17. I’m ____ing (something mundane) while I’m ____ing (something interesting) Have you ever noticed that ____ would be better with bacon on it? The Clever Purist
18. Here’s the link to the coolest, most interesting or entertaining links on the web The Tastemaker
Let’s put the ME in social media and take a look at twitter from the perspective of the individual. Let’s dive into how Twitter can help you develop your business and your social capital.
Make no mistake about it… You are a brand. Whether you want to be seen that way or not, your online profile is one of the ways you communicate your brand and often your associated company’s brand to others. Just like any other brand you may work to develop, you have control over this and should develop a strategy.
One way to begin to look at your brand strategy is determining where you may currently be on the continuum, if your are on the continuum at all. You may just be developing your online persona. This would be like you are standing on the first floor landing… with the ability to look up and look down and see examples of where others may be on the stairway to personal brand heaven.
It is important to note: Our personalities are magnified online… this can work for you or against you. Ideally, the outside perception should meets the inside reality,setting expectations straight… Twitter is a tool to amplify YOU.
…Build your reputation, create your brand, and your establish your credibility. It is possible to turn your name into kick-ass brand. Personal Branding sets you up as an expert in your niche. Whether or not you are, that’s a whole different animal…
Personal Branding gives you a Competitive Edge. There is only one thing your competitor will never have, YOU.Start by sharing your story. People want to know who you are and what is it that makes you an expert in your industry. You have a interesting story. Share it.
Finding your online voice can be a challenge. There are 2 things you should focus on: Be natural and have a perspective… Yours. Translate your real life voice into content.
Your packaging is the next facet to consider. This is how you communicate visually with your audience and that first impression is important. Brand consistency with other platforms is key as is having good design, good copy, and good photography. Your dog and your baby are cute but neither make great profile pics. (This isn’t really my profile pic… but it really is my dog. )
As you build your brand, people expect to get to know YOU. Some level of transparency is neccessary. It is up to you to determine how much and what you share. Your followers want to see you walk the walk and be honest about it.
Self marketing needs to be done correctly and in the right proportion. “Me meme” gets incredible boring but great content, products, or services don’t always promote themselves. It is a balance. You have an important message to communicate. Don’t be afraid to leverage the trust you have built… your social capital.
No matter how important your message is, if you don’t have a community to share it with your brand isn’t going anywhere. But it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s created by leveraged your social web and building trust with each of your followers. Think Quality not quantity.
Klout is the leading measurement of influence and although it has come under scrutiny, it is still an indicator of your power with twitter. I found it difficult to find some of the most recognizable names in sustainability with high klout scores. The lesson I am taking from this… there is room for experts with more influence in our field.
One of the celebrities created on twitter is a man named Guy Kawasaki. He uses his twitter account to connect followers to his blog. He currently has more than 300 thousand followers . What’s even more impressive is that he is one the 620 people that Ashton Kutcher follows.
Guy is an extreme example of one of the twitter stereo types that I will mention to you today. He has become the ultimate News Aggregator whosegoal in life is to ensure that their Twitter account has a bunch of randomly sampled news items from throughout the day.
Don’t be a Hater.This person is pretty much only on Twitter to talk about how much they dislike other people’s opinions of stuff.They are done with crass commercialism, watered-down art and shallow opinion. The worst is when the hater eventually starts hating Twitter itself, but publishes his opinion using Twitter. They are searching for depth and meaning, context and subtlety, sentiment rather than sentimentality. But they’re on Twitter. So yeah… they haven’t got the whole puzzle figured out yet. It’s just too much of a waste of time to be pondered.
Although the partier, who is constantly publishing location-based Tweets and hashtagging their current location can be annoying, they are actually an effective user of Twitter. It started at South by Southwest a few years ago when people used hashtags to figure out which party had the smallest lines.
The Clever Purist will answer the question just as stated. The funny ones employ a Seinfeld-esque style of looking at nothing and making it something. take the mundane and throw a spin into it that makes people think, smile, laugh, or a combination of the three and consider it retweeted.
What is happening today? What will be happening tomorrow? What articles should we read? What videos should we watch? Who should we be following? What’s the next big thing? Look to the Tastemaker and trendsetters.
So to close, twitter can be a complex tool to navigate and fully leverage. Be thoughtful and develop your strategy to best build your brand and leverage your social capital to share your message without becoming a full-blow stereotype. There are plenty of resources out there to help you do this or you could just keep it simple…