Are you tired of reading blog post after blog post about personal branding, providing value and content?
By Lissa DutyTired of reading blog post after blog post about personal branding, value and content? They all start to read the same after awhile. All of them are great blog posts and I will continue to share them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. However, I would like to see something for a change more focused on how to find your brand, provide value and where to locate all this great content that you need to be sharing on social media.
Here’s my take: To find your brand think about what your purpose is for using social media. Do you want to sell something? Educate? Expand your connection base, etc…. If you’re an individual providing a service you need to establish your personal brand first, which is what I needed to do!
When I started using social networking sites my goal was to let everyone know who Lissa Duty was and what I was about! I needed to brand myself first and foremost, and then focus on growing my business. I went out and established connections with those that are influential in the areas and industries that I focus on. i.e. Small Business Owners, Consultants and Social Media. I identified @BillHurlbut @PattyFarmer and @LinkedInQueen.
I learned all I could about them, who they were and how I could connect with them. I made sure I got to know who they were, what they represented and the value they provide in the social networking community. I soon learned how smart and connected they were. I didn’t ask them – “Please tell your connections about me on social media”. I instead focused on developing a relationship and rapport with them, so they would want to tell their friends about me.
How to provide value? Determine what kind of information would be of interest to those following you. Think about what you know that is essential to your industry and your clients. Share tips that would help them make important decisions. Share enough to make them want to follow up with you.
Content – the biggie! This covers two areas:
1. Find industry related articles that would interest your followers. Start using a RSS reader like Google Reader and every time you find a blog that someone else has shared that would interest you and your connections subscribe to it in Google Reader. (Watch videos on eHow – How to use & setup Google Reader.)
2. Writing content to share on your blog. Ask your connections what they would like to learn about your industry. Questions people ask often turn into some really great blog posts! Share client success stories. Get your readers interested in reading and learning more about you. (Read more about blogging.)
I trust this post gave you some ideas on how to build your personal brand, provide value and content, instead of just all the whys!
Contributed by Lissa Duty of http://lissaduty.com/, a social media marketing strategist that specializes in helping her clients leverage Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to grow their brand awareness.