Writing a tutorial on personal branding is weird because it’s…personal. And “branding” has these odd connotations thanks to marketers.
Putting all that aside for a moment, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that most people in my inner circle see their brand online as a reflection of their personalities. I would also suggest that most of them strive to live up to the personality or “brand” they display online in their real lives. And that isn’t always easy. It takes constantly walking that fine line between transparent/authentic and knowing when just enough is enough.
Let’s start with the basics of personal branding. I’ve created a handy little acronym to help you remember. I find things like this a lot easier to swallow if they come in a neat little package. I love neat little packages. Those years in Japan…
Define your Goals
Define your goals in having a website and online presence. What would you like to be known and trusted for online and off-? We’re moving into an era of trust-based attention (Read Stan James and/or Michael Goldhaber for more detailed information on this). Prepare for it by creating a lifestyle, livelihood and container for trust to flourish. Defining your personal goals as well as goals for the site gives clarity to your life and to the page.
Consistency is important, but so is knowing when to add to or subtract from your “brand.” It may take a number of years to get to where you’re going. Plan on that –define now and build slowly.
Refine your Presence
Your online presence takes constant pruning, watering and refining. Care for it by updating it often and changing it as it grows. I’m all for an “organic” growth process when it comes to blogging. I started out with a LiveJournal and got hooked on coding, moved to Zaadz (a social network for which I did some contract work) and ended up, days before this year’s Blogher conference, launching my own site (gwenbell.com was miraculously still available).
For me, current main areas of refinement include:
-layout tweaks
-design updates
-correct tagging, spelling and linking
-asking the question: Am I doing with this thing what I set out to do (see: Define)
Eliminate the Superfluous
Just because you have a Twitter account and a MyBlogLog and, and, and…think hard before you add it to your site. Think about its purpose. I often see people with Plugoos on their site and their status is constantly set to “Away” yet it’s taking up a giant piece of real estate. Think about your user. Do you want them to be able to talk to you? If so, make that intention clear.
While we’re talking about elimination, your Flickr account is not necessarily there for you to backup all of your photos. If I see Flickr streams that force me to look at multiple angles of the same mountain, my eyes glaze over. Cut out redundancy. Only update your accounts with photos or material that you wouldn’t mind folks from your other networks having access to. When in doubt, upload ten photos instead of thirty. We’re in information overload zone all the time. Do some of the work for us and you’ll have a repeat visitor on your hands.
One thing I’m going to throw out that you consider eliminating is ads. If you’re getting quite a bit of monthly income off ads, leave them. If you’re not, what’s the purpose of having them on your site? I don’t have ads on my site for a reason. They annoy me when I see them on other people’s sites and I ignore them anyway. I don’t want to annoy my visitors. It’s a toss-up. If you’re making a grand a month on ads, by all means, keep them. Otherwise, consider eliminating them. Or making them pretty, at the very least.
Attend to your Attention Stream
It’s your job as an information worker to attend to your brand. If you decide to “put yourself out there” with a blog, website or online presence, keep your eyes on it. Watch your attention streams by:
-setting up google alerts (make it weekly, please–keep that ego in check)
-checking what people are searching for when they stumble across your blog (and you may consider writing more on those topics)
-checking your blog stats (who is coming in, from where, how long do they stay?, why?–speculate.)
By the way, attending to your stream does not mean bending it to your will. Press is press. You can not control your attention stream any more than you can control what your friends say about you when you’re not around. Your attention stream is only a facet of you. Monitor it, engage it and love the process of the world figuring you out (even as you figure yourself out!)
Maintain your Brand
Maintaining your brand online and off-line is what it’s about. You can do so by having rocking business cards or some other “free prize” that you share with people you meet. Dressing the way you want to be perceived is another piece of this branding tutorial. A friend recently pointed out my All-American Girl style didn’t really fit the way I’ve been presenting myself to the world. She’s on a mission to help me makeover my wardrobe. That should be…fun.
Oh! That acronym! DREAM! See, that’s the thing. Having a brand you care about and can continually massage into reality is about dreams. Dreaming something into reality (whatever it is you set out to be when laying out your site/brand) is a constant opportunity to look deeply at yourself, your heart, your desires. Represent the parts of yourself that bring you the most joy, for which you have the most passion. The key to building a personal brand is being the best person you can be and sharing that with the world.
I’m working on my personal brand right now. Please follow along during my personal branding transition phase. Hopefully you’ll get to know me better during this transition.
*If you’ve gotten this far and want to read more on defining your brand, read on.
