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Meet Kairan Quazi, the techie teenager just employed by Elon Musk at SpaceX, yes he is a teenager 14 to be precise. This is after he passed the technically challenging interview (Ref https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/kairan-quazi-14-becomes-youngest-employee-at-elon-musks-spacex-10785981.html)

As the world around us is getting more Artificial Intelligence driven, so are the drivers of technology innovation opening up more to the younger generation. And as Africans we must ensure we give our teenagers a head start to position them to become major contributors in shaping the world they are growing into. This year we are helping teenagers to appreciate the UN SDG  Goals and encourage them to create projects around it.

As the Summer holidays are approaching, and we are pleased to inform you that Code Zone 2023 is here! Participating in Code Zone 2023 guarantees that your children would have acquired valuable skills by the end of the program. Let your Teens and Pre Teens optimize their vacation Register here –  https://www.emeraldzone.com.ng/training/code-zone-2023-teenagers-and-pre-teens-impact-the-future/
The Program Runs from August 1 – 31, 2023 (Weekdays only)
9am – 12noon daily
Participation – Virtual or in Person
Available Classes: HTML CSS |  JavaScript  |  UIUX

Here are some benefits of participating:

– Engaging and Interactive Classes: Our classes are designed to be interactive, engaging and hands-on, allowing participants to actively engage and apply their skills.

– Experienced Instructors: Our instructors are highly qualified professionals who are passionate about teaching and developing the younger generation.

– Project-based Learning: Our program focuses on project-based learning, where participants will work on real projects, encouraging creativity, collaboration and problem solving.

– Flexibility: The program offers On-site and Virtual training option allowing participants to balance their summer classes while benefiting from programming training.

Once again here is the registration link: https://www.emeraldzone.com.ng/training/code-zone-2023-teenagers-and-pre-teens-impact-the-future/

If you would like more information about Code Zone 2023 do not hesitate to contact us: Thank you for your attention.

Osaigbovo Osarumwense Chizoba
☎️ 08164424360 | 08034551176

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 foundational large language models and has been fine-tuned using both supervised and reinforcement learning. We thought to do a quick summary of what it is all about. 

How does it work? It is a general-purpose chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to generate text after a user enters a prompt, developed by tech startup OpenAI. The chatbot uses GPT-4, a large language model that uses deep learning to produce human-like text.

When did it get released? November 30, 2022 is when ChatGPT was released for public use.

What is the latest version? Both the free version of ChatGPT and the paid ChatGPT Plus are regularly updated with new GPT models. The most recent model is GPT-4.

Is it free? There is a free version that only requires a sign-in in addition to the paid version, ChatGPT Plus.

Who uses it? Anyone can use it! More and more tech companies and search engines are utilizing the chatbot to automate text or quickly answer user questions/concerns.

What is the difference between ChatGPT and a chatbot? A chatbot can be any software/system that holds dialogue with you/a person but doesn’t necessarily have to be AI-powered. For example, there are chatbots that are rules-based in the sense that they’ll give canned responses to questions. ChatGPT is AI-powered and utilizes LLM technology to generate text after a prompt.

Can it write essays?  Yes.

Can it commit libel? Due to the nature of how these models work, they don’t know or care whether something is true, only that it looks true. That’s a problem when you’re using it to do your homework, sure, but when it accuses you of a crime you didn’t commit, that may well at this point be libel. We will see how handling troubling statements produced by ChatGPT will play out over the next few months as tech and legal experts attempt to tackle the fastest moving target in the industry.

Does ChatGPT have an app? There is not an app available for iPhone or Android, but users have options to enable the chatbot on their mobile devices via their browser or a third-party app that uses ChatGPT’s public API.

What is the ChatGPT character limit? It’s not documented anywhere that ChatGPT has a character limit. However, users have noted that there are some character limitations after around 500 words.

What are some sample everyday uses for ChatGPT? Everyday examples include programing, scripts, email replies, listicles, blog ideas, summarization, etc.

What are some advanced uses for ChatGPT? Advanced use examples include debugging code, programming languages, scientific concepts, complex problem solving, etc.

How good is it at writing code? It depends on the nature of the program. While it can write workable Python code, it can’t necessarily program an entire app’s worth of code. That’s because it lacks context awareness — in other words, the generated code isn’t always appropriate for the specific context in which it’s being used.

Can you save a ChatGPT chat? Yes. OpenAI allows users to save chats in the interface, stored in the sidebar of the screen. There are no built-in sharing features yet.

Are there alternatives? Yes. There are multiple AI-powered chatbot competitors such as Together, Google’s Bard and Anthropic’s Claude, and developers are creating open source alternatives. But the latter are harder — if not impossible — to run today..

Where can I find examples of  prompts? Several marketplaces host and provide ChatGPT prompts, either for free or for a nominal fee. One is PromptBase. Another is ChatX. More launch every day.

Can it be detected? Poorly. Several tools claim to detect ChatGPT-generated text, but in our tests, they’re inconsistent at best.

Are the chats public? No. But OpenAI recently disclosed a bug, since fixed, that exposed the titles of some users’ conversations to other people on the service.

Who owns the copyright on created content or media? The user who requested the input from ChatGPT is the copyright owner.

Are there issues regarding plagiarism with ChatGPT? Yes. Text-generating AI models like ChatGPT have a tendency to regurgitate content from their training data.

It’s March 2023 already and first quarter is almost over, join us as Code Zone Presents Teens and Tech, this is because we are deliberate about our vision of grooming a next generation that will actively participate in the future they are growing into.

Teens & Tech is a virtual conversation platform to enlighten and educate stakeholders of this next generation i.e. parents, Teens, Pre Teens, school administrators etc on the need for the generation to embrace technology. simplee steps that can make impact.

The likes of Mark Zuckerberg. Bill Gates & Jack Dorsey have something in common with Matt Mullenweg, Juliath Brindak, Nick D’Aloisio etc and that is they all started their businesses while they were teenagers. Technology has become more accessible and simplified so we need to nudge our teenagers to embrace it early so they can start the process of becoming active participants in the world they are growing into.

Code Zone is inviting you – as a parent, teenager or school administrator – to join us on Sat. March 11, 2023 by 5.00pm for this webinar on Zoom as we discuss opportunities available in tech that our teenagers can access and begin to leverage.

It’s free but registration https://rb.gy/nffd8m is required so register now.

Writing skills is a highly revered skill and writing as a profession is an enviable one, writing birth authors and Nigeria has produced an abundance of well-known ones over time. In a serene workspace such as the one Emerald Zone provides, writing is one of the many things that get easily achieved, our appreciation of writers informed our decision to name some of our workspaces after Wole Soyinka, Cyprian Ekwensi, Elechi Amadi, Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa and Femi Osofisan. This write up is therefore dedicated to these renowned writers.

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka

Popularly known as Wole Soyinka the first Black African man to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature was born on July 13^th 1934. With great writing skills, he is a Nigerian Playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English Language who received the Nobel prize for literature in the year 1986, for “in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtone fashioning the drama of existence. He sometimes wrote of modern West Africa in a satirical style, but his serious intent and his beliefs in the evils inherent in the exercise of power were usually evident in his work as well. Soyinka attended Government college in Ibadan before graduating in 1958 with a degree in English from the university of Leed in England. Upon his return to Nigeria, he founded an acting company and wrote his first important play, A Dance of the Forest produced 1960 and published 1963 for the Nigerian independence celebrations. He also wrote several plays in a lighter vein, making fun of pompous, westernized schoolteachers in The Lion and the Jewel (first performed in Ibadan, 1959 and published 1963). His more serious plays include The Strong Breed (1963), Kongi’s Harvest (opened the first Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, 1966; published in 1967), The Road (1965), From Zia, with Love (1992) and the Parody King Baabu (performed 2001 and published 2002) reveal his disregard for African authoritarian leadership and his disillusionment with Nigerian society as a whole. His best works exhibit humor and fine poetic styles as well as a gift for irony and satire and for accurately matching the language of his complex characters to their social position and moral qualities. After winning the Nobel Prize, he also was sought after as a lecturer, and many of his lectures were published- notably the Reith Lectures of 2004, as Climate of Fear (2004).

Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi

One of Africa’s best short story writers of the 20^th century and Novelist winner of Dag Hamtuarskjold International Merit award was born at Minna in Northern Nigeria on September 26, 1921. He later lived in Onitsha in the Eastern area. He was educated at Achimota College in Ibadan and at the Chelsea School of pharmacy of London University. He lectured in the pharmacy of Lagos and was employed as a pharmacist by the Nigerian Medical Corporation. Ekwensi married Eunice Anyiwo, and they had five children.

Ekwensi, noted for his great writing skills, began his writing Career as a pamphleteer, and this explains perhaps the episodic nature of his novels. This tendency is well illustrated by people of the city (1954), in which Ekwensi gave a vibrant portrait of life in the West African city. It was the first major novel to be published by a Nigerian. In 1960, two novellas appeared for children; The Drummer Boy and The Passport of Mallam Ilia were exercises in blending traditional themes with undisguised romanticism. Ekwensi was brought into the literary limelight nationally and internationally with his work which dwelled on the complexities of the urban society and the encounters of the rising middle class of urban Lagos in their struggle for survival. From Jagua Nana, 1961, to Jagua Nana’s daughter, a sequel to the former. Ekwensi made a graphic exploration of the life of the ordinary folks and the complexities of their existence. His other books include Burning Grass, 1961, Lokotown and other stories,1966, Divided we stand, 1988, king Forever, 1992, and cash on delivery, 2007. 

Emmanuel Elechi Daniel

Popularly known as Elechi Amadi was born on the 12^th of May 1934, in Mbodo-Aluu, in Rivers State, Nigeria, he attended Government College, Umuahia (1948-1952), Survey School, Oyo (1953-1954), and then proceeded to study in the University of Ibadan (1955-1959), where he obtained a degree in Physics and Mathematics. It was while in the university, he adopted the name Elechi Amadi, which he felt reflected his Ikwerre heritage more than his birth name Emmanuel Elechi Daniel. He is an author of plays and novels which is generally about life in the African village, their customs, beliefs and religious practices before the contact to the western world.

Amadi was a writer in residence and a lecture at Rivers State college of education, where he also became dean of Arts, head of literature department and the Director of General Studies. He had his first publication in the year 1957 which was titled “Penitence” in a University of Ibadan Campus magazine called The Horn, edited by John Pepper Clark. Amadi’s first novel, The Concubine which was hailed as “an outstanding work of pure fiction” was published in London in 1966. After critically studying the novel, Alastair Niven wrote: “Rooted firmly among the hunting ad fishing villages of the Niger Delta, The Concubine nevertheless possesses the timelessness and universality of a major novel. The Concubine was later made into a film. Some of his other works include The Great Ponds, published in 1969, Sunset in Biafra, published 1973. In May 2004, a conference was later organized by the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rivers State to mark Elechi Amadi’s 70^th birthday. For his last book, When God Came, Amadi turned for the first time to the genre of science fiction.

Florence Onyebuchi Emecheta

Also known as Buchi Emecheta was born July 21, 1944 in Lagos, Nigeria,  an Igbo writer with great witting skillswhose novels deal largely with the difficult and unequal role of women in both immigrant and African societies and explore the tension between tradition and modernity. She began writing stories based on her life including the problems she initially encountered in England. These works where first published in New Statesman magazine and where later collected in the novel In the Ditch (1972). This work was followed by Second-Class Citizens (1974). Both works were later included in the single volume Adah’s Story (1983). Those books introduce Emecheta’s three major themes, they include, the quest for equal treatment, self-confidence, and dignity as a woman. Somewhat different in style is Emecheta’s novel Gwendolen (1989; also published as The Family), Kehinde (1994) and The New Tribe (2000) which addresses the issues of immigrant life in Great Britain. Perhaps her strongest work, The Rape of Shavi (1983) is the most to categorize. Set in an imaginary African Kingdom, it explores the dislocation that occur when a plane carrying Europeans seeking to escape an imminent nuclear disaster crash. Emecheta who wrote an autobiography, Head Above Water (1986), and several works of children’s and juvenile fiction, was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in 2005

Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa,

Popularly known by her pen name Flora Nwapa is the founder of Tana Press in Nigeria and has great writing skills, the mother of modern African literature was born January 13, 1931 in Oguta, Imo State She was educated in Ogula Port Harcourt, and Lagos before attending university college in Ibadan, Nigeria (1953-1957), and the university of Edinburgh.

Flora Nwapa was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and the African woman novelist to be published in the English language in Britain. She achieved international recognition with her first novel Efuru, published in 1966 by Heinemann Educational Books. Flora, while never considering herself a feminist, was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman’s viewpoint. She published African literature and promoted women in the African society. Her other books include Idu (1970) which centers on a woman whose life is bound up with that of her husband to the extent that when he dies, she seeks him out in the land of the dead; This is Lagos and Other Stories (1971), One is Enough (1981) and Women are Different (1986). Some of her novels that dealt with the Biafran conflicts include, Never Again (1975), Wives at War and other stories (1980).

Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan

Popularly known as Femi Osofisan, born 16^th of June 1946 in Erunwon, Ogun State, and was educated at the University of Ibadan, Dakar and Paris. He has great writing skills and has held several posts and won several awards, the most recent, the 2006 Fonlon-Nicholas Award bestowed annually on an African writer for excellence in creative writing and for contributions to the struggles for human rights. won prizes from the association of Nigerian authors (ANA) and was awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) the highest academic prize in the country is a Nigerian Writer.

He is renowned for his criticism of societal issues, as well as for using surrealism and African traditional performance in some of his works. He frequently discusses the struggle between good and evil. A talented Nigerian critic, writer, poet, and dramatist, Femi Osofisan focuses much of his writing on political injustice and corruption. Midnight Hotel, Morountodun, Birthdays are not for the dying, Jagua Nana, Ladies of Owu, Ajayi Crowther, and many more are just a few of the more than 40 plays he has written and presented. His poems Dream Seekers on Driving Chain and Minted Coins were written under the pen name Okinba Launki. Femi Osofisan uses a variety of literary devices in her writing, including irony, humor, dance folktales, fables, and song.

We hope you find inspiration in some or all of their works and achievements, writing is a skill that can be learned, so go for your win. Meanwhile as stated earlier, we provide serene workspace that can help you come up with fantastic material.

 

 

The Press mentions are a testament to the work done by the Emerald Zone team on Code Zone 2022 which did not go unnoticed by parents, participants and now the press. Thanks to all the media houses for the mentions

Brandcrunch 

BizWatchNigeria

TechTrackAfrica

OrientalNews

 

 

 

Hope is the one gift that life assures Those are the words of a very close friend of mine. No matter how much life throws at you, always cling to hope. You are most likely reading this on a beautiful Monday from somewhere around the world.  How are you? Believe me, I am not trying to just sound clichéd because I genuinely care and really want to know how you are doing . It’s the last month for the first quarter of the year already. The other day I wrote about taking it easy on yourself if the year has not started out as you planned. However, it is imperative that you strive to reach those goals. Setting goals on a periodic basis is a fine way not to be overwhelmed or consumed with these plans. So what were your plans for this quarter?  No plans? Do not go into the next quarter without goals. In fact, right now is a good time to start writing down your goals for the next quarter. Do not be like a young boy whom I  call Seidu. Once Seidu was late to school while pushing his bicycle by the side. His teacher asked why he decided to push his bicycle instead of getting on it. Seidu replied” I was so late that I did not have time to climb the bicycle”. Like Seidu, we sometimes  have the right resources to make things work in our favor but may still not know how best to use them. Success is not attained by winging things or via a sort of trial and error activities. Success is planned for. Are you an entrepreneur and wonder if your current staff have what it takes to take your business to the height you want for it? Is your goal to be better on your job and expose yourself to even better opportunities? Again, I present myself on behalf of Emeraldzone. Emeraldld zone is a leading business Consultancy services company. Reach out to us and let us help you grow as a person or even as a business. The next quarter is a few weeks away. Now is the time to start planning.

Byeee!

 

Vindy from Emeraldzone.

We all have a personal brand whether we know it or not. It’s what people think when your name is mentioned, what pops up on Google when someone searches for you, and your presence across social media. It’s important to craft your personal brand strategically and build one that helps advance your career and your life.

What Is A Personal Brand?

While most people think of businesses when they think of a brand, all individuals also have a brand.

Think of it as what people say and think about you. It encapsulates your talents as well as who you are, and it’s how you can differentiate yourself from others. Your brand is both what you stand for and what you do.

The best personal brands are unique, authentic, and trustworthy. They build a strong reputation about you that can help you personally and professionally.

Why Should You Build A Personal Brand?

Since your personal brand captures who you are and what skills you bring to the table, it helps you make powerful connections and leads to new opportunities. You’ll be surprised who starts contacting you when you’re intentional about crafting your brand. But there’s more to it than this.

As of 2020, 43% of the US workforce is made up of freelancers and contract workers. If this applies to you, a personal brand can help you land clients and bring in a larger paycheck. It helps establish your credibility and trustworthiness, and it also enables clients to find you.

Further, according to a CareerBuilder survey conducted in 2018, 70% of employers screen candidates by checking their social media, and 43% use it to check on current workers.

If you’re looking for a job, having a positive and strategic online presence could make or break your candidacy. Considering the average tenure for an employee is around four years, you’ll likely be on the job hunt at some point, so it’s a smart idea to get to work on a personal brand before you need it.

With all of this in mind, let’s dive into how you can begin building a powerful personal brand.

Steps to Build Your Brand

Here are the top seven ways to build a personal brand that shines.

•  Figure out who you are and what you want to accomplish

Since you want your personal brand to be an honest reflection of who you are, what skills you possess, and what your aspirations are, it’s critical to determine this information. Think deeply and be authentic.

You can start by asking yourself:

1. What drives me?
2. In what areas do I excel?
3. What work drains my energy? What work fuels me?
4. What settings do I work best in?
5. What industries do I find interesting?
6. Where do I want to be at the end of my career?
7. What impact do I want to have?

Even if the answers to these questions change over time, that’s okay. Your personal brand evolves as you do, so it’s critical that you be honest now and accept that your image may change over time.

If you aren’t sure how to answer these questions, ask friends, coworkers, and family for their input. Even if you’re confident in your answers, it may be a good idea to consult others. They see you in a way you can’t see yourself, and it can help you build a more holistic image of yourself.

Once you’re aware of these different parts of yourself, you can begin crafting an image that aligns with it and helps get you where you want to go.

Doing so also attracts like-minded people who are driven by the same things as you or who see value in what you offer. This creates a stronger network.

• Determine your unique value proposition

Leveraging your differences is critical for brand-building. If you’re similar to everyone else out there, your personal brand won’t truly be personal. People remember those who stand out.

That’s where your unique value proposition comes into play. It is a short statement that encapsulates what you uniquely offer that no one else does.

When it comes to defining your unique value proposition, there are two steps you should take:

1. Understand your strengths. Ask yourself where you’ve excelled in the past. Consider what compliments others give you and what they deem to be your talents. Determining what you do better than most anyone else lays the foundation for your unique value proposition.
2. Talk about these strengths.By taking stock of your strengths, you can build your brand around them. Share your expertise and highlight your achievements. All of this builds credibility and establishes trust, so if an employer is considering you or if you’re looking to land a client, they can tell through your brand that you’re the best person to bring on board.

If you’ve determined your strengths but aren’t sure how to turn those into a value proposition, it may help to think in the same way you’d prepare for an interview. Here are a few ways you can better uncover what truly sets you apart:

1. Make your answer specific.Many people are hard workers, detail-oriented, and get along well with others. Instead, think about specific instances where your hard work or people skills paid off. What aspects of yourself came together to make those scenarios a success? What made it so you could accomplish what you did instead of others with similar skills?
2. Determine how this uniqueness will help you thrive.While it’s great to know what your strengths are, they aren’t useful if they aren’t applied. For instance, if you want to one day transition from sales to being a venture capitalist, consider what strengths of yours translate from sales to VC. Further, consider specific instances where these skills served you well as a salesperson and how those will enable you to thrive in the VC industry.
3. Talk about your personality.While hard work is a strength, not all hard workers are equally as outgoing, fun-loving, and agreeable. These personality traits combined with your skills further help you differentiate yourself from the pack. It’s likely a unique combination that serves you well.

• Define your audience

Many people make the mistake of trying to appeal to the masses. It’s critically important to define your niche and then work to appeal to your target audience.

If you’re launching a business, your personal niche should be well-aligned with your business. If you want to build a brand to further your career, your niche should be in a specific area of your work.

To determine your niche, start with a broad category that interests you, such as sales, marketing, or finance. From there, narrow it down at least three times:

Imagine the difference between building a brand around marketing versus SEO blog and article writing for startups and small businesses.

The first is incredibly broad and encompasses so many different subjects that it will be really difficult to set yourself apart. The second provides with you a well-defined service that you offer to a well-defined audience. It’s much easier to be an expert in a small niche than a massive one.

If you still aren’t convinced, here are some benefits of niche marketing:

1. Less competition.The number of people in marketing is far greater than those in SEO content marketing for startups and small businesses, specifically using blogs and articles. This gives you a much greater chance to stand out and be successful.
2. Targeted expertise.While refining your knowledge in a broad category can take years, you can far more quickly level up in a specific niche. Since more knowledge contributes to your domain authority and helps you differentiate yourself, this can only help.
3. Improved customer relations.While it’s tempting to try and speak to the masses, engaging with fewer, more targeted prospects is more beneficial. It makes those conversations more engaging and increases the likelihood that a prospect converts (or that a recruiter hires you). You’re also better equipped to get to know your customers personally and tailor their experiences (or get to know a company better and personalize your interactions with them to land a position). All of this positively fuels itself moving forward.

• Optimize your personal website and social profiles

Website: You can make a free website if you desire it, there are free website builders, meanwhile you need to purchase a domain and web hosting plan. such as  Namecheap. for domain name and  Bluehost. for webhosting

Now, regarding social media, there are four main platforms that people use for personal branding: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram/TikTok. While it’s vital that these platforms align to tell a cohesive message, you may want to consider focusing on one to start.

LinkedIn

Regarding building a personal brand on LinkedIn, there are some basics you need to cover:

1. Fill out all sections of your profile.
2. Use a professional headshot.
3. Add skills strategically.
4. Use keywords that fit your brand or your career throughout your profile

Once the basics are down, it’s time to start engaging. Here’s what you can do:

• Leave 3–10 genuine, insightful commentson other influencers’ posts. Find influencers that are in your niche. If you leave A+ comments, they should gather likes and appear at the top, encouraging other people to connect with you.
• Make one meaningful connection per day.It’s too easy to send empty connection requests and never talk to the person. Instead, try to connect with at least one person on a meaningful level every day.
• Post once per day.It’s daunting to start posting, but this is the fastest way to build a following and strong personal brand. Post around your niche, and make it authentic. Here’s an article to help you start.

Twitter

It’s harder to break into the Twitter-sphere and become a true influencer, but you can use similar techniques as on LinkedIn.

Follow leaders in your desired niche, comment thoughtfully on their posts, retweet them, and begin tweeting insightful thoughts of your own. Jump onto relevant hashtags where you can.

As with any platform, the key to success with Twitter is consistency. The more meaningful conversations you have with those in your niche, the more visibility you’ll get.

Instagram/Tiktok

With Tiktok and the unveiling of Reels (Instagram’s Tiktok dupe), it’s far easier for you and me to become video influencers relatively fast.

There are some stories of near-overnight successes such as Pudgy Woke, who’ve amassed tens or hundreds of thousands of followers (eventually climbing to millions) in a month. While that’s an extreme example, it demonstrates a unique “quick” brand-building opportunity not yet prior.

Focusing on your niche, using relevant hashtags, and most of all, staying consistent is the most critical. Tiktok and Reels are notoriously trend-based, meaning new sounds arise quickly. If you can follow these trends and create insightful or entertaining content, you’ll see results a lot faster.

• Develop your content strategy

Many people think “giving it all away” with free content is a mistake. If you give it all away, why would people hire you or pay you?

It’s quite the opposite. Providing valuable, genuinely helpful free content proves that you know what you’re talking about. It showcases your expertise. If the free advice worked, imagine what paying you would do?

Thus, step one is to make all content you post genuinely helpful and insightful. You want to be known as a trusted authority in your space.

Step two is to do a bit of research on what subjects within your niche are generating buzz. Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and Exploding Topics are great tools helping you uncover what’s trending. You can then jump on trends relevant to your niche to make sure you’re in the conversation.

Step three is remembering to cover all types of content. Posting only video or only text gets stale quickly. Share different types of content across all platforms. These content types include:

• Podcasts
• Online courses
• Infographics
• Text
• Video
• Slideshows
• Webinars

You can share this content on the many platforms available, including:

• Personal blog/website
• Other blogs and online publications
• Email list
• Podcast directories
• Tiktok/Reels
• Youtube
• Quora
• Reddit
• LinkedIn groups
• And more….

Sharing a variety of content across multiple platforms increases your visibility and helps you build your brand more quickly.

While it may not be feasible to do all types of content, avoid sticking to one or two. Instead, aim to rotate through at least four or five of these content types and post them on platforms or via mediums where they’re likely to do best.

Constantly add value to your audience

Although mentioned briefly in the last section, now’s the time to emphasize the importance of adding value to your audience. It’s easy to create stale content, but making content that’s insightful, engaging, and that truly helps your audience is a different story.

Creating valuable content requires planning and intention. Schedule out your content and ask yourself: “would this help me? Is this actionable?”

Don’t settle for fluff or trite advice. Provide your audience with content that will make a real difference in their lives.

• Build a community

Lastly, while amassing a following may seem impressive, it doesn’t do anything if nobody engages with you. Building a community means creating a place where people talk with you and each other, getting to know one another and helping each other out.

If you’re looking to generate business, this is an excellent way to differentiate yourself. Likewise, if you simply want your name out there to advance your career, this helps.

To start building a community, consider these strategies:

• Facebook and LinkedIn groups. These allow people to start threads on relevant topics and talk among themselves. You can chime in as often as you want to spark conversations.
• It’s hard to overestimate the value of meeting with people face-to-face. These meetings can be one-on-one, or you can host large gatherings of people to come together, share, and learn.
• Webinars allow you to gather people together for a shared learning experience. This is an opportunity for you to meet your audience, share your expertise, and continue developing yourself personally.

Conclusion

While building a personal brand is a lot of work, the payoff is enormous when done correctly. Personal brands allow you to build a network of professionals who see your worth and think of you first when new opportunities arise.

Whether you’re looking to generate business, accelerate your career, find a mentor, or never job hunt again, a personal brand can get you there.

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