Personal Branding Weekly and Owning Your Social Proof - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Weekly and Owning Your Social Proof - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career PERSONAL BRANDING WEEKLY Editor’s Note:   It’s been a whirlwind of travel and providing workshop training to groups who are ready to embrace that their business brand is authentically represented by the personal brands that embody their brand.   Travel time provides a great time for me to catch up on reading. Did you have a chance to read Peter’s article on how to SOAR?   Or, did you read Elinor’s article?   Be sure to check out number one and double check and make sure you’re not guilty of that. This week we also covered: Common Sense Keys for Creating Your Career Success Story by Deborah Shane How to Avoid the Back-to-Work Holiday Hangover by Glassdoor.com Personal Branding in 6 Seconds and 15 Seconds by Phil Rosenberg Podcast #3: Standing Out Online, Coworking and Chris Brogan by Dan Schawbel Personal Brands: Stop Goals, Set Requirements by Nance Rosen 5 Steps to Quitting Your Job with Grace by Heather Huhman 5 Sales Techniques to Get Your Call Returned by Elinor Stutz 8 Personal Branding Standouts Who Inspired Us in 2012 by the Young Entrepreneurial Council When Selling Your Professional Brand, Stress Features AND Benefits by Skip Freeman 8 Ways to Improve Your Company Brand in 2013 by the Young Entrepreneur Council The Art of Reciprocity in Interviewing by Jeff Shuey 5 Ways to Avoid an Average Personal Brand by Peter Sterlacci Personal Branding for Theatrical Actors by Erik Deckers How to Succeed Interviewing with an Ignorant Interviewer by Beth Kuhel This week is a week not to miss as we cover how strong communicators brand themselves; how not to introduce yourself and   few powerful articles on entrepreneurship.   OWN YOUR SOCIAL PROOF Much of today’s online marketing strategy relies on social networks. While these tools offer an array of opportunities, they can be unpredictable. Their formats change; new social sites arise; the audience changes their preferred platform, and various other situations can arise. Basing your marketing centerpiece upon unpredictable tools is a bad idea. Most importantly, social networks are not yours. While you might have your own social account with them; your profile, data, and content can be deleted at the discretion of the sites’ owners. Potentially, if you base all of your online marketing strategy on social networks, especially a single one,   that strategy can be made ineffective and useless in a single moment. 5 Ways to Spread Your Brand Socially   1. Create Social Proof Does your brand have its own social proof? The most practical way to begin is to discuss a topic using more than one social site. While sites like Facebook and Twitter have been favorites for the past few years, it doesn’t mean they will always remain on top. Other sites such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google + have their own approaches and audience members. As greater numbers of audience members show interest in these other social sites and their benefits, being present on new and upcoming social sites may prove valuable to your brand’s online strategy. 2. Have your own website   If you want to make the most of your online marketing strategy, it’s important not to stay in one place or rely on a platform to do the job for you. You need to spread your brand out with other tools, of which one of the most important is your own website. You need to generate presence that reaches beyond social. 3. Make your brand mobile-friendly Designing sites and generating content that are mobile-friendly is the newest trend, especially since a growing number of consumers have begun using their mobile devices for searches, references and purchases. This is something that is going to be essential in the future. 4. Keep your site fresh, interesting, and trendy Blogging is amongst the most effective tools in the online world. It is the method whereby you can keep your site fresh and full of interesting and trending materials. It is (in fact) one of the most efficient ways of generating content for your social sites, but can prove valuable as a stand-alone social tool to prove that your brand does exist. 5. Use email to stay in touch with your audience   Email might be oldest form of online connections, but it isn’t outdated. Staying in touch by email has been neglected as the rise of social has become the hot trend. An email account does belong to the provider, but they have little say in what you mail or share through this medium. Your lists and your ability to share outside of social sites give email a significant advantage over social networking sites, and should still be a part, even if a small part, of your online endeavors. Additionally, this is a far more personal way to reach the audience. While social and even your blog might reach out broadly, email does allow you to reach out specifically and address a customer’s needs. It presents your brand as an authentic business within the online world, and will allow you to be consistent and visible, even if some social sites fade away. Personal branding takes time to develop in the online world. While popular social sites might be an excellent place to start, proving your brand’s value through various ways is necessary to ensure that you spread your brand socially. Author: Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of  buzz2bucks.com  â€"  a word of mouth marketing firm, and a professional speaker and trainer on developing social networks that work. She provides workshops, webinars, seminars and direct services that help create conversation, connection, credibility, community and commerce around your brand.   Maria Duron is founder  and moderator of  #brandchat   a weekly Twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding that is recognized by Mashable as one the 15 Essential Twitter Chats for Social Media Marketers.