Managing My Brand

So I am always working to get a better handle on how people view me and my personal brand. My brand consists of my profile, work experience, technologies, blog, pics and just the general image of how people view me personally and professionally online.

Maintaining my brand is a full time job and I do not always achieve the results I want. When people look for me they usually start at Google, so this is where I start.

The first two pages of Google search for my name is where I start. I have a unique brand so I dominate the first two pages. These are the sites where I come up on the these pages:

• KinLane.com
• Classroom 2.0
• Blogger
• Fast Company
• Facebook
• Naymz
• Ning
• Mashable
• Flickr
• Twitter
• Businesscard2
• Bebo
• Plaxo
• LookupAnyone

A couple other notable networks I feel are necessary to focus on even though they aren't in the top Google results:

• MySpace
• LinkedIn

Now these results fluctuate based upon Google's indexes and I add relevant sites from time to time to my maintenance list.

In an effort to maintain my brand I try to keep an active presence and profile on these social network and social media sites.

It is a full time job, I am working on a process and requirements needed to maintain each area so that I can have a systematic approach for each day and each week on what I should be doing.

I will publish the approach to each network and its maintenance as I formalize. This is a work in progress and I will keep updating this post with links to updated information.

2.0 Incubators and Pilot Projects

I was just reading another great blog post 2.0 from Dion Hinchcliffe, he always delivers with his posts. This one is called Ten Aspects of Web 2.0 Strategy That Every CTO and CIO Should Know and has some critical 2.0 advice for decision makers in any company.

There is one tip that really stood out and rang true for me because it has been something I have battled it at the last two major companies / projects I was working on.

It is number 6 under Key Aspects of Web 2.0 Strategies:

Incubators and pilots projects can help create initial environments for success with 2.0 efforts. Too much contact with the traditional support environment of an existing, primarily 1.0 organization makes it hard for 2.0 efforts to succeed; everything gets done in the traditional way instead of the new ways that are required. The traditional tools, processes, and skills just aren't there or are just too slow and burdened with unnecessary overhead. Creating dedicated incubators that are designed to use the strengths of the organization while being isolated from its weaknesses can help. Incubators are at risk of becoming too isolated however, and won't inform or change the greater organization unless care is taken to roll the lessons and capability back in.

I have worked at several organizations to push for keeping 2.0 initiatives external in some way to keep them shielded from the pull of the 1.0 energy in the organization. I get positive reception to the idea, but then when it comes to actually splitting the project or initiative off and make it happen I get resistance.

I think their needs to be a balance between keeping the project somewhat on its own, but have the benefits of the primary organization and its strength.

I don't know how to create the perfect balance for this to work, but willing to continue exploring.

One Wiki to Bind them All

I have been using wikis a lot lately to layout strategy for social media marketing campaigns. Social media marketing really overlaps into a lot of different areas, some are internal and some are external.

So we are designing what we call "online ecosystem" strategies for companies that help visualize all of their online virtual real estate.

Using a simple wiki you can layout all the elements of your online presence from your web site and blog to your Facebook and Youtube channels.

With this strategy a vision of your virtual real estate will come into focus and you can start bringing them under one unifying strategy that will help you maximize your presence on this valuable real estate you possess.

Crowd Sourcing of Projects

I am seeing more and more talk of crowd sourcing of projects. I am reading more about virtual assistants and how they are changing how businesses operate and grow their business in this tough economy.

In my work with Ahren over at Social Media Squad I have assisted him in the development of crowd sourced strategies for social media marketing campaigns.

It is not without its problems, we have trouble finding quality and reliable talent sometimes....and we fall short of targeted goals from time to time.

However we are really dialing in some great process for crowd source execution of projects and individual tasks. I have worked with some serious talent that is working from home as a mother, student, or other capacities.

I am really eager to see where crowd sourcing and virtual assistants go in the mainstream employment and business human resource process.

Image Search

When is image search going to move past what the picture is named and more about what the picture is about.

If the picture author named the picture appropriately then the picture search is valid...however most of the time the results are crap.

Makes it very frustrating to search for relative pictures.

Google Chrome is Added to My Tools

I have used Google Chrome for the last few days, and I am happy with it. I still definitely can't live without my Firefox and its Add-Ons. However as a browser Google Chrome is very smooth and functional...I like it...it is an excellent start.

I added to my desktop shortcuts right next to Internet Explorer and Firefox.

I tend to use Firefox heavily for social media marketing campaign execution because of the add-ons and Google Platform integration, however I now have Google Chrome open instead of Internet Explorer to have my personal mail and other applications available.

I can definitely see where they are going with their platform direction. I will be setting up computers that I get for free and donate to non-profits and kids with Google OS and Google Chrome.....it is a great base.

Gmail Features

I just want to say I really like how my Google Talk conversations show up right with all my Gmail email conversations as well.

Closer to how I have my SMS, Email, Chats, Phone Calls in one listing on my Blackberry.

In-House Social Media Marketing Campaign Strategy and Execution

Lately we have been receiving a lot of requests for in-house social media marketing trainings. Clients are requesting that we come on site to assist them in developing a social media marketing campaign strategy.

The downturn in the economy has really hit small businesses and they are looking for new ways to find and retain customers. Social Media and Social Networks are a great avenue for finding new customers and maintaining the relationship with your existing customer base.

We are always working to provide new white papers, case studies and operations manuals for social media marketing campaigns in many different industries and conversations. These materials assist small business owners who may not be able to afford a full-blown social media marketing campaign.

Social Media Squad has been assisting businesses and organizations on-site with the following:

• On-Site social media marketing strategy needs assessment and development
• Social media marketing campaign setup, oversight process, and reporting / metrics
• In-House social media marketing campaign training and monitoring
• Custom social media marketing materials development

This new in-house social media program is really helping businesses cut cost and realize a social media marketing campaign for their business. They are able to utilize existing staff and resources as well as outside professional social media marketing resources to achieve their online goals.

Stay tuned for more blog posts, white papers, and programs on in-house social media marketing campaigns.

Reputation Management

I was Googling my name as I usually do on a Monday morning as part of my personal reputation management.

I noticed a social network profile I signed up for a few months back called Naymz has grown significantly in PageRank as well as made it to the first page on my Google Results.

So I figured I better work to complete my profile on it and make it as robust and relevant as possible to the conversation(s) I have positioned myself in.

Naymz looks like it has become a great social network profile to use in your online reputation management campaign.

Twitter Redirect

I was just reading a Techcrunch blog post on the the local services market Workstir.com.

I went and signed up to be notified for the private beta.

Then after I signed up it gave me the following option on the thank you page:

In the meantime, if you could help us out by tweeting about Workstir, that would be amazing!

It gave me a twitter login, then took me to the twitter site.

Pretty smooth move, I just helped them in their social media marketing.

Facebook Takes Over As Number 1 Social Network

Was just reading an article on the latest comScore report showing that Facebook has beaten out MySpace as the number one social networking site.

Facebook grew 153% last year and has 132 Million unique visitors.

MySpace better clean up its act!

Conversational Marketing Assessment

As part of every social media marketing strategy that we build we conduct a conversational marketing assessment that evaluates the target arena we are considering entering as part of the social media marketing campaign.

We are noticing that pretty much every one of our clients has a very fragmented presence on the Internet and in the social media space.

This is not their fault it is the nature of technology and the Internet moving forward as a company grasps their goals in this space. Having a web site has become the norm, however what do you do with Facebook, Youtube, blogs, and other areas.

We are seeing that providing a conversational marketing assessment along with some sort of ecosystem visual showing where they exist is an excellent place to start.

The Power of Having a Voice

Was just contemplating the power the Internet gives you in having a voice in this world. Within minutes you can have your own domain and site or blog up and being broadcasting to the world.

That is really powerful stuff.

Social Application and Social Widget Advertising Integration

So was just having a random thoughts while designing a couple of social applications. I was thinking out you can build social applications that run on different platforms and work with a web service that allows various information to drive the application.

So why can't you start evolving advertising to be widget based and run more like application. They would feed from any demographic or targeting data you would have on the user and feed them an intelligent and interactive ad.

Just a random thought. Will someone please do it for me.

Social Media Marketing By The Numbers

Here is a new presentation from Ahren over at Social Media Squad on Social Media Marketing.

Social Media Marketing By The Numbers

View SlideShare presentation (tags: social marketing marketing media social)