How to Build a Personal Brand with Google Gemini

For founders, the benefits of building a personal brand are undeniable.

A high-profile personal brand can lead to more attention and opportunities from media and investors, create inbound demand from warm leads, and foster trust with potential customers. And, unlike traditional marketing, it can be executed with zero budget.

However, building a personal brand can take a great deal of time. With so many founders and thought leaders competing for attention, it’s no longer enough to simply post consistently on social media and wait for results. Audiences expect specific, experience-driven insights from a distinct, engaging voice.

Google Gemini can jumpstart the process of creating a personal brand by helping founders plan out their efforts, surface their most original ideas, and generate solid first drafts.

Step 1: Determine Your Goals

Before you begin posting, you need to know why you’re building a personal brand and who you’re trying to reach. Start by considering how your areas of strength and expertise intersect with the things your audience cares about. If you run a legal firm or a software company, for example, you might have insights about growing a business and managing a workforce that translate to your customers in other sectors.

It’s important to think about what sets you apart from other voices on the platform where you plan to grow your personal brand. LinkedIn already has plenty of posts about 5 a.m. cold plunges and productivity hacks, but it doesn’t have anything about your company’s origin story or specific challenges.

Step 2: Brainstorm with Gemini

To begin brainstorming with Gemini, try this prompt:

Help me grow my personal brand. I am the founder of [a startup] in [industry]. I am passionate about [topics]. I want to inspire [audience] with business tips and lessons I’ve learned from starting my own company. My goals are to build a following so that I can [generate more media] for the business. What are some ideas you have for how to accomplish this?

Gemini will return a list of tips and ideas. For example, it might suggest several content pillars for you to build your brand around, topics for different content series, or the best platform for you to reach your intended audience.

Step 3: Give Gemini More Context

The more context and background you give to Gemini, the more it can help you create a personal brand that is entirely your own.

Try uploading some artifacts from your own work. If you run a public relations firm, for example, you might provide Gemini with examples of recent high-profile coverage you’ve obtained for your clients. If you run a B2B software company, you might upload the transcript of a recent implementation webinar.

Then instruct Gemini: Create a list of potential post ideas based on these sources.

For the PR firm, Gemini might suggest a post telling the story of the relationship-building behind the coverage, or one about how to convert that coverage into sales. For the B2B software company, Gemini might surface several post ideas buried in the transcript.

Step 4: Go to Draft

Now that you know who you’re targeting and what you want to post about, you can use Gemini to help you begin drafting content.

The more specific you are in your instructions, the better. Make sure to include which platform you’re writing for, all key points you want to cover, and any important style preferences (for instance: whether you want your content to include emojis).

Here’s a sample prompt:

I’m the founder of a branded travel content agency. Using the attached example, write a LinkedIn post about how to bring a destination to life for readers through small details.

Gemini can generate publishable drafts almost instantly, but it will take a bit of revision to get the posts to sound like you. Take a moment to switch out phrases you would never actually say, or to add in a bit of relevant context you forgot to include in your prompt.

Gemini can’t replace your insights. But it can help you get them in front of your audience much more quickly.