6×6: branding « Adam Westbrook. The first in a series of 6 blogs, each with 6 tips for the next generation of freelance multimedia journalists. Even as far back as 2006 , the likes of Andrew Neil appreciated the journalists of the future will need to brand themselves well. “The journalist of the future…will have more than one employer and become a brand in his own right” he wrote.
With full time jobs in well staffed newsrooms becoming more sparse, but opportunities outside traditional/mainstream journalism becoming more plenty, this prediction is coming true. So, what can you do to boost your brand? 01. own your name The first thing to overcome is the embarassment or discomfort of ‘blowing your own trumpet’. As a freelancer especially, your brand is your name. Lisa Barone at Outspoken Media agrees: “It’s always better to have the username and not use it, then need to wait and kick yourself later when someone else grabs it. Another unpopular thing to do: . 02. define your niche 03. have a good great website and blog So: . Twitter really IS my other blog plus a microblogging tip | Broad. Archives | Altitude Branding | Brand Elevation through Social Me. 4 Common Resume Blunders. You are not a personal brand – you are a character | Broadcastin. The art of self defense against brand-jacking - iMediaConnection. With the swift rise in social software enabling a global audience to broadcast multimedia messages to one another, companies are being challenged to use social tools to protect their brands, retain their messages, monitor their reputations and cultivate trust amongst consumers.
The threat of brand-jacking -- through such efforts as activist videos, masquerading social accounts and harmful direct-to-consumer fraud -- demands that companies be both ever-vigilant of their online presence and that they respond quickly, creatively and honestly. Meanwhile, there is also opportunity in brand-jacking -- the opportunity to adapt messages to new technologies and create meaningful dialogue with consumers. Let's explore the emerging challenges of third-parties using a company's brand against itself, and look at the steps companies can take to communicate better with their customers, which can mitigate the risks of brand-jacking.
What is brand-jacking? How can a brand protect itself? Create a dialogue. “Tasty Nectar” Makes Tasty Profile Sites For Your Personal Brand. Tasty Nectar is a new startup focusing on, as they put it, “selling you’. Rather than helping businesses with their sites and promotion, Tasty Nectar have launched a service designed to make creating a beautiful personal profile site, a piece of cake. Created by the team at Texas based creative agency Fuor, your new personal site will include a gorgeous design (supposedly well optimized for search engines) and a basic lifestream. How Does it Work? Select a general theme (design) for your new website and sign up. Once you’re all signed in, you are greeted with a clean UI and requested to answer some pretty straight forward biographical type questions. The next step is to insert all your social media username’s and blog URL’s, this step includes options for all the major social media sites as well as any site with an RSS feed. The final step is to include any relevant contact details such as your IM and email.
Pricing Well, here is where the majority of techies will gasp. The Rise of Personal Branding. Are you a leader or a follower? A huge trend across the spectrum of professional industries is personal branding. Thanks mostly in part to blogs and social media, there exists an exciting new landscape to easily see who the all-stars are in every field. Simply handing someone a resume is already dated. If you’re a professional and think a strong resume and great references will win you a high level position in the future, think again. Blogs enable experts to prove themselves and let passionate people stand out from the pack Given the choice – who would you rather hire? Person A who has a fantastic resume and great references on paper, but nothing else notable.Person B who has all that, but also has a blog and has gathered a crowd of a few hundred subscribers and several thousand visitors per month (or more) writing intelligently and poignantly on the industry they are involved in.
A great real world example Social networks and personal branding Start now Dig this? Real-World Low-Risk, High-Reward Link Building Strategies. This is a follow up to last year's highly popular linking session. The panelists in this session are experts on linking and will take a critical look at linking strategies including outbound link optimization, outsourcing link building, old-fashioned linking via directories, and hiring an in-house link developer. Moderator: Chris Tolles Speakers: Eric Enge, President, Stone Temple Consulting Rebecca Kelley, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOmoz Roger Montti, Founder and Owner, martinibuster.com Greg Hartnett, President, Best of The Web Eric Enge: some ways to use social media as a link building strategy Think big!
Companies can be like Blendtec. Social News Sites: the opportunity includes tens of thousands of visitors but the traffic sucks -- but there's also the opportunity for links Match the Digg demographic 13-28 year old males They like Google, Apple, novel technical thing, open source, Gmail.. Case study: a website that has a restroom photo. Was it a success? Why is this link building? Newsletters Are Still Viable? How I Approached My First Newslett. November 13, 2008 by Hutch Carpenter In some ways, I’m the worst guy to be in charge of emailing a newsletter out on behalf of my company Connectbeam.
I’m very dismissive of spam email. I hang up on telemarketers without guilt, after quickly saying “put me on your do not call list”. I ignore newspaper and website ads, I don’t watch commercials. I like my little cloistered world… But newsletters are back in vogue it seems. Clearly there continues to be life in newsletters despite the advent of RSS. As a young company looking to expand its brand and message, Connectbeam needs to consider the newsletter a part of its overall engagement strategy. So I recognize the importance of it, even as I’m probably the last person who would read anything like this. Making It More Than a Typical Company Marketing Piece The email went out to 253 people – we didn’t spam some purchased list of thousands of names.
Here’s the email (also available online): 28% opened2 unsubscribes 1. 2. 3. Connectbeam isn’t BEA. Community Hacking - 96 Baiting Strategies You Can Employ. Link-baiting is a topic that makes some people snicker when they hear it. However, the complexities and subtleties are a fascinating combination of clever copywriting and strategic placement. Did you know that there are 12 types of links? Moreover, there are eight types of link bait to get those 12 types of links?
That means there are 96 different strategies to get links. This session will look at the eight and the twelve. Moderator: Andy Beal Speakers: Todd Malicoat, Independent Marketing Consultant, Meta4creations, LLC Ian Ring, Application Developer, IGLOO Inc. Bill Hartzer, Search Engine Optimization Manager, Vizion Interactive Jane Copland, Search Marketing Consultant, SEOMoz Bill Hartzer: Link baiting specific sectors: target a group in your sector/topic, tell them what they want and what they need to know.
Target sites that link out - research those sites. Find linkbait that worked. Social media, linkbait, and search are all coming together. Jane Copland: Some linkbait will bomb! 10 Ways to Become a Thought Leader. When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and become an artist, a chef or (in one bout of misplaced humanism) a farmer. Today, kids grow up wanting to be social media rockstars and thought leaders. (And by "kids," I mean "thirty-five year-old desk jockeys," but I digress...)
Why the newfound passion for "thought leadership"? Because in uncertain economies, one thing still counts: influence. You may not have two dimes to rub together, but if you can convince the guy next to you that You Have Ideas, he'll probably buy you a cup of coffee just to hear you out. So, without further ado, here are 10 Ways YOU Can Become a Thought Leader: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. And they'll pay you for it. (Photo by farlyj) Labels: audience, common sense, ideas, leadership, people, social media, society, sociology, thought process. Why My Face is On My Business Card — AriWriter.
@kristianc there are a lot of different thoughts... - Mark Dykem. Figuring Out What You Really Sell | Men With Pens. What do you sell? Did you answer content or design? Did you answer an e-course or a book? Did you answer consulting services or marketing tools? Well, if that’s what you believe you sell, you’d be wrong. What you’re selling isn’t about what you sell at all. A Conversation With James I’ve had many revelations this past month as I think more on our business, the systems we use, how we work and how it all fits together. “Let me ask you something,” I began. There was a pause and I could almost see the expression on his face. “No, I’m serious. Then I heard him chuckle. “Nope. But James was two steps ahead. Oh. I suppose it was branding, the emotional association people have with a company. I thought for a moment, determined to dazzle James with my brilliance regardless.
“Success,” he shot back, but then James went quiet and thoughtful. Stirring the Senses James and I tossed the answers to the question of what we sell around for a good 15 minutes. Every business sells a feeling. Post by Agent X. How Facebook Helped Me Get Elected to the Maine House of Represe. This is a guest post by Maine State House Representative-Elect Sean Flaherty. Flaherty is a 23 year-old Democrat from Scarborough, Maine who defeated a “well known and highly respected” incumbent by a vote margin of 56%-44% ” in a town where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 6%.” Flaherty says that “Although the history isn’t complete, I am believed to be the first Democrat to represent District 127 in the Maine State House.” Flaherty credits Facebook and the internet as key tools in his campaign strategy. He shares his Facebook tactics and strategies below. I didn’t know it at the time, but my speech nominating Sen.
Barack Obama for President at my town’s Democratic Caucus inevitably changed my life in so many ways. The next morning I sat on the plane back to Washington, DC. A few days later, I decided I’d do it. What was my first move of the campaign? I invited all of my friends, the ones from my home town, the ones from DC, and even the random people who I barely knew. 1.) Web-Enabled Business Card: it simply has your name. Effective Networking (Make Yourself Memorable) Note: This is part of a series of articles called Effective Networking in the Games Industry.
I’m writing these articles in no particular order, so I’m sorry if this seems scattered. I promise I will collect it all and put it on my permanent webspace for future reference. Make Yourself Memorable Networking is a pretty useless activity if the people you meet don’t remember you. Thus one of the major projects you should undertake is the creation of a persona.
You need to be remembered for one thing in particular–actually, you’ll ideally be remembered for many things. I take a two-pronged approach to this, both in the business cards I hand out and in the physical impression I make. Your Business Card The business card is the personal currency of any industry. In my opinion, your business card needs to convey only a very small amount of information about you. That’s really a pretty tiny amount of information to fit on a single business card, which in America is 2″ high by 3.5″ wide. 10 Essential Tips For Landing Your Next Job. We’ve noticed recently on Twitter that a lot of people are talking about having been laid off over the past couple of months. TechCrunch reports that there have been almost 80,000 layoffs in the technology sector since August, and entire blogs have been started about web and tech people losing their jobs.
But even with all that doom and gloom, many companies are still hiring. If you find yourself looking for work, or trying to find some freelance gigs on the side to supplement your income, here are some tips to help you stand out, stay organized, and ultimately land a job. 1. Get Your Resumé in Order Your resumé is a record of your entire professional life condensed on a single page (or two). 95% of the time, it will be the second thing a potential employer will see (first is your cover letter, which we’ll talk about next), so that makes it supremely important that everything is in order. First and foremost, that means making sure your resumé is up-to-date. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 10 Most Sought-after Skills in Web Development - Nettuts+ In a time of economic crisis, web developers and freelancers everywhere have started chewing their fingernails.
However, no matter how bad the economy worsens, there will always be work in certain booming fields of web development. As the moderator of the Freelance Switch job board, there are certain types of jobs that are constantly in demand. Here are the 10 skills that are or will be in highest demand for developers. If you are proficient in these skills, you'll be in a great position to find work and weather any economic downturn. 1. Framework knowledge It seems that frameworks are one of the next big things. 2. Widgets have changed how web development has been done in the past couple of years. Widget development requires knowing Javascript and/or flash, not to mention knowledge of the regular language that the parent site is built in. 3.
Designers and developers can always find work creating or customizing a CMS theme. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. iPhone applications 9. 10. Conclusions. How to design like Barack Obama: control, consistency and change. No matter where your political allegiances are, it is hard to not respect the kind of campaign Barack Obama ran. Obama’s campaign embraced the Internet more than any other candidate since Howard Dean.
Except, you know, Obama won. What Obama did better than any before him was to utilize a team of designers that polished his brand on the Web, in print, and on “hope” posters all over the country. Below are some trends I noticed used in his time as a candidate and president elect, with notes on how it can help the average designer. Gotham Font Usually when you see a political rally on television, the members of the audience are waving signs, flags, and anything else they can get their hands on to show their support for their candidate.
Most rallies feature a mix of fonts and colors on signs For Obama, the crowd was frighteningly uniform in it’s signage that utilized the light blues he came to be known for and the Gotham Black font. This was a common sight at Obama rallies. Colors The Big O. How to Increase Readers and Comments to Your Blog — AriWriter. Metal Wood Cards. The Sure Way To Not Get Your Business Card Chu. Top 10 Free Tools for Monitoring Your Brand's Reputation. Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog. Brand monitoring has become an essential task for any individual or corporation. Years ago, when people talked about our brands, it was behind our backs and we almost never found out about it. Today, most of these dialogues are right in front of our own eyes and the number of locations where our brands may be cited is astronomical!
We must remember that conversations are being held on the web with or without our consent. Here's a basic reputation management system that I've been using, as well as a list of the top 10 free tools you can start using today. How to Begin Depending on how popular and well-known your brand is, there may be few or many people talking about it. The first thing you need to do is acquire a feed reader. I would also register for a Delicious account, which can help you sort and organize blogs that mention your brand. 1. 2. 3.
The Importance of Personal Branding | Personal Branding Blog - D. Seth's Blog: The power of a tiny picture (how to improve yo. BlogWritingCourse | Blogging PreCourse and Blogging101. 5 Rules of Social Media Optimization. Should Every Outward Facing Employee Have a Web Presence. Brand Reputation Management Is Not a Monday-Friday Gig. 9 Ways to Humanize Your Brand | PR 2.0 | Social Media Consulting. Facebook News, Application Reviews and Social Networks. Emily Ingram » How to Market Yourself on the Web: Online Extras. Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (978142. The Importance Of Brand And Networking. VIP Virtual Solutions - Virtually taking care of your business.. Best Personal Branding Tips - Free Download | Small Business Tre. How To Find Conversations By Tracking Brand Mentions.
How To Improve Your Branding With Your Content | How-To | Smashi. Be Naked. Emily Ingram » How to build a portfolio Web site: A new blog ser. Become A Beacon On The Digital Landscape. Is Personal Branding Right For You? | You Brand Inc. 5 Essential Traits for Community Managers. The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook: The Most Egregious.