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Personal Branding Portrait Series || How to put yourself out there with Nengi
- creativekommunikat
- May 13, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 24, 2021
Nengi and I have been following each other for about a year now. Nengi is the founder of the Instagram page blackwomenowned, an online marketplace for black women owned brands. In the past few months, blackwomenowned has gone through the roof and Nengi has gained 3’000 new followers in just one month. How she manages to do that? That’s exactly what I wanted to know from her and she shared a lot of insights into her personal branding strategy, how she started her page and how it will now lead to the launch of her very own social media agency. Get ready for some badass insights from Nengi.
Nengi Hyacinth
When, where and how did you get the idea to start the page blackwomenowned?
First of all, blackwomenowned wasn’t blackwomenowned from the beginning. When I had my previous clothing business, I followed pages that empowered women, ambitious women, and I drew inspiration from those pages. I wanted to create a community for black women myself, in fact for all women. I came up with the name “businessgirlslikeme” but I wasn’t really convinced by it. I imagined someone saying, “Oh are you following businessgirlslikeme yet?” and I just couldn’t picture it, it was too long. So, I changed the name to blackwomenowned. It just crossed my mind one night and I thought “This is perfect”. The brands featured on my page are owned by black women, but it’s not a page only for black women, anyone can support black women and the community is there for everyone. It’s not just about pictures or services, I’m here to empower people and everyone can feel empowered by this content.
Do you reach out to the brands you would like to feature on your page or do they contact you?
Sometimes they contact me directly. There are a few of them that I request payments from, not much, but to cover my expenses for programs like Canva. I mean, to be featured on a page you have to pay; it took me time to build this community and I didn’t just hit 5k overnight. It took me time to create this content and engagement and if you want to benefit from it, you should at least pay something. However, I don’t charge every brand. If I feel a brand is amazing and would be a perfect fit for my feed, then they are actually doing me a favour.
What would you recommend to someone who wants to start their own page? You told us how you found your name, but how did you go about it after that?
I made sure that I was targeting the right people. There are people who want to support black women, so I went to pages that are owned by black women and have almost the same purpose. I went there to follow people because I knew those people would be more likely to follow me back. My advice: Follow the right people who want your kind of content. It will be more effective. And – little things matter! Personally, I learn from people and I learn from myself. I had an experience of commenting on someone’s picture and she replied to everyone, but not to me. It made me feel so bad. So, I try to reply to everyone, even if I miss it, and even its two weeks later, I reply back. Little things like that matter. I know how I felt, and I don’t want anyone else to feel that way, even if it is a business, I want them to feel welcome. So, when people comment, I try to respond to their comments, and when they reply to my stories, I reply to make them feel at home. And so, they keep commenting because they know I’m there to relate to them.
You’re a Digital Marketing Strategist and I’m sure you can tell us a lot about personal branding. blackwomenowned and your own profile have grown tremendously in recent months. What personal branding strategy did you choose for blackwomenowned?
This is not my first Instagram page, so I learned from my previous pages. What did I do wrong? I used to post a lot and I had a beautiful feed. But is it about the aesthetics? Most businesses want to be featured on blackwomenowned because it looks so beautiful. But it shouldn’t just be about an aesthetically pleasing feed. That was my mistake with my previous feed, it was empty, I had no story, it was just beautiful pictures. Personal branding should require you sharing a lot of your stories, there are so many unique stories to a person. It’s not that I share everything about myself, I still have things that I keep private. But there are certain things that you should still share, I mean if you’re a personal brand, you want to put yourself out there. There are things that make you different from others. I see so many people on social media that when a new trend comes up, they just jump on it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow trends, but try to have your own lead for yourself, not because someone dresses this way, you dress the same, someone did this, let me do this. No, you are unique! Try to put yourself out there, DO YOU!
Nengi Hyacinth
Let’s look ahead: You’re about to launch your social media agency Spurt365media. Can you tell me more about this business and how you built it up?
People are starting to request this service from me because, you know, I usually show people my milestones. Not to brag, but I appreciate milestones, maybe I hit an extra 1k followers and I will celebrate it! People were impressed and sent me DMs asking me to help them grow their pages. People started referring me to other businesses. That’s how it started. I have realized that so many businesses, even big business, mid-sized businesses or small businesses, don’t do an amazing job of branding their business. They make it about the product, service or brand, but not about the people who consume those products or services. What about those people? You need to connect with those people in a meaningful way. Sometimes it’s all about them. You see some brands that are great at marketing their businesses. They send out emails that don’t even have much to do with their products, they just show their knowledge, sometimes it’s informative or entertaining content. What they are sending out is not their product, they build a relationship with people, make it about their target audience. What do they love? Get them engage.
There is the 80/20 rule – 20% promotional content and 80% content that will inform, educate or entertain. Nengi Hyacinth
So, you’re showing us a perfect example of personal branding – you’ve developed blackwomenowned and your own profile, and it led you to your very own social media agency…
What would you tell to someone who is stuck in their everyday life, their 9-5, and wants to make a change? How do you get yourself out there?
My advice to them is not to leave their 9-5 yet. They need money to make money. It’s best if they keep their 9-5 while having their side hustle. Some of them don’t even know what they are passionate about. How would you know if you don’t try? You have to try something, and if it doesn’t work, you see better ways to do it, better ways to dream it, or you start seeing possibilities in other aspects. But if you never try, you will never know. I never thought about having a clothing business or a social media agency, no, never, but the way I approached my clothing business and blackwomenowned is that I still have a lot to learn. There are so many businesses featured on blackwomenowned and wow, they are doing amazing things in branding their businesses. I get to see what they are doing; I learn and observe people. So, my advice for them is that they should try and start somewhere. The mistake I made in my previous clothing business was not giving 100%. Treat your business the way you treat your job. Give it your all, be disciplined and plan your schedule accordingly!
Some of the advices Nengi shared with us today:
Target the right audience
Try to put yourself out there, DO YOU
Celebrate your milestones
Make it about the audience
You have to try to know, start somewhere
Treat your side hustle the way to treat your job
After hanging up our call, I had a smile on my face and felt so inspired. Nengi has an energy that is contagious. I can’t wait to hear your feedback here on the blog and on Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to follow Nengi on her social media accounts:
For my new Personal Branding Portraits Series, I’m talking to female entrepreneurs and business owners about their journey, their goals and challenges, and how they built their personal brand. Find the other portraits here!
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