If you can write, thank a teacher

I attended a Meetup last Friday entitled “Finding Your Blogging Voice and Leveraging it in Social Media”, presented by Ms. Stephanie Bogus, Director of Content and head writer for Speak Social, an Austin-based social media company. Ms. Bogus is a highly gifted and talented writer with a passion for blogging and other social media marketing applications for businesses. She is also an engaging presenter and storyteller.

Ms. Bogus regaled us with several tales of her experiences blogging for clients and shared many valuable insights. Not surprisingly, some of her best lessons learned were from her worst mistakes.

I’m not going to focus on those stories; rather, I want to relay two key observations that I found slightly distressing, albeit, undoubtedly true.

Writing is a disappearing skill

If you scan social media networks, various blog hosting sites, and even some online media portals, surely you’ve noticed the sub-par writing skills of many of today’s social media practitioners. A gentleman who identified himself as a former newspaper journalist decried the quality of many blog posts he reads. He didn’t mince words describing the writing as atrocious. Sadly, many agreed with his assessment.

On that note, Ms. Bogus reminded us of the importance of keeping blog posts short and our sentences concise. Write at an 8th grade level using conversational language. People don’t have time. They skim, and if they trip on a word they don’t know, or if they fail to grasp the point of your post quickly, they move on.

Well stab me in the heart.

del.icio.us Tags: blogging,social media,writing

Give your personal brand a purpose

Whether or not you believe in the concept of personal branding, the value of the discussion it has garnered is indisputable. Much of the advice of late is on the importance of finding a meaningful way to distinguish yourself by bringing your talents and passions to a cause that aligns with your values.

In a Forbes article this week, Dorie Clark, CEO of Clark Strategic Communications and the author of the forthcoming book Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, stated that

“..the true secret of leveraging your personal brand is to ensure it’s not just about you and your ambitions, but the value you can bring to the world.”

We want our corporate and product brands to contribute to the quality of life and help make the world a better place. Should we expect anything less of ourselves?

Find your purpose and make your personal brand stand for something more than professional status.

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Build personal brand cache through actions, not words

Let your actions speak for your personal brand.

Actions like:

• performing pro bono work for your favorite charity
• serving on a committee at your local school
• writing a professional paper
• mentoring a new employee
• leading a green initiative at work
• rescuing cats or dogs
• foster parenting
• opening your home to disaster victims
• organizing a blood drive and donating blood
• visiting the senior citizen center
• working at the polls

all speak volumes about your character, your passion and your heart. Not only will any of these types of actions enhance people’s respect and admiration for you; they will set a powerful example for your children and their generation of up-and-coming citizens of the world.

Make your personal brand stand for something more than professional status.

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Meet your personal brand manager

Corporations and products have brand managers. Celebrities, athletes, politicians, dignitaries and other famous people do, too.

What about the rest of us?

Mirror, mirror on the wall

I can’t afford a personal housekeeper or trainer and I definitely can’t afford a personal brand manager. So, the job falls to me, myself and I.

Yes, you and I, we 99% have to be our own personal brand managers.

Relax. Generally speaking, you don’t have to put that much effort into managing your personal brand. Since it’s the essence of your character, you merely have to be yourself.

And not just at work and during professional endeavors. Your personal brand is on display and in play always.

Working your network

As I stated in yesterday’s blog post, when it comes to your personal brand and your professional interests, it is worthwhile to develop a set of key messages that bring clarity and focus to your professional attributes and pursuits.

Some refer to these messages as your elevator speech. Take care to formulate messages that are concise and simple to understand; short and sweet as it were. They will be easier to remember.

In addition, a common thread or theme should permeate your messages so your audience can see the linkage between them.

Display social graces

Managing the perception of your personal brand is as simple as acting in accordance with your key messages and the values you profess. That includes when you are online and in a social setting, or perhaps I should stress, especially when you are in a social setting.

Never waiver. It’s the old adage: It takes years to build your reputation and minutes to ruin it.

Be consistent. Talk less. Let your actions speak for you.

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Your personal brand travels with you

Yesterday I chimed in on the discussion that an individual’s personal and professional brands are one and the same.

I agree.

I believe the point behind defining your personal brand was, and is, to help the person develop a set of key messages that bring clarity and focus to their professional attributes and pursuits.

It never occurred to me that a personal brand was supposed to be separate and distinct from an individual’s social brand (so to speak).

Personal brand defined

To borrow from Brandeo’s definition of a brand:

A personal brand is the sum of all the associations, feelings, attitudes and perceptions that people have related to their observations and interactions with you.

Like corporate and product brands, you don’t own your brand. Everyone in your life owns it. You embody it. You exude it. You live it every day, but others perceive it and decide what you represent.

It’s about character.

Your personal brand is the 360°’s of you.

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What you see online isn’t necessarily what you get

In his blog post today, creative strategist and copywriter Richard Becker does a stellar job explaining the myth behind multiple personas. He was bridging a discussion kick-started by Peter Shankman who proclaimed that individuals possess only one brand.

Becker doesn’t take issue with Shankman’s assertion; in fact, he supports it and expounds on it beautifully.

This isn’t a discussion on personal brand, it’s about character, Becker states. He writes,

“…there is no division between your personal and professional lives.”

If that isn’t clear to everyone today, will the point ever hit home for those who don’t get it? Apparently, these individuals will have to learn via the school of hard knocks.

You are what you post

This can be good, or bad, depending on how you present yourself in professional versus personal settings. If there’s a serious disconnect or a wide gulf, suspicions about you may arise and it may serve to undermine your professional pursuits (and possibly your personal relationships).

That’s not to say there won’t be variations in your presentations – how you express yourself in words and pictures in various online portals. As Becker intimated, people act differently depending on the environment. There are standards of decorum for various venues, situations and settings. Smart people act accordingly. The same is true online.

Be true to yourself

“Your brand or character is multi-faceted and always evolving.”

So it’s okay to be a proud alumni or a homer on your professional sport team’s fan page, as long as you aren’t too extreme.

And that’s the point. It is wise to demonstrate sound judgment and a sense of awareness.

For example, never present yourself as something other than you are – live or online. You will be found out. And the consequences may be far-reaching. You may damage your character and reputation for years.

Your life timeline online 24 x 7 x 365 x infinity

Be cognizant that others form opinions and assessments about you based on what they see all over the Internet. So, be tweet-wise, smart with your smartphone photos, and clever, real and tasteful with your videos.

Taken all together, you are the sum of the whole of your online actions: and even that isn’t 100% accurate.

SIDEBAR: Some, like Becker, have decided not to worry about judgments others make based on online information they dig up. It may say more about the character of those individuals than about the individuals they are researching, Becker asserts. 

True, but not everyone is in a position in their life to cast aside these concerns.

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The brand of the people

What is a brand?

If someone asked you to explain the concept of a brand, could you do so simply and comprehensibly?

Here are two definitions I like:

A brand is the sum of all the associations, feelings, attitudes and perceptions that people have related to the tangible and intangible characteristics of a company, product or service.

Brandeo, an online marketing resource

What’s striking about the Brandeo definition is it doesn’t incorporate any assets, like the logo, colors, shapes, tastes, and other sensory drive attributes of a company, product or service, in the equation.

A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.

Seth Godin, marketing guru and accomplished author

The consumer decision to choose. That’s powerful. And it underscores that while company executives, product marketers and creatives are stewards and ambassadors of a brand, the consumer holds its fate in their hands.

Those in charge of a brand, therefore, must take care to be honorable and honest. Ensure that the brand story reflects the consumer experience and that experience is always positive.

Power to the people!

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