Murphy is a lively and energetic guy. He takes his own advice about being the same person in real life that you are online. His online brand personifies a fun person. I jotted down some notes at IZEA Fest last Friday in Orlando, Florida. I am just now getting around to formulating them into an article. Murphy talked about personal branding, which is very important for anyone trying to make a name for themselves in a particuar niche online. Here were some of the highlights of his keynote speech.
Consistency
If you want to build a strong personal brand, you must have consistency in your life and in your brand. You need a logo that stands out, a writing and speaking style that fits you, and you need to act the same way in person as you do while interacting online. Big corporations do what they do so well, because they are consistent with the quality of their products and their branding is the same. Imagine if McDonald’s changed the way their french fries tasted (that’s probably why they’ll always remain so fattening). Imagine if Coca-cola started changing up their formula. They did do this in the ’80’s, and it almost put them under. You get the idea.
Contribution
In order to build a strong personal brand, you must give before you can receive. You’re trying to brand yourself as an expert in a particular industry, so you need to contribute to that niche and/or industry. You need to be a part of the conversation, in fact, you need to be leading that conversation in some instances. Use your Twitter profile to share relevant blog/news articles, share quick tips, and participate in conversations with other people on Twitter. Use Facebook to do the same thing and join groups and fan pages relevant to the industry you are branding yourself in. Answer questions from LinkedIn users. Be a part of the community. If you sit back and look from the outside, no one will know who you are.
Promotion
You can have the best content in the world, but if no one knows it’s there, they probably won’t find it. There is a huge debate among social media and search engine marketers about content and people finding it. The rule of thumb used to be that if you create great content, people will find it just because it’s great, but that’s not always true. There are millions upon millions of people on Twitter and people writing blogs. You must be proactive with the promotion of your content. Don’t spam people, but put together a strategy of promotion. A healthy mix of Twitter, Facebook, social bookmarking, and networking with other bloggers is a great start.
Monetize Your Brand
Once you’ve done all of this, the only step left is to monetize your brand. If you skip straight to monetize without building great content, establishing yourself as an expert, and promoting it, monetizing it will not work. Monetizing is the last step, because people have no reason to buy you or your content if they don’t know who you are. You can monetize yourself by consulting, speaking, creating “swag” as Ted Murphy calls it, and selling advertisements. The best way to monetize yourself is to create products that will outlive you like a book or e-book.
Got any more ideas about personal branding? Obviously, I need to take Murphy’s advice. I haven’t spent any money on personal branding at this point. My blog design is bland, and I don’t have a personal logo. But, I am listening and creating content that I think people want to read. I just need to work on the visual part!
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