Why Did I Do MySpace and How Do I Undo It?

myspace

With the advancement of the social world, we’ve been introduced to networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. But often, we neglect the older ones that may have gone overlooked and forgotten with time. One such social network is MySpace, which was once a very prominent method of individual interaction. Users posted crazy pictures of themselves, decorated it with wild content, and weren’t as concerned with it becoming a part of their lives later on. But as a brand, a site like this can become something you don’t want hurting your image or reputation. It may be a matter of failing to provide the right image, or it could be that you no longer have access to the original email used to set up the site. Regardless of what reason, the fact that MySpace pages aren’t easy to delete without any access means you’re stuck with it on your rankings. Locate the problem This is one of the most difficult issues to confront in the online world, especially if a link carries … [Read more...]

Importance of Self Discipline in Extracting Your Brand

self confident

What is it that sets you apart from other brands? Is it a catchy slogan? Is it your product or service? One element to the business world remains the same- being replaceable means that you will become obsolete. It is only by being unique to your audience that you can truly succeed in your endeavors. But, how can one brand become unique in the business world? The key is to be able to define your brand. What is it that you offer your audience? What is it that they want from you? And ultimately, will you be able to deliver what they want and need? In order to seek out these answers, you must be self-disciplined and focus on the seriousness of your brand, whether you are a business or an individual. Getting started is always the most difficult challenge. Where should I start? What should I expect? We’re riddled with questions, but the answers will never arrive unless you begin to seek them. Taking the time to extract your brand and define yourself One of the key elements to … [Read more...]

Asking for Forgiveness Can Help Your Brand

forgiveness

There will always come a point for a business where you will be unable to actually answer a question or come up with a solution to a problem that has been posed by a client or customer, but how you handled this situation is extremely important. Basically, if this is dealt with correctly by a representative from your company, and they ask for forgiveness, then it can actually help your brand rather than hinder it. The reason why this is important is because word of mouth marketing still plays a key role in the potential success of a business and people do like to know that a business is honest enough to admit to a mistake or admit to not knowing the answer to everything. This honesty is even more important in the world of social media where customers will often use it as a means to communicate to the world about some issue they have with your business, and ignoring these issues will only reflect badly on you. It only takes one It is important to remember that it can take years … [Read more...]

Ten Things I Learned from my Latest 360Reach Personal Brand Assessment

360reach8cm

I recently asked friends, family, colleagues, employees and clients for feedback about my brand using 360Reach (disclosure: 360Reach is a product of my company, Reach Personal Branding). I tell everyone in the Reach community that they should complete a 360Reach assessment every 18 to 24 months or so – so I was long overdue. Here’s some of what I learned/confirmed: 1.    I have a major work overload issue. I am well aware of it – and so is virtually everyone who knows me! It’s the negative side of my brand attribute of creative – where I have so many ideas and want to pursue all of them. 2.    Despite some efforts to focus on fewer things – including hiring another assistant, I clearly have not done a great job of it. I need to focus! 3.    I consider myself less international than I was in the past, yet others continue to see me as global.  When I was living in London and Paris and traveling internationally all the time, I felt more global. Being … [Read more...]

Take a Break and Let Your Brand Recover

back-injury

I am an active person and when I am feeling stressed or anxious my cure is to jump on my bicycle and head for the mountains. My own personal brand attributes include "action" and "energy." So when I suffer from an injury, muscle strain, or cold it is hard to resist the temptation to just 'suck it up' and ride anyway. However, every athletic person will tell you that you need to let your body recover. Pushing yourself through an injury will only make things worse. By resting you actually bounce back stronger than before. I had to remind myself about this recently after a back injury was preventing me from my regular rides. Is Your Brand Suffering from a Set Back? When we decide to embark on the personal branding process we are so energized to do as much as we can to be our brands. We get feedback from others about our brand attributes, we start creating the online and offline tools to communicate our brand, and we consistently and constantly manage our brands in our daily … [Read more...]

Is Your Personal Brand LINtastic?

Jeremy Lin

My trip last weekend to keynote at Ball State University took me in to the heart of basketball country. Everywhere you looked there was connection to the game. Coupled with this has been the meteoric rise of Jeremy Lin over the past two weeks. A social media personal branding sensation. It was a case of basketball, basketball, basketball! It truly has been LINsanity (he has just applied to trademark that phrase!). There are a number of lessons from Jeremy's LINtastic recent success that you can take and apply to your own personal brand; 1. Continue to play to your strengths. Even though he was not picked up originally by an NBA team, dropped and relegated to minor leagues he still continued to play to his own set of strengths. Personal Brand Lesson It is important to understand your weaknesses and how they might impact on your brand. But if you spend all your time on them you draw attention to them and you will never get a weakness to a point of strength. Take the … [Read more...]

Your Brand Continues to Have Me After “Goodbye”

Peter Sterlacci

This is the second part of a 2-post series on tips for how to use your personal brand to make an awesome first impression and leave a memorable one. What's Your Brand's Lasting Impression? Just as we need to be aware of the first impression our personal brand makes when we walk into a room, we also need to think about the lasting impression we leave behind after we say "goodbye." People will always make decisions about you after you leave the 'real' and 'virtual' rooms. Their decision to connect with you will be based on their emotional reaction from that very first meeting, but they will always later rationalize their decision based on the lasting impression you leave behind after you have left the room. This reminds me of the famous 'Elaine Dance' from Seinfeld. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY_DF2Af3LM I am sure Elaine had hoped to leave a better impression then she did! Here are three tips for your personal brand to leave an awesome lasting impression and prevent the … [Read more...]

Is your career facing a Kodak moment?

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No doubt the business school case studies in years to come about the sad demise of Kodak and it's brand will raise many questions about the effectiveness of it's leaders. The filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Kodak this week has many lessons for all businesses, but what can you learn from this and be sure that you are not facing the same in your career? 1. Don't underestimate the impact your ideas have. It was the mid-70's when Kodak actually developed for the first digital camera. Can you imagine how far ahead they may have been in the market place and for how long had they moved on this revolutionary idea. Personal Brand Lesson - just because your industry or vocation has done it the same way for a long time and everyone is comfortable with that way does not mean an idea out of left field is not a better one. Be willing to challenge the status quo. 2. Don't be complacent or greedy. Kodak leaders decided to shelve the digital camera because they felt it was going to … [Read more...]

5 Tools to Repair Your Brand

Imagine you have worked hard to build "brand you". You have established a firm belief in your brand by uncovering your brand attributes, strengths, and unique promise of value. You have developed the tools you need to become your brand including a personal brand statement, a branded bio, and both an online and offline brand communication plan. And you are clearly, consistently and constantly managing your brand environment and brand identity to be your brand every day. One day a "Google alert" pops into your email inbox.  You are eager see if your brand visibility and credibility is growing.  To your surprise you see something about you that is off-brand.  People in your brand community begin to comment on this, tweet about it, and share it.  Before you know it your brand is in question.  You might consider just blowing this off hoping it will disappear in cyberspace.  However, by not taking action your brand is derailed. A 'Derailed' brand In the world of … [Read more...]

Personal Branding Resources

These resources are brought to you by William Arruda as part of the Reach 10th Anniversary Celebration ... 10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Reach Personal Branding Top 10 Videos from Personal Branding TV Top 10 Social Media Dos for A Successful Job Search 10 Ways to Give to Your Network 10 Days to Establishing and Achieving Your Goals Top 10 Ways to Unearth The Brand Called YOU Top 10 Most Viewed Commercial Breaks 10 Days to Understanding Your Professional Reputation 10 Ways to Build and Maintain Your Professional Network 10 Days to Writing a Compelling Branded Bio 10 Steps to Recession-Proof Your Career Ten Most-Read Blog Posts from The Personal Branding Blog 10 Days to a Perfect Linkedin Profile 10 Tools For Creating a Website That Exudes Your Personal Brand Ten Days to Creating Your Personal Brand Identity System The Ten Most Re-Tweeted Tweets Ten Tips Towards Career Reinvention Ten Days to Positioning You and Your Brand How Not to Build Your … [Read more...]