I recently gave a talk about “How to Accelerate your Brand Using Social Media” to the Microsoft Alumni Community. SMCSeattle partnered to produce the content for the event.
As I was starting to upload my presentation to the blog, I realized that perhaps, this post is a good precursor to that post. It is interesting how many of us get ahead of ourselves and try to build our brands on social media without even understanding a few things ahead of time. So, here are the things I recommend you do before you jump on the whole brand building efforts using social media -
1. Get to know yourself. Really.
Social media puts you in FRONT of people. To make the best of social media, you have to be yourself. As authentic and transparent as realistically possible. In order to be able to do that, it is critical to understand yourself. If you do not really understand what gets you ticking, what your strengths are and what you are passionate about, social media will prove difficult and frustrating.
I am an introvert. I am a listener. I am a thinker. I do not do very well in crowds. I cannot do small talk. And I care. A lot. Perhaps too much. Since I know those things about myself, I will work every social media branding effort around my personality, my strengths and my weaknesses.
2. Hone in on your value proposition.
Social media does not provide any new recipies for the cake. Social media only gives you new ways to serve the cake. The CAKE or your core brand is still the key. If you do not have your cake yet, it should be pretty clear that you have nothing to serve – social media or not.
3. Distill it down to 3 words
A large part of social media has a lot to do with content, links, tweets and so on. Distilling your brand down to 3 words you want people to associate you with will give you a consistent voice. Giving yourself 3 words that you want to focus on will help you greatly as you choose what you tweet, what you say and which events you go to.
4. Play with the tools
Try every tool out there. Read a whole lot. Social Media is first social and then media. Online social skills are easier to develop if you are someone that feels comfortable with the tools. SO be sure to play with the tools and get a “feeling” for them before you jump off into your brand building efforts.
5. Bank a whole lot of patience and perseverance
Yup, a whole lot. Building your brand on social media requires an investment. Get ready to make that investment. Social media has reduced the costs to build our brands, but it is not completely free. The social media space is more crowded than ever before, so in a lot of ways you will need a whole lot more patience than people did even a couple of years ago. It takes months of consistent brand building effort to actually build a sustainable brand through social media.
Building your brand today and with the help of social media tools is like raising a large large family. It requires understanding yourself, having a value system, being introspective and a whole lot of patience. Once you really understand that, you will approach these tools and the latest technologies the right way.
What did you do before you started building your brand using social media? Image from Matt Hamm
