165. Your Social Media Isn’t a Billboard: How to Build a Brand People Actually Want to Follow

Oct 6

4 min read

I'm gonn give it to you straight: your social media shouldn’t feel like one giant advertisement.

After sitting on the Lead Your Brand panel at CleanCon, I left even more fired up about something I’ve become incredibly passionate about: helping business owners build brands that feel human, recognizable, and worth following.

Because branding isn’t just your logo. It isn’t your color palette. And it definitely isn’t plastering your logo onto a graphic and calling it content. Your brand is a collection of signals that tell people who you are, what you believe, what it feels like to work with you, and why they should remember you. And when you get those signals right? Your audience can start getting to know — and trust — your business before they ever pick up the phone!

In this solo episode of Hustled Up, I’m sharing five tactical shifts you can make to start building a stronger, more human brand online.

Stop Creating. Start Documenting.

One of the biggest things I hear from business owners is, “I don’t know what to post.” But your content doesn’t always need to be created. Sometimes, it just needs to be documented.

Your team meetings. A day in the field. A quality check. An employee promotion. A funny moment at the office. A behind-the-scenes look at what it actually takes to run your company. The things that feel completely ordinary to you might be fascinating to someone who has never seen behind the curtain of your business.

So instead of asking, “What should I post today?” try asking: “What happened in my business today that somebody might find interesting?”

Let the Humans Behind the Business Shine

I know it sounds weird af, but your company doesn't always need to be the main character.

People want to see the humans powering the machine — your employees, your customers (when appropriate!), your personality, your humor, your voice and the little things that make your business feel different from every competitor in your market.

Here’s a great test: if someone covered your username and removed your logo, would they still know the content came from you? If the answer is no, there might be some work to do.

Give Your Business a Point of View

This does not mean you need to start posting rage bait or intentionally trying to piss people off. 😂

But your business should stand for something.

What do you believe about your industry? What do customers commonly misunderstand? What do you do differently? What do you refuse to do? What do you wish more customers knew?

Having a point of view gives people something to connect with — and the right people may realize that they believe in the same things you do.

Create Content People Recognize

You do not have to reinvent the wheel every time you open Instagram. Creating recurring themes or content pillars gives you topics you can return to again and again — and eventually, your audience may start recognizing or even looking forward to them.

Consistency isn't about posting the exact same graphic every Tuesday.

It's about creating things people learn to associate with you.

Please, For the Love of Everything, Talk Like a Human

Your captions don't need to sound like they were ripped from a corporate brochure. Your business has a voice. Use it.

Your brand should sound like you. Whether it’s a caption, a voiceover, or a video, don’t strip away your personality just because you’re posting from a business account. The goal isn’t to sound like every other company in your industry — it’s to create a voice people begin to recognize as uniquely yours.

People connect with people. And right now, even simple “FaceTime content” — sitting in front of your camera and talking to your audience like they're your friends — can be incredibly powerful. Trust me!

Your Social Media Challenge

Before you leave this episode, I have some homework for you. Pull up your most recent posts and take a look at them as if you've never heard of your company before.

How many feature an actual human? How many tell a story? How many teach something? How many show personality? How many are essentially just advertisements? And most importantly: can someone actually get a feeling for your company from what they see?

Because THAT is what we're trying to build. Not just a pretty Instagram feed. A brand people recognize, remember, trust, and actually want to follow.

And if this topic is your jam too ... stay tuned. Because I have a feeling we're going to be talking about branding, social media and marketing a whole lot more around here. 👀