Create Effective Content to Market You

May 30, 2013 by 4 Comments
content creation

As a solopreneur or small business owner, you may think that content marketing is a huge undertaking and that there are better things you can do with your time. You should realize, however, that putting out great content is an excellent marketing tool for building your brand and establishing customer loyalty. In recent years, there has been a shift in marketing campaigns. Advertisements have lost their power over customers. Nowadays, people buy from brands they like and trust. But where does this trust come from? Through engaging and building relationships with your consumers using effective content. This is essentially known as content marketing. You want people to subscribe to your blog updates, follow you on Twitter, opt-in to your email campaign, and subscribe to your page in Facebook. Through the repeated exposure of your content to an audience, you effectively build a relationship with them, giving you opportunities to get them to convert. The tricky part though, is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs, Personal Branding Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Individuals are Using Pinterest to Showcase their Personal Brands

May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Pinterest

A lot of small business owners use Pinterest mainly as a tool to socialize while getting creative, not realizing that the social media site also offers a lot in terms of positive business exposure that can help them expose their creative talents to the world. Much has been said about the commercial potential of Pinterest for the small business owner. In most cases, business owners use the site as a virtual gallery for products and services. However, Pinterest can also be used on a more personal level, as a way for you to expose your brand to potential customers. It is easy for small business owners to showcase their personal sides through their talents. While these talents may be unrelated to the business, they can reveal a brand’s deeper side that may be attractive to potential customers and even investors. Pinterest serves as a great platform for artwork, crafts, and other interests that reveal to customers another side of your creativity. Marketing in the internet always … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

What Have You Heard About Social Media

November 8, 2012 by 1 Comment
social media

What have you been told about social media? Blogs and discussions are renowned for celebrating social media’s impact on the business world. The problem with this is that it makes social media marketing sound easy and a guaranteed success story. Of course, these stories tend to result in disheartened users who try social marketing and find the exact opposite. So, what’s the real issue here? Is social media all it’s made out to be? In truth, it is an extremely useful tool. But, that always depends on the application and the method by which it’s employed. Therefore, it is imperative that brands which utilize social media understand what is true and what is false. Is Social Media Marketing Really an Easy Task? Sure it’s easy to set up an account and share a few postings. But, is what you’re doing effective? The claimed simplicity of using social media is a stretch, to say the least. There are certain tools and techniques that can be employed, each being more or less … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Best Practices for Using Instagram for Your Personal and Business Brand

October 11, 2012 by 2 Comments
Instagram

Social media has proven to be a fast and efficient marketing tool for businesses of any size. For individuals, it is a savvy means to stay in touch with the people you know. Instagram is one of the more popular new kids on the block as far as social media is concerned. One of the reasons that Instagram is so popular is that it uses photos to convey a message. This is a marketer's dream as photos and pictures tend to attract more attention and draw more people as compared to textual content. As a person, you may also benefit from growing your profile by using Instagram. Using Instagram on Facebook will increase the visibility of your profile since people share and interact with photos more than any other content that is available. The app allows you to run your photos through a filter, which in essence, just edits them so they look better and more professional. You can also share photos on your Twitter account so that you can garner more interest and get more people to follow … [Read more...]

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5 Tips to Avoid ‘Number Porn’

October 2, 2012 by 4 Comments
ff_klout4_f

Last Spring John Falchetto blogged about something he called “number porn”: “With the online measuring tools at our disposal we now have the ability to indulge in number porn. The bigger the number, the more we get hot and bothered.” This got me thinking. Does size really matter?  Well, for some people it does and the focus on social proof is now causing many of us to be concerned with how big we are! Social media is a powerful tool to build our personal brands. When we start out actively using the different channels available, we can fall into the trap of focusing on the numbers and not the engagement. The numbers give us that immediate validation we are looking for and it is exciting to see our growth. But when our score drops or our followers stop following, we can fall into the trap of feeling inadequate and, well, small! It’s not the size that matters. It’s how you use it! This is the classic quality versus quantity conundrum. Don’t be focused so much on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Avoid Your Personal Brand Being Two Faced on Facebook

September 27, 2012 by 2 Comments
two faced

Facebook provides multiple ways to utilize its site. Personal pages are vast and numerous, and usually very simple to manage. You can also set up a business site, but that might seem impersonal or even limit what you want to achieve. Why is a business page more effective than a personal profile when it comes to applying yourself to an online social outlet? The truth is that there are several reasons why a business page trumps a personal profile. It’s always about opportunity and what you do to make the most of it. Know the ropes To start, you can be liked- you don’t have to worry about friending. Friend requests do slow down how fast your image spreads. Additionally, when searching, personal profiles are not as likely to come up as a business profile. When you are discovered, all the viewer has to do is like you (plus this appears on their personal site for their friends to see). This works well for word of mouth marketing strategies. Then you have other strategies … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Social Media, Strong Personal Brands Tagged With: , , , ,

Fact or Fiction? Know the Facts for Powerful Word of Mouth for Your Personal and Entrepreneurial Brand

September 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment
social media

If you are one of those businesses that think that the concept of the internet is overrated, then it is probably because you have heard of the social media myths. Today, the internet has become an important tool in marketing, most especially social media. Many small business owners and entrerpeneurs may now be on the verge of discovering some of the social media myths that can hurt their personal brands. The following are some of the myths that have been around about social media that may be the sole cause of small businesses being hesitant to utilize it. Marketing in social media is free Time is money. Any business owner would tell you that. Social media may be free but the amount of time that you spend trying to market your brand on social media means that you are spending money on it. Because some businesses think it is free, they tend not to utilize it well. Avenues such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are great places to help build your brand. It is therefore … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Expressing Your Brand, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Employees as Brand Ambassadors

August 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
good workplace atmosphere

Every business is created with one specific purpose - to benefit the owners, its clients and to make money. Whether the business deals with providing services, ancillaries or finished products of any value; the main aim is to maximize the reach of the brand and increase its popularity across every possible market. To achieve this, there are several methods of marketing and advertising. While marketing is gaining new media to cover more ground faster than ever before; the point is to reach the specific target audience in a way that will not only display the message, but get them engaged and build curiosity as well as interest in the brand. With the advent of the internet and the vast global audience that it holds; it makes the solution fairly simple. Smart search engines and social media platforms have made locating specific information from specific parties much faster and much easier. However appealing this may seem to companies, they need to have a credible and dedicated staff … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

Taking Time Out to Create New Habits

August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
meditation-6

I recently returned from a 5-day meditation retreat outside of Kyoto, Japan. Meditation used to be a regular part of my life a few years ago, but has unfortunately taken a back-seat. Other things have occupied my time and meditating even for just 15 minutes simply became a chore. However, I have felt an urge, almost a calling, to bring meditation back into my daily routine. My life used to be less stressful and much more balanced when I disconnected myself for 25 minutes every morning and evening. I wanted this back. I needed this back. Off the Social Media Grid In the past year I have been grateful for the role social media has played in my life. It has helped me to launch my business, connect with amazing thought leaders, and express my personal brand. It has become part and parcel of daily life - but perhaps too much. Time I could have spent meditating or even just enjoying the present moment has been replaced with tweets, likes, comments, +1s, pins, etc. I can't even … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Discovering Your Brand, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Transitioning a Brand from Me to We

July 5, 2012 by 2 Comments
6829399797_33121dfe32_z

As a solopreneur or small business owner, you probably dream of making it big. Truly, who wouldn’t want to be up there with the big names such as Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, and so on? But of course, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it’s okay to start small and work your way up to a bigger, better brand. Most brands start out with one idea by a single person. Basically, you start your own brand by learning how to sell yourself and the products or services you offer. You conceptualize your idea, create a plan of action, and then put everything into place. Butcher, baker and candlestick maker As a start up, you’re both boss and employee – everything is done by you. You communicate with clients, manage social media accounts, do all the promotional campaigns, answer calls and emails, provide customer service, and so on. It’s fun, but it can be exhausting, especially as your small business grows. So you start to consider working with other people to help lighten your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips Tagged With: , ,
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