The Bloggin’ BUZZ

Deidre’s Thoughts for Thursday

Do you know what your personal brand is? Can you describe it to someone else? Do you care?

You should.

If you’re online, other people are aware of what your personal brand is and in their minds, they’ve already made note of it. Whether you’ve thought about it or not, you already have one and you’re continuing to build it.

“Ah, come one, Deidre! Are you serious? I’m just online talking with my friends!”

Whoa! I don’t make the rules about the psychological makeup of people, I’m just sharing some truths with you!

Every time you go to work, walk into a room, network (comment on someone’s status update, post your own update, accept a friendship, poke a friend, etc…), you are creating your personal brand. A virtual business card, if you will, of who you are.

If you’re in business for yourself, this is incredibly vital to understand. Even more importantly, you need to ask yourself this question: does the personal brand that I’m expressing online, the same personal brand that people find when they read my blog and/or visit my website?

If the answer is yes, and your social media activities are helping to drive more people to you and your website, then GREAT!! Congratulations! You have cracked the key to successfully integrating social media into your marketing plan.

If the answer is yes, but you’re not seeing any return on your investment of time, then you probably need to look at how all of the pieces are fitting together. Do you have a plan? What are your goals? What is your strategy for the time you spend in social media?

If the answer is no, hope is not lost! You may need to step back and take an objective view…what’s working, what isn’t working? Where am I out of alignment? The answer may surprise you. On the other hand, if you can’t pinpoint the problem, you can always have another set of eyes look at how the pieces are fitting together. The answers that you receive could be priceless!

Remember, at all times, it’s important for you to be authentic and transparent in your communications. Social media can make drastic changes in your business, improve relationships with your current clients and connect you with people you never imagined…but you’ll need a plan.

So get one and build a BUZZ about your business!!

Deidre Hughey

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Deidre's Social Media Soapbox, Protect Your Online Rep. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.