Blissdom: Advanced Branding Session With Maya and Alli

Advanced Branding: Accelerating Your Brand Using Social Media

Maya Bisineer & Alli Worthington

What is branding?

What someone perceives of you. You often do not have control. You can shape it, but ultimately it is the perception that is the reality of your brand.

Your brand is constantly evolving.

A personal brand is complex. Makes it more authentic if it is NOT one dimensional.

Businesses want a brand to be one dimensional.

Your brand is not what you tweet and your Facebook. It is what everyone thinks about you. You can not tell them what to say.

Brand is long term on the internet. Don’t make an a$$ of yourself.

You need to build trust with your audience.

Everybody is a celebrity online. Everyone is watching and Googling you.

Even if you aren’t managing your personal brand, it is still there.

Personal Brand = Power

If you learn to manage your personal brand it can be very empowering.

We cannot NOT manage our brands.

You are in the middle and there are all these circles of thoughts and perceptions around you. Many different layers.

Need to learn to peel away and manage each of those layers of perceptions.

Brand vs. Branding

Brand is what people perceive from the outside in.

Branding is done from the inside out.

Your brand includes what you wear, how you hold yourself and how you speak.

What is it that you want your brand to promise? What is it that you want people to perceive about your brand?

Your brand promise is for your reader and, your clients. You need to be sure that you can deliver.

Politics is tricky because no matter what you are going to make half the people mad.

The cycle of building your brand never stops. An incredibly empowering journey.

Core Values

Know your core values. Know your rational and emotional brand.

Core values you know yourself. You don’t have to share with everyone. Use it to be sure you are being true to your brand.

What makes you qualified to do what you are branding.

Mission statement should be in your real voice. Make it authentic. It is your go to statement. When in doubt about whether to do something, read your mission statement. Does it fit?

Buy your name URL (and the URL of your kids)

Be sure those you work with respect your values too.

Boil your vision statement, your pitch, your mission to 3 words to make it easy.

Value Proposition

The rational part of the brand may be difficult (what makes you the expert in what you do? Forget that! you CAN and are an expert in something)

Have a strong core and the skills, then claim it. You are good at what you do. Don’t listen to the voice that says you can’t do it.

Build your value proposition

Ask these questions…

• Why do you do what you do? What problem are you solving?
• How do you solve that problem?
• Who is your target audience?
• Why you (and not someone else)? What makes you stand out? different? Will help with self confidence and self esteem. Know this answer!! why you rock is not because someone else isn’t something, but because you are good at something.

Why How? What? Who?

Social Media has no new recipes

Social media gives you the way to serve it up. You must have all the ingredients and use social media to get it out.

Does every tweet you send out tie into your brand promise?

You can’t fake it (social media). It is hard work.

Get started now if you aren’t using social media.

YOU are the viable brand no matter what or where you are. Know who YOU are.

What makes you awesome? remarkable?

Authentic, powerful, influential and portable brand.

Core brand (know your goals, understand tools)

Strategy (Build your tool framework

Social Media Brand (value, Engagement, connections, Network)

Build Trust – You can convert it into tangibles to make money.

Have a call to action in your posts, e-mails, etc.

What is Brand Goals?

Have 3 words

How do you sustain that over time?

Surveys are a great way to find out what works and what doesn’t work, get feedback.

Remember those giving feedback may not know your goals so think about all the feedback in regards to your goals.

Think – What is your value based on your brand and how are you providing value to others? What value can you give? Plan your strategy for branding. separate Twitter accounts? Know what tools you plan to use and how you will use them? twitter, Facebook, etc.

Feel – Connections – People will connect with you because of your values.

Sustain – Conversation – Going to conferences helps sustain those conversions

Value – Connections – Conversations

Listen First!

But before you do anything, you should be listening! Google alerts, search your name & company & blog, track keywords

Have a home base (blog) where people can find out all about you. Don’t expect them to just Google you. You have no control over what they find. Shape what they read by having a place to read about you. (profile page, about.me, etc.)
Be sure you know what comes up when someone Googles you (first page)

Where are your customers?

Where are you?

What are your needs?

Monitor your brand. Listen, Google

Measure your brand.

Leverage. Leverage. Leverage. Use your inner circle of people.

continue to evolve…

Ask questions if things not going the way you want.  full of yourself? misfiring/target issues?

Consistency is important.

Keep secrets to yourself.

Go and build yourself into someone!

Here are the slides from the session.

Related articles

• Kari Henley: Mommy Bloggers Are Going to Rule the World (huffingtonpost.com)
• 10 Social Media Lessons Learned From Blissdom 2010 (greenandcleanmom.org)
• How to brand yourself using social media (holykaw.alltop.com)