It is that time of year again to identify my personal branding predictions and trends for 2011. I believe it is going to be a breakout year for personal branding. In 2010 we saw some trends that paved the way for what we will see this year. My predictions center around a few basic ideas: scaling, character, business models, disruption and co-working.
As personal brand strategist or whatever title my colleagues coin to identify themselves, we as an industry have communicated to people that they need to have an online presence. A lot of this advice centered around hanging a shingle in one or more of big three social networks (Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin). Anyone who has followed this advice should know by now, they have the equivalent of a modern day hardcopy resume. It is like saying if you put on a blue suit, shirt and tie you will standout at a job interview. In other words you are going to need to work harder to matter: to standout, and to create value.
5-Personal Branding Predictions
- Develop your Disruptive Talent – Me too technology and ideas are overrated. Disruption is the new normal. Disruptive technology is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen to describe a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology. In his 1997 best-selling book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma,” Christensen separates new technology into two categories: sustaining and disruptive. Understanding disruption and it’s positive impact on technology serves as a starting point for understanding disruptive talent.
How do you translate the skills/talent you have into value? You will be forced to recognize not what makes you fit in but what makes you stand out. This will require some soul-searching and a very introspective view of who you are. Without identifying and developing your disruptive talent you will be unemployed, underemployed, or unfulfilled working at something you are not passionate about. Instead of ‘living the dream’ you will be ‘dreaming the dream.’ Key: Identify your disruptive talents.
Scale – Developing a personal brand isn’t the challenge. Scaling a personal brand is an even bigger challenge? Creating something that people want to connect with, that has value in your passion is a different story. The biggest challenge and growth area for personal brands is how to scale. As a person you can only be in one place at a time so scaling you is impossible. The foundation is that personal brands have to ask this critical question.
What is the difference between an idea and a business?
Business Models for Personal Brands – With the onset of the social web everybody has been running to try and figure out how to make money with it especially those with strong personal brands. The focus will need to be on business model development will be the key. What made the iPod so successful was not the fact that it was just a cooler device. The difference was the business model; Apple hit a home run when it developed iTunes. The business model for personal brands is still being defined. (1) Pure entrepreneurs, (2) Grustler or (3) somewhere in-between. The link between job creation and business creation was validated in a report by Kauffman Foundation.
Examples:
- Gary Vaynerchuk – Vaynder Media and Books (Crush It and The Thank You Economy)
- Chris Brogan – New Marketing Labs and Books
Character 3.0: Drives Profit – Tiger Woods in 2010 shows the cost of poor character, diminishing values and the impact that social media has on the personal brand. The Tiger Woods situation cost sponsors between $5B-$12B. We clearly saw the connection between character and revenue generation. With the increasing emphasize of company recruiters using social networks as a character validate will be come increasingly important to populate the correct the content online. According to Careerbuilder.com 45% of recruiters validate potential job applicants in Facebook and Linkedin. After those employers checked their profiles online 35% changed their decision based on the information they found. More importantly, lifestyle will impact revenue generation and business opportunities.
Anywhere Economy (Mobile Powered) – Use of mobile devices like iPhones, iPads and Galaxy tablets to share your experiences and increase brand awareness and share ideas in a creative and meaningful way. Mobile technology will be the engine that drives personal branding movement. The use of web enabled mobile devices will allow people to work creating the anywhere.
- Ball of Clay – The disruptive talent will identify ways to utilize mobile tools to scale ideas-to-businesses.
Co-Working Growth – The need for space to house the free agent workforce will continue to grow. In Michigan one of the premier spots is Urbane Space in Birmingham, MI. According to the Kauffman Foundation there were 558K businesses started in 2009. This was the highest entrepreneurial activity in 14-years. Some of this activity is driven by the economy. In the end we have more people how are working from themselves. I expect to see a substantial increase in co-working spaces to accommodate this engaged workforce.
List of Co-Working Spaces
- Urbane Space (Co-Working Space: Birmingham, MI)10 International Co-Working Spots
- 53 Co-Working Centers in the Top Cities for Entrepreneurs
- Loose Cubes: Global network of shared workspaces
I look forward to seeing you dominate in 2011.
Photo Credit: Troy Johnson - Covenant Digital Photography
