What hasn’t been remarked all that much about in the Sarah Palin phenomenon, is that in some respects her candidacy, ironically, is very much of a piece with the Web 2.0 culture of personality. While she’s certainly not Twittering away or using other social networking tools (though her future son-in-law, 18-year-old Levi Johnson is on MySpace though the page is now private so we can’t link to it), she has distinguished herself by sheer force of personality.
By referring to herself as a hockey Mom and her down-home speaking style, she’s made herself human and accessible. Even her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy, is something that makes her “just folks.” In fact, she’s the perfect example of the power of personal branding, lacing her professional story with a compelling personal story that has instantly turned her into a celebrity of the sort the McCain campaign was poking fun at in Obama when the tables were turned.
Now you can argue that her personal brand won’t withstand scrutiny, that it’s all carefully crafted image and not reality. And, for that, we’ll just have to wait and see.
But, regardless of the final outcome and your political persuasions, you have to hand it to the Republicans for at least momentarily trumping the Democrats in their own attempts at personal branding.
Certainly, Barack Obama, has been a master at this, making himself open and accessible on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. But lately, he has been too focused on reacting to the Republicans’ attacks rather than continuing to promote his own brand.
I was reminded of all of this talking with Aaron Strout, VP, Social Media, Mzinga, a maestro of personal branding, who understands that it’s no longer enough just to have a corporate or professional brand; you also need to have a personal brand.
“People don’t want to have a conversation with a coke bottle,” says Strout, quoting social media guru Shel Israel.
Strout makes the spot on point that companies have mastered just half of the branding equation. Most get high marks on the content side, skillfully using white papers, conference calls and webinars. Where they fall short, according to Strout, is on the conversation side. “Most companies are not yet good at engaging customers,” he says. “They don’t make themselves accessible or human, let alone making it easy for people to interact.
Or as Rohit Bhargava put it in his insightful book, Personality Not Included, “Personality is the unique, authentic and talkable sould of your brand that people can get passionate about.”
Of course, you can’t be personable and accessible in a vacuum. For companies and individuals to create living and breathing brands, Strout underscores the importance of using multi-channel communications. That means establishing a real presence on YouTube, Flickr Picasso, Twitter, and Utterz for starters.
“The more you can reinforce your personality across personal and professional channels, the more people know you and get closer to you,” says Strout, who practices what he preaches penning a personal blog, along with a company blog.
How are you establishing your personal brand across multi-channels? I’d love to hear from you.
This was posted prevously but because of the vagaries of technology was formatted incorrectly and I thought it was worth reposting correctly.
I'm live blogging today at a BullDog Reporter bootcamp with social media pros Sally Falkow and Doug Hay of Expansion+. Hmm. Well actually this series of posts began as a live blog. However, when I reread what I wrote I realized I needed to hang up my live blogging shingle. So here is an edited version, which I hope is a little clearer. In any case, hats off to folks who can live blog coherently while they are participating in a conference.
The Bulldog workshop is to help public relations pros get up to speed on social media. Most of the 60 or attendees were women, which shouldn't be surprising since public relations is a female-dominated field. Now, why that's the case, could be the subject of an article or book, let alone a post.
Meanwhile, back to the workshop.
I
t kicked off with a great definition of a social media campaign:
**A successful social media campaign must establish and sustain conversations online that shape perceptions.**
Sally and Doug then laid out how, in case anyone had blinders on, that it is becoming a social media-driven world.
• 1 out of 20 users go to a social network when they go online. And 22 percent of US consumers use social networking sites, up from 17 percent in 2006.
• The old media world is shriveling: consider the LA Times recently laid off 250 folks; the Baltimore Sun and The New York Times each terminated 100 employees.
• The PR dynamic has changed from Push PR to Pull PR. Instead of thrusting press releases into media's hands with the hope that they will write something, PR people need to write copy that naturally pulls people in. Interestingly, we actually have more control today than in the old days.
Think about it for a minute. If you ever sent out a press release, pre-Web 2.0, you never knew if it would see the light of day. While today, if you send out a press release through a press release distribution service, you know it will end up on Yahoo News and Google.
Similarly, PR people need to recognize that the goal posts have changed. Instead of just aiming for The New York Times or any traditional media to write about you or your company, you need to get into the search engines.
Google, as Sally put it, has become the new home page. It's where anyone looking for a product or service typically begins. And, to insure you're on Google -- and high up, not in the low rent back pages, you need to optimize your press releases with the right keywords. More about that in Part Two.
Meanwhile, if you want to start promoting yourself online, here are a few steps:
• Step Number One, according to Sally, is to listen. All the rules of polite conversation apply. Sounds simple but how many people start spouting without engaging.
•
Step Number Two, Uncover what communities you should target. Get to know the power users of those communities.
I'm continuing to live blog -- well as I confessed in Part One -- edit my rambling live blogging at last week's BullDog Reporter bootcamp with social media pros Sally Falkow and Doug Hay of Expansion+. As I mentioned, I have no talent for participating in a workshop and blogging at the same time -- call me multi-tasking-disabled.
Sally and Doug, besides being social media experts extraordinaire, are wonderful teachers and evangelists. Any PR person listening to them and still doing PR the old way should be immediately condemned to reading boring press releases for the rest of his/her life.
If you are still exclusively focused on traditional media in getting the word out, consider that the Number One Financial News Sites is Yahoo Finance, and the Number Two, MSN Money. These rank above traditional media sites, Dow Jones, Reuters and Forbes.com, Number 5, 6, and 7 respectively.
Beginning a social media campaign can be daunting if you've never done it before. Sally and Doug laid out a helpful roadmap:
Use blog(s) and website to help participate in existing web conversations
Identify as much social media exposure as possible, on as many appropriate niche and high-traffic areas
Find online communities to establish alliances and help spread the word.
Provide those interested with current, relevant information that's valuable to them.
Provide dialogue capabilities with customers and prospects.
Enhance branding and positioning.
Identify influential bloggers/user communities
Create a linking strategy to increase SEO results
Generate prospect interest leading to increased sales
Here is Doug and Sally's Rule Number One: You really need to be listening. The recent "brandjacking" of Exxon Mobil is an object lesson. The oil giant was "brandjacked" by a woman named "Janet," who has been tweeting about the company while claiming to be an Exxon employee. Meanwhile, Exxon claims it has nothing to do with this and that it had no idea it was occurring until brought to its attention by a newspaper reporter. What a shame. Instead of using this as a great opportunity to embrace social media itself -- why not start tweeting itself? -- Exxon is apparently remaining on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Janet continues to post. Talk about an old media response to a new media problem.
In the new age of unending conversation, it's important to remember that everyone is a publisher. All you need is engaging content and a little social media savvy. Here are some ways to promote yourself and/or company online:
Optimized press releases & articles
Blogs
Micro blogging (Twitter)
Podcasts
Videocasts
RSS
Socialize your web content -- let people tag it in sites like Delicious.
Social Networks
Social Media Sites
If you're intent on monitoring the social media space, here are some tools (most are not free) to help you do so:
Radian6
BrandsEye
BlogPulse
BuzzLogic
If there’s any major mantra for social media practitioners, it’s “Don't sell them, tell them.” Video is a great way to do that. Check out Intercontinental Hotels, which has done a super job telling their story through video, according to Sally.
And here's a great resource for social networking sites. What are your thoughts/recommendations on social media and promotion? I'd love to hear from you.
When most of us lose our job, we don’t uncork the champagne. But when Lewis Green was laid off from his VP of marketing job six years ago, he and his wife didn’t waste a moment to start celebrating.
Meet Lewis Green, a communications specialist and self-described “adventurer,” who over the course of a 40+ career, has worked as an executive editor, publisher, free-lance writer, and communications manager for big companies. For the last 4+ years, he’s run L-G Solutions, an Avon, CT-based communications company that helps small- to mid-size businesses grow.
I recently had the good fortune to chat with Lewis, whom I connected with thanks to positive WOM for a presentation he gave at a Connecticut networking function.
At age 62, Lewis is a game changer and maverick who has strategically made a name for himself online, unlike many of his fellow baby boomers who are still struggling to “get it.”
In the last year alone, his communications business has grown 60% through his strategic use of social media. Lewis blogs for Marketing Profs and at his own blog, Biz Solutions Plus, which in one year has become an Ad Age Top 150 blog.
Along the way he has managed to write five books, with his latest, Lead With Your Heart, published in November 2007.
He has also passionately embraced social media, working Twitter, Plurk and LinkedIn like a virtuoso, and in the process developing many online friends, who have turned into business associates and terrestrial friends.
Most of all Lewis has the right attitude. Where many of us fear change, Lewis welcomes it, which is why he was able to view losing his job as an “opportunity to do something bigger and better.”
All of which made me think of the classic line from Don Juan in Carlos Casteneda’s A Separate Peace.
"The difference between a warrior and an ordinary man is that a warrior sees everything as a challenge, while an ordinary mans sees everything as either a blessing or a curse.”
Here is Lewis’advice to help us become warriors:
“Recognize that people don’t buy products or services. They buy us. They want to buy from people who are credible and who can be trusted.”
“We must realize that our first and last job is to put people first.”
“We differentiate ourselves by creating great experiences for our employees and customers.”
At 28, entrepreneur Scott Ginsberg, has the most visible name in the world.
Meet Scott any time, anywhere, day or night and he will be wearing his trademark red and white name tag emblazoned with his name in blue. Since November 2, 2000 – exactly 2,811 days ago – Scott has never been “nametagless.” And when he’s in the altogether? No problem. He has a replica of his nametag tattooed on his chest.
A rare breed of personal brander, Scott has turned name tag wearing into a six figure business that’s expanded into online training, speaking, consulting, writing, and blogging.
An established “approachability expert," he’s been featured in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal and CCN and even wrote a quiz on approachability for Cosmopolitan magazine.
It all began with the humble nametag. When Scott was in his junior year at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, he decided one day just for the heck of it to wear a name tag all day after he saw a bunch of them in the trash. He liked the new people it attracted and he hasn’t been without one since. As the world’s nametag authority, he has quantified five reactions to his wearing a nametag:
· The curious who want to know “why”: 35%
· The engagers who say “Hi, Scott”: 35%
· Those who make sport of it: 20%
· Those who think he’s a store employee: 5%
· Those who turn aggressive and rip it off of him: 5%
With that last group, don’t worry though that he’ll then be “tagless;” he keeps a supply of pre-written nametags in his wallet for just such times.
For Scott, who’s a marketing genius and says he reads five business books a week, the nametag is a metaphor for “approachability.” In this era of engagement, Scott has recognized what most of us take for granted: A nametag is a wonderful tool for interaction. Turning approachability into a science and art, he’s authored seven self-published books on the topic, including How to be That Guy and Make a Name for Yourself.
His advice about approachability? “Be an octopus, with tentacles in all directions, be it a blog, videos, articles, podcasts, interviews. Don’t be an earthworm headed in just one direction but go in all directions. Make it easy for people to come to you.”
Ouch.Ouch.Ouch. That’s the sound of my body hurting from the wounds inflicted by Aetna.
Undoubtedly, health insurance companies are the worst personal branders in the world. As a small business owner I have the privilege of trolling through the treacherous offices of the healthcare system. There should be a sign emblazoned on the doors of companies like Aetna: Proceed at your own caution. Numerous folks have lost their sanity dealing with us.
Or at least I’m about to go to the loony bin with my experience with my insurer Aetna. At the beginning of the year, my initial quote with Aetna for insurance for myself was bumped $75 a month because – shame on me -- I take a vitamin pill –an iron supplement. The insurer claimed my rate was being increased because my taking an iron supplement implied I had anemia, when in fact I don’t. I immediately appealed the rate increase and waited to have it readjusted. Two months passed and nothing -- not a peep from Aetna. When I called the insurer, I was told they did not have my appeals forms. I had to practically go down on my hands and knees to get Aetna to agree to my resubmitting forms that they apparently lost.
Another month passes and again nothing -- not a peep from Aetna. So I call again this time to be told that the letter from my doctor stating I don’t have anemia is not sufficient. They need copies of all my medical records. Why of course I wasn’t told that off the bat is another story. And here’s the clincher: I’m told I missed the cut off for my appeal because Aetna never got my original appeal forms. Driven one step closer to the loony bin, I spoke with a supervisor multiple times to get him to agree to let me continue the appeals process.
So following Aetna's instructions, my doctor sent pages and pages of medical records to Aetna to pour over. A week ago I received a form letter from Aetna denying my appeal. The letter didn’t even have a signature. Instead it said:
Sincerely,
Individual Underwriting
The Aetna Advantage Plans
For Individual and Families Team
The letter also provided no explanation of why I was denied. When I called Aetna, I was told I was shot down not because I have anemia but because I take a prescription iron supplement, which my doctor prefers to an over the counter one. Because I have a very high deductible policy, I pay for the supplement out of pocket. Apparently, if I take an inferior supplement, I can reduce my payments.
Not one to give up, I spoke with a supervisor, who refused to give me her full name. She implied that I was a health hazard to Aetna since I take a vitamin supplement. I then left multiple messages for her supervisor, whom I was referred to and who never had the courtesy to return any of my calls.
I may now be certifiable but I have not given up. Next step is a letter I am sending to Ron Williams, the CEO and President of Aetna about this craziness. I will also be sending a copy to the health commissioner of my state, Connecticut. Let’s see if Mr. Williams at least has the courtesy of responding. I will keep you posted. In any case, this is a textbook case on how to ruin your brand. And, if anyone else has their own health insurer horror stories, I’d love to hear them!
Wendy Marx,wendy@marxcommunications.com, Personal Branding and PR Specialist, Marx Communications.
Hats off to the Barack Obama campaign. The campaign scored a lot of positive press this week by launching a web site to strike back at “dishonest smears.” In staccato fashion, the new Obama site reels off five rumors and immediately debunks them. It’s the electronic version of a press release amplified to the nth degree. Obama's campaign understands that in today’s always-on news cycle he can't afford to wait even a New York minute before confronting his accusers head on. Rumors simply have the capability of spreading so fast they overwhelm the truth.
As personal branders, we need to exercise the same vigilance shown by the Obama campaign. Obviously, most of us operate on a tad smaller playing field than a candidate for president of the United States. But that doesn’t get us off the hook for letting false impressions about our brand accumulate. Just as it’s easy to be stereotyped in our personal life (after all who wants to be know as a cheapskate or blowhard), it’s also easy to be stereotyped, and subsequently written off in our professional lives. On occasion, because I write this blog, I’ve had people incorrectly assume I earned my bread and butter by writing and were clueless about my PR business. Obviously, I need to be careful to let people know the scope of my work.
The truth is that it’s too darn easy to get into the “insularity mode.” We’re so familiar with what we do that we just assume that everyone else “gets it,” when they don’t. You can’t be clear enough in your messaging. Your language needs to be accessible, using words that prospects understand and are comfortable with. And you need to be consistent and repetitious so your message gets drummed into your target audience like a good song refrain or advertisement. That is one way of dispelling misperceptions. Another effective way is to compile a good, old-fashioned fact sheet. These tools of the trade have been around for seemingly forever and for good reason. They tell it straight. Again, we can take some lessons from the Obama campaign, which has fact sheets on major issues. Here is one on energy. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/pdf/EnergyFactSheet.pdf. Q&A’s are another way of helping others to understand your message. Here's one from Twitter. http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=26
What are you doing to insure that people don't misconstrue your personal brand? I'd love to hear from you.
Quick quiz: What do Starbucks and jargon have do with each other?
Starbucks of course taught the world to speak its language; whoever asked for a Grande or Venti bfore the coffee giant made coffee a 24/7 obsession? What’s the kicker is that Starbucks got the world talking the way it talked.
Most companies, of course do the reverse. They speak their own argot and assume that everyone else understands what they are saying. Meanwhile, everyone is scratching their heads without a clue. This fuzzy language seeps into marketing copy, websites, newsletters, you name it, so you don’t have the foggiest idea what the copy means.
It’s easy to get caught up in the romance of jargon in our own personal brands. It’s like using a three syllable word when a plain, old one syllable one will do better. A great example of cutting through the jargon field is Jack Welch. There’s a review of a new book about how “he talked GE into Becoming the World’s Greatest Company in Strategy & Business. Welch, when he became CEO in 1981, believed GE had become a place with too many high-flown visions, too much abstract planning and too many ‘bullshit meetings.’” He did away with the vision ‘extravaganzas’ in favor of success stories with messages attached.”
As personal branders, we can learn from Jack Welch. Not only, of course, did he carve out his own personal brand becoming GE’s best-known, but he understood the power of stories. As we create our own personal brands, it’s important to not only have a compelling elevator pitch but also stories and examples of what we’ve done that help define what’s special about our work. Testimonials and case studies are one good way to do this. What stories are you telling about your work and achievements?
I’ve written a lot here about the “hall of shamers,” companies that forget that customer service is their most powerful branding tool just as it is for personal branders.
All of which made me all the more pleased when I came across a blog post by William Taylor on Harvard Business Publishing about Zappos. Zappos is the 4 million pound Internet shoe gorilla that offers a selection of 4 million pairs of shoes. As the article notes, Imelda Marcus would have a coronary on the spot if she visited Zappos’ warehouse.
Taylor says that what makes the company successful – it’s gone from sales of $70 million to over $1 billion in just five years – is its phenomenal customer service. Zappos provides does everything right when it comes to serving customers and then some. It offers free delivery and free returns. While so many Internet companies hide their telephone number with a hands-off customer attitude, Zappos plasters its 800 number on every page.
While that’s all well and good, what makes the company extra special, according to Taylor, is that customer service is no after thought but baked into Zappos’ culture. To insure its call center employees are committed, it makes its call center employees an amazing offer. Work there a week and you’ll not only be paid for your time, according to Taylor, but offered $1,000 to quit. Whoever heard of a company paying a brand new employee to skeedadle? Of course, the company by doing this is not trying to get rid of folks, just insure it has the most devoted employees. Taylor says about 10% of employees actually take the money and run.
Zappos also doesn’t simply hand over the phones to its call center employees on day one but gives them four weeks of training that instills in them a sense of the company’s culture and customer service commitment. Employees are paid a full salary during the training period.
The company's tag line unlike so many others is a true brand promise: "We are a service company that happens to sell."
It’s a company says Taylor “that’s bursting with personality and a huge number of its 1,600 employees are power using of Twitter so their friends, colleagues, and customers know what they’re up to at any moment in time.
This is truly an example of a brand in action. It’s what we as personal branders should strive to do. It’s not enough just to talk the talk but to make our personal brand such a part of who we are that it’s inseparable from our business. How are you doing that? I’d love to hear from you.
Thank you, Jeff Jarvis. Jeff Jarvis, as you remember, was the blogger who outed Dell for its egregious customer service, which he called “Dell Hell.”
Recently, I entered my own “Dell Hellish Dell” when I spent about five hours all told with their customer service reps trying to get my 1 ½ year-old PC to work. Escalating to supervisors, typically a helpful response, got me nowhere at first in Dell land. Even though I had purchased a $200 service agreement, I was told that “We don’t provide service, only parts.” And in Dell’s own version of “bittergate,” I was admonished for “bickering” about the service – or lack thereof. In desperation, I uttered the words “Jeff Jarvis” and mentioned that I would be blogging about my experience and doing whatever was necessary to get my problem resolved.
Suddenly, it was as if the heavens had opened up. I was told that I would get a call back and that someone would take charge and manage my problem. I got not just one but two call backs and was given a particular number to call back. I thought I was home free.
Well, not quite. Unfortunately, the call back number was not a direct line but a cue where after a hold time of 15 minutes, I gave up and hung up. I then called the regular Dell customer service number and got someone right away without waiting. Go figure. The rep was pleasant but after reviewing my file discovered that I was now a “special case” because I had complained to a supervisor. In Dell’s new twist on Catch 22, that meant he couldn’t handle my case even though he said he could help me and needed to transfer me. After 20 minutes of trying to transfer me, he said “no one was picking up” and then I told me to dial directly. So like a rat in maze, I called again. This time around I got a very nice man named Oliver in the Philippines. Oliver spent about an hour on the phone with me trying to diagnose my problem and then suggested we run a Windows repair on it. Since that took at least an hour to run, he promised to call me back. It was now about 11 pm ET.
I won’t bore you with all the gory details of what happened next only to say that by 12:30 am ET my system was still not working and I didn’t get the promised call back.
Next day, I called Dell again and reinvoked the name “Jeff Jarvis,” when they wanted to waste more of my time trouble shooting. This time around I was finally told a technician would come to my office armed with parts to try to fix my PC.
So, here I sit, Ms. Rat, awaiting Dell. Fingers crossed but breath not held, that someone shows up and doesn’t blow up my machine. And, if someone shows up, I will happily toast Jeff Jarvis. Do you have your own versions of “Dell Hellish Hell.” I’d love to hear from you.
