Personal Branding for Journalists

Journalists already know the power of mass media and the power of storytelling. So building a personal brand is easy for them. In fact, it is the news anchors/journalists, which actually bring audience to the respective media, with their personal reputation and brand.

Journalists have the fan following, not channels or newspapers
Be it print or TV, people read / watch their favourite journalists and news anchors. In my view loyalty for media organisations is much lesser than the loyalty for journalists. Sweta Singh has reached such a celebrity status in a short span of time that she was invited to Kapil Sharma's comedy show recently. 

The Power of Storytelling

Storytelling is the easiest way to build a personal brand and journalists are great storytellers. In fact, news is actually called a news story. 

Conveying expertise, passion and thought leadership

If a journalist is passionate about the sports beat or current affairs, the passion can be conveyed in the brand building exercise. The passion can also be used to build the brand as an expert in the domain or sometimes convey the thought leadership work done in an area.

Social Media Tips

But what journalists need to learn is the social media tips and tricks besides the principles of brand management of course. Each social media platform is unique and understanding this uniqueness and capitalizing on it is an essential step in the journey.

Personal Growth & Viral Marketing

The main tool for success on social media is viral marketing (or other people sharing your content). Other people share your content when the content is excellent or they have a good relationship / soft corner for the content creator or they have a pride in associating with the person. Social Media success becomes easier with a collaborative mindset and developing the right mindset and wisdom is crucial.

Wisdom for handling criticism

Journalists often use a high risk strategy when they come up with breaking news, expose (do sting operations) and add masala to make the story catchy. So the news story in such cases will sometimes attract strong responses and personal attacks. Trolls and fake accounts can add to the problems. Handling this after effect with wisdom is crucial for the personal brand of a journalist.

Understanding the technical side of digital

For success in the online world, one also needs to understand the SEO basics, social media optimization techniques, blog traffic techniques, email marketing, web analytics and so on. The digital tools available are increasing everyday and it’s easy to learn things from someone who knows the rules of the game.

Offline branding and miscellaneous tools

Personal Branding is a universe in itself with infinite tools available. Other useful tools for journalists include e-books and books, newsletters, guest blogging, article marketing and so on. The activities must be aligned with the short and long term objectives behind brand building.

Disassociation
Some trends like paid news, sensationalism etc have damaged the reputation of mass media in general. Even journalists who are into serious journalism get impacted by the bad reputation. 

Tips for Journalists
As part of my book launch at Indore Press Club (Personal Branding, Storytelling and Beyond), I shared few tips on personal branding for journalists esp in social media context. You may watch the video below:-

 

 So dear journalists and news anchors, you deliver news stories to the world; 

now it is time to tell your story to the world.

Buy the book on Amazon  | Story Mirror | Snapdeal  |  Shop Clues |  PayTM

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Brief Profile
Dr Amit Nagpal, PhD is a Business Storyteller, Speaker and Digital Storytelling Coach. He is one of the pioneers of digital storytelling in India. After working for more than two decades in academics, and corporates (including publishing, television and digital marketing), he realised teaching is meditation and storytelling is his Nirvana.

He is also Chief Inspirational Storyteller at AL Services. AL Services has co-created stories of some of the most inspiring people in India and abroad. He tweets at @DrAmitInspires.