Platform

The Art and Science of Personal Branding

By: Cynthia Johnson

Narrated by: Cynthia Johnson

The indispensable guide to developing a personal brand, building an audience, and nurturing followers, by digital marketing thought-leader Cynthia Johnson.

In the modern world, influence is everything and personal branding equals influence. Platform is the why-to, how-to handbook by top expert Cynthia Johnson for everyone who wants to develop and manage a personal brand. In Platform, Johnson explains the process of going from unknown to influencer by achieving personal proof, social proof, recognition, and association. Johnson herself went from an on-staff social media manager to social media influencer, entrepreneur, and marketing thought-leader in just three years using her process of accelerated brand development, continuous brand management, and strategic growth. Fans of #GirlBoss and #AskGaryVee, who wonder how their favorite influencers found their voices and built their audiences, will find the answers here and discover that the process is technical, creative, tactical, and much easier than they might have expected.

Critic reviews

“Who sees you and what do they see? Here are wise strategies and useful tactics that will help you make an impact.”
—Seth Godin, author of This Is Marketing

“Johnson has created what will become a ‘go-to’ bible of building a personal brand. . . . This book is a must read for someone with an audience of one or one million.”
—Plastic Jesus, street artist

“Platform is the best guide to help you imagine the brand you should and could be known for in the world, because you don’t want to leave YOUR brand up to the world’s imagination.”
—Dr. Mark Goulston, author of Just Listen

“Pure gold. Platform is deep and relevant, with tons of tactical and practical advice. Any entrepreneur who wants to have any kind of personal brand has got to read this book.”
—Setema Gali, Super Bowl champion and author of Winning After the Game

10 Year Social Media Expert and Personal Branding Photographer finds it VERY impactful

I’ve been a social media professional for 10 years, a content creator for almost 20, and in the last 3 years started adding more personal branding work to my portfolio. I wanted to understand more of the ins and outs of personal branding from a strategic standpoint and not just as a visual exercise (I’m a photographer, videographer and writer) so that I could speak to it confidently with my clients, as well as curate resources of books and materials they could go to that I myself found credible. This will definitely be one of those books. I actually think I now need a physical copy, as there are lots of actionable items that serve almost as a step by step workbook on what to do, that are harder to implement when following the audio format. She does have downloads available on her website which I haven’t accessed yet, but I still think I will want a hard copy of the book so I can use it to make notes and markups.

My only critique of the book is that the author’s reading has less variance in tonality than I would prefer...instead of sounding like she’s teaching (with the natural inflections and rises and falls in energy that come with that), she sounds like she’s trying to channel “very serious reader”. It’s clear and well spoken, so you get the information, but for such a dynamic topic, I personally would have loved a little more personality in the read. It won’t stop me from listening to it again, but it’s just something I noticed.

All in all, it’s the most unique and creative take on building a strong personal brand and social media strategy that I’ve seen.

Personal branding explained

Great listen. Thorough explanation of the concept with plenty of examples and resources. Definitely going to listen to it again and apply the practices. Easy listen, well articulated and never boring. Have to get the physical copy to keep up with all the information.

Value, in the true sense of the word

Value, in the true sense of the word. Platform will be the most valuable book in my collection for a very long time. It's packed with richly detailed, timely and culturally relevant case studies, building a foundation of theory before deep diving into highly actionable, high value, how-tos, techniques, and workflows. I came away from Platform more intelligent, and significantly more capable. Thank you.

Great Book very informative

Is a Book that explain everything about Personal Brand that every professional should know. Cynthia explain everything you need to know

Refreshing Business Book

A welcomed departure from the traditional entrepreneurial business book!

What I love about this book is that it is a departure from the traditional format of said entrepreneur spending the length of their book to just upsell you on their product and services. Cynthia Johnson uses her story in a subtle manner as a tool to supplement the tactical advice she provides, not use this book to create a bloated autobiography and sales tool.

No matter your goals, she provides honest and thought-provoking language that is concise and easy to follow with usable advice. The audiobook creates the feeling that you are having a conversation and not being spoken too. I can see how this would be easy to go back to as a reference time and time again.