This post is a little late and definitely overdue. I wanted to share with you the presentation that I gave at PubCon South on Online Brand and Reputation Management.
A few points to summarize:
Brand building has fundamentally changed, both for personal brands and corporate brands.
- Corporate Brands used to be able to control the message with advertising and one-way messaging. Now everyone controls the message.
- Individual Brands were managed by the perceptions you created a work – speaking professionally and wearing a nice suit. The walls between your personal and professional life are being torn down by the internet and you need to manage your brand.
You have a brand whether you like it or not. The real question is are you managing and monitoring it.
A brand it what you stand for on both a logical and emotional level in the minds of your audience. This can be a personal brand or a standard “marketing” branded product. Whether you like it or not you are creating a perception of yourself. You need to both MANAGE it and MONITOR it.
Managing Your Brand
Determine what you WANT to stand for.
Be authentic and transparent (or others will do it for you).
Manage your messages – this doesn’t mean lie. It means you might not want to post 500 drunk photos or you flipping off the camera. Manage your image in line with what you WANT to stand for. Make sure it is authentic. Be balanced. People like personality. Mix your brand personality with whatever you do.
Monitor Your Brand
There are a ton of tools that you can use to monitor your brand (see the presentation).
Track what people are saying about you.
Monitor for sentiment and look for progress over time.
Respond.
Join the conversation.
The question is, do you want to be a coffee girl or a wine girl? Or are you a mix of the two?
Anyone else have thoughts/tips? What do you think?
You can find additional coverage of this panel at:
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