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Has Social Media Lost it’s Sexy?

Every so often I see a tweet or Facebook post that is along the lines of someone “quitting social media” for a period of time. It almost seems they’ve become fatigued with the heavy lifting of sharing, posting, and the commenting that’s necessary to stay relevant in social media. Relevant being a key word.

If you are anything like me, there are long periods where I do great and then there are times when I have extreme peaks and valleys. At any period of time you can catch me racing - posting here, tweeting there, engaging with people through blog comments over there….and then…it drops. Let me tell you *in Bill Cosby voice*– Do as I say and not as I do.

That is the wrong way to stay RELEVANT.

Our lives are busy and sometimes being active in social media is at the back of our minds and for most of us thats ok. For us trailblazers, we must show the way. Personal branding content sources such as this blog and conferences like BrandCamp 2010 are VERY important for this space. It pushes forward use cases for social media and personal branding using the internet. We are the social authority! Scary? Nah.

Is IT still sexy?
Yes. Social Media as we know it – social networking, blogging, location-based services, and real-time-publishing is definitely still evolving. Meanwhile, us who champion the social media cause, we have significant jobs to do. For our personal benefit and for the community. In order to maintain the social media sexy, we need to be consistent and challenge ourselves to pump out GREAT content.

The Internet is still a teenager, at around 15 years old, it is just coming into its own.

Entrepreneur’s, large organizations, individuals, you are all welcome - join the party. We will be rocking for a while.

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2010 Career Re-Tool Workshop w/@HajjFlemings on 07/13

The Michigan Technological University’s School of Business and Economics – Tech MBA Online has developed a Career Re-Tool Workshop to help you Re-Tool, Re-Wire and Re-Think your career and future.

This FREE event is designed to enable you to evaluate your career planning strategy and position you to grow personally and professionally. This is a must attend event for job seekers, those in career transitions and people who want to re-tool themselves for promotion in a challenging job market.

Register Today!!!! Seats are limited!!!!

Register at: http://bit.ly/2010retool

Speakers

Hajj E. Flemings – Personal Brand Strategist/Founder of Brand Camp University

Brenda Rudiger – Director of Alumni Relations at Michigan Technological University

Paul J. Hindelang - President at Results Systems Corporation

Agenda

Networking

Re-Tooling yourself with Education

We will explore the value of education as a career strategy to help you stay globally competitive in a challenging job market. This session will focus on the benefits of an MBA and higher education to empower you to reinvent and re-think your future.

Re-Wiring your Career with Social Networks and Online Tools

Come and learn how to rewire yourself through social networks and online channels to connect with companies and identify new career opportunities. Become a person that understands how to translate their network into value.

Re-Thinking your Financial Strategy

Has your 401K got you down? It is time to re-think your financial strategy and prepare financially for your career transition? Come and get fresh new ideas for investing, financial planning, insurance and social security.

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5-Personal Branding Lessons: Marvin Gaye’s Nation Anthem - 1983 NBA All-Star Game

It has been over 20-years since Marvin Gaye’s sang the national anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star game in Los Angles, and it is chronicled as one of the greatest renditions ever. What lessons can be learned from watching the national anthem?

The 5-Personal Branding lessons

  • Integrate your Personal DNA – Personal Branding is about exposing people to what makes you special. Your image, your style, and your presence are centric to what draws your fans, your community, or your tribe to you as Seth Godin would say. Be who you are! You can set-up Fan pages, tweet all day, and have a million dollar website but if you don’t bring your personal DNA to the table you are wasting time and money.

  • Take Everything to the Next Level: No matter what it is that you do it can always be taken to the next level even it if is the national anthem which is a poem originally written by a 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key in 1814.

  • Mastery – Success is about mastery. Malcolm Gladwell calls it ‘10,000 hours’ and Jim Collins says, ‘Good is the Enemy of Great’ but personal branding is about consist delivery of excellence in a focused area.

  • Social Media isn’t about technology – Social Media as we call it today is not about the technology. The technology will change as it has from radio, to TV, to the Internet. Social media is another medium to communicate your compelling story.

  • Be Original – If you compare the greatest national anthems of all-time each artist brought something unique and original to the table. Be original and always bring your worldview to your art.

As a personal brand what impact will you make? Will people continue to talk about the legacy, the impact, and the mark you made 20-years after you are gone?

I was inspired to write this after reading a Facebook post from Marjora Carter.

Thanks Majora!!!

From ‘The Brand Man’

Leave your Mark!!!!

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When Free Sucks: Google are you Listening? #WhenFreeSucks

I have been singing the praises of Google for years. I have talked about the brilliance of their FREE model. When Chris Anderson’s book, ‘FREE’ came out I purchased the book the first week. Whenever I needed to search for anything on the net I would always go to Google.com. Then the unthinkable happens, all of my videos were deleted from my YouTube account which is owned by Google. (Note: All of my videos were in total compliance with their terms of service.)

In an instant my YouTube account with over 13,000 views was deleted. In my mind Google is a great company so I knew they are going to respond swiftly when I contacted them about this simple mistake they made. I have entered questions into their online forum, emailed questions to YouTube, and called the Google office only to get totally ignored. I can’t begin to explain to you the level of frustration that I felt because I have gotten ZERO response from one of my favorite Brand. Over the years I have put a great deal of trust into ‘FREE’ resources like YouTube. I now understand there is always a tradeoff to ‘FREE’ and one of the main reasons is:

  • No Customer Service: Humans don’t typically service other humans that don’t pay.

The Impact to your Personal Brand and Dependence on Google

How dependent is your business on Google? I am really starting to re-think how I build my personal brand with Google and other FREE tools.

Some of the Many Google Services that I use

  • YouTube Videos
  • Gmail account emails
  • Google Docs
  • Google Calendars
  • Google Checkout

If your account is temporarily or permanently compromised what is the impact to your personal brand/business? I walked away from my FREE experience saying I would rather have a paid service that I could hold someone accountable.

Tips for Managing you Personal Brand with FREE

  • Own Your Hub: As a personal brand you need to own the main hub of their online activity. (i.e. www.ChrisBrogan.com)
  • Back-up Everything: Anything in FREE services needs to be backed up: videos, documents, important emails, etc.
  • Re-Evaluate your Dependence on FREE: Re-Evaluate everything that you have in FREE social networking sites or other FREE services you use.
  • Carefully Select Account Managers: If you have a third party managing any of your social network accounts be very careful. Your reputation can be compromised and your account suspended or deleted because of inappropriate activity (anything that violates their Terms of Service)

Blog Post on FREE Services and Frustrations

  • When Free Cost a Fortune - Mitch Joel
  • When Google Owns You – A New Chapter - Chris Brogan

I write this blog post to get you thinking and planning so that you can be proactive in managing your online personal brand. It is also validates to me that nothing in life is FREE there is always a cost. It is just a matter of who is paying, when they pay and how much. Does this mean to stop using Google or other FREE services like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter? The answer is no but you have to manage your dependence.

Would you be willing to pay for a services that are currently FREE (i.e. YouTube) for customer service and the ability to hold someone accountable?

(Photo Credit: Google Logo Render by mark knol)

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Personal Branding Interview @PRSarahEvans: The Rise of Women in Social Media



If you haven’t heard of PR Sarah Evans you probably live under a rock, have no Internet access or use a rotary dial phone. Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to interview her recently and we discussed the topic of women in social media.

She is the President of Chicago based public relations and new media consultancy Sevans Strategy and runs #journchat. She is an influencer in the new media/pr communities and is a great personal branding case study. She has emerged as a leader in the social space but she isn’t an overnight success she has earned her stripes and put in the time.

I really wanted to share Sarah Evans story to inspire other women who believe they have a message that the world needs to hear. One of the great things that I like about Sarah’s story is that she has turned her passion into a career/profit.

Earlier this year she was featured in Vanity Fair with a list of other influential women in social media, which obviously has tremendously impacted her business. The flip side of this story is that Sarah received some negative feedback from some of her peers about the article since it didn’t appropriately reflect women in tech or show a diverse perspective. After talking with Sarah it showed me her depth as a person as she tackled the situation head on when confronted with those facts and addressed the valid concerns with some of those same peers.

#journchat

Sarah Evans is the originator of Twitter Chats. She launched #journchat in December 2008 which has hosted CNN and will host NBC News later this year

How to Follow Sarah Evans

There are a million ways to follow Sarah online I have listed some of the main ways below.

Twitter: @PRSarahEvans
Blog: www.PRSarahEvans.com
Twitter Chat: #journchat (Monday’s 7:30pm-10:00pm CST)

For Other Influential Women in Social Media

Check out my Twitter List of Influential Women in Social Media:

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