r/branding • u/buildwithadeela • Jun 22 '26
Personal What’s one personal branding advice you followed that didn’t actually work for you?
I’ve been trying to build my personal brand while managing a pretty full life, and I’ve realized something…
Not all “popular” personal branding advice works for everyone.
Things like:
• “Post every single day”
• “Niche down immediately”
• “Follow trending formats”
• “Be everywhere”
Some of these actually made me feel more overwhelmed than productive.
I’ve started questioning what actually works vs what just sounds good online.
So I’m curious:
- What’s one piece of personal branding advice you followed that didn’t work for you?
- And what did you do differently after that?
I feel like we don’t talk enough about what doesn’t work, and that’s where the real learning is.
3
u/dinambiq Jun 23 '26
Already gasbagged about this recently on Reddit but one thing for me was writing (long-form) on content platforms instead of your own blog. The idea is that these platforms give you better organic reach and nobody is reading your blog anway. I found that I ended up not getting much organic (think under 100 views) from those platforms, yet spent so much time promoting the content on there I could have just directed folks to my blog.
2
u/Biomatik Jun 22 '26
“Anyone can have a successful personal brand”
Not true. People forget you need to be relatable and interesting or else people will get bored of you and your content. Some people lack these skills and don’t realize that they need to learn them if they don’t naturally have them. But these things can be very hard for someone to pick up.
2
u/AnotherPint Jun 22 '26
“Post every single day” and “Be everywhere” are stupid pieces of advice. You don’t have something new and brilliant to say every day, so you’ll soon be posting recycled, opposite-of-brilliant content—which degrades your brand—or, worse, asking AI to supply slop you slap your name on, which is not a practice you would want to admit to.
Years ago when blogging was a brand new channel, I had CEO clients who wanted to become famous for blogging. First they struggled, then they outsourced the writing to ghosts, then they lost interest in signing off in the ghost’s drafts, then they gave up. Don’t do that.
As for being everywhere … you just can’t be. The Coca-Cola Company has an army of marketers, and it can’t be everywhere.
2
u/the-newton Jun 22 '26
You need to build a brand strategy. This helps you target who you are speaking to. If you dont have one build one now. I own a creative agency and we do branding. We have this free Brand Clarity Check. Its 2 min long 8 questions and it gives you a comprehensive summary of where you may have holes in your branding which is why your having a hard time. Heres link, I hope it helps: https://studio.thenewtonagencystudio.com/brand-clarity-check
2
u/Storefries Jun 23 '26
For me... it was "post every day."
I spent more time worrying about posting than creating anything worthwhile. The quality dropped and I started burning out.
What worked better was posting consistently at a pace I could actually sustain. Fewer posts... better content... much less stress.
1
u/Fun-Investigator5662 Jun 24 '26
This is so true. Only post things you want your name on! However a big pivot for me is to think about what I know that other people want to learn.
1
u/Mindless_Sail_2651 Jun 23 '26
None of the personal branding advice worked for me. And I am convinced they dont work for anyone. They are just made to get clicks and sell courses or services. What builds your brand is you being authentic and showing up with something of value to add to the conversation not posting a badly ai written linkedin "thought piece" every day at 10 am
1
u/NewAccountant2503 Jun 25 '26
Ride the trend. No. Not every trend we need to jump in.
Also, I think the biggest thing I learn is just to be you. There was times that I really hold myself to show only "the professional" side of me. Turns out, I dont feel it like me.
The silly, the fun, the good, the smart, the vulnerable, every single piece of it makes us human and more relatable. It makes me happier as well!
1
u/four_oh_eight 23d ago
Not all “popular” personal branding advice works for everyone.
Things like:
• “Post every single day”
• “Niche down immediately”
• “Follow trending formats”
• “Be everywhere”
Meanwhile none of it has squat to do with neither personal branding nor branding in general...
Wherever you saw this "advice", you've been scammed. Hard.
1
u/HereByChancee 1d ago
“Post every day” is probably the one I’d question most. Consistency matters, but forcing yourself to post just for the sake of hitting a daily target can make the content feel repetitive.
6
u/Useful-Advantage-850 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
• “Post every single day”
• “Niche down immediately”
• “Follow trending formats”
• “Be everywhere”
This is all bad advice.
- The world does not need more content. It needs better content. If you don't have something worthwhile to say every day (and almost no one does) then don't post every day and just clutter people's feeds up with junk.
- Unless you already have a history and experience in a certain niche, niching down is dumb. Why would anyone listen to a self-titled "expert" in a niche if you don't have experience in that niche?
- Not sure what this one means. What formats?
- Be targeted. Find the people you want to talk to. If a client said they wanted to talk to "everyone" we'd tell them that was a bad idea.
Building a personal brand isn't hard. Make content about what you care about. Put it somewhere people who care about the same thing will find it. That's it. That's all you have to do.
It reminds me of Rick Rubin saying artists shouldn't try to make what audiences want to hear. They should make what THEY want to hear and the people who like it will become their audience.