I am constantly asked what the most effective way to brand yourself is in today’s social media climate. It’s one of those questions that if you are approached by someone at an event or just in your daily life, it will take far too long to explain, and it doesn’t really fit the medium, if you know what I mean. It’s such a complex question, and the answer is even more complex. If I knew a bulletproof way for how to start getting traction, become influential and brand yourself to the point where you would become the next poster boy/girl for Wired, I would be an oracle. But I am not, and there are no guaranteed ways to plan or execute your social media world domination scheme for a perfect path. I am sorry, but there isn’t.
Each individual needs to have their own plan that fits his or her image, lifestyle and goals. As you might start to understand, there are more ways to success than there is room for me to write in this article. As always, there are a few things that are good to implement and that are pretty much vital for every plan. Look at it as a list of basic guidelines to put your plan into motion and to literally get started on the right path.
Personal branding is one of the key components in getting your idea off the ground. It might sound a little odd that you would have to brand yourself in order to get your product or service off to a good start. However, when social networking is everything, it’s important to remember that when you are trying to get people interested in what you have to share and what you have for them to use, it’s always best to get them to understand why. And, after all, you are the one who knows best since you created it and are using it, right?
There are several examples of this. Look at Mashable, Facebook and of course Digg. They all have poster boys who make people interested in what they are doing, and as a result, it makes their “product” easier to recognize. So just how do you get off to a good start when you want to brand yourself? Well, as it usually is, it boils down to an infographic that might nudge you in the right direction. It’s called The Way To Personal Branding, and it is created by SeStyle.
It is a 9 step guide for how you could get started and how to implement tools and ideas into an already crowded content landscape. Personal branding is not about bragging, being the expert or even telling others what they should do or not do. It’s all about showing people what you have to offer and how it might impact their approach in a positive way. If you can do that, you are definitely off to a good start. Remember to keep updating your strategy as you go since the social media landscape is always changing. What was top notch yesterday might be yesterday’s news today.
The best marketing and branding comes in the form of help. Never forget that. It’s important to understand the impact of a simple good deed. I think we often forget the power of giving someone some old-fashioned help. After all, help always leads to a mutual connection that will last for a long time. So basically, if we were to roughly state what social networking is all about, I would say that for each time you “help” someone, you gain another hand that will help you open doors when you yourself are stuck behind it.
Click Infographic To Enlarge
Via: [B2C]
COMMENTS