Building Your Brand Marisa Russell Social Media Specialist Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

“Social media is not just a spoke on the wheel of marketing “Social media is not just a spoke on the wheel of marketing. It’s becoming the way entire bicycles are built.” –Ryan Lilly, author -Social media is a huge part of reaching a target audience -Most young people are on social media and over 70 percent of Americans use some form of social media, the most popular being Facebook -It’s a great way to engage with and interact with people interested in family and reproductive health, or people who need to learn

Define Your Brand Brand yourself with consistent imagery. Decide what topics you want to discuss. Determine who your audience is and how you can reach them. Create a strategy and plan your content. Analyze how successful your efforts are.

Have Consistent Imagery Keep it simple, and clear: Same photo Clear font Same name -Don’t reinvent the wheel. -Find a professional photo of yourself and use it on all platforms, or use your brand logo, if relevant. Create or use a simple cover image, could be you speaking, working in the field, where you’re located. -Try to find a handle that works on all platforms, and use it for all ones that you choose to be on: namechk.com - Have a consistent bio, similar wording, what you’re going to discuss, etc.

Define Your Expertise Determine and define what your brand is about. Create a mission statement. Tell your audience what you’ll be sharing. -Craft a mission statement and share it on your page -Make it clear what topics you’ll discuss in your bios -Follow people in your field that are successful with a strong social media presence -Engage with people, share your thoughts, leverage your relationships with others on social

Find Your Audience Who do you want to reach? Why do you want to reach them? Where are they located? Meet your audience where they are rather than asking them to come to you. Determine who is your “target” audience, who your message will resonate most with or who you want your message to be heard by most Determine why you want to reach them, have a mission statement Figure out where they live, what they do, male/female, and then, what platforms do they live on? Focus your efforts on those platforms Engage with that audience, they can be a good resource to growing your audience and making your voice heard

How Do I Create Content? You don’t have to be a content creator to have a strong social media presence. 3 C’s: Create, collaborate, curate. Follow the 75/25 rule. Share what you would want to see, read or react to. You don’t have to have content that’s 100 percent original, you can find relevant studies, research and content from reputable sources around the Internet and share them. Include your own thoughts or expertise in the post copy 3 C’s: Create some of your own content on things you feel truly passionate about, share personal experiences or photos, collaborate with other experts in the field, maybe even people in this room or this school, share their content and have them share yours, and curate content from your followers–share relevant, true, and great content from those that follow you, and eventually they’ll do the same with yours. 75 percent branded/professional and 25 percent personal, for every 3 RTs, post something of your own, try to balance original and curated content and personal and branded messaging Keep in mind what YOU would like to see from a PRFH professional, and share that.

Plan and Schedule Your Content Hootsuite or SproutSocial are free platforms for scheduling social posts Facebook offers its own scheduling platform There are paid services like HeyOrca and Sprinklr as well -There is no need to pay for scheduling tools, there are many that are very easy to use Hootsuite is very basic and even has a free certification course Facebook’s scheduling tool is helpful and requires no additional software You don’t have to focus on social every day if you plan things out, you can do so at the start of the week and then just pop in to check on things, mentions, any breaking or timely news Social media doesn’t have to be a full-time gig, if you have a plan, it shouldn’t take you every day to build a strong brand

Analyze The Results Use tools like Hootsuite Analytics tools exist for Facebook Business Pages, Twitter, Instagram Business Profiles, and LinkedIn Are you gaining followers? Are more people engaging with your posts? Measure your results and determine if you’re reaching your goals. - Set SMART goals - Measure your progress every few weeks or every month - Keep data and use it to understand your success - Take free courses like Hootsuite’s class, etc. to understand what your results mean

Analytics Tools

Books, Tools & Professional Development Get Social Smart by Katie Lance Hootsuite’s free certification & webinars Social Media Today & Pew Research Center Canva & Adobe’s Creative Cloud Wochit or Animoto http://getsocialsmartbook.com/ https://hootsuite.com/webinars# And always, social media itself! Stay up-to-date and in the know by using these platforms as well, knowing what a user likes/doesn’t like will ultimately help you with your own brand.

You won’t gain 1M followers overnight or get 5 bookings on a TV show in one month. It takes time, patience and practice. Working to define who you are, what your brand is going to be and who you’re going to share that with, and then doing it will help you achieve success Set SMART goals, measure your success

Social Media Specialist mrusse26@jhu.edu Marisa Russell Social Media Specialist mrusse26@jhu.edu