Your Personal Brand Is Your Theater.
Social media is a theater with no one at the door. Three questions on whether people are buying tickets to see you.
An essay Eric wrote as Chief Consultant at Mashman Ventures, the public relations firm Isaac Mashman founded in 2020, for the firm’s clients. Lightly edited for this site.
“Welcome to the theater. What would you like to see today?”
Whether you walk into one of the iconic theaters like Broadway in New York City, or the Zappos Theater in Las Vegas, or your local movie theater, you are given the opportunity to spend the next few hours, and a couple of dollars, watching a show or movie that you’ve heard so much about.
In a world of social media, we have that same opportunity, but this time, there’s nobody welcoming you in and you’re the one who gets to be on the stages and the big screen. Are people buying tickets to see you?
Along with your sales and marketing strategy, your personal brand will be the reason people “buy” tickets with their time and money to see you, to sit down in front of you. Your brand is what will cause people to rave about you to their friends and family. “You should’ve seen them. They are amazing.”
This is the opportunity you have available, and the mindset you need.
You are serious about growing your personal brand. You’ve decided that you don’t just want to be a spectator. Sure, you’ll watch other people’s shows and movies too, but you are also focused on making your own.
That’s a great first step, which brings me to my first question: are you on the big screen when people walk in?
Are You on the Big Screen?
If you want to capture people’s attention, you need to be in front of them.
Are you active on all of the major social media platforms today? Remember, there is no announcer that greets users and asks them what they want to see on social. It’s your responsibility to have a presence and have something that your audience can engage with. That means interacting with people, creating content, and constantly getting better at both those skills.
Why Are They Walking In?
Second question: why are people walking into the theater to see you? Asked differently, why are people spending their time or money with you?
Was it because their friend told them great things about you? Was it because they saw a fantastic trailer that made them want more? Did they see a big poster for your show with a great design, your name plastered boldly on it, and an intriguing hint about what your show is about?
Was it because your name means something to them because of the reputation you’ve built? Or maybe they saw that you were associated with other great people, companies, and brands.
Build your personal brand in a way that makes people want to recommend and refer people to you. Have conversations and post content that make people want more from you. Create name recognition with all that you do.
Do They Stay for the Show?
Third question: are people talking to each other during the show or distracted by something, or are they fully into what you’re showing them?
When people engage with you, the individual, immediately make them feel welcome and comfortable. When people engage with your company and brand, immediately make them feel understood and provide them a sense of hope. When people engage with a piece of your content, hook them with the intro.
As the interaction goes on, whether with you, your company, or your content, there has to be something that keeps them engaged and coming back for more. Do you have that? Are you working on developing that?
Obviously, there is much more to this analogy than can be covered in this short essay. The purpose of this essay is to get you thinking. You are on stage, on the big screen. And you want people coming in to see you because you have something to say to the world. You add to the world.
And making sure people come to see and hear you?
That is building a brand. That is public relations.
How Eric and Isaac Mashman later turned these ideas into a method is on the firm page, and the full philosophy is in Personal Branding: A Manifesto on Fame and Influence.
