Issue 17

April 22, 2024

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My 3-Step Method to Start Building Your Brand in 1 Hour

Building your brand is hard. It takes time, planning, and above all, action. It doesn't happen overnight and there are no shortcuts. However, getting started is easier than you might think.

I want to share three steps you can take today to start building your brand. All you need is one hour.

The hardest part is starting

This is Issue 17 of DW News. One of my 2024 goals is to write a weekly newsletter. It's not easy, but I'm doing it every week. What was the hardest part? Without a doubt, it was starting.

If you don't start something, you'll never truly know how it can impact your life. That's why it's so important to start. Anything is possible but first, you have to start.

In case you're not convinced why you should start building your brand, here are a few reasons:

• Connect with like-minded people
• Learn what you do and don't know so you can grow
• Help others by sharing your knowledge
• Open doors to new opportunities

And perhaps the biggest reason…

Now that you know why you should start building your brand, let's get started.

Step 1: Engage (30 minutes)

When you first decide to build your brand, the single most important action you can take is to engage. Engagement leads to visibility which leads to new followers.

Every social network has a main feed. You'll see posts from your followers and prospective followers. The best type of engagement is a comment, but not any comment.

Avoid writing useless comments like:

• I agree!
• 👍
• Great post!

Instead, think about these questions when you add a comment:

• What did I learn from this post?
• Why did this post grab my attention?
• How can I relate to this post?
• What additional insight can I add to this post?

A thoughtful, original comment will stand out to not only the author of the post but also their followers. This can lead to profile views and even new followers.

Another great way to engage with your network is through direct messages. When you come across people who are sharing content that you like, reach out and say hello. Tell them why you like their posts and get to know them. After all, it's called social media for a reason.

Follow new people with similar jobs and interests. These people are more likely to follow you back.

Now that you know how to engage, it's your turn.

• Set a timer for 15 minutes
• Open up the social network you're targeting
• Go to your main feed
• Like and comment on posts that resonate with you
• When the timer goes off, set it for another 15 minutes
• Review the posts you just engaged with and follow some of those people
• Go to your followers or connections list
• Pick 3 old or new connections and send them each a message

From here on out, make sure to engage regularly. It's okay if you miss a day. Focus on consistency. You want people to know you're active on social media and providing value with your posts and comments. Start with 15 minutes and go from there.

Step 2: Plan your posts (10 minutes)

Whether you want to post once a week or twenty times a week, I highly suggest you put some thought into it. Planned content is much more likely to get engagements than spontaneous content. Posts that hook the reader from the start, are well organized and focus on a single idea are hard to write on the fly.

Give yourself some time to plan your posts. Weekends are great for this. Start with 30 minutes and increase if necessary. Spend that time creating some draft posts that you can publish the following week.

If you're not sure what to post about, start here:

• What do I love?
• What am I good at?
• What are some things I know a lot about?

Next, answer these questions:

• Why do I love that?
• Why am I good at that?
• What is something new I learned recently?
• What problem did I solve recently?
• What knowledge can I share with others?

Your answers will help you create content to build your brand.

Figure out when you can plan and schedule it.

• Set a timer for 10 minutes
• Go to your calendar
• Find 30 minutes when you're available and block that time to plan your posts
• With the remaining time, start answering the questions above
• Turn your answers into topics and subtopics for your posts

Step 3: Create a newsletter signup page (20 minutes)

There's a reason why every successful builder, creator, and entrepreneur has a newsletter. Email is more effective than social media. Think about it. Would you rather post online and wonder if the algorithm gods will be friendly to you or send content directly to the inbox of your subscribers?

Start growing your mailing list now. You can even wait until you have a critical mass of subscribers before writing your newsletter.

You can use ConvertKit to create a signup page and start a mailing list for free. Here's what to do:

• Sign up for a free account on ConvertKit
• Create a landing page (use one of their templates)
• Copy the link to your landing page
• Paste the link into your social media bios

You now have a signup page. You can start growing your mailing list and rely less on social media algorithms.

I hope this was helpful. If you followed all three steps, let me know. I'd love to hear about it.

Contact me any time. I'm happy to be a resource while you build your brand.

Thanks for reading this week. See you next week. 👋

David Weiss Founder • Made by DW ​Follow me on X, LinkedIn, & Instagram​

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