Hashnode Bootcamp - Personal Branding and Community Engagements (Day 2)
My notes from the Hashnode Bootcamp - Day 2
Welcome Notes
Dani Passos introduced the speakers and talked about how personal branding can help developers build their presence in the community and leverage their skills for growth. She also mentioned the Hashnode AI available with Hashnode Pro, which is a powerful new feature that can help kickstart writing, improve ideas, and publish faster. With Hashnode AI, writers can create compelling content more easily and efficiently.
Leveraging Social Media for Monetization
Speaker: Nadar Dabit (Director of Developer Relations at Aave & Lens Protocol Author and Teacher)
Nadar started by sharing how he found his love for creating content after writing his first blog post on how to configure Webpack. He shared some of the things that worked for him, which include having a clear direction of who you are or what you want to be because it makes it easy to stand apart from everyone else.
Becoming good at a specialization is key to getting opportunities. Linking your portfolio on your socials is important to let people learn more about you.
The more specialized you are the more you set yourself apart.
Nader Dabit
Takeaways
Learn in public: share what you're learning online. This helps you connect with people and opens up opportunities.
Be consistent: landing a million opportunities in one day is almost impossible, so keep at it.
Be helpful without expecting anything in return: this builds knowledge and helps others.
Be authentic: you will feel more comfortable when sharing your ideas.
Be active/engaging: identify the most influential people and engage with them to make contributions.
Walk the line between engaging and helpful without relying on gimmicks: put out raw value and understand social media algorithms to draw people's attention.
Backlink social media platforms: this helps people connect with you and find you easily. Don't leave bios blank.
Use rich media: code snippets, images, etc., to help people understand more.
Be thoughtful about how you format your writing: be thoughtful about making it scannable so people can get an idea of your content without actually reading it. And remember, if you feel uncomfortable or cringe, you're probably doing something right, so be yourself as much as possible.
Leverage other people's networks and audiences: find and collaborate with people who have large audiences.
In conclusion, Learning and building something is the best way to go because it helps you teach other people. If you can't find resources online, create them for yourself. You can rewrite a particular idea by adding your own touch to help people understand it better.
Find opportunities to tap into other networks and be good at one thing. You'll see a lot of opportunities there, and you can take a deeper dive to set yourself apart. Every time something new comes out, you can take an existing idea and combine it to create a fresh perspective.
Decide which social platform you want to be the most active on, focus on one or two platforms, and share your content there. Find a popular topic and create your own view of doing a particular thing. The best teachers can take complex topics and make them easier to understand. Spend time building something first before sharing and be valuable first before sharing.
Building Your Personal Brand on Social Media
Speaker: Ákos Kőműves (Software developer, ex CTO, freelancer, and writer)
The quality of your audience is a function of your content quality.
Ákos Kőműves
Takeaways
Akos shared these simple reasons why you want to build a personal brand on social media.
Simple tools: get a writing skill. Start by repurposing existing content, then discover systems that can make you more efficient. As you write more, you'll find that ideas come more easily to you. In building your personal brand, be sure to incorporate storytelling. Over time, you can improve and practice to become even better. You don't have to make the perfect content from day one.
Build your social brand on social media: following a three-step cycle/algorithm - 1. Put yourself out there by tweeting and writing blog posts.
2. Engage with other people who have big audiences by making meaningful contributions to discussions.
3. Attract profile visits: to get people to follow you should; State what you do and who you are helping with your content with a sentence, where you can start if they are interested in the same journey, and a link to the rest of your work/content.
Typefully - Twitter Thread Maker & Analytics
First Impressions Count: Craft positive first impressions through engaging posts and interactions. Connect with influential figures, aiming to leave a positive impact.
- No Competition, No Strict Rules: Personal branding is not a competition or adherence to rigid rules. Share personal content to showcase your unique voice, standing out from the crowd. Avoid engaging with content thieves; stay resilient to challenges and adapt to platform changes.
In Conclusion:
Enjoy the Journey: Social media is a game—enjoy it, grow your space, and work towards your goals. There are no winners or losers.
Build in Public: Share your learnings, make it fun, and worthwhile. As a software developer, address problems you're solving, focusing on both quality and quantity.
Connect Authentically: Create value and connect with your audience for long-term success. While popular topics attract fast followers, genuine connection fosters sustained engagement.
Remember the Person: As a beginner, focus on your content but don't lose sight of the person behind it. Personal connection adds depth and authenticity to your online presence.