According to my blog archives, I have been blogging for exactly 1 year. For an entire year I have been trying to build my personal brand equity through video interviews, a video documentary, and getting publicized throughout the internet.
Looking back, there are a lot of things that I feel I could have done better. This is what I have learned after a year of building my personal brand:
You don’t have to focus on one topic
I made this mistake plenty of times during the past year as a blogger, and do you know what it lead to? Frustration. I was frustrated because I couldn’t find that one topic that I could become an “expert” in. I was frustrated because everywhere I turned, there seemed to already by someone who was the voice of that niche.
One of the most frustrating things was that I didn’t have a talent. I looked at my brother who is a musician or every artist out there and thought to myself, “Man, if I had their talent, I could be killing it right now!” I started getting jealous, and the green eye of envy engulfed me for a certain period.
You don’t need to have a talent; you don’t need to be an expert. Build a brand of openness, friendliness, helpfulness, and transparency. Above all else, create a brand that people look at and say, “Wow, this person is a very genuine and honest individual who sincerely is looking to help others.” Your “brand” doesn’t have to be a subject, it can be a characteristic.
You don’t have to comment on everyone’s blog
Everyone talks about this one. “You need to build community and start commenting on other blogs.” So, I did what everyone was advising me to do. I went onto Google Blogsearch and started finding random blogs to make a comment on. Half the time I didn’t even read the post; I just read the title, skimmed, and left a half-assed comment in order to get more traffic onto my site. I turned into a traffic hog – all I cared about was my analytics.
Look, commenting on other blogs is important, but being genuine trumps everything else. Leave a comment ONLY if you have something valuable to say. Actually, forget about the “value.” Only leave a comment if your truly feel moved to do it. Maybe the post was so good, that you just want to leave the author a compliment: “Hey, that was a real good post. Thanks for opening up my eyes to a new perspective!” This comment leaves no “value,” but it’s genuine because it comes from the heart.
Be honest with yourself and everyone in the community and I promise your readership will grow.
You don’t have to create a profile on every social network
Again, everyone tells you that you need to use Digg, Mixx, Reddit, Stumble, and all of these others sites. When I first started blogging, I jumped into all of these sites, tried to add random content, tried to add random friends, and ultimately felt frustrated with all of these sites because they were driving me no traffic. I used these websites for the wrong reasons.
Join Mixx, Reddit, Pownce, and the other sites only if you really enjoy the community. If your forcing yourself to find good sites online and be the first one to Digg them, it’s definitely NOT fun. That’s what I did for a few months! Did I meet some good people on Digg? Yes, I really did. But overall my experience was not great because I forced myself to Digg things I didn’t like and make friends with people who I didn’t feel a connection with.
Don’t use a site because you feel you have to. Join a site because you actually like it.
Personal branding is not about positioning yourself to pitch your company. Personal branding is about being happy with who you are. You don’t need to please everyone around you and you don’t have to constantly think about how others perceive you. Focus on being happy and helping others and I promise you will build a positive personal brand.
Author:
Jun is the Founder and CMO of Future Delivery where he is building Viralogy, the Social Media rank. His personal blog, Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur, gives a real, unfiltered view of the Startup Life so that current and aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from his successes and mistakes.
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Excellent and very insightful comments. Its nice to get a honest opinion on how social networking “really” works. You have to be real. Fake is negetive. Real is positive. Doing nothing in neutral. Obiously doing nothing is less harmful than being fake. If you are going to be there be real or do not be.
Jun, good post. I takes time to become an expert. I started off as a spokesman until I proved my own personal branding process. Being an expert takes time and Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours!
Great points! I know some who say you have to joing every social network!. You’re right, that will only lead to insanity and frustration!
Krissy Knox
follow me on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Thank you so much for your insightful blog. We are right in the midst of trying to define ourselves outside of our website and Facebook, where we have a very loyal following. We are very well known within the Chinese adoption community, but want to grow ourselves beyond that. We are figuring out Twitter, joined Change.org, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc. We appreciate articles like this from those who have gone before us and your thoughts.
Great post. A while back I made many of the same mistakes you did, signing up for every social network under the sun and trying to figure out what I was good at instead of seeing that I was good at learning and then teaching others about what I learned. Now, I’m on only a few networks and found my fit as a consultant and writer. Though I’m on facebook, linkedin, and twitter, I really found my home at reddit where my sense of humor and interests are reflected by the community at large.
Being genuine is something I tell all my clients upfront. Be who you are and the rest will fall into place (with some work to put the pieces together).
@Greg – I completely agree. Being honest and true to yourself is the best thing that you can do.
@Krissy – Insanity and frustration is never good. Keep it in moderation and do what you love
@Karen – I’m glad that you’re trying out new sites and branching out. Just remember that these are only TOOLS, and not the sole purpose of joining a community. The reason you should join is to participate with people and honestly build relationships.
Good luck!
@Adam – That’s great that you and I have had a simliar experience. It validates the point that I’m trying to make and helps people learn from our mistakes. Keep working hard and I know you’ll be successful!
This sentence resonated for me: ” Your ‘brand’ doesn’t have to be a subject, it can be a characteristic.” This reminds me of the advice Warren Bennis makes over and over again in “On Becoming a Leader.” A leader, he says, expresses himself or herself fully. The goal is not to become a leader, but to learn to express yourself as fully and completely as you possibly can. “As you also say, being genuine trumps everything else.” These are issues I also have thought about — and struggled with in my blog, especially here: http://tinyurl.com/c9ph34.
Jun, thanks for the dimension of sincereity, honesty and openess. I always thought you must always say great thing nad add more value to the conversation before others can recognize your voice. Now I discover that even though that is great, sincerity is also a great factor.
“You don’t have to focus on one topic”
This was something that held me up time and time again in the past. I have been blogging on and off for several years now, and have taken several different approaches on what I want to focus on. Then, I realized, I don’t need to focus on one thing – I can focus on everything I’m passionate about and go from there. And now, I’ve developed into a much better writer because of it.
“You don’t have to comment on everyone’s blog”
You make a great point here, and I think we’ve all been in your shoes. Commenting on a girls blog about her new high heels just to drive a few folks back to your home-base. It may boost your analytics for a day, but CONNECTING with other bloggers on the web, ENGAGING the discussions they have taken all that time to write – that’s how you build networks, relationships, and dare I say, friendships.
“You don’t have to create a profile on every social network”
I’m probably signed up for more social networks than I even remember – but I have cut back and focused on devoting the majority of my time to a choice few – to work on networking, to meet new people, to establish new relationships and bonds, because in the end, that’s what these tools are all about.