Here’s the thing with social media. Everyone keeps telling you that you must be on social media to develop your brand, but what nobody is telling you when you are a newbie is how much work it actually takes to develop a personal brand on social media. I’m not talking about being featured on posts that your employer (and their big marketing team and budget) developed to attract more clients. I’m talking about you and me as human beings. We thought about your struggle and came up with the Social Media Newbie Series for Global Nomads to help you understand LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, but we got stuck in the detail ourselves and I realized from the questions you are asking that you might still wonder: 

What for? 

Is it worth my time and money? 

So, I thought that today we should take a step back and revisit why it is worth having a digital media presence and share with you my top seven killer tips for job seekers and solopreneurs (and those of you who share my vision of becoming digital global nomads).

As a Career Coach, I have encountered job seekers and freelancers, who still believe that they can thrive in today’s world without a digital presence. In short, they refuse social and professional networking as they feel they will be stalked or annoyed by others. I started with online networking on XING in 2004. Before that “networking” for me meant only person-to-person (or IRL – in real life if you are my age and don’t know what IRL means). 

I would regularly have lunch with different internal and external colleagues to find out about what is going on in their line of work. In the early Millenium, the lunch date roster was your “dance card” and showed how popular you were.

It was almost embarrassing to lunch alone and if you were booked for several weeks this meant you had made it. It was part of the culture of that organization, but networking helped me to understand background stories, to build trust, and get support on a variety of topics. I still prefer lunch dates over any type of online interaction, but as a creator, I have more influence and a bigger circle to reach out to if I leverage my online network too.

Remember that in Germany, Switzerland, and other “Coconut” cultures we tend to be very task-focused and have to invest in building relationships. (Yes, it takes us a lot of energy to get out of that Coconut-Face.)

If I look back, I also pulled my team members, trainers, providers, and friends from my network. The network expanded to external contacts and it got harder to maintain when I left Frankfurt for Zurich, but I started to build a new network, which helped me to build and maintain a start-up in a rather difficult economic environment. If I was looking for a full-time role now, I would certainly try and source it through my network. If I am looking to hire an intern, designer, or specialist I am going to rely on my network. We are teaching the idea of leveraging your network to find a job in Switzerland rather than only applying online in our HireMeExpress program.

I know that you might be afraid to put yourself out there and have people laughing at you or trolling you or giving you negative feedback and comments. How do you even deal with that when you are already fragile and full of self-doubt on a daily basis?

Would it help you if I told you that I still go through the same fear and anxiety? Would it help you if I said: Yes, there are weird people on the Internet and many of them just want your money…but what if 10% of those following you, reading you, hearing you need to hear exactly what you have to say? What if there is one person out there who like me lost half of their family in a tragic accident and thought they would never, ever recover from that? What if one woman that you speak to just lost her child or her husband and needs to hear that it will be okay and that you are there for her? What if there is one person listening to you who is about to commit suicide because they are so desperate and you tell them that they are loved and they hear that and they reconsider.

What if what you have to say is important for one person only?

Don’t you think it’s worth it?

Don’t you think it is worth half an hour of your time?

Remember that you are loved, you are safe, and you are among friends here. 

1) Focus on Your Followers

In all likelihood, you will meet most of your followers on LinkedIn if you are in a professional field like banking, accounting, or human resources. If you are a creative writer, you might want to focus on Twitter because this is where readers will gather their information. On the other hand, if you provide makeup tips in short videos you should focus on Instagram or Youtube. Try not to overwhelm yourself by joining all platforms at once. 

2) Develop A Digital Home

In times of social media, it is hard to understand why you need to have your digital home. Imagine it this way: When you are on Twitter it is like you are attending a huge networking event where you exchange information with colleagues and potential clients. If you want them to look at the information (“content”) that you produce you have to invite them to your “home”. And when you host a party at your place you have to give people directions on how to find you and a good reason to party with you. When you go to a party you don’t expect to be asked to buy something or pay for your beer, right? So, when you start out you would probably provide some of your content for free until you have a followership. Then you can move to a membership model. A membership model guru is Stu McLaren.

3) Build Trust First

The Internet is full of offers and scams. Before anyone wants to give you their email ID and bank details you will need to have their trust. You can develop trust by being a helpful source of information and by solving people’s problems. You can also build trust by being personable and by avoiding any sales touch in your content and copywriting. You can provide helpful advice and invite people to join your party, but you need to remember that building trust online is step-by-step process that takes mastery. You can follow Amy Porterfield and Ash Ambirge for further advice.

4) Reduce Self-Promotion

Instead of promoting yourself, you should promote other people’s work. If you help others you will not come across as a big-headed egomaniac, but as someone who cares about people. There is a point where you can also show your own work, but it needs to be in the context of solving a problem for your followers. For example, they might need a checklist or a how-to guide that you can provide when you often hear them ask you the same questions. I read that there is an 80/20-rule where 80% of the posts should be valuable content, and 20% you should promote your brand. So, in the case of your personal brand, you should talk about your work, what you have achieved, and other stuff related to your greatness for max. 20% of your posts.

5) Curate Content

A retweet does not always mean that you endorse the opinion of the tweeter, but at least you can verify that the information is genuine and up-to-date and that links are actually working. If you are like me, you probably don’t read everything you would like to read, but you know where to find trusted sources and where to be skeptical.

6) Encourage Others to Have a Voice

I know many people who suffer from “imposter syndrome” and who are modest. It helps once in a while when you tell others that their work is helpful and that you are actually reading their updates or their input. Instead of expecting others to support you, you can do a lot more to support others. Be a giver on social media. Learn why this is important by reading and following Adam M. Grant.

7) Charge Your Purpose Batteries

A Digital Presence is great. If people deal with you in real life or on a call, they should be positively surprised by your genuine interest in them. One of the reasons for the lack of trust nowadays is that everyone is putting their own interest in front. Many people have a hard time accepting support because they are not used to free help. They are used to being cheated and pulled over the table and you want to stand out. Charge your purpose batteries and get very clear on your purpose, and one-sentence mission, and become a real giver.

Kind regards

Angie Weinberger

PS: If this intrigues you and you would like to know more about it, please join our free workshop series in April 2023:

Workshop No. 1:  Partnering Masters – Building Effective Relationships

Workshop No. 2: Powerful Missions – Having a Voice in a Sea of Noise

Workshop No. 3: Persisting Mindsets – Designing Work to Support a Global Lifestyle
All dates and updates will be shared if you sign up on our HireMeExpress list. #HireMeExpress

Martina has not been able to find a new job for six months. It’s not because of her qualifications. She is well qualified. She has work experience. She says it might be her self-confidence and that she gets nervous in interviews. She thinks one of the reasons for her lack of success in securing a job is that she is very realistic about her skills and when asked in an interview she is honest.

Successful people aren’t honest.

That’s the message she got.

I think, successful people are not dis-honest, but they are better at conveying who they are and how they contribute to the world. They are better storytellers (and they don’t suffer from imposture syndrome).

You need to learn “Self-Marketing” and not just work away like an ant.

I have made the same mistake in my earlier career. I worked away and hoped that someone would notice. I saw male friends getting promotions faster, saw them earn more and some of my female colleagues also surpassed me. With a delay of a few years I did well too.

I think I only got better at communicating to my manager what I was doing and how I contributed to the success of the team. I asked for weekly meetings and sometimes even wrote quarterly summaries. I only had this idea because a former manager told me to communicate more. Had she not told me I would probably still sit in that same office.

Another manager showed me how to improve my self-marketing. She recommended a number of great books to me. She also gave me “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway”. After reading the book, I resigned from my managerial role officially to start my own company Global People Transitions GmbH.

I care for Martina. I want her to succeed and do everything to help her but her story might be different than yours or mine.

Tell me how you show your contribution to the workplace on a weekly basis and if you want to discuss this please schedule a meeting with me.

[tweetthis]I think, successful people are not dis-honest, but they are better at conveying who they are and how they contribute to the world. They are better storytellers (and they don’t suffer from imposture syndrome).[/tweetthis]

Yesterday, I had lunch with a Professor of “Intercultural Management” and I tried to explain what I am doing for a living out there in the world of Global Mobility. I struggled to explain myself even though I was speaking to a colleague. “Intercultural Coaching ” is not commonly known as a profession. There are different approaches to “intercultural coaching” and the term “interculturalist” is not used in Switzerland a lot.

What we do is coach professionals (often Expats or Nomads like you through an intercultural transition or we help them build a global virtual team from chaos to perfection. While working on your “Global Competency” can mean enhancing knowledge, changing attitude, developing skills, reflecting experience, or integrating body learning into your repertoire many business leaders still think of “intercultural competence” as etiquette.

I’ve built a brand around consulting, training and coaching global nomads in an intercultural transition, and with that, I am not talking about moving your household goods (even though I understand the stress and importance of an international move well).

I try to integrate developing intercultural intelligence and effectiveness into all our programs as I feel it is a key competence for global leaders, in client service and global team performance. I value cultural diversity and working with people from all over the globe from my home office is amazing.

The Swiss culture in my view tends to value the opposite. It’s based on excluding rather than including. If you look at how “Switzerland” was founded it is very obvious why the people learned through generations to protect each other from the enemies outside. What started with the Ruetlischwur in 1291 is still in the mindset of the culture. (I call this concept “The Circle of Trust” in my best Robert de Niro-Voice).

The other reason is that in my personal life, I spend time with people from different cultural backgrounds. The multitude of experiences and lifestyles sometimes clashes. There are situations in my life where I have to get up and leave a discussion because I cannot handle it emotionally. It often happens when differing religious and political views are at the table. While I consider myself open and tolerant I have a strong value-based attitude that is biased towards “Germanic” logic and values. My approach can get in my way. I get frustrated when clients or friends have a different approach.

As most people, I tend to overestimate my intercultural sensitivity and I am not as great in this topic when I get under pressure. As most of us, I fall back into my “cultural default” (citing Sundae Schneider-Bean, an outstanding intercultural coach, and trainer) when under stress. And while I had to admit this publicly I don’t trust easily. I have had a number of experiences in my personal life and also in work projects that make me more cautious. (And I am not only speaking of the annoying spammers on Instagram…). I have to admit that I lost money, time and my pride so now it takes a while for me to trust someone. People need to show me that they care, that they don’t have a hidden agenda, and that they are not just after my bank account. You might feel the same. Maybe you were also once in your late thirties, ready to start a family, and willing to trust more than you should have. Maybe you uprooted your life, left a great career prospect, or your mother to follow the love of your life to Zimbabwe, Zagreb, or Zurich.

And now what?

What I have learned over the years working across cultures is that we have a lot more potential to be compassionate without judging. We just need to learn to reevaluate our conclusions and judgments. We need to give people a fourth and fifth chance and we need to accept them how they are. Then we are true humans, we are able to forgive and we perform in our global teams. Sometimes it also may be hard to understand when you are born into privilege that others want to be supported mentally, financially, and with education and that we are not living in a world where everyone is equal. It takes time to accept that your passport alone can open or close doors for you and that immigration laws are not made to welcome you but rather to protect the labor market in the host country. And that these laws are often reciprocal so if your passport country decides to break ties with your host country you might be faced with issues you cannot really control.

We also might need to learn that our basic assumptions about life, love, and trust are not necessarily universal and that we cannot trust in a toxic environment or relationship. For example, if you are working for an employer where constant competition for resources, funding, or appreciation is fostered by outdated performance and compensation methods you might be running your legs off like on a treadmill but you can never be satisfied with yourself or the people you work with. Competition does not foster collaboration. Collaboration comes from a place of psychological safety and love. Managers caring for their own benefit and bonus will never create a work environment that feels safe, egomaniacs will never make you feel loved at work and your partner might just not be the right partner for you.

Life is not a Disney movie but you and I, together we can make the world a better place.

We can start in our own circle of influence. We can be role models. We can show an extra level of trust and energy. We can break down organizational silos and work together across levels. We can influence each other to create a safe working environment for immigrants. We can use our privilege to help the less privileged. We can do all that and then we won’t feel “burdened” by our intersectionality. We will feel elated and in tune with our inner voice.

Let’s raise our glasses to love and bring more peace to the world.

Kind regards

Angie

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