A strong personal brand is a fundamental component of your success not only as an employer, but also as a hiring manager. And on a larger scale, your employer brand is often synonymous with your company brand. So it’s important to make sure that you are doing all that you can to enhance your brand and really put yourself out there in a positive light as the face of your company. Here are seven ways to start enhancing your image today:

1. Develop workplace culture

A favorable culture inside your workplace is the driving force behind employee satisfaction. The culture is how you set the stage for the employee experience and includes everything from engaging your employees to offering considerate work conditions and benefits. This is the realm in which your employees can feel like they matter, like the organization is a collaborative one, and like you are doing your best to meet their needs. In return, you’ll enjoy a stronger employer brand along with higher employee retention and positive (employee based) word-of-mouth.

2. Add the human element

At least on occasion, you should step out into the limelight to showcase some of your human qualities. It will help build a sense of respect and empathy between you and those you interact with. The ALS ice bucket challenge is a great example of this, as it showed loads of public figures participating in a charity fundraiser while highlighting their candid reactions to the challenge itself.

3. Be personable

Social media is one of the best outlets to interact with your followers, so use it to your brand’s advantage. Give your social media team a break and field some of the questions and comments yourself. Make sure to sign your name to each response so that the public can see that it’s you on the other end of the web! You can even take it a step further by participating in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, though you will need to block out a bigger timeslot for this one.

4. Give some visuals

If you want to give your brand some reach, visuals are the way to go. Your social media followers are more likely to share photos and videos, and they are more likely to stand out against plain text in any format.

5. Share stories

Use a narrative format to share stories from individuals affected by your company’s work. This can be from employees who want to share why they love working for you, to clients who have benefitted from your generous help with a project. Be sure to include their photos too, if they give you permission.

6. Listen to your employees

Give your employees a voice and a safe space in which to express their concerns, questions, and ideas. They have a wealth of knowledge to offer. And don’t exclude anyone just because their jobs may be less specialized than others. Everyone deserves to be heard. And in turn, your employees may become individual brand ambassadors, spreading the word about your leadership skills.

7. Listen to your community

As a business owner, you are a significant part of your immediate community. You provide jobs and services, so chances are that many more community members are directly affected by your work than you may realize. So when they have concerns, or interest in your company’s transparency, or simply want to invite you to speak at a local graduation, be sure to listen and engage.

It’s true that you can build much of your employer brand yourself. But the larger your company gets, chances are you won’t have as much time to keep it at the front of your mind. If you do start to feel like you need an extra hand, consider hiring a PR manager to maintain your personal brand. They may even have some tips other than those listed above!