We've had a lot of messages lately surrounding how to build your personal brand as a developer. And a lot of it is down to Adam Barker, who on Episode 5 of our podcast talked about how one of his best hires was someone he found through Instagram.

This seemed crazy to a lot of people, but the truth is, having a strong personal brand gives you even stronger job prospects - whether you're writing articles on DEV, posting #100DaysOfCode updates on Twitter and Instagram, or live streaming your code on Twitch - it all adds up.

So when we had Benjamin Ha on the podcast, who is a developer and Instagram growth expert (who has worked with the likes of Kylie Jenner and other larger celebrities), we asked a ton of questions surrounding growing a personal brand over there.

A lot of his advice is actually fairly timeless and can be used across platforms - one strategy however stuck out, and that is

Engaging with your followers is the most important thing to do when growing a personal brand

And when we vetted the profiles that were messaging us asking us for advice, most were simply not engaging with their following.

If you engage, you build a real connection. We call this "Warming Up Your Audience" - they're not used to someone on the other end replying, and when they do, they feel cared about, and a lot will come back and continue to engage and become real fans and consumers of your brand.

Engage meaningfully - having a copy and paste response doesn't cut it

Really taking the time to think about your responses is key here - people know when you haven't put the time in, and the more contextual your response is, the better your chances of building a real long term connection with the person you're talking to.

Listen to the full episode for more personal branding strategies from Ben

Ben has tons of timeless personal and business branding advice, and a lot of advice specific to Instagram too. We tried to extract as much of this as possible in this latest episode, so check it out on Spotify or Apple Podcasts if you want to learn more: