The Personal Branding Blog: William Arruda and the Reach-Certified Personal Branding Strategists

VanityVid is an exciting innovative social media tool that changes your profile pic into a video

Exude Your Brand with VanityVid

Wouldn't it be great if people could click on your Facebook, Twitter and Wordpress profile photo – wherever it appears – and make it come to life?

VanityVid is a fresh new tool for changing your profile pics into a short introductory video, allowing you to connect with your audience like never before. What makes this tool different?

When I'm evaluating a tool, my first priority is personal brand building: does it increase online visibility, enhance brand communication, have a well-designed interface; is it customizable, integrated with new media; does it offer something unique? My second list of criteria is practical: is it free – if not, does it really justify the cost; can it be installed quickly and easily; is it easy to use and supported by browsers, social media, your blog platform, etc.

VanityVid ticks most of the boxes and it's free! What's really impressive about this tool is the on-the-spot setup. All you need is a webcam, video camera or camera phone and a few minutes of your time.

The maximum length of your VanityVid is 17 secs. That's enough to make a brief introduction without irritating your visitors.

You can have up to 20 VanityVids and the list of ways they can be used will grow as VanityVid becomes more established.

Your video will be displayed on every site that partners with VanityVid. In addition, for anyone who installs the Firefox, Chrome or Internet Explorer add-on, your Vanityvid will also be displayed on Facebook, Twitter and Wordpress blogs comments. VanityVid intends to extend the list of partners very soon so you won't need the add-on.

It's very new but it will catch on soon, so why not be one of the first! VanityVid.com

Note: I have revised and shortened this post since I first published it for technical reasons.

Sue Brettell is the Creative Passionista, a designer, writer and online identity strategist, specializing in the Exude phase of personal brand building. http://www.suebrettell.com (site relaunch coming soon).

YOU Can't Handle The Truth About Personal Branding

 

For me the video below is a well thought out and put together dig at what I have been seeing an explosion of this year and what is concerning me most about personal branding. Lack of depth and authenticity. It is what is causing so many online commentators to rant about it's shallowness, lack of substance, affront to the word branding, an attack on the profession of marketing etc etc.

I am certainly not claiming to be the perfect example of a personal brand, far from it, in fact is there really anyone that could lay claim to such? We are all evolving our brands and as technology advances our approaches change with it.  But the point about the technology available to us is that it is a tool to help us communicate our personal brands in new ways, to more people - IT IS NOT PERSONAL BRANDING IN OF ITSELF.

 

In the last few months I have found myself commenting on more blog posts, more tweets on twitter and generally having more discussions about personal branding. Not because, like some others, I am just trying to associate my name with the term and get hailed as the next new media douche bag, but because I firmly believe this is a bona fide approach to career management - dare I say even life direction and focus - ultimately meaning greater personal satisfaction and positive impact with others.

It is what I did in a corporate career that spanned banking to biotech - two subjects in which I have very little formal qualifications, it is what I have done in helping numerous, similarly very capable, people achieve in industries and roles that otherwise they might not have been considered for and what I do not for employees inside some of North America's largest corporations.

Perhaps what I am doing right now is exactly what Kelly Stewart is 'having a go' at - I think not - but can YOU handle the truth about personal branding? Let me know what you think.

Cross posted on Reflections of a Square Peg blog.

Is your personal brand online?

There seems to be a constant blur between what some people say is personal branding and what others think it is, it is naturally going to happen as it's importance rises and a number of articles have been written on the subject recently and I am sure we will continue to see a grwoth in the for and against camps. 

One such area of confusion is in social media and social networking. 

There was post by Drew McLellan over at his blog Drews Marketing Minute - How do you tell if your social media consultant is the real deal? - that got me thinking - this was prompted by two more extensive joint posts by Geoff Livingston and Beth Harte - who had written and generated a lot of comments on their posts -Top 25 Ways to tell if your social media expert is a carpet bagger and 25 Signs You've Got A Strong SM Consultant or Agency. 

Drew's list is a good place to start and adapt for the individual if you are thinking of using social media and networking as part of your job search (and you certainly should be) and are looking to employ the services of an expert. 

How do you tell if the social media / networking expert you are talking to should be helping you with your job search? 

1. Does not believe that everyone should blog (or can). Nor do they believe a blog is the b-all and end all. A well put together on line portfolio can be just as good and may be more suited to someone who does not want to blog or are not comfortable writing. 

2. Constantly reminds you that social media and networking is just a tool. You still need to understand your personal brand and have something of value to an employer. If you do not have a clear value proposition then you are going to fall in to the 'maybe' or 'no' pile much sooner.

3. Have a successful social media strategy themselves and have a presence in the key social networking areas. Very quickly check them out by putting their name in Google - put in the quote marks - e.g. "Joe Smith" - that way you get a cleaner search to find them. Are they there? Are they there for the right reasons!

4. Helps you weave your social marketing strategy in to the rest of your job search strategy. So you are on LinkedIn - now what - how does that help you get in the door, start a conversation or find someone or something out about a company you are interested in?

5. Does not promise that their social media efforts are so incredible that they are going to protect you from the recession, land you a job or make you the next CEO of ............ (enter dream employer). You can certainly build an online presence quite quickly and effectively, but it needs to be working for you beyond having a good Google ranking (to check out what it is now go to the Online ID Calculator). As my Dad always says - "But how do you cash it?" - what are the rewards of doing all this - ask them. 

Cross posted on Reflections of a Square Peg