Last week, Riley Deleon talked to our class anout branding, voice and image. Deleon would consider himself an entrepreneur and author. The focus of his published works have mainly centered on people’s stories of overcoming adversity in their life. Deleon says that when it comes to personal branding, we should always be transparent about the things we say and do.
Deleon did not utilize social media until he realized that he had to. Before, he had never thought of social media as a tool to help grow something. He took his same vulnerable approach with social media to his journals and was very open about certain topics that might be deemed sensitive subjects to some. Deleon emphasized to our class that one’s personal brand is always changing. With this in mind, he said he will always post what he currently believes, not necessarily what he will always believe.
When asked how he sets himself apart from other social media users, Deleon said that he understands that the “social media world” is very saturated and noisey, but he uses that to his advantage. He also went on to say that eventually you’ll differentiate yourself without even knowing it, because of your transparency with your followers.
Deleon’s advice for smaller companies trying to find their target audience and grow their follow-count is to allow the audience to change and to be open-minded throughout the process. He says that we might believe a particular group of people are our audience, when really nothing should be considered “off the table.”
I thoroughly enjoyed Deleon’s conversation with our class last week. It was nice hearing from someone who is close to our age and understands the struggles we face as college students close to graduating.