Personal and Business Branding using Social Media

Personal and Business Branding Through Social Media Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce September 22, 2009 Presented by: Patsy Stewart, Optimized Strategies Janeson Keeley, JTKWeb

What is social media?

Social media is

a means to generate conversations

Stop thinking campaigns

Start thinking conversations

Translate conversations into Results

Your Social Media Strategy

Assess your digital footprint

Identify your expectations

Define your plan

Create your personal/business brand

Implement your plan

Assess your results

Tweak your plan

What is a digital footprint?

Traces left by someone’s activity in a digital environment

Passive – “Data collected about an action without any client activation” (e.g., IP information collected by a web server)

Active – “Created when personal data is released deliberately by the user for the purpose of sharing information about oneself”

http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_footprint . 20 Aug 2009.

1. Assess your digital footprint

Google yourself – print out the first two pages of results

Identify your competitors – search on your keywords

Google your competitors

If you’re digitally active , identify baseline of friends, followers, fans, connections, and web site visitors

2. Identify your expectations

Increase your exposure

Build your business or personal brand

Build brand awareness

Increase web site / blog traffic

Increase number of customers

Increase revenue

Improve customer service

3. Define your plan

Determine your target market

Select your tools

LinkedIn

Blogs

Facebook

Twitter

Determine a schedule of regular activities to engage in for a specified period of time

4. Create your brand

Things to consider:

Your personal or business “personality”

The products and services you offer

What makes you unique

What is a “personal brand”?

The qualities and characteristics that distinguish you from other people

The mental and emotional impression that others have of you, which follows you no matter what company you work for or what position you hold

What is a “business brand”?

The qualities and characteristics that distinguish your business from other businesses

The mental and emotional impression that other people have of your business

What establishes a brand?

Presentation

Interactions with others

What you leave behind

Your personality

Identify:

Your personal or business “personality” -

what you talk about

Choose:

Your username(s)

Colors

Logo, photo, avatar

Exercise

What else can convey your personal/business personality?

Your products and services

Identify:

Business products and services you offer

Research:

Keywords commonly used in searches in your industry

Choose:

Keywords to target

Exercise

What keywords describe your business?

What makes you unique?

Identify:

What makes you different from other people/businesses in your field

Choose:

Your tagline – keywords

Your “hook” – question

Your personal “signature”

Exercise

Everybody should have an “elevator pitch”. You want to convert that to a tagline for use in social media.

What is your tagline?

Create your profiles

Mini profile – 160 characters

Short profile – 1-2 paragraphs

Detailed profile – your online resum é

Education, employment history, accomplishments, organizations, awards

Be sure to include your keywords!

Interacting with others

Social media is social

How you interact with others is important

Giving

Sharing

Connecting

Helping

Being positive and respectful

Business vs. personal interactions

Exercise

Examples of positive and negative interactions

Types of interactions

Connecting

Informing

Educating

Asking

Answering

Promoting others

Promoting yourself

Exercise

How can you apply these types of interactions to your business?

The impressions you make

Impressions are emotional memories

Be positive

Be memorable

Be consistent

Be loyal

Turn negative interactions into positive interactions

5. Implement your plan

Commit to engaging in particular activities at a specified frequency for a given period of time

Put these into your daily schedule

6. Assess your results

In 30-60 days:

Google yourself again

Google your competitors

Get updates on your friends, followers, fans, connections, and visitors

Assess your business visibility

Assess your business growth, clients, and revenue

7. Tweak your plan

Evaluate your results and make any changes or enhancements that will get you closer to your goals

Continue doing those things that have proven most effective

What’s next?

In the next seminar we’ll learn to use these tools to develop your digital footprint.

LinkedIn and blogging

Facebook and Twitter

About Our Presenters Janeson Keeley Janeson is the owner of JTKWeb , which specializes in website development, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click campaign management. She is also the founder of TweetVA - Virginia's Twitter Directory - at www.tweetva.com . @janeson59 on twitter Patsy Stewart Patsy is the Director of Social Media for Optimized Strategies as well as she manages a recruitment team for Jobzcafe. She is recognized as a thought leader in social media. She serves as project manager for Optimized Strategies marketing and website development business. @stewartb2b on twitter