This document discusses how to build a personal brand using social media and why it's important. It outlines the author's personal branding journey beginning in 2008 when he was laid off and started attending tweetups and blogging. It discusses how individuals can now become publishers, celebrities, and brands due to social media. It provides guidelines on identifying your passion and engaging authentically. Tips include defining your audience, investing your time strategically, being useful, engaging with others, using a consistent profile photo, promoting others, and adapting over time.

1. HOW TO BUILD A PERSONAL BRAND USING
SOCIAL MEDIA (AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT)
05.09.12

2. MY PERSONAL BRANDING JOURNEY
• 11.17.08: David Meerman Scott publishes a blog post,
“Downsized? Fired? Here are the new rules of finding a job”
• 12.11.08: I’m laid off from my job.
• 12.11.08: I attend my first tweetup. It was in Menlo Park, CA.
• 12.12.08: I launch my blog, “It’s All Virtual.” My first post is titled,
“2009: The Year We Go Virtual.”
“You have to stop thinking like an advertiser of a product
and start thinking like a publisher of information.”

3. MY PERSONAL BRANDING JOURNEY
• 01.05.09: I start a new job.
• 03.04.09: I published my 50th blog posting. The topic? IBM’s use
of Second Life.
• 10.13.10: I published a book, “Generate Sales Leads With Virtual
Events.”
• 12.12.10: I made my first book sale via Twitter.
Book published via FastPencil, http://www.fastpencil.com//

4. WHY IT’S A GREAT TIME
“If you build it, they will come.”*
The emergence of the social web means that individuals can
become publishers, web celebrities, news sources and brands.
* - As long as the field is well groomed and maintained.

5. HOW TO APPLY TO YOUR EVENTS
Gain Experience With:
Twitter
Blogging
Content Marketing
Community Management

6. PERSONAL BRAND: BENEFITS
• Possession
Your Personal Brand Can Define…
• Annuity
• Authority
• Attention
• Focus
an.nu.i.ty [noun]: a specified income payable at stated
intervals

7. IT’S A BRAND NEW WORLD
“I’m wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands,
brands.”
-- Taio Cruz, “Dynamite”

8. GUIDELINES
Identify your passion and be authentic.
If your passion is food…
• Twitter
• Food blog
• “Secondary blogging”
• Yelp Elite Squad
• Local newspaper
My first blog, started in 2006, covered baseball. It was
called “Hot Stove Yanks.”

9. PERSONAL BRANDING TIPS
1. Define your target audience.
2. Decide where to invest your time.
3. Be useful.
4. Engage and interact.
5. Use the same profile photo everywhere.
6. Promote others before yourself.
7. Adjust and adapt.
For further details, read my blog post
here.

10. ATTRACTING ATTENTION TO YOUR
EVENTS
1. Define your target audience (attendee
personas).
2. Understand their needs.
3. Develop web content & event content to
meet those needs.
4. Publish content year-round.
5. Build and manage online communities
around your event.
Blog Post: What The NFL Can Teach You About Virtual
Events (http://allvirtual.me/2012/04/20/what-the-nfl-can-teach-you-
about-virtual-events/)

11. HANDS-ON DEMO
• Consolidate your presence.
• Be everywhere (my goal).
• Share your thoughts and ideas. Everywhere.
• Interact and respond to others.
• Find the right balance (of your time)
Related: How I Curate (and Share) Content on Twitter.

12. Q&A
Send me feedback on Twitter:
@dshiao