Social Media "Branding" Anyone?

Social Media anyone? Everywhere we go now we see the word “brand” or “branding.” We are told we need a presence on social media that sets us apart from the millions of people out there on social media who are also trying to sell themselves. For non-marketers, it’s a head-scratcher and often a time zapper to try and figure out what our social media brand is? And if we get that far then comes the process of creating a social media presence that is consistent with our brand.

Have I lost you yet?

After months and months. Maybe years and years. I think I already know what I knew of the word “branding” got me all confuzzled. I believe that each of us understands the personal meaning of what we do and why we do it. The trick is to convey that visually with nice photos of our work/product/service and make ourselves visible to the people we want to attract. And… make it human and relatable. I think that is where many of us fail in our social media. We snap a picture, post it and wait for the crowds. But it doesn’t work that way.

In the next few months, I will be sharing the process of creating a new studio space —something I’ve imagined for years. The renovation process is not an easy one, but it is an incredibly informative one. Figuring out what I want it to look like is enabling me to hone in on my style. And then configuring the various spaces prompted a list making a session and a lot of questions about how I want to utilize the space. This, in turn, pushed me to sit down and do some journaling about some core desires, an exploration of what I want to create, nurture and develop. I guess after all that (didn't take very long) I did hone in on my “brand” or in the simplest, most relatable way “ME” because as hokey as this sounds. Isn't this what we are all trying to sell whether it be our art or a piece of jewelry? The "ME" that emerges in our posts to social media speaks to the uniqueness that transcends the object.