Injecting personality into our brands is important. People buy from people and so often they want to feel there is a human presence behind the brand, sometimes they want to see them too. This is especially true for small brands but big brands like Innocent Drinks use this to great effect too.

So how do you do that? Well one very effective way is to ‘Go Live’. Live on your Facebook page, live on Instagram, live on LinkedIn, live in Stories. Video is King and Queen all over the internet, it performs best across multiple channels. Buffer’s State of Social report 2019 showed that over a third of brands are posting video content at least once a month and there is no doubt that social media newsfeeds favour this type of content. The evidence is clear

And yet…what if ‘going live’ on social media is the very antithesis of you. What if you’re an introvert and would rather eat your own arm off than speak to camera, or even show your face?

Well here’s the thing. If that’s the case then don’t do it. That’s right, ignore the advice and just don’t. Putting yourself through something you hate isn’t just ‘pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone’ it’s the social media equivalent of that dream where you are naked in front of a room full of people. You will feel stressed and awkward and it will show all over your face and in your words and crucially, it won’t really represent you. And you won’t be alone, less than half of brands are actually using live video. So, not everybody is doing it.

So what to do instead? How can you inject personality into your social media marketing without baring your soul on camera?

The good news is there are plenty of ways to save your blushes.

Here are a few of my top tips for bringing personality to your brand on social media if you are an introvert:

If you are a maker then video or photograph your hands holding, making or doing something. This can be as simple as holding a cup of tea, or a bunch of flowers or one of your products or creations. @xantheb does this really well on Instagram.

#FridayFacelessPortrait - this is a great Instagram hashtag that was started by photographer SarahLou Francis and is full of inspiration on ways to show you without really showing you. I urge you to check it out.

Take a selfie peeping out from behind something such as a bunch of flowers or over the top of your favourite book.

A little video tour of your workspace or shop can give a lovely ‘behind the scenes’ element. You don’t need to speak in it if you feel shy, you can always describe it in your captions.

Show things you love - your pet, your favourite places, your best read and tell your audience why you love them or what they mean to you.

Inject a little taste of your daily life into your social media marketing - Instagram and Facebook stories are great places to do this and the images don’t need to be as asthetically on brand as your grid or feed might be.

If your business is product based then think about using your own home to shoot the products. Of course the worry here is keeping everything tidy, but it often only needs to be one area - no one will see the rest.

Look at your captions on social media, are you showing your personality there? Try to remember that even though you are a brand your audience want to know there’s a person or people behind it. Be yourself.

Work out what your audience likes too, it might be that they don’t love video, in which case you’re in luck. I know that on my own Instagram photos with me in them do really well so I try to find ways to show myself without a full on selfie or a live to camera. Like this ...

Hopefully these tips will help you come out of your shell in ways that work for you.

Brand personality for Introverts