Entries tagged as ‘Branding’
I’ve just finished reading the book “Why now is the time to Crush It! Cash in on your passion” by Gary Vaynerchuk. 
I thought this would be a good book talk about.
First off, this is a quick read, but there are a lot of great concepts in it. I’ve dabbled a bit in my own personal branding so this resonates with me. However, I haven’t spent any time attempting to monetize what I do – I am still doing it mainly for myself. Writing this blog provides a creative outlet and it also helps me focus my thoughts and my thought processes.
What I really like about the book is the concept that no matter what your passion is – there are other people out there just like you. If you’re willing to put in the time and energy (yes, this is hard work – it won’t happen by magic) to share what you know, and to interact with folks who share your interest you can become a well regarded expert in the community surrounding your passion. This means sharing what you read about, answering questions, providing key insights and having online conversations through a variety of social media formats.
Another key point in the book is that it is very important to be yourself. Be authentic. If you try to hide your personality, whether it is serious, outlandish, or sarcastic, you’ll inevitably fail because you won’t come across as genuine. Also, chose the medium that is best suited for your personality. Some people choose the written word, others podcasts, and still others video. If you can’t write, don’t! If you’re uncomfortable in front of the camera – don’t pick that medium either!
And lastly – patience in this space is a virtue. You won’t likely find a big audience or make much money in under a year. It just won’t happen, so don’t expect it to.
Categories: Book Reviews · How Tos
Tagged: Branding, Creativity, Personality Types, Social Networks, Transparency
Unlike a lot of folks, I’ve never really been one for New Year’s Resolutions. I typically address issues as I go throughout the year – it’s easier that way – at least it is for me. I’d rather quietly make small changes in my life on an ongoing basis than try to do a big bang, make a lot of noise and fail. Besides, I already eat pretty well, I work out 5-6 times a week, and I floss my teeth regularly. After about 10 years of effort to make many small changes in these areas I’ve got most of the typical resolutions covered.
However, that strategy isn’t a lot of fun to blog about this time of year. BORING. There is one new thing that I have been working on lately – I started it the week after Christmas and I found that it is helping me get more focused on the things that I want to do with my life going forward. I’ve decided to make a list of my 100 dreams. You might call it a bucket list, but I’d rather be more positive than that. As I cross items off the list I plan to add new items to it. These are things big and small that I want to accomplish in my life. The big ones were easy. I want to be financially secure, I want to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, I want to climb Machu Picchu, and I want to run a successful company. These are things that will take time and a bit of planning. Just putting them on the list gives me permission to start the investigative phase. How? When? Where? What skills and resources (time, people, money, equipment) do I need to collect first?
I’ve come up with 31 out of 100 so far, and I am turning over rocks for some of the smaller ones. Some of the smaller ones are subgoals of the large ones. Some are just things that I want to be able to do. I’d like to be able to deadlift 200lbs. I’m probably not that far off on that one, just been lazy. I need to learn how to roll my kayak at some point. I would like to have a successful vegetable garden – so far I’ve had dismal failures. This time my plan includes getting my soil tested by the agricultural division at NC State.
From a blogging perspective I have a lot of ideas. The biggest thing that I plan to do is to get more involved with other bloggers. I’ve signed up on blogher (women bloggers), I’ve guest blogged for The Mad Peacock Perfection is the Enemy of Good Enough. Very exciting – my first guest blog!
I’m also putting out a request for guest bloggers on my site. Do you have something that you want to say about leadership?
Categories: Personal
Tagged: Branding, Communication, Goals, Motivation
Well, this article in Business Week is interesting. It specifically talks about Twitter and how many followers people have and what gender those followers are. I was curious about this, but I had no preconceived notions of what the outcome should be. As I write this post I’m still trying to decide if I find it relevant or not, and if I do, why. We’ll see if I can come to a conclusion by the end.
Ok, the basics are that men have 15% more followers than women, but women are more prevalent on Twitter than men by a ratio of 55% to 45% (based on statistics gathered in May 2009).
“Even more interesting is who follows whom. We found that an average man is almost twice more likely to follow another man than a woman. Similarly, an average woman is 25% more likely to follow a man than a woman. Finally, an average man is 40% more likely to be followed by another man than by a woman. These results cannot be explained by different tweeting activity—both men and women tweet at the same rate.”
Why is this? Here’s my hypothesis. Looking at the people that I follow on Twitter (My ID on Twitter is lsbonanno) most of the men Tweet about business related topics. They use Twitter to promote their company, their product, and many times, themselves. They Tweet about technical topics too and provide interesting links to articles to read. These items tend to have a large audience – i.e. many people find the information relevant and useful. Most (not all) of the women that I follow Tweet about their personal lives and experiences. These are things that you’d share with friends and family and not a much larger audience typically. Could this be the key? Is it that women are using Twitter to stay connected and men are using Twitter as an extension of work – a way to market? I think it might be.
Something else that came up in this article is how women are the drivers in social networks. AH HA! YES! In the back of my mind I realized this. The people that I see most active on Facebook (but not so much LinkedIn – maybe for the same business reasons as above) are women. They post regular status updates, they update their pictures, they take the quizzes and send the beers, pillow fights, and easter eggs. The men are out there, but on a day to day basis they really are not that active. It’s funny, when they first come onto Facebook, they are very active – but within a few weeks it dwindles down to nothing. Not the ladies. Maybe it is my age group. Women in their 30s and 40s are the backbone of their families and the center of their day to day social networks – it makes sense for them to tackle this “chore” online as well.
Personally I find that I use social networks and Twitter for both business and personal. However, I do apply some boundaries to what I post where.
- LinkedIn – Business only.
- This blog – I’d say 80% business / technology related with a few lapses here and there (like the Twitter feed).
- Facebook – Personal only.
- Twitter – A combination of business and personal news.
I guess my conclusion is that in order for me to get more followers on Twitter I need to post more relevant Business/Technology links and topics there. Currently I read many many many articles that I would love to post some commentary about on this blog but I find that I just do not have the time. Maybe Twitter is the place to put those links and a short blurb about what makes them so interesting or entertaining!
Categories: Tactical
Tagged: Branding, Diversity, Social Networks, Women in Business
I recently read this blog post by the CEO of zappos.com Tony Hsieh talking about developing a brand based on your company’s culture.
“So what’s a company to do if you can’t just buy your way into building the brand you want? What’s the best way to build a brand for the long term?
In a word: culture.
At Zappos, our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff — like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers — will happen naturally on its own.
We believe that your company’s culture and your company’s brand are really just two sides of the same coin. The brand may lag the culture at first, but eventually it will catch up.
Your culture is your brand.
So how do you build and maintain the culture that you want?”
I’ve always been a proponent that the culture of a company is what drives its success. Employees all need to be on the same page as to what the priorities of the company are, and they really need to stand behind those priorities instead of providing lip service to them. This is a time for strong leadership. If the top executives of the company aren’t aligned on these priorities, the rest of the company will also fracture along divisional or departmental boundaries. If the leadership team isn’t bought into the priorities it will be next to impossible for the rest of the organization to be excited and driven to support them.
Categories: Leadership
Tagged: Branding, Culture, Priorities
I thought this would be a good book talk about.
