Web Ink Now

Me 2.0 and blogging your brand (especially if you are in your 20s)

I'm now in my 40s. Thinking back to when I was in my 20s, what I recall about personal branding was basically this: Don't get noticeably drunk in public, carry business cards at all times (this was pre-Twitter after all), and wear a suit and tie to work (my first few jobs were on Wall Street).

Man oh man, has personal branding come a long way!

Especially for those of you who are now in your 20s, personal branding is more important than ever. Of course, the tools of personal branding on the Web make things much different than when I was scribbling my 140 characters on the back of a business card.

Brand authenticity and its communication through social media are two of the hottest ideas in business today. In his new book Me 2.0 which officially releases today, my friend Dan Schawbel shows exactly why these important trends apply to the brand called 'you,' and why you need to pay attention to how you market yourself to others. I wish I had access to a book like this when I was in my 20s!

Dan also released a free ebook called Blogging your Brand, which I recommend to anyone who is doing online personal branding (even if you’re not in your 20s).

Besides being a personal branding guru, Dan also works at EMC.

I'm intrigued by what Dan has learned about being a go-getting twenty-something in a large organization. Dan and I have discussed this several times in the past, but this time, I wanted to capture the conversation to share with you:

DMScott: Dan, you're a young person making a big difference at a large corporation. But I hear from so many people in their 20s who tell me that they find it really tough to get noticed. What advice do you have?

Dan Schawbel: "Most people my age are afraid to take risks, we're given the same traditional advice in college that is not as applicable anymore and don't embrace their age in the first place. Being young has a lot of advantages, namely the fact that you have the least amount of responsibilities, the most amount of choices and time to make a lot of mistakes. The sooner young professionals start holding themselves accountable for their career, the better off they will be. In my new book, Me 2.0, the major theme is this idea of "commanding your career," where you take charge, instead of relying on your company, parents or teachers to guide you (although mentorship is important).

Social technologies have enabled us, regardless of age, to position ourselves so that we can get paid for doing something we're passionate about. In order to get noticed, you have to be known for something. To do that, you have to select a niche that aligns both your passion with expertise. Then start actively contributing content, either video or text, over a period of time on that niche topic, while joining social networks and constantly marketing yourself by commenting on blogs."

DMScott: Many large companies ban employees from using social media sites like YouTube and Facebook at work. What would you say to an employee who works for a company that bans social media? And what would you say to the bosses?

Dan Schawbel: "Social media in the workplace is inevitable, especially because 80 million millennials are already communicating with each other using these tools. Large companies, and I know you agree with this, will cease to exist in the future, unless they embrace and encourage these tools today. Many companies have already implemented social networks for their employees, such as my company, EMC, and other large technology companies with global workforces.

It's really hard to tell an employee to quit their job right now because their company bans social media (economic reasons), but I would recommend that they start "exploring other opportunities" or network with other professionals, regardless. How managers behave directly impacts the experience younger workers have with their company. If managers don't allow social networks, then it's very conflicting and young employees will start to lose enthusiasm for working in that corporate environment and leave sooner rather than later."

DMScott: How do you define personal branding and why is it important?

Dan Schawbel: "Personal branding is how we market ourselves to others. Each and every one of us has a brand because we are constantly being judged based on first impressions. Also, we are forced to sell our ideas and unique abilities to all stakeholders inside a company or as an entrepreneur. Personal branding is critical in a world filled with clutter, competition and ambiguity. To be a brand means to use similar branding strategies that corporations and products use to create an experience - a friendship - with an audience. People trust people, and will therefore be more inclined to purchase your product or hire you based on their relationship with you or what they hear about you."

DMScott: Can personal brands lend to the success of companies?

Dan Schawbel: "The necessity for personal brands will always increase, as marketing budgets decrease (in this recession) and the need to spread messages through social media accelerates. Social media is free at the cost of your time and employees with strong personal brands and networks can help you market your ideas, products, service and even executives easily and effectively. It can also create a viral effect. By hiring someone who is already a major influencer in your industry, you're gaining that credibility, following and platform. In return, personal branding must be encouraged and rewarded because it takes a lot of time, energy and care. Personal brands own their reputation, and that reputation is transferable between companies. Companies can use that reputation to close deals, reach the press and become a stronger brand."

DMScott: Thanks Dan. Good luck with the new book!

Riding the Rave #3: In Search of the Fifth P

Here is the third installment of my three part video series Riding the Rave.

My friends Tim Washer, Scott Teems, and I put together the three part video series to show the absurdity of working with others.

Have you ever been in a discussion where the idea becomes more important than the goal? The conversation goes down a rat hole very quickly.

If you haven't seen parts one and two, you may want to check them out first.

Riding the Rave #1: David's New Manager

Riding the Rave #2: Brainstorming

Direct link to part three here.

Many thanks to the team who helped me with these videos.

Tim Washer, who plays my manager in the video, is all of the following: Host. Comedian. Writer. Presbyterian.

Scott Teems is a filmmaker. His latest film That Evening Sun, which he wrote and directed, stars Hal Holbrook and is winning awards at film festivals including South-by-Southwest where I attended the world premiere.

Bloggers in handcuffs? U.S. FTC proposes legislation on product testimonials

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is working on regulations covering blogs and social networking sites.

The revised guidelines on so-called "endorsements and testimonials" that the FTC is looking at could hold companies liable for false claims and statements made by bloggers and people who post reviews and comments on social networking sites, when the person commenting received product samples. And the people doing the posting may also be held liable.

Bloggers in handcuffs

While I am not a lawyer and I have not read through the proposed wording, stories out there such as this one from Iain Thomson of VNU suggest this is an important potential worry for people who talk about products that have been provided to them by a company.

Photo credit: Wikimedia

If you receive a product and write a testimonial about the experience online, you can be subjected to legal consequence on grounds of making false representations online.

Review copies of books

Here is a situation that comes up all the time. I give a free copy of one of my books to someone I meet at a conference. The person writes a review on Amazon or blogs about the book. What happens if a statement in the review is "unsubstantiated?" Will that person be held liable? Will I? Will my publisher? Yikes!!

So yes, I admit this book example may be seen as a bit extreme. But does the price of the item matter?

Is a twenty-dollar book different than a thousand-dollar digital camera?

Lots of bloggers take free product in exchange for talking up a company. I've seen some very elaborate programs such as those by orchestrated by Panasonic, Nikon, and Microsoft that put expensive equipment into the hands of influential bloggers.

For example, some bloggers received gear from Panasonic such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 camera and a Panasonic SDR-SW20S Waterproof Camcorder. Soon after, glowing blog posts and 5-star reviews on Amazon appeared. In the reviews I saw, the reviewer did disclose that they received the free gear.

While I have not accepted any expensive equipment myself, I get a handful of free books sent to me by publishers every single week. I've been an advocate of full disclosure when doing a review on an expensive product that you have received for free. But now that I think about it, I do not disclose that I received a book for free if I write about the book. Should I?

Misleading social media seeding techniques have become so widespread that the European Union enacted Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations to protect the public from the most deceitful activities. So yes, there is a problem.

While I do think that there is a social media ethics and disclosure issue here, do we really need to haul bloggers away in handcuffs?

What do you think?

Is the Best Job in the World the best marketing in the world?

I'm often asked: "How do I market a commodity." My answer is predictable to those of you who read this blog: Create a world wide rave and people will share your ideas and tell your stories. Yes, even if you market a commodity.

Sandy beaches in warm and sunny locations are a commodity product.

This may come as a complete shock to people in tourism marketing, but it's true. The traditional approach of showing white beach sand with footprints near lovely blue water and a bikini or two just doesn’t cut it. But how can you stand out?

I've been following the Tourism Queensland fantastic world wide rave The Best Job in the World. Maybe you have too.

It's a contest to be chosen as Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The position has a few minor tasks, but the main thing is to use social media to talk up the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The job of blogging and posting videos pays A$150,000 for a six-month gig.

The application process required posting a one-minute video application explaining why you should be chosen as caretaker of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Over 30,000 people applied and today the 16 shortlisted finalists were announced.

Check out the videos from the 16 finalists. They rock. And the diversity is like a lesson in great one-minute video production.

Tourism Queensland created a phenomenon.

For the past two months I've asked, by a show of hands, the groups I speak in front of if they have heard of The Best Job in the World. In Washington D.C 20% of the room had (the lowest percentage). And in Tartu, Estonia a whopping 60% had (the highest). The average over several thousand people in 6 countries was over 30%.

HOLY COW. Imagine if 30% of the world had heard of your product via a world wide rave you created?

How did Queensland, Australia get so much attention? I've been to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef twice. Yes, it is beautiful. But so are many other sandy, beachy, sparkly, bikini-clad places I've been: Koh Samui, Santorini, Barbados, Puerto Vallarta, and on and on.

Queensland found a way to get people to share their ideas and tell their stories.

Tens of thousands of bloggers and tweeters have talked up the best job in the world.

Thousands of stories have appeared in mainstream media.

I asked John Frazier and Melissa Braverman, who worked on the Best Job in the World. John and Melissa are at Quinn & Co., a New York Public Relations firm that is part of the Tourism Queensland Best Job in the World team together with Brisbane based CumminsNitro.

Frazier says that the job announcement broke in Australia on Jan. 12, 2009 and by breakfast time in London, AP was interviewing Tourism Queensland's UK director for a broadcast package which turned up later that day on the morning shows in the U.S. Within two days, there were thousands of media pickups.

Tourism Queensland set a goal to get 400,000 new visitors to their Web site over the course of the one-year campaign. They blew past that in about 30 hours and had a million hits on the second day.

DMS: What did you learn about reaching people on this project?

"We learned that if you hit the sweet-spot of the right story at the right time, it will travel like a tsunami all the way around the globe," says Melissa Braverman. "Traditional media (a Reuters exclusive) broke the story, which immediately went viral because it was a chance to have the coolest job in the world at a time when everyone else was getting laid off."

"It was a glimmer of hope at a particularly gloomy time," says John Frazier. "We've talked about this amazing success a lot internally, and we believe it was a strong idea that would have worked no matter what. However, had it come six months earlier it might not have captured the world’s imagination in quite the same way. Timing is everything!"

DMS: What advice would you have for others who want to create something that will become a World Wide Rave?

"You can't re-heat a soufflé," says Frazier. "There were quickly a number of copycat campaigns that didn't quite take off in as big a way. Best advice is to try to develop an idea that resonates authentically in the lives of real people and then find a way to mount it across as many platforms (traditional media, YouTube, ning, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) as possible."

An amazing story. Thanks to John and Melissa for sharing.

Your challenge: How will YOU create a World Wide Rave?

Who are the powerful people to spread your ideas and tell your stories?

Many people tell me that they want to get quoted in important publications like The Wall Street Journal or have their products mentioned on television networks like CNBC. These "media hits" are seen as the ultimate in spreading your ideas.

But is that really the best thing for you and your business?

At South-by-Southwest a few weeks ago, I hung out for a while in the blogger lounge. As I looked around the room and saw the many influential bloggers, I realized something important.

The collective voices of the bloggers in the #SXSW blogger lounge is more powerful and has more influence than The Wall Street Journal.

So as you think about reaching your audiences, consider who has the power. Is it mainstream media? Or someone else? How can you reach them?

PS > Are you in this photo? Recognize anyone who is? I see my friends C.C. Chapman and Jonathan Fields. And look, it’s a HubSpot logo on a T-shirt.