How to create and manage your professional brand online

1. about me:
RefreshMiami, October 2008 Alex de Carvalho
http://alexdc.org or @alexdc

2. now let’s talk about you ...

3. ... and what you can do to get on track.

4. Tom Peters said over 10 yrs ago:
“We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.
To be in business today, our most
important job is to be head marketer
for the brand called You.”
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html
From Issue 10 | August 1997

5. there are lots of books on the importance
of branding yourself professionally ...

6. ... but very few books (yet)
on how to brand yourself
professionally
on the web

7. Gary Vaynerchuk on branding
(view minute 7:58 to 9:00)
http://en.oreilly.com/webexny2008/public/schedule/detail/4814

8. your social profiles online and
the content you publish
will bring you new
connections and opportunities

9. so here’s the deal:
1. define who you are
2. go where people are
3. publish your content
4. connect to the right people
5. display your activity

10. so, what defines you?

11. memorize this set of words
ocean
moon
face
desk
lights

12. count to five

13. now, name a
laundry detergent

14. network of associations
moon Gain
ocean Tide All
wave Fab
Source: Drew Westen, Ph.D., “The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation”
http://books.google.com/books?id=5XQjEvoRti4C&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=ocean+moon+network+of
+association&source=web&ots=pPGcX3HX1a&sig=6nGRnawf8g4Hob-
HqfvB7X6cp6g&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA85,M1

15. work on your own
network of associations
content people
content You people
content people

16. this is how people find you online
podcasts blog posts blogs
social
video socnets
profiles
avatars photos You communities
tags virtual
lifestream worlds
comments presence

17. so these are your next steps:
• define your interests
• write your bio
• get a domain name
• start a blog
• participate in relevant social networks
• link to your own and to others’ content

18. so what are you, like, 1,000? 2,000?*
*Ze Frank speaking at TED, referring to your Google results. See minute 5:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ze_frank_s_nerdcore_comedy.html

19. yes, there are pitfalls
and excuses ...
• my name, [John Smith], is not unique
enough, I won’t stand out!
• there are thousands of [insert
profession] ... I won’t stand out!
• everyone is blogging, I won’t stand out!
• I don’t have the time ...

20. but it’s not so hard to cut
through the clutter

21. publish your content with
the following in mind
• define who you want to meet
• define who you want to meet you
• make connecting as frictionless as possible
For more great tips, see: http://bettercloser.com/2008/08/27/personal-branding-build-your-personal-brand-in-5-days/

22. content really is king
• write a list of articles of some 40 topics
• limit articles to 300 words or less
• link to your favorite blogs
• post 10 articles to your blog at a frequency
you determine
• have the next 10 ready to post at the same
frequency
• work on the next 20 and always keep drafts
in your pipeline
For more great tips, see: http://bettercloser.com/2008/08/27/personal-branding-build-your-personal-brand-in-5-days/

23. writing for the web
• the most important thing: listen first
• say LESS
• front-load: use the inverted pyramid
• put more important content first
• use clear headlines and headings
• be factual, not cryptic
• establish trust
• use active voice
• pay attention to netiquette, culture, tone of voice

24. now, go where people are
Think of it this way. If you are a
fisherman you would not fish for the
trophy catch in stagnated water. You
would need to go to where there is fresh
water. That's where the fish are.
http://infoworthsharing.com/blog2/2008/06/go_where_the_people_are.html

25. you mean, yet another social network?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

26. but think of social networks this way.
Robert Scoble: Social Media Starfish
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbarefoot/1814873464/

27. also think of social networks this way.
Brian Solis: The Conversation Prism
http://www.briansolis.com/2008/08/introducing-conversation-prism.html

28. social networks sure look like a random
mess (and thus a waste of time?) ...
Graph: GustavoG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/9708628/

29. Seth Godin on social network
usefulness for businesses
http://www.openforum.com/marketing/video_socialgood.html

30. “People don’t just connect to each other.
They connect through a shared object.”
Jyri Engestrom
http://www.zengestrom.com/

31. the same social network as before, showing
how people have connected by interests
Graph: GustavoG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/4499404/in/set-113313

32. “The services that we love to play with
allow people to socialize around objects”
Flickr YouTube Del.icio.us
“Think about objects as the reason why
people get in touch with each other”
Jyri Engestrom
http://www.zengestrom.com/

33. LinkedIn is a good place to start connecting your
social networks to your other professional identity
online, like blogs, slide presentations, etc.
http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory

34. a word about your connections:
weak links will help you more than strong ones

35. Mark Granovetter
Weak social ties account for most of the
structure of social networks in society as well as
the transmission of information through these
networks.
More novel information flows to individuals
through weak rather than strong ties.
Because our close friends tend to move in the
same circles that we do, the information they
receive overlaps considerably with what we
already know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_tie

36. note that these are your
online objectives
• Presence
• Credibility
• Identity
• Authority
• Reputation
• Influence

37. Loic LeMeur, on using
the social map
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra8O0e9iEsc

38. do track your mentions,
online brand monitoring / South Florida startup
http://startpr.com

39. monitor your brand(s),
http://startpr.com

40. and manage and react to your mentions
http://startpr.com

41. http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/book.html

42. http://www.zappos.com/tribal.zhtml

43. see you online ;)
Alex de Carvalho
alex@alexdc.org
http://alexdc.org
http://twitter.com/alexdc