Build your Personal Brand with TikTok

Written by Megan MacNeill

Build your Personal Brand with TikTok
August 26, 2020

Ever since the COVID-19 crisis began I’ve been sent these hillarious videos left, right and centre, which ultimately led me to the platform known as TikTok.

“Tik what?” I hear you ask, allow me to explain: TikTok is a platform for making and sharing small, short, well-edited, videos that consume the hours of your day without you even noticing. 

This is where I first got to meet Rahul the extremely funny and energetic Bollywood actor that’s been surfing the TikTok wave from LA to build a strong personal brand that has landed him many new gigs, including one at the Super Bowl. Even with so much going on for him, Rahul was kind enough to accept my invitation to participate in the podcast and talk about TikTok and personal branding. Here’s how that went 

Bumping Into Greatness. 

Strangely enough, it was not acting that first brought Rahul to this platform that seems to always be in upwards propulsion. What brought about this wondrous tool to his hands was a secondary passion of his: Finances! In his own words: 

“Okay, so long story short, besides the acting I try to educate people on the importance of financial literacy. So learning about money and investing and managing your money and growing it and growing wealth and all that kind of stuff. That’s something I started last year. So a friend of mine off of that profile is like, ‘dude, you should be on TikTok’.” 

Rough Beginnings 

Hold your hand high if you were immediately good at something the first time you tried it. Okay, now that we know who’s lying, we can all agree that learning the ropes at anything is a journey, including social media. 

With Rahul, it was not different, success only came as a result of his perseverance and willingness to learn, which brought him a series of lessons that he was willing to share:

1) Overcome Judgement: Nobody wants to become that one really annoying social media person that lives for their online presence.  Fear of becoming one of such people and other preconceived notions of social media are often the first obstacle for people seeking to experiment online, with Rahul, it was no different. 

 “I had a lot of judgment to get over, like personally, like just about social media, that it was like stupid and dumb until like last year that I started really pursuing it.”  

2) Social Media Is Storytelling: One of the reasons for people to consume content on the internet is hear other people’s stories, yours could be one of them. Rahul is a great example of this, as he’ll tell you himself.  

“But then if you really understand that, Social media is really just a platform to tell your story.[…] And that’s what I had to start. Becoming more aware that it’s all storytelling, which is essentially what I do as an actor. ”  

3) Keep Making Content: Another great piece of advice Rahul gives out is about self-awareness, although not in the sense of limiting yourself based on your insecurities. Rather, The secret to being self-aware is to assess what type of content is best suited for who you are, knowing your strengths and how to use them is paramount for social media success. 

4) Self Awareness: When people hear self awareness, they immediately tend to think of someone that can give out a detailed list of all their shortcomings. This is not what we are talking about. In this case, self awareness is an assessment of all the little things that make you who you are and enable you to make content, from your personality, to your skills and so on. Rahul is a great example of this being an actor and self-declared introvert, two things on which he built his personal branding strategy. 

“And being alone at home, I’m kind of used to it. Like, I enjoy it. […] So for me to then be able to take that and have a platform that I can just,  sort of showcase my abilities as an actor, or entertainer from my apartment; you know, it’s a really wonderful thing. And then obviously the great feedback I’ve been getting is really touching. So I appreciate it.” 

You are Never Too Old for Tik Tok 

If you listened to the episode of Personal Branding exposed where I spoke to Rahul Rai (which you absolutely should, by the way), you’ll notice that when I expressed my fear of being too old for TikTok, he immediately stopped me. 

Rahul is completely right, social media does not have an age limit, in fact, some of my favorite TikTokers are over 70. 

So if you are looking to build a personal brand of your own through TikTok, and attract clients by positioning yourself as a leader of your niche, all you need is the willingness to give that first step. 

Social media, be it TikTok or any other platform, offer one of the best solutions for attracting clients and positioning yourself as a leader of your niche by simply putting yourself and your work out there. That being said, this can be a scary and even overwhelming process, but luckily, not one that you have to go through alone. So don’t feel afraid to contact me if you want to become the dominant name of your industry and build your personal brand the right way. 

Connect with Rahul.

Website|TikTok|Instagram

Keep in touch and send me your questions.

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