This is a guest post by Ben Austin of The Ben Channel.
As I roam the Internet highways, as I mooch around creative members’ clubs in London’s Soho, as I collaborate with brilliant business partners across borders, as I witness many cultures from all backgrounds being empowered by entrepreneurship, as I meet more and more inspiring people; I’m starting to see a movement pumping in the undercurrent so strong that you can feel it everywhere I turn.
It’s the time for the brand rebels to stand up and be counted. The world is ready for you. Never has there been an easier more attractive time to turn up the heat in business. Never has rebelling ever been as wondrous. It’s an entrepreneur’s revolution. Take a look around you. See it? Smile.
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Influence was one of the most used and abused words of 2010. I probably contributed with my share too.
But it seems like lately everywhere you turn there is a discussion about it, either to redefine the term, to analyze how it should be measured or simply to say that Klout Scores are not relevant.
Let’s face it, Klout has been under fire for the last few weeks. Then you’re not helping yourself when you come out and say that Justin Bieber is more influential than the Dalai Lama, Barak Obama or Lady Gaga (I think Gaga deserves the top spot). But let’s stop right here, bear with me for a second to explain where I’m going with this and make my point. This is a short post.
Should I Not Pay Attention To Klout Then?
I’m not here to recommend you should or shouldn’t use Klout or to question their formula, Justin Bieber is probably more influential than Obama these days anyways. The concern to me is how we use this score, I think it is a fine metric as a marketing tool for your personal brand and I can even see it as some kind of social proof, you know, another counter on your sidebar. But we should not be looking at it as to measure how much influence we really have.
Let’s Step Back For A Second…
According to the dictionary, Influence is the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.
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It’s been a while since we last navigated the topic of Personal Branding here at SocialMouths but I guess that’s about to change. I get a lot of questions about best practices on different social platforms but today, I thought it would be cool to take a step back and review some of the basics of building a successful brand regardless of the platforms you use.
I guess the first question to arise when you’re thinking about whether or not you should put yourself out there as an individual instead of using your company logo as a shield is “do I need to become a personal brand?”
There is a lot to consider but I’ll give you what I think are the most important arguments
- Personal Branding sets you up as an expert in your niche. Whether or not you are, that’s a whole different animal…
- Personal Branding gives you a Competitive Edge. There is only one thing your competitor will never have, YOU
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Can I be a brand? I’m sure it has crossed your mind at least a couple of times in the last year, specially witnessing so many people turning themselves into true web superstars in their niches.
The answer is simple: Hell Yes
But before the photography, the name, the design and all the cool stuff that goes on the front-end, there has to be a solid foundation. As Seth Godin calls it in his last book, you need to become a Linchpin. I wanted to say that because the 7 people I’m showcasing in this post are the real deal, they are not just a cool image.
The outside perception meets the inside reality. I like setting expectations straight, you do not become a brand by looking good online. The web is an amplifier, be careful with what comes up to the surface.
That said, let’s take a look at these people that have turned their names into kick-ass brands. I wanted to show people that have leveraged the social web to build trust around them, at the same time, I didn’t want to go with the obvious (before you go screaming that I didn’t mention Gary Vaynerchuk…).
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Do you need to promote your own content? If you are NOT Guy Kawasaki, Chris Brogan or Gary Vaynerchuck, the answer will be yes.
Will you ever get to the point where others share your content and you can forget about self-promotion to focus on other, more meaningful stuff?
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Are you feeling like you are the only one that doesn’t get any results from social media? Are you getting nothing but frustration while everybody else and their grandmas are talking about monetizing, getting prospects and all kinds of success stories?
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Yep… The conversation has left the building and you might not be aware of it.
Do you know exactly what happens to conversations on the social web? How far they go or where they die? Are you aware of the real impact created by your latest blogpost? Once the conversation leaves the blog, we lose visibility of it, but that doesn’t mean it died.
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I have been thinking lately on finding better ways to explain what I do since I don’t really claim to be a designer, a developer or a writer. I have a couple of ideas I’m doing this week, the first one is offering FREE 1-Hour consultation calls to have one-on-one interactions and have people ask whatever they want with no strings attached. I already posted that to my Facebook Profile. The second idea was to redo the About Me page so the message can provide more clarity…
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