, this magazine was the brand, and Jessica was the face of the brand. But what really dawned on me when I left that business was like, no, the brand is Jessica. There is a brand here. And I can, if I got intentional by packaging that and positioning that and really utilizing that, and I could go anywhere. Like, you're always gonna be you. You're not always gonna do the thing that you're currently doing at the job with the title. You're always gonna be you. And that was really what set me on this path to figure out how do we brand ourselves in a way that is authentic, that is of service, that's sustainable, that makes people feel something that, like, to be frank, a brand can't do, like, a product can't do.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: Company can't do. Uh, and I've really seen the power, not just in my own experience running my own personal brand, but in the hundreds of clients that, you know, we've touched over the years to release. People come alive and step forward and behind the curtain, you know, and show themselves on the Internet in a way nothing can connect to your consumers like you can.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: So that's been a really amazing journey for me as much as my clients.

Speaker A: So one thing, uh, before I dive into, like, the, the nitty gritty of a personal brand, I, I, I just, I want to ask this question because I think there might be some listeners out there who are, like, wondering. They're like, well, why is this? Why should I be listening to this? Because I already have my company. I have a business. Right. How do you kind of distinguish or separate, you know, if, if, if you're a corporation or your business, you know, you're like, well, what does personal brand have to do with us? We are our brand is our brand. You know, how do you, what do you say to those kind of people? Or, like, should, Should a cor. Should a company or a corporation, um, designate individual employees to be a, um, personal, uh, brand for that agency? I guess, before we dive into all that, what's your take on, like, the relationship of a personal brand from a company?

Speaker B: Okay, uh, can I drop some really nerdy statistics on you?

Speaker A: Absolutely. We love, we love nerdy statistics.

Speaker B: So when a brand message is shared by employees on social media and that can include the C suite all the way down to the Internet. When a brand message is shared by an employee versus the brand itself, it gets 561% more reach than the same exact message that shared by the brand's social media channel. Because people connect with humans. Now, another one that I love is that brand Messages are reshared 25 times more frequently when posted by an employee versus the brand itself. On average, employees have 10 times more followers than their company's social media accounts. And content shared by employees receive eight times more engagement than content shared by brand channels. I'll often say, who's more interesting to follow? Richard Branson or Virgin? Oprah Winfrey or the own network? Ariana Huffington or Huffington Post? Um, gary Vaynerchuk or VaynerMedia? People follow people because we're more inherently interesting. Human, emotional, visceral, connected. And that's really what I want people to switch on to if they're really going to take anything away from this. Because it's so much like there's so much vanity projected onto this space. And that's true because a lot of people are doing it wrong. If you do it right, if you do it my way, simply be's way, it's never going to come off that way. Sidebar. It's just damn smart.

Speaker A: I love those examples. And I got one. You should add, uh, Mark Cuban or the Dallas Mavericks. Right, Exactly.

Speaker B: I love Mark Cuban. I sent him a copy of my book. I'm like waiting for him to share it with his world, but he probably won't. But he actually wrote me back. I sent him an email cold. I googled his email address, total sidebar, and he wrote me back within five minutes.

Speaker A: Actually, I think I've heard that, that his email's out there and he will respond to people. So that's, that's fantastic. Um, so then, so again, before we dive in, then I guess the next question. So if you're a company, should you encourage your employees then? I mean, I know you gave those stats, but I think. Are there any risks of employee, uh, of kind of like. Because I'm just going to give an example. Like I, I used to work in radio, right? And this is again right before social media blew up. And there was a kind of probably similar to what you were doing with your magazine because you said you were about like the hotspots, arts and entertainment, restaurants, bars. Um, I don't even think it's a thing anymore. I think it was acquired by another company. But there was this company Called City Search. It was like pre Yelp, if you remember. Okay, yeah, City Search. So the radio station we had, every week we did this feature and her, uh, name was Erin. And Erin would come on the morning show, talk with the morning show guys about all the new hotspots that opened up or whatever. But we saw it first and foremost, like she exploded, like more people cared about what Aaron's opinions were over the other things. So when social media did launch, finally she just spun it off and turned into a whole new company, you know, and left City Search in the dust, more or less. And of course at the radio station, we want that. So I guess the. Is that a pitfall, I guess, of encouraging employees to become a personal brand for your company?

Speaker B: Listen, if you have the approach of abundance and trust. Yep. No.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Uh, I think that maybe that sounds like a little woo, woo, but, you know, there's, there's an energy of scarcity in a lot of companies of like, oh, I don't want my employees to get snatched up, or I don't want them to get too, too clear on who they are and then leave or whatever. But I think you missed an even bigger opportunity by that small chance of it being a loss. I do actually go in. I'm hired by companies. I have a ton of corporate clients, Beam, Centauri, Heineken, um, Blackstone, bank of America. Hired by companies to go in and do personal brand trainings to their employees. Now I have really smart clients at those organizations that understand that when you power your people to represent their, the company, brand individually, to really empower them, to know themselves, to get clear on who they are inside that organization, how they uniquely express it, it actually can create more retention and more loyalty and dedication to that company because it's a personal investment in your people. And then at the end of the day, it's a multiplier effect of your message externally because your employees are sharing, clarifying who you are as an organization, the values, the, uh, benefit of working with you in a way that your company Twitter page just can't, you know?

Speaker A: Yeah, I agree. I just had to ask a question. I mean, I fully agree with that and I like the point you made up. Uh, it can also strengthen that kind of employee, uh, bond and probably help with retention. Some of the people might love the visibility they're getting behind your company and are having your company that they're affiliated or tied with it. So I totally agree with that. So for some people out there who are still kind of stuck in like, well, isn't just a personal brand like me. Like, what is, what is, what's like your textbook definition of a personal brand.

Speaker B: A personal brand is understanding what makes you you, knowing your value, knowing your worth, and being able to clearly, consistently, and constantly articulate that into the world in service of your greater objective. Many people utilize their personal brand for ROI on, um, their company as part of their overarching marketing and communication strategy, sort of as the thought leadership bucket. Other people put themselves out there to grow a community and make a difference and have a positive impact. And most of the people that I see doing it really well are those that are doing both. And that's really where I'm trying to rewrite the script on personal branding. It's not an ego play unless you're doing it wrong. It's an act of service. And you really need to think about what you're here to give, because no one really cares who you are. Nobody cares about you. Sorry. Not sorry. People care about themselves. That's why we all come to the Internet. That's why we all come and listen to a podcast like this. They don't care so much about me. They're coming here to learn what I have to share. And you too. And so when we architect a message from this place, um, then that's a personal brand. The point of a brand is to create an emotional affinity and connect with a consumer, customer, client. And no one can do that like people. No one.

Speaker A: What are some examples of? You said like, people who do it well with a kind of a combination of both.

Speaker B: M. Well, I mentioned a few of them. I'm a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. I know he's not for everybody, but he's for me. Um, I think, um, you know who Bizoma St John is?

Speaker A: I do not.

Speaker B: The CMO of Netflix. Uh, an African American woman. She's been just kind of. She was a. I forget her role specifically. She was. I think she might have been CEO of Uber, but she was in the C suite of Uber. She has done just a tremendous work of putting herself on panels, building up her own social presence, like taking herself, packaging her own brand and taking it with her wherever she goes and taking a stand for women in the workplace while also being a boss. Um, um. I love Richard Branson's brand. Arianna Huffington's got a great brand. She's a true thought leader. In my view. It's sort of people who elevate beyond being an entrepreneur and then come up with a real mission behind, like, their. Why and then really, really start to curate their platform around the higher good, not just their companies. And everyone and anyone can do that.

Speaker A: So. So, funny sidebar story about you bring up Richard Branson. So at our agency, we worked with, uh, Virgin Produce, which is a division of Virgin, and, uh, they. They were also kind of silent investors in some of the festivals, music festivals we worked with. Obviously, this is pre Covid. Um, they're not happening right now, so. But it's funny because hands down, whenever we knew we needed, like, a major boost, it was like, oh, we'll get Richard to push this out. We'll get Richard to push this out. You know, and it was always coming from him because he definitely had that. And you could see, see his audience hung on every single tweet, every single Facebook post and everything. But it wasn't just about the promoting of that. It was also the social good he was doing all these other initiatives. And, uh, that's what ultimately people could just. I think this is a word I heard you say a lot, and it might be someone your book, but, like, you could just tell he's authentic with it. It's not a bunch of bs, as you can say with a guy like him.

Speaker B: Yes. And what I want to just say to your audience is like. Because they might be thinking, well, like, okay, well, that's Richard Branson. But you don't have to be Richard, uh, Branson to have a brand that works and that matters, and that has impact and can drive roi. You know, most of my clients at Simply be agency, they're CEOs and founders and faces of technology companies. They're doctors, they're lawyers, they're real estate agents, they're people in finance. They're clicked onto the fact that they themselves are the ones the clients are going to hire at the end of the day, not their software or company. They know that their personal brand is a key driver in awareness, engagement, authentically, to use a word that I often use. And so I just really don't want people to be like, well, I don't want to be famous like Richard Branson. You don't need to be. I'm never going to be as big as Richard Branson. You don't need to be. You just need to be, you know, who your audience is, have a clear position, stay the course, create good content online, and you'll see them. You'll see the return. I don't mean to oversimplify it, but I just think people get stuck, you know.

Speaker A: Well, clearly your book, um, there's A lot in there. Obviously, we can't unpack it all on a podcast. And we also want to encourage the listeners to go read the book. Um, but what are some of the top exercises or things that someone could do if they're, like, kind of hung up on? Like, I don't really know what makes me interesting, like, how would I be a personal brand? Like, what can you recommend for those out there thinking, like, I'm not really sure what I should be about.

Speaker B: Yeah, it's beautiful. You know, that's pretty much where everyone starts. And that's the hardest part, right, is understanding the brand of you. And you've got to have that clarified. It's how we cut through today. Content is no longer king. I say this in my book, clarity is king. It's way too damn noisy today on the Internet for you to not know who you are. You have to take a stance and be precise. And so in my book, I've created a tool. I've actually created this in my agency and I given away my methodology. In the book, um, and the Things, chapter five or six, I talk about personal brand hologram, which is a framework, I trademarked it, that really allows you to think about yourself, um, in this sort of sense of what are the four things that. If I were to really narrow in on the four things that I really want to go deep on and be known for and talk about on the Internet, um, and I guide you through a series of questions to help you get there. Because you can't be everything to everyone, right? That's gonna be Nothing to no one. That's Marketing 101. I often say that branding is an exercise in clarity. Like, that is truly what we have to achieve. And yet you're complex because you're a human being. You're really, really ever changing and ever evolving. So the hologram is here to reconcile that problem between branding being clarity and you being ever evolving. And it's really quite illuminating because the book's been out in the market for a minute, and I get so many messages from people who have done that hologram who are like, this has changed my life because I now know how to actually describe myself. Clarity will set you free, and so you have to start there. Branding is the what, and the strategy is the how. But you have to have that message, and it doesn't matter at the end of the day, I often say this, how well you understand your own brand, because you should. But what matters is how well someone else can understand your brand who's never Heard of you in less than 30 seconds. Like that's branding and that's what my book will help you achieve. I implore the reader to dig deep. It's not necessarily going to be easy, but it's a fun, very um, personal experience to really define how you want to be seen, what makes you you, what makes you different, what lights you up, why you want to, what you get paid for, and packaging it into a message that's uh, consistent.

Speaker A: What about the person out there who might be like, gosh, I just feel like if I, if I'm out there just talking about myself, I'm gonna come off like too self centered or it's, it's, it's, I'm, I'm just, you know, I'm being too arrogant or cocky. How do you, what do you kind of say to that?

Speaker B: I hear that all the time. And every piece of content you create, every piece of content you create, if it comes from your heart and you're really considering the other human being that's going to receive that on the other side of their phone or computer genuinely, and you create a piece of content in service to that person, you know what your customer wants, they want to be empowered, they want to be seen, they want to be set free, they want to be educated. Right. We all know this. And if you really come to the table with that energy, people are going to feel that and you're not going to come up. That's how we uh, we are the arbiter of authenticity at simply be. If anything we share on behalf of our clients, feels icky or ego to our clients, we're not doing our job. It's really got to be true and authentic and in service. And here's the second piece to that because I really love this question. Let's just say people are going to think you're narcissistic anyway because you might be coming from your heart and the energy and the intention is there. You're not going to please everyone. There's going to be people who are going to look at you and be like, why is that person promoting themselves so much? You can't let that stop you. Like that's, that's just fear and playing small in my view now.

Speaker A: And I'm going to paraphrase the, the actual statistic, but I can't remember who told this to me, whether it was like a teacher, a professor, a grandparent, I don't know who, but somewhere in my life I heard something along the lines like, no matter who you meet in this world, 10% of the people will absolutely love you. 10% of the people absolutely hate you or can't stand you. And it's your job to influence the remaining 80%. And so I think, you know, just, you know, go with that in this too, because, yeah, there's, there's always gonna be a hater. Right. So, um, you know, have some thick skin, I guess, and just don't let it stop you. I love that. Great answer to that. Um, but to that point, then, I guess, then so, so love hearing that. And I think I also, if I heard you correctly earlier, if I, if I'm pulling this from your book, I can't remember either. Um, you said. Or no, yeah, you said it in the beginning, the podcast. If you're not making it about you, but you're making about your audience and them, I think then you will probably come off in a more authentic way and people aren't going to be feeling that it's, you know, self serving or kind of, you know, done in vain, right?

Speaker B: Uh, absolutely. Like your audience, if you, you know, I get this question a lot, like, what is the definition of authenticity, Jessica? There's so many definitions for that. Such a buzzword. I'm going to answer your question because what we're talking about here is authenticity. It's about coming to the table with content that is of service to people and not about you. Right?

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Authenticity shows up as love. Inauthenticity shows up as fear. That's just what it boils down to. Fear is expressed by a lot of things, but fear is expressed by ego. So think about people. You are promoting themselves online, their personal brands, and it's kind of gross. Like you're like, ugh, like, I don't want to ever be that guy or girl. Well, if you really click in and you tune in, you're probably going to see like that person's operating from a place of ego. And at the root of that's fear. They just want to be seen. They're hungry for the attention. They clearly don't feel value validated unless. Right? That's fear. That's okay, that's human. We all been there sometime in our lives. And then if you look at the other side of the spectrum, which is love, you know, which shows up as service. It's an energy thing. If you think about the personal brands that you do love to follow and you tune in to why, it's because they're coming from this energy of a higher frequency of love. And if you can really do the work internally, like to me, the work of building a personal brand is as much of an inside job as it is an outside job. If you can tune into what makes you, you confidently own that and feel clear on why you need to share it and do it to really, truly help people. I don't care if you're a venture capitalist and the name of the game is money. Um, really wanting to help people. That, my friend, is the magic to a personal brand. When you really look across the Internet, see who's doing it, ask yourself that question, is this fear? Is this love? Is this authentic? Is this inauthentic? And um, you know, figure out what's, what lights you up, uh, what your energy and frequency should be and come to the table with that and you will attract and magnetize the right people for you and you'll repel the rest. And that's great.

Speaker A: I love those examples, you know, and I think we can all think about people we've seen on the, you know, throughout social media or whatever. And I know I certainly can when you out reach saying that I'm like, there's a few people who are jumping. I mean, and don't get me wrong, these are probably really well known people and you could still develop a personal brand, but it doesn't mean it's authentic and you can still have following. There's our people. There are people who may be successful, but, um, I'm not going to name names, but there's some really prominent people that a lot of people in our industry or our circles, you know, behind the scenes are like very sleazy, very snaky, you know, but hey, I guess it worked for them. But you don't have to do that. If you do this in the right way, the way you're talking about it, uh, it can work for you. And I think the other thing too, um, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but like, don't get so caught up on the vanity metrics of all this. You know, if you're m. That I would assume is probably one of the biggest like roadblocks people have, right?

Speaker B: I mean, vanity metrics are so poisonous. Like, you know, it could be one because it just causes people to feel small and compare and imposter syndrome, but it also really prevents people from living out loud. And you do not need to make millions, you do not need to have millions of followers, I should say, to make millions of dollars. Many of the clients that I have have a niche audience and they run six, seven, eight figure companies that My agency helps to power with a very boutique audience. They're reaching the right people. That's it. That's all you need. And so get it out of your mind that, you know, maybe if the people who are here listening to your show are in the business of becoming social media influencers and want to get paid by brands to create content and brands measure reach, then okay, maybe you, you should strive for a large vanity metric. But I don't think that's most people.

Speaker A: Yeah. Do you have to have an online presence to do a personal brand nowadays in this day and age?

Speaker B: I mean, it's not gonna hurt you. It's definitely gonna be a, uh, huge, huge, huge asset for you to show up online and be visible. However I write about this in my book, um, the way you treat people is your brand. The way you make people feel is your brand. The way you dress and the way you shake someone's hand and look someone in the eye is your brand. Like self awareness is your brand. And really, unfortunately in Covid we don't have as much human to human contact, but we will again soon. We're gonna get back to those concerts and I really, really want to remind people of that that it's actually the integration of who you're being online and who you're being offline where real auth that he lives. Like, the best compliment I ever receive is when I meet someone who follows me and they say to me, you're exactly the same in person. Like, that's how it should be.

Speaker A: I 100% agree. I mean, especially in, you know, as someone who has traveled a lot, um, and spoken at many conferences and met many of other speakers and keynote speakers, uh, there's definitely a handful of people that you, you meet them, you know, and you're like, wow, they are so different compared to how they come off like on their YouTube channel. And I think to your point, like, going back to this word, like, that comes off unauthentic, right? Like, well, who are you really? Are you this person? Are you the one there? And you're just maybe scared in front of people, like in real life, I guess. I don't know. But, um, I totally agree with that. I just love those examples of, or like when you're saying like, you are, you know, your handshake, how you walk, how you talk and like when you see people in person. Because definitely there's people I know in my life that I've met and just the way that they kind of command your attention and re in real life, in person. It's. It's. It's just fantastic. And it goes back to what you were saying. Like, that's just the way they make you feel, you know? Like, I remember I met, um. Uh, I don't know if you know him or not. You're Chicago, so maybe you're a Bears fan. I assume, uh, Adrian Peterson, former Minnesota Viking, still plays in the NFL. Okay. He's great running back, but he was notorious. Like, everybody and even the announcers would say this on television. They always say, like, the strongest handshake I've ever had. And he was, you know, he was from Texas, and he was like, you know, good old boy who, uh, his mom raised him with tons of manners. So he would always look people in the eye and give that firm handshake. But it was, like, almost to the point of crush your hand. Firm. Okay. But that's what it was. And you could just tell, like, he would look you in the eye. And I had the opportunity to meet him one time, and my hand, like he did to the bone, he, like, did that firm handshake, looked me entire the whole time in the eyes, and you could tell he was present. And that always stuck with me. And you could just tell that that's a genuine person right there.

Speaker B: I love that story. I love that story for so many reasons. I think it's a beautiful example of the power of sincerity and to be really remembered for that. More than your vanity metric.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And the consistency. Uh, I'm sorry, the memorability and consistency. Right. Like, being known for your handshake. Being known for your smile, being known for your hug, Being known for your. Your funky pocket square. Like, those things make you memorable, man. And that is something we can really bring attention to in our lives and make ourselves more memorable, because that opens doors and changes our lives.

Speaker A: And that's a great way to really show your personality. Like, you were just talking about, like, the pocket squares. Like. So, um, have you. Have you ever. I'm trying to, because I've never met you in person. Like, we're doing a zoom call now. But, um, have you been at, like, some of the bigger social media marketing or content marketing conferences ever?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Okay. So do you know Jay Baer?

Speaker B: No, I don't think you guys know him.

Speaker A: Okay, so Jay Bear has been on the show a few times. He's the author of Hug youg Haters Utility. Uh, what was his most recent book? He did another book recently. Can't remember right now. But, um, Jay's been on the show a Few times. But I first Met Jay in 2012, uh, at social Media Marketing World, and he was one of the speakers there. And I remember he handed me his business card. But, like, when I'm like, oh, give me your card, he had to, like, open up his. His big, huge duffel bag briefcase that he had, because his business card was not a business card. It was like this thick. It was like the. The. The thickness of maybe like 20 business cards. And it was like hard metal bottle opener to open a bottle of beer. And it was flat, and it had, you know, his whole, you know, and it was like, his name is. But that's his business card, I think, to this day. But, like, that was his brand. That was like a part of his personality. Personal brand, right. And he had a bunch of these, like, things that. That were all aligned with it. So, you know, that's one kind of going back what I was just saying, like, I think that's a great thing out there. Like, what can you do That's. That has to be genuine again, like, what's. How does it tie to you? But what can be your thing, you know? And in full transparency, if I've never told this to the audience, there's a reason my agency is called Casual Fridays. You know, um, I hated wearing ties when I had the. The 9 to 5 job in the office. I was notorious for always kind of being a little bit more on the casual side. And, uh, I'm like, if I'm going to go out and meet with clients, I'm not going to set the expectation that I'm going to be wearing a suit and a tie. And so the agency, even when I was traveling me with some of the biggest CEOs in the hotel world, I'd always show up in a T shirt and a sport coat and a pair of jeans, and sometimes I'd wear flip flops.

Speaker B: So that's amazing. And no, that's branding, man. Like, it can come to life in anything. And I have a, uh. If you notice, my book is dripping in yellow. Like, yellow is my color. If your listeners go look me up, they're gonna be like, oh, the yellow girl. Like, I've used color as a way to get memorable, and it's all unique to you. You probably love, you know, Casual Fridays is such a personal story to you. Like, the color yellow does to me, too. I won't get into it, but there's actually a chapter in my book towards the end that helps you identify through a fun worksheet what that could be for You.

Speaker A: So you talked about the hologram, kind of like discovering that what tips. So say they go through that process and they kind of identify these four areas. Um, what tips do you have that kind of are. You know, I think a lot of the listeners get so fixed on content calendars, for example, with their business. Oh, we need to publish so many times. Like, what kind of cadence or what's your recommendation when it comes to, like, you know, using social media, for example, to get your brand messaging out or your personal brand messaging out.

Speaker B: So there's a chapter in my book where I talk about strategy and I have a framework that complements the hologram called the Pinnacle Content Framework. And I often say that if you want to be seen as a thought leader, right, like, you don't want to be seen as a social media influencer, you want to be seen as an expert in your field, right? That's how you're going to make money. To be seen as a thought leader, you have to think. That's why you're called a thought leader. And you don't position yourself as a thought leader by posting on social all day. Social is a place to drip out your macro content in microform, to, in my view, create community and consistency and to really have to be a conduit to new audiences. But what the Pinnacle Content Framework will do in my book is I encourage the reader, I encourage my clients to zoom up and think about what's the core content that you can go the deepest on that's ownable to you. Beyond social, a podcast is a really phenomenal way to position yourself, Tyler, as an expert, you're doing it right. You use social media just to drip it out. I also, in the. In the framework, talk about secondary content. So there's Pinnacle content, there's secondary content, there's external outreach, which is pr, and then at the bottom is social media. So social media is the last place we land when we build strategies, to be frank, because I really want to think about how am I really driving my own unique intellect and know how in a way that no one else can take away from me. And you know, Mark Zuckerberg owns Instagram. You don't. You own you. And so put yourself out there in an original medium that lights your fire. Like, you clearly love to talk. You're a great interviewer. Maybe podcasts aren't your thing. Maybe it's blogging, maybe it's video, maybe it's webinars, maybe it's events. But there's all sorts of content today that we can really use to elevate ourselves to go deeper into who are experienced and then use social as a way. So I mean back to your question. I would say three to four times a week. If you're just kind of like doing you keeping it kind of steady. I would say if you're launching something, you're really pushing hard in like a sprint to a campaign daily. Uh, so it really does depend. But you gotta stay consistent. You've gotta be active and pick your lanes.

Speaker A: But if I heard you correctly, and I'm maybe using the wrong word that you use in the book, but you need like that quote unquote, like anchor content or signature content. And like the podcast is mine. And you're absolutely right. We create snippets of sound bites and that's what we throw it on social. But at the end of the day, I mean, don't get me wrong, I do care if people see our social media content, but I care most about people actually listening to the episodes.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Like the actual downloads.

Speaker B: Exactly. And we call it pinnacle content. Pinnacle anchor same death. And I love podcasting. For the record, I've won two. And it's this macro piece of content that is recorded once and then you can make this audiograms, IGTV quotables, show notes into a blog. Like there's so much you can do with a, uh, podcast as well as a video as well as a blog. When you have a pinnacle piece of content, you're basically writing your social media social calendar for you. Half of the work's at least been done. So I highly encourage people to think beyond social when they're really building a personal brand. Social is important, it's critical, but it's not like the end all people you all sure.

Speaker A: And you know, podcasts are, you know, probably one of the more easier ones to jump in. I mean it's gotten a lot easier when I started in 2012. Is a lot more complicated to start a podcast nowadays. They've made it so easy. Um, but you know, video I get it could be a little friction. Some people don't want to like always having to be on camera. I feel like that the do their hair, shower, whatever it is to get in front of a camera. Um, so I get that. But you know, blogging if, you know, just writing can be easy and I don't know, I'd be curious to know your thoughts on this. I think a great place even to like kind of not. I don't, I don't use the word practice, but it is kind of practice. Because, like, I would my recommendations, I would do something that's more evergreen. Like, you don't want to do it and then have it just disappear forever. So I wouldn't, like, start just doing a bunch of Instagram stories that are disappearing 24, uh, hours. But to some degree, you could leverage a platform like Clubhouse, like, when there's topics or niches that are relevant to where you can be a thought leader. But to your point, Jessica, don't just show up and, you know, brag or whatever. Me, me, me. But be more like, the thought leader. Think about it. What's your perspective on it? Go deep on it. But clubhouse is probably a great place for a person to kind of, like, kind of just get started with this. Wouldn't you agree?

Speaker B: I would wholeheartedly agree. I love Clubhouse. Clubhouse is amazing. Um, my only gripe with Clubhouse is that you have to have time to be on Clubhouse, man. Like, I don't have that kind of time these days. Um, but whenever I jump in, I will say, I always get a follower that is like, at least, you know, a few. At least. But I get, like, a loyalist. I'll get someone to buy my book. I'll get a client. Like, it's a really powerful place to network. It's. It's 100% a place to get your feet wet if you, you know, want to start really putting yourself out there and speaking on stages, if you will. I cannot say enough about it. It's a really exciting place to be right now.

Speaker A: Well, this is. This has been fantastic. And I hope, uh, we've inspired people out there to really, like, take a step back, be like, hey, I, you know, while I want to promote my business, I really should also be thinking about my personal brand. And you had this awesome quote I kind of want to finish with. Then I'll turn it over to you. But in your book, you said people do business with real people, not logos, websites, massheads, or Instagram channels. And I think that's so true. And, um, you know, I don't know if you know Brian Kramer. He's, you know, because this kind of relates a little bit to B2B or it doesn't relate to B2B, but it relates to the, um, objection. A lot of people have, like, well, B2C is different than B2B marketing. And Brian's always like, but at the end of the day, we're all humans, so it's H to H. You know,

Speaker B: we talk to humans, people to people. Exactly.

Speaker A: Same principle. Well, Jessica, great stuff. Today, is there, uh, any parting thoughts for our listeners today?

Speaker B: I would just recommend you show up, put yourself behind, take yourself out from the curtain, and I dare you to share something from your heart, service with your face on it on any social media channel and see what you get back and let me know how that goes. It'll affirm that people respond to people and that no one can market to a customer the way a human being can. And if you want to stay in touch with me, come find me on jessicasweig.com and all the places I'm at. Jessica Zweig on Instagram, and you can buy my book and learn more. It's called Be a no bullshit guide to increasing your self worth and net worth by simply being yourself. And, uh, you can find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all the places.

Speaker A: And we'll make sure we put a link to her website and Jessica's Instagram in the, uh, description of the show Notes. So if you're listening on, on, uh, Apple, uh, podcast, just go ahead and open up the description. You'll see it right there. Click through and go check out that book. Uh, well, Jessica, thanks again so much for joining us today. This was fantastic stuff and we, uh, we really appreciate you being on the show.

Speaker B: I appreciate you having me. Thank you so much.

Speaker A: All right, friends, that is going to do it for us today. What a great show. I hope you guys enjoyed that. I know I certainly did. I mean, uh, similar, you know, to Jessica's story. Like, I, I didn't really go with a blueprint. I didn't have a book like she had when I started my business or my agency or my podcast, I was just doing these things. And to some degree, I kind of just by accident developed a personal brand too, which presented opportunities to get on stages. And, you know, the podcast has been a huge part of that. So, you know, she said it was that pinnacle content. I call it anchor content. Doesn't matter. Uh, definitely you. I would encourage you if you're just out there and just creating social media content, but without really creating any of that pinnacle or anchor content, I'd highly recommend maybe modifying that strategy a little bit. But just fantastic stuff. Um, I have not finished the book. I paged through it, but I'd highly encourage you guys to go check it out. It does definitely seems like it gives you a blueprint. So, friends, as always, thank you for your time and your support. And we'll be back next week with another episode. Thanks again for listening to the Casual Fridays podcast.

Speaker B: Thanks for listening to the Casual Fridays Podcast with Tyler Anderson. The Casual Fridays Podcast is a production of Casual Fridays, a digital and social media marketing agency working with exciting consumer focused brands. For more information, surf over to Casual Fridays dot com.