The Brand of Youin a Digital Age

Tim BrunelleGreg Swan

Image by cooliceblue via Flickr

Tim Brunelle

I’m the CEO of Hello Viking, as well as a board member of the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and an adjunct faculty member of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.You could ask Google, but it’s easier to parse my story at: tbrunelle.extendr.com

Greg Swan

I’m a Digital Strategist at Weber Shandwick, counseling clients on social marketing strategies (proactive, inoculative, reactive). Also a music blogger, citizen journalist and online reputation egoist.

My online reputation? Google me.

Agenda

0. Setting expectations

1. The Brand of You: A Personal Strategy

2. Step one: Listening

3. Step two: Participate via Social MediaBlogs, Microblogs

4. Step two: Participate via Social NetworksLinkedIn, Facebook, Sharing Services, Wikipedia

The Brand of You

Brand Yourself

The Internet changes everything

We live in a different age. Paper resumes alone don’t cut it anymore.The rise of Search/Recommendation has redefined personal reputationNot participating is not an option

So—what’s your story?In this new age, it’s more important than ever to define a personal brand strategyPractice for yourself what you practice at work

Username

Use your real name or not?Use sites like http://namechk.com/ and http://usernamecheck.com/ to register your username everywhere

Avatar

What story are you telling visually?Are you consistent?

Brand Yourself: The Basics

Why bother?

Ego-Search

Google/Bing/Yahoo!/Spezify yourself

Where are you showing up? Where aren’t you showing up?

What stories can you surmise from this information? What actions might you take as a result?

What’s the story you want to tell the world?

First, listen.Then, participate.

Listening

Image by DerrickT via Flickr

Listening

Use free tools like Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) for your name, company & brand names, competitor names, spokespeople names and key issues for “as-it-happens” e-mail notifications.

Utilize other tools like Lijit, spy.appspot.com, etc. to research

Be aware of social media’s influence on mainstream media and Search

“1.26 billion search engine queries every day, globally.”

Piper Jaffray & Co.

“Google has 72% of all U.S. searches.”Hitwise, October 2008

“Your reputation is shaped by ten blue links on a white background.”

Andy Beal

Google is your friend

Social Media

Social Media

Put the “Me” in Social Media

It’s your name – own itThere’s a virtual land grab happening

Optimize – create your own ‘Google Juice’

Monitor conversations – use live focus groups

Engage directly – leverage disintermediation

Be human – demonstrably responsive

Be unexpected – established brands are“This is a time in which a lot of bold experimentation...via social media, is called for.” - Pete Krainik, Founder, CMO Club

Social Media Best Practices

Be honest

Be responsive

Be respectful

Be transparent

Be even-handed

Be enthusiastic

Don’t market. Listen and converse

Publish your own content

Choose a path that works for you

Start blogging, tweeting and/or livestreaming—but with a purpose

Provide blog-friendly information, Top 10 lists—something you excel at

Link to MSM and blog posts and share your thoughts

Blogs

Participate

Comment on blogs (use services like Disqus to aggregate your comments)

Get to know your key industry/issue bloggers

Treat them like tier one contacts

BUT approach with care and tact

Leave comments, e-mail them 1:1

Develop cross-readership relationship

Mr. Fry asks an excellent question

Microblogs

It’s “of the moment.” It’s live 24/7/365

Blogging in 140 characters or lessThink published IM conversations

Like Facebook status updates

Update by Web, IM or mobile

Twitter is the big one

Google ‘bots love Twitter code (e.g. what you tweet stays around forever)

Microblog Facts

Microblog Facts

“Everyone’s doing it...”Ashton Kutcher (2,671,094 followers)

...including brands, your kids and HR

The next iteration of blogging & ‘castingCNN News (2,196,855 followers)

Being adopted by numerous brands, CEOs, CMOs (@BestBuyCMO), etc.

Microblog Facts

What’s up with the “@” sign?Refers to a person’s “handle” or user name on Twitter (e.g. @perfectporridge)

What the hell is a hashtag?Hash (“#”) tag refers to the use of “#” before a term to help users aggregate conversations (e.g. “#mnama”)

How do I tweet something privately?Use a “d” (for “direct”) before a user name

Microblog Best Practices

Monitor Twitter (search.twitter.com)Leverage the tools to make life easier

TweetDeck, Tweetie, etc.

Subscribe to key advocate feeds

Identify areas of your business that are appropriate to ‘Tweet’ about

Encourage employees to ‘Tweet’

Use Twitter for media outreach

Use it for live focus groups & research

Case Studies

At 9:12 a.m., minutes before P-I reporter Neil Modie learned about Jennifer Dunn’s death, and before it had hit any news site or could be found on a Google News search, the former Congresswoman’s death had already been reported on Wikipedia.

Its source? A breaking news alert from someone on Twitter.

But don’t screw up

“Worst Twitter Post Ever”

Social networks

Social networks

Social Networks

Not somewhere you go, but something you do (hopefully) consistently

More like joining a gym or starting a diet

For people in marketing and advertising, there are primarily two networks

LinkedInFacebook

LinkedInThe ultimate business social network

This is your living, breathing resume

Register on LinkedIn with appropriate professional history and contact information so you’re accessible to search engines, media and your online stakeholders

Request/Leave recommendations

Research employers, competition, prospects

Position yourself as an expert by participating in LinkedIn Answers

FacebookDon’t bet against the “social graph”

You can learn a lot just from public pages

Facebook offers robust privacy and group settings. You should use them

Please remember places like your “wall” are still virtually public

Excellent ecosystem for research (e.g. check the “Advertising” link at bottom)

Social Network Best Practices

Identify where your audiences are

Join, listen and participate in those communities

Don’t market at first – just be honest, humble and responsive

Consider using social networks as marketing and networking platforms following research

Sharing Services

Essential qualities

Free-to-use

Often community-based

Tags

Embed codes (e.g. redistribution)

Search ‘bots tend to love them and the referring links you build using them

Sharing Services

ImagesFlickr, Photobucket

VideoYouTube, Vimeo, Viddler Revver

PresentationsSlideshare, SlideRocket

Portfolio/AggregationExtendr, Behance, Google Profile

Sharing ServicesBest Practices

Tag your videos and photos correctly and accurately

Use terms users will search for

Ensure all content is shared

Share/link across multiple sites

Wikipedia

Wikipedia Statistics

Grows by 30 million words per month

20 million views per dayJust the home page!

Critical SEO component (usually top 3 results in a Google search)

< 1% of all users edit content

Wikipedia Best Practices

Play by the rulesDon’t make changes

If you know of factual errors, join the discussion and cite a third party link showing the correct information

Monitor and subscribe to relevant entries

Be thick skinned

Image by Rennett Stowe via Flickr

Got all that?

Recap

“The Brand of You” in two easy steps:

1. Listen. (Google is)Research how co-workers, friends and others utilize LI, FB and other venues and tools—what works, what doesn’t?Formulate a personal strategy

2. ParticipateChoose/filter social media and networks based on your strategy; be consistent; give your efforts plenty of time before you judge what is/isn’t working

Thank you.