How to Build a Meaningful Personal Brand on Social Media with Vladimer Botsvadze

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If you want to build a meaningful personal brand online you need authenticity, gratitude, and a few other strategies. I discuss them in this episode with my guest, Vladimer Botsvadze.

Vladimer came to the United States on a work visa in 2006. He eventually moved to New York City, the best melting pot in the world. In NYC Vladimir realized how important it is to build a personal brand. He started rubbing shoulders with successful people and left no stone unturned. Vladimer became a lifelong learner, reading 400+ pages a day and working 16 hours a day. He built Twitter/X followers from zero to 57,000 in a year because he’s an authentic storyteller that loves to provide value.

The Starting Point of Creating a Meaningful Online Brand

Start small, build gradually for the long term, and give more than you take. You have an iPhone at your fingertips; you can easily record videos and upload them to YouTube to share your knowledge and your journey with your audience. Steve Jobs said the most powerful person in the world is a storyteller. He also said people that know what they are talking about don’t need PowerPoint. Be on different social media channels, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Remember, great oaks grow from small acorns. Long term thinkers give more than they take by sharing content that is in their followers’ best interests.

Many people that connect with you on LinkedIn send sales pitches. People don’t pay attention to those pitches. They pay attention to value.

How to Provide More Value to Your Social Media Audience

Give away your best advice for free. Vladimir has never charged his followers for “picking his brain”. He leads by example, not by titles. That is one of the things that sets him apart from the rest of the herd. A majority of executives lead by their titles. Gary V. leads by example, Tim Ferris leads by example because they are self-made success stories. Both are examples of why you should never give up. There is always light at the end of the tunnel if you are positive and see the glass half full.

Inspiration Along the Way

It doesn’t matter where you were born, your background or your education. If you take massive, strategic action you will succeed. Vladimer was born in Georgia and dreaming about experiencing the Western world. In the nineties he was burning the midnight oil and pursuing his dream. Now he’s a global citizen. He loves instilling confidence in other people. If he can do it, anybody can do it.

Establishing and Building Your Reputation

You start to build a robust personal brand by showing gratitude. When people leave you comments or like your social media posts you should respond to them and thank them. Vladimir did and still does consistently express gratitude to his followers. He brought and brings his followers together which built and further builds his personal brand which translates to his personal success including hundreds of endorsements on LinkedIn. He treats his followers as his friends.

You need to consistently create great content. That means creating content with authenticity, compassion, and devotion. Vladimir shares his authentic story with the world. That helps him build emotional connections with his followers.

A Cohesive Strategy for Building Your Personal Brand

You need to have a presence across a variety of social media channels. You need to create content consistently. You need to interact with your audience because a majority of people don’t consistently interact with their audiences and hence, they don’t grow their audiences. Then they complain that they have never built their personal brands because they almost never interacted. They get on their high horse while Vladimir does the opposite; he shows up and is down to earth.

You need to be curious on a daily basis. You need to collaborate with influencers. When he began his social media journey in 2014 he had the foresight to interact with big brands. As he was interacting with big brands.

We also dive into topics including:

How to keep your ego in check as you build a strong personal brand.
How to embrace the golden age of one-on-one marketing.
The biggest difference between traditional marketing and social media marketing.
The importance of being pliable and adaptable to different personal branding opportunities.
Why real time product development is important to your social media strategy.
The key components of a meaningful personal brand.
How to position your personal brand as a media company.
The case for being authentic across social media platforms.
How to adapt to the rapidly evolving world of consumer behavior.
The four components of today’s social media landscape and how to leverage them to build your personal brand.
The one thing, above all else, that you need to do to build a meaningful personal brand on social media.

…and other golden nuggets of advice!

You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”

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About My Guest

Vladimer Botsvadze is a world-renowned thought leader, influencer, mentor, keynote speaker, and internet personality specialising in digital transformation and AI. Acknowledged as the №1 Global Marketing Thought Leader and one of the Top 5 Global Startup Thought Leaders, as well as a Top 20 Global AI Thought Leader by Thinkers360, Vladimer is at the forefront of the digital landscape. He serves on the advisory boards of the United States Artificial Intelligence Institute, United States Data Science Institute, and United States Cybersecurity Institute.

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