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2010 Personal Branding Predictions: Top-10 (A New Decade)

The year 2010 is the beginning of a new decade and it is going to be an exciting time that is influenced by social and technological change. The world as we knew it in the last decade will be radically different with more influential female voices.

I am excited to share my personal branding predictions for 2010 and the drivers behind them. As a country the U.S. has outsourced it soul (manufacturing and technological expertise) to other countries leaving creativity and intellectual capital as our centers of excellence. My predictions center around the creativity of human capital and the growing need for character and personal responsibility.

Top-10 Personal Branding Predictions for 2010

1. The Rise of Digital Personalities – With the rise of social search (Bing and Google search engines) brands will be directly impacted and forced to participate in the real-time conversation that is happening online.  Personal brands will have to be active to be relevant which will provide an opportunity for their digital personalities (online component of your personal brand) to gain in influence.

2. Growth of Female Personal Brands – Males have long dominated or been the voice of the social media space.  I believe that you will start to see the growth of female influence in social media and personal branding.   The demographic data shows there are larger numbers of women online in Twitter, Facebook, and the other major social networks.  It is a great time to be female and to be web 2.0 savvy.   (Note: In Twitter and Facebook women outpace men (Twitter: Women – 60% and Men 40% and Facebook: Women – 57% and Men 43%).  Female centric groups mommy bloggers, Blogher.com, etc. will become more influential and prominent.). Twitter List of Influential Women in Social Media Women

3. Sports Industry and Athletes seek Personal Brand Strategist – Some of the most interesting personal branding stories (Tiger Woods, ESPN and Michael Beasley) in 2009 were been centered around athletes and the sports industry.  Athletes and their agents will start to identify social media and personal branding strategist to manage their online personal brands.  The social media policies that impact the human capital of sports teams, commentators, and other personnel will evolve as well.

4. The Focus on Character will Increase – The importance of character gains momentum, the Tiger Woods saga reinforces the importance of character in personal and corporate brands alike.  Facebook and Twitter will continue to be character references and will grow in importance in validating social behavior.

5. Education Influenced by Personal Branding – Personal branding and social tools will continue to impact the learning environment.  The subject of personal branding will continue to evolve on college campuses.  Workshops and classes alike will continue to grow on college campuses, like Michigan Technological Universities ENT3976 Personal Brand Management.

6. Privacy is Dead – The concept of privacy will go the way of the dinosaur, in other words it is dead.  With geo tagging, status updates, social search anyone can identity where you are at and what you are doing at all times.  Your online habits will communicate to an employer, potential business partner, or sports team everything they need to know about you as a person.  Your life will exist in a stream.

7. Mobile Influence on Personal Brands – The hub of the personal brand will center around mobile devices like iPhone and the Android phone.  These devices currently constitute 75% of the smartphone web traffic.  The growing number of apps, social search, and the ease of content upload will stimulate personal brand interaction thru their devices.

8.Identifying your Inner Genius – Identifying your passion will be critical.  With increase in unemployment, job downsizing, and workload increase people will be forced to identify what they truly love doing and what they were created to do.  Success has was defined by high profile, high-paying jobs as those opportunities start to reduce people will be forced to think about what they love doing and will tap into their inner Genius.

9. Corporate and Personal Brand Conflict – Social media polices (David Armano six trends of social media 2010) and graying lines between corporate and personal brands will require individuals to navigate their activity in social networks more carefully whether their on the clock or off.  The person and the corporation will have to be responsible in managing and monitoring online personal brand activity, this will be a hot topic.

10. Developing your Personal Brand with Full-time Job (Grustle) – Personal brands will be developed after hours or as entrepreneurial projects.  With the decrease in employer loyalty people will start to focus on developing their personal brand passively while maintaining a 9-to-5 job, known as the GRUSTLE.

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The Extinction of Normal – The New Personal Branding Anthem

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The topic of ‘What is Normal?’ has been on my mind for a while and I thought it would make an interesting blog post. The idea was birthed out of the Tiger Woods saga as I start asking myself this question what is normal for celebrities, icons, politicians, and successful people.

If you were a worldwide icon like Tiger Woods life as you know it would change.  Your privacy would be sacrificed for fame, fortune and a loyal following.  How would you manage?  This question is easily answered when no one is following you or cares that you even exist.  The definition or understanding of normal I believe is changing.

Webster’s define ‘normal’ as according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle; and conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern. Success is the enemy of normal.  Success breds responsibility and accountability that is larger than most people can imagine and the price is higher than most people want to pay.

What is Normal?

This is a particularly interesting question since the line is blurring between Celebrities and Super Personal Brand Brands (i.e. Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble, and Gary Vaynerchuk).

Three Impacts of Success:

  • Lost Privacy – Celebrities can’t go anywhere without paparazzi, TMZ following them and making living a regular life non-existent.  With the rise of social networks,  status updates, social search, Twitter, Facebook and other social tools personal privacy is starting to diminish for personal brands as well.
  • Demanding Fans – Celebrities lives have been defined by their fans and the same is happening to personal brands.  The increasing influx of DMs, blog post comments, emails, and online engagement with followers requires a committed person to grow their following.
  • Feeding the Monkey – Continuing to create engaging content that will cause your community/following to grow is mandatory for celebrities and personal brands.

The point of this post is that normal is redefined as you reach certain levels of success in business and life.  What was once normal is no longer normal.  It creates challenges and opportunities that can benefit or damage your personal brand.  As you grow your personal brand how will normal be redefined in your life?

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Hunger 2.0: How Hungry are you to Live your Dreams?

Today is December 23rd and it is my birthday and I wanted to share a message with my community about living their dreams.  As 2009 comes to a close I want you to think about your life goals and living your dreams.  So I leave you with this question. 

How Hungry are you? 

How hungry are you to live your dreams?  There are 1 billion people on the planet that are hungry for food, but how many people on the planet are have a hunger to achieve their dreams?

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The Year in Review: Nine Personal Branding Predictions for 2009!

2009 Personal Branding Predictions

The year in review.  Let me know how well I did with my 2009 Personal Branding Predictions. This is the link to the original post: http://bit.ly/5qaNK4

It is 2009 and the Internet is buzzing with experts providing their predictions and trends for the year. I wanted to provide my thoughts on personal branding to help set the tone for an exciting year.

Predictions/Trendspotting

1. Creative Economy: Creativity will be to the information age what manufacturing was to the industrial age. Individuals dependence on being a company man working 30-years at one company or until death do you part will cease to exist. The integration of creativity into business ideas and career will become a necessity and not an option. As a personal brand you will need to think creatively in developing strategic partnerships and ways to stand out. After everybody has updated their Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter pages, established a blog, added followers, and followed all the same tips what is next? Creativity.

2. Purpose/Mission: People will start to seek opportunities or careers that give them greater satisfaction that they have a true passion for. This is primarily due to the instability in the economy and the reduction of jobs that were more lucrative in good economic times. High paying low education jobs are a thing of the past. People will now look at opportunities that align with how they are wired and what they were designed to do.

3. ‘Personal Branding’ Term Commoditized: The term ‘Personal Branding’ will become more commoditized and genericized. The term has significance and value when implemented, but I believe the term itself will be overused and misused.

4. Traditional Journalist Become Commodities: The voice and influence of bloggers and social media experts increase. Newspapers are losing money with traditional newspaper printing and are looking for ways to compete with the new media. Traditional journalist will have to integrate social media and effectively establish their personal brand.

5. Personal Branding Experts Commodization: With the increase of social media gurus the line between personal branding experts and social media experts is blurring. The personal branding industry will become oversaturated and the cream will rise to the top. Those of us in the personal branding industry will have to work harder to cut through the noise.

6. Establish ‘Blue Movement’: The need to develop the ‘Blue Movement is critical. ‘American Made’ needs to be established as the new luxury product. The ‘Green Movement’ has been very successful because big business have bought into it can the same be done with the ‘Blue Movement’?

7. Twitter Relevance Increases: Twitter will gain relevance as a search and primary news source. Business opportunities with strategist business models and usages will continue to be developed.

8. Personal Brands being Healthy: Being healthy is just as importance as your ranking in Google. You can have all the money and influence in the world but without good health you have nothing. Being fit spiritually, mentally, and physically is critical. Learn to have balance and think holistically because you are the sum total of all your parts.

9. Passion Becomes King: People doing what they love. Passion is the fuel that drives you to do what others are not willing to do. We all have the same 24-hours but passionate people find out how to get more out of their time and produce higher quality results.

I want to challenge and inspire you to shine in 2009. Have an awesome year and share your predictions for 2009 in the comments section of this blog post.

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Tiger Woods: Seven Lessons on Tarnishing a Platinum Personal Brand

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Does platinum tarnish?  The answer is no, due to it’s high purity which is the way most people felt about Tiger Woods personal brand, that it could never be tarnished.  He has been the embodiment of focus, drive, and winning.  The world’s first billion dollar athlete who until November 25th had a seemingly impeccable reputation that most people and brands admired and envied.

Sponsorship Impact

  • 80-90% of his annual earnings are from endorsements.
  • His approval rating has dropped 18%.
  • Gatorade, Accenture, and Gillette sponsorships dropped.
  • Pac-10 has pulled their ad with Tiger Woods.

Seven Lessons all Personal Brands can learn from the Tiger Woods Situation

  • Be Authentic: A personal brand should not be a make believe image that you cannot live up to.  Whether you are a billion dollar athlete or not packaging your personal brand in away that is consistent with your lifestyle is important.
  • There is always somebody watching: We live in a digital world that is online 24/7 that archives every step of your digital footprint.  Understand everything you do will come to light so live your life as though everybody is watching. When the public makes you how you are, you sacrifice your privacy for brand equity, fame, and fortune.  Remember your personal brand cannot be compartmentalized.
  • Reputation is NEVER more important than Character: What is more important reputation or character?  Tiger is the poster child for impeccable reputation.  Reputation by definition can be distorted which was clearly the case for Tiger.  Strong character can be developed.
  • Who in your inner circle?: Do you have a person or people who are not bought, not “YES” people, but individuals who are capable of giving you sound advice.  “YES” people make you feel good that will literally destroy your life and your brand.  You need people around you who will help you to stay accountable especially as your influence and personal brand grows.
  • Understand the 30-Second Rule: How long does it take to build a strong brand?  It takes a lifetime to develop a strong reputation and 30-seconds to destroy it.  Think before you act.
  • Where is your Focus?: Whatever you focus on is what will grow.  What you focus on creates actions, those actions create habits, those habits are the foundation of your personal brand.
  • What is your Personal brand Connected to? As your personal brand grows and your influence expands your every decision impacts future opportunities, future earnings, and the strategic partners you are connected to.

Conclusion

Will Tiger continue to make money?  The answer to that question is yes.  Has Tiger Woods personal brand been tarnished?  Absolutely.  Can it be restored?  Absolutely.  The strength of our personal brands are determined by our character, which is a product of our habits.  If you don’t want to Tiger your personal brand think about the seven lessons that I have listed and the value of your character.

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