Recently, guest speaker Riley Deleon spoke to my social media class about Branding and Innovation. Riley is a two-time published author and public speaker. Riley started two non-profits and a book all before even graduating.
Riley is an alum from app who has become very successful as an author and by developing his personal brand. He spoke to our class about his personal experiences and journey he has taken to build his career and brand. Riley spoke on topics such as transparency, and how transparency has been essential when he is writing and posting on social media platforms. He explained that in order to truly develop an authentic brand you need to be very organic and real with your followers. Meaning that he always presents himself in the realest and truest way, and not attempting to be anything else than who he really is. Many people in todays day and age get caught up with posting what they think other people want to see or trying to look and act a certain way. When doing that, others notice and it can be very destructive to a brand and reputation. Riley also shared that he is very respectful of his followers and their opinions. Although he may not always share the same perspective, he can still disagree with friendly discourse.
Another important point Riley touched on was growing and developing a brand. He shared about his personal experiences and how its very significant to allow your audience to change. Many time companies that are just starting out have an idea of the audience and customers they specifically want. Often, those audiences change and may not be what you expected. But you have to learn to allow your audience to change and even change with it. Riley gave many helpful tips and advice on his own mistakes and discussed things like how to be proactive when posting and being aware of how your images & statements will be perceived.
Overall, I found Riley's lecture to be very inspirational. He gave so many helpful tips and insight I never would have thought of. Branding is something many people doing realize they're doing. By using social media daily and posting about ourselves and lives, we are constantly developing our personal brand. Things that are posted online, stay online so its incredibly important to think before you post and to make sure what you're posting accurately represents who you are. For anyone looking to learn more on branding and innovation I would highly recommend looking into Riley Deleon!