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Key Takeaways Platform focus creates strategic leverage. You don’t need to be on every platform. Your biggest return-on-time will come from committing to at least one platform (and likely not more than three).
Podcast guesting grows authority beyond social media by allowing you to expand on your perspective and articulate your thoughts in a format that supports nuance. You only need to be interviewed once a month.
Thought leadership articles add depth. They allow you to express your ideas in a different format and can directly contribute to your own credibility and the credibility of your company.
Most Gen X CEOs and founders today understand the importance of building their visibility (aka their personal brand) in order to best support the marketing function of their organizations. And yet, most are hesitant to actually do it because of one key concern: The time-suck.
Nearly every time I present to a group of CEOs or have a 1:1 conversation on the topic of personal brand building, this concern inevitably comes up, and it’s not surprising. Firstly, Gen X’ers are typically very comfortable not being on social media or self-promoting. At all. In their ideal situation, they would have a public visibility of zero. Secondly, they are bombarded with well-meaning advice that “doing personal branding right” means creating content and posting daily, being on multiple social media platforms and being as overexposed as humanly possible.
Debunking the myth
So, allow me to debunk the myth. I will start with good news so that you feel encouraged to read the rest of this article. As CEO, you do need visibility, but it is substantially less than what you are hearing.
You see, this belief that we need to be social media posting machines comes from social media influencers. And yes, they do need to be constantly posting, multiple times per day, on every single platform that becomes available. Their revenue model is directly dependent on their following and engagement numbers. They don’t typically own a business as you do; they are the business. And so, they are the entire marketing and sales engine of that business.
Our reality is different.
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