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How to create and manage your professional brand online
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about me:
Alex de Carvalhohttp://alexdc.org or @alexdc
RefreshMiami, October 2008
now let’s talk about you ...
... and what you can do to get on track.
Tom Peters said over 10 yrs ago:
“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.
To be in business today, our most
important job is to be head marketer
for the brand called You.”
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html
From Issue 10 | August 1997
there are lots of books on the importance of branding yourself professionally ...
... but very few books (yet) on how to brand yourself
professionally
on the web
Gary Vaynerchuk on branding (view minute 7:58 to 9:00)
http://en.oreilly.com/webexny2008/public/schedule/detail/4814
your social profiles online and
the content you publish
will bring you new
connections and opportunities
so here’s the deal:1. define who you are
2. go where people are
3. publish your content
4. connect to the right people
5. display your activity
so, what defines you?
oceanmoonfacedesklights
memorize this set of words
count to five
now, name a laundry detergent
ocean
moon
Tidewave Fab
All
Gain
network of associations
Source: Drew Westen, Ph.D., “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation”http://books.google.com/books?id=5XQjEvoRti4C&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=ocean+moon+network+of
+association&source=web&ots=pPGcX3HX1a&sig=6nGRnawf8g4Hob-HqfvB7X6cp6g&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA85,M1
content
content
Youcontent people
people
people
work on your own network of associations
blog posts
tags
Youphotos
presence
blogs
socnets
comments
lifestream
video
podcasts
avatars
social profiles
virtualworlds
communities
this is how people find you online
• define your interests
• write your bio
• get a domain name
• start a blog
• participate in relevant social networks
• link to your own and to others’ content
so these are your next steps:
so what are you, like, 1,000? 2,000?*
*Ze Frank speaking at TED, referring to your Google results. See minute 5: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ze_frank_s_nerdcore_comedy.html
yes, there are pitfalls and excuses ...
• my name, [John Smith], is not unique enough, I won’t stand out!
• there are thousands of [insert profession] ... I won’t stand out!
• everyone is blogging, I won’t stand out!
• I don’t have the time ...
but it’s not so hard to cut through the clutter
publish your content with the following in mind
• define who you want to meet
• define who you want to meet you
• make connecting as frictionless as possible
For more great tips, see: http://bettercloser.com/2008/08/27/personal-branding-build-your-personal-brand-in-5-days/
content really is king• write a list of articles of some 40 topics
• limit articles to 300 words or less
• link to your favorite blogs
• post 10 articles to your blog at a frequency you determine
• have the next 10 ready to post at the same frequency
• work on the next 20 and always keep drafts in your pipeline
For more great tips, see: http://bettercloser.com/2008/08/27/personal-branding-build-your-personal-brand-in-5-days/
writing for the web• the most important thing: listen first• say LESS
• front-load: use the inverted pyramid
• put more important content first
• use clear headlines and headings
• be factual, not cryptic
• establish trust
• use active voice
• pay attention to netiquette, culture, tone of voice
now, go where people are
Think of it this way. If you are a
fisherman you would not fish for the
trophy catch in stagnated water. You
would need to go to where there is fresh
water. That's where the fish are.
http://infoworthsharing.com/blog2/2008/06/go_where_the_people_are.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
you mean, yet another social network?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbarefoot/1814873464/
but think of social networks this way.Robert Scoble: Social Media Starfish
http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html
also think of social networks this way. Brian Solis: The Conversation Prism
Graph: GustavoG
social networks sure look like a random mess (and thus a waste of time?) ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/9708628/
Seth Godin on social network usefulness for businesses
http://www.openforum.com/marketing/video_socialgood.html
“People don’t just connect to each other.
They connect through a shared object.”
Jyri Engestrom http://www.zengestrom.com/
Graph: GustavoGhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/4499404/in/set-113313
the same social network as before, showing how people have connected by interests
“The services that we love to play with allow people to socialize around objects”
Flickr YouTube Del.icio.us
Jyri Engestromhttp://www.zengestrom.com/
“Think about objects as the reason whypeople get in touch with each other”
http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory
LinkedIn is a good place to start connecting your social networks to your other professional identity
online, like blogs, slide presentations, etc.
a word about your connections:
weak links will help you more than strong ones
Mark GranovetterWeak social ties account for most of the structure of social networks in society as well as the transmission of information through these networks.
More novel information flows to individuals through weak rather than strong ties.
Because our close friends tend to move in the same circles that we do, the information they receive overlaps considerably with what we already know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_tie
note that these are youronline objectives
• Presence
• Credibility
• Identity
• Authority
• Reputation
• Influence
Loic LeMeur, on using the social map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra8O0e9iEsc
do track your mentions,
online brand monitoring / South Florida startuphttp://startpr.com
http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/book.html
http://www.zappos.com/tribal.zhtml
