Visual Personal Branding: How to Build a Loyal Following With Images

Want to create a strong connection with your followers?

Wondering how to capture photos that authentically tell your brand's story?

To explore how to develop your visual personal brand on Instagram and beyond, I interview Jenna Kutcher.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Jenna Kutcher, host of the Goal Digger Podcast. She's formally a professional wedding photographer. Thousands of people have taken her online course, The Instagram Lab.

Jenna explains how to curate photos and write captions that tell authentic stories.

You'll discover tips for taking compelling photos and planning your Instagram feed around an overall strategy.

Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below.
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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Visual Personal Branding
Jenna's Story

During college, Jenna studied corporate business and thought she'd become a CEO. After graduation, she got her dream job as an executive at a Fortune 500 retailer but quickly realized she wasn't inspired by her work. Jenna decided to pursue something creative and purchased a $300 camera on Craigslist. She had no idea that camera would be her one-way ticket out of corporate America.

Jenna started a blog, where she shared how she loved photography, even though she says she had no idea what she was doing. Within a year, Jenna booked 25 weddings and was able to leave her corporate job to pursue full-time entrepreneurship.

Fast-forward six years. Jenna had photographed more than 125 weddings and was doing well, while a lot of her creative friends struggled to make ends meet. They weren't sure how to run a business or how to market themselves. Jenna realized she must be doing something different to be able to build a six-figure business in three years flat, using a skill in which she had no background. She decided to teach others what she was doing.

As Jenna pivoted to teaching, Jenna began to learn how to market herself online. Although the technical aspects of online marketing were intimidating at first, Jenna took courses, looked at how other people were marketing themselves, and then challenged herself to figure out her unique selling proposition. Jenna loves putting her own twist on what other people are doing.

Today, Jenna has more than 150,000 Instagram followers, and she's proud of the engagement she gets from them. They're always excited to see what's coming next. As Jenna's business continues to evolve, so does her Instagram account. Jenna shares pictures of her and her life that create connection along with facets of her business that drive income. However, her Instagram posts don't always come from a place of selling.

Listen to the show to hear about the conversation that inspired Jenna to switch from wedding photographer to teacher.

How to Create a Visual Personal Brand

First of all, Jenna says, you don't have to be a professional photographer to stand out on social media. It's easy for people to look at her content and say, "Well, of course you're doing well. You are a professional photographer." Jenna doesn't attribute her success to that. It's the way she puts her Instagram feed together, which is like a visual magazine, an editorial piece about her and her brand.

Although Jenna's Instagram is curated, it's still authentic. She looks at the overall story and pieces it together through photos, captions, and Instagram stories. The curation of social media is a beautiful thing, she adds. People go onto social media to escape, to find solutions, or to be inspired.

A visual brand is like a billboard for your business. Share what you want other people to know about you in a way that creates a connection lo...