What's your brand?

We often talk about corporate brands and share of voice, but not enough people think about their personal brand. Your personal brand is made up of all of the noise you make and is made about you online. It could be Google searches, Facebook updates or the Twitter categories people put you in.

If you run your own company, you already know this. Or, you should. But for those of us that are employed it’s worth thinking about the impact (positive and negative) that our brand has on our employer.

In 10 Personal Branding Predictions for 2010, Dan Schawbel, analyzes trends that affect anyone interested in a new job, a raise or a snapshot of how their brand is perceived.

1. Transparency across the web from social networks to search engines and back
2. More people understanding their brand
3. The new employment contract
4. Your voice becomes stronger than your resume
5. People being forced to take niches
6. Video becomes a brand-standard
7. Monetization through branding becomes clear
8. Social media being used more for career development
9. More people working for free to build brand equity
10. Online identities becoming as routine as employer drug tests

/Aimée

Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

Dooce readers, listen up

Anyone who follows Dooce knows that she was fired for her blog, that she was hospitalized for depression after the birth of her first daughter and that her dog is on the crazy side of energetic. Heather Armstrong, the actual person behind Dooce, has built up more than one of the most popular personal blog in the world. She has built a brand.

Her next endeavor is taking her blog to a new level. She has created a community for her readers to interact with each other. Dooce is no longer a platform for Heather-to-many and many-to-Heather conversations, but is embracing the idea that followers of Dooce are likely to have something in common with each other.

/Aimée








Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

Is it true?

So, one of the world’s top influential blogs publishes a story. Does that make it true? The headline is pushed out through Twitter and Digg hundreds of times. Does that make it true? Google rankings are through the roof. Does that make it true?

Media Culpa takes on TechCrunch in defense of Sweden and the potential truth in web authority.

/Aimée
Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

Sales techniques for communicators

As communicators, we have a lot to learn from sales people. After all we sell visions. We know that our aim is to shape what people think, feel and do. While we are not getting them to buy a product, we do want them to buy a concept and act accordingly.

The Daily Anchor, a marketing blog, has an interesting piece about Sales IQ – the presumed intelligence level of your audience. There’s a lesson to be learned here for communicators that are getting to know their audiences and what they can expect of them.

There are three approaches to sales IQ, according to the article.
1. You act as though your audience knows nothing, supply them with lots of information, but risk insulting their intelligence.
2. You act as though your audience knows something and pepper them with questions to determine what they know, potentially loosing their interest.
3. You act as though your audience is well informed, risking talking over their heads.

Communicators know that you need all three. You must use the first approach to make the basic information available to people who have no prior understanding. The second approach is needed when you work with focus groups to develop deeper understanding of the audience. And the third comes into play with your “mover and shakers”, the key people you have identified to help spread your messages throughout an organization.

/Aimée

Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

You need a plan

When somebody makes an erroneous comment about your company or organization on the internet you need to know how and when you should respond. You need a simple plan that you can follow, and guide others in your company to follow.

I like this plan (click on the image for more detail), the US Air Force web posting response assessment, for its simple yes/no structure and down-to-earth suggestions. Use it as a starting point, or start from scratch, but don’t be paralyzed when people start talking.

Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

Don’t follow the blogging rules

If you haven’t seen one of the 10 most popular blogs in the world, check out PostSecret. PostSecret’s success can be attributed to its ingenious idea, emotional artwork and the fact that it doesn’t follow any of the rules of successful blogging.

PostSecret isn’t updated frequently. Every Sunday, Frank Warren, PostSecret’s founder, chooses 20 postcards to publish. Readers know the hour that these are published and people log on immediately, or save the update as something to look forward to Monday morning.

PostSecret isn’t personal. Frank’s own story isn’t present on the blog, just the postcards of thousands of people around the world. Occasionally he adds an email correspondence regarding a particular postcard.

PostSecret doesn’t change. Content isn’t adapted according to readers likes and dislikes. Frank’s original vision from 2004 is still followed and while readers can participate with each other, using a discussion forum, they don’t interact directly with Frank.

So while PostSecret doesn’t follow the rules is does do something right. The content is still the most compelling aspect of the blog. The readers’ feeling of empathy, voyeurism and shared experiences results from engaging content. The timing of the posts shouldn’t be underestimated. Posting just once a week keeps readers waiting. It also avoids over saturation. And there’s value in posting many postcards at the same time, rather than one by one.



/Aimée

Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

To cookie or not to cookie

NOW, a public affairs program on the Public Broadcast Service (PBS) in the United States has become a hotbed of debate not only in politics, but internet ethics. It all started with a web poll asking: Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as Vice President of the United States?

The poll was posted on September 5 and by September 22 PBS had changed its cookie strategy. The poll started without cookies, so while hundreds of thousands of votes were cast, it’s impossible to say how many people have actually voted.

The viral spread of information about the poll and the potential “damage” by PBS reporting the results caused people across the political spectrum to encourage their friends to vote. Emails were, and still are, flying.

Today the link is hidden, and thousands are still voting by arriving at the link from emails. But now cookies are enabled and each vote will be counted just once.

Politics aside, is the poll more accurate without cookies or now?

Andra bloggar om: kommunikation, företagskommunikation

Inspiration when you need it most

Cold dark days have struck Stockholm and summer memories are nothing more than jpegs on your hard drive. What better time to look for some inspiration. No, not brochures for sunny holiday destinations, but interesting commentary on what is happening in the industry.

Beyond Niche Marketing
No nonsense advice for anyone working within marketing and advertising. Guest posts maintain a mix of subjects from The Six Biggest Mistakes in Marketing to Is Advertising Fundamentality Deceptive?

Influential Marketing Blog
Marketing with a social media twist for communicators and marketers. A recent post, Kellogg’s Proves Why People Hate Marketers, pokes fun at the industry from a father’s perspective.

Content Matters
This is for people who are well entrenched in the social media sphere, who know who is who and want to keep track of influential blogs.

Corporate Hallucinations
I wish this blog was updated more frequently with hysterically funny commentary on corporate communications. But, alas, we’ll have to wait for Steve’s schedule to slow down before we can enjoy more ramblings about urinals, networking and CEOs getting it all wrong.

Media Culpa
Here’s a look at Swedish media, PR and a fair bit of social media, written in English.

Web Ink Now
This is a must-have in the RSS reader of any communicator interested in social media, viral marketing and online communication. I particularly enjoyed Gobbledygook banned by English and Welsh local authorities.

NevilleHobson.com
Neville is a digital immigrant who embraces everything social media. He is an active blogger and a Twitter addict.

Is your website a ham sandwich?

In my early days at Citat Journalistgruppen one of the magazine editors sat me down to discuss the soul of a magazine. She explained numerous ways to define a magazine’s soul, but the one that stuck with me was related to food. This could be something to do with my love of cookbooks, ingredients and everything food-related.

The question to ask the team involved in the magazine production (this could apply to websites, brochures, social networks, or any other tools communicators use) is if we could eat this magazine, what would it taste like? Spaghetti and meatballs, steak tartar, smoked salmon or warm apple pie. These dishes all have distinct characteristics, smells, tastes and memories. These characteristics help define the design, images, color palette, article style, length and depth. If the soul of your magazine is pad thai, an element of zing will be reflected throughout the magazine. Is your magazine or website dishing up comfort food, fine dining, exotic fare or the staple of a brown bag lunch?

In his post on the Influential Marketing Blog, Rohit Bhargava invites people to troll YouTube for videos that represent a theme of subject that they are passionate about. It made me think about the possibilities of using YouTube to define the soul of communication productions. Videos evoke emotions, both good and bad. A collection of videos would be great way to define the soul of collaborative website, for example.

PR Spam: what not to do

Neville Hobson wrote an insightful post looking at the phenomena PR spam and its causes. If you are currently on the sending end of emails soliciting exposure from bloggers, read and learn. If you are receiving these emails, join Neville and his friends in a lively discussion.

My take on PR spam is that it proves that old-fashioned PR and marketing methods (the numbers game) don’t work with blogs. But changing your mindset from trying to reach every possible person to trying to reach the 500 most influential people within a specific area is a slow evolution. We aren’t there yet, but we are learning.

Social media and B2B

I’m a social media enthusiast. I am also a communications consultant working primarily with business-to-business clients. I used to think the two couldn’t complement each other. My opinion has changed. Gradually.

There are two key arguments that have made me see the shiny interactive light: perception and individual decisions. A company that is active in appropriate social media tools can build brand perception on a wider scale. Think in terms of influencing traditional media and search engine optimization. As a complement to this, a company can target specific niche influencers within their industry; be it telecoms, mining or construction equipment rentals.

The bottom line is that behind every purchasing decision is one or more individuals. These individuals represent a company, sit on a company budget and are looking to solve their company’s problems. The fact that they are not deciding on facial lotion or where to buy their fast food doesn’t change the power that individual voices make in a company’s purchasing decisions.

The next time you hear someone, possibility even yourself, argue that social media is not for your company, stop. Remember that you can use these tools to shape the perception of your brand and you can reach the individuals that could decide the financial success of your company.

B2C
Viral campaigns and instant consumer feedback demonstrate the benefits of social media for business-to-consumer companies. Great examples can be found by googling Dove, Guitar Hero in Sweden or the Subservient Chicken.

At last weeks’ Disruptive Media conference, keynote speak Neville Hobson promised me a blog post on social media and business-to-business.

/Aimée

Alternative campaigns

Fredrik Svensson from Starcom is talking about alternative campaigns using viral videos. Interesting cases for relatively little money. Hmm, makes me think about the power of video in internal communications.
www.distruptivemedia.se
/aimée

I want more

Listening to a presentation about the mobile channel left me wanting more. There was no discussion of the importance of the mobile context as a critical factor to success.
/aimée

Blond bimbos

I’ve been following the development of Blondinbella, the 17-year old fashion blogger in Sweden, with great interest. Here’s a young girl making big money off of pictures of herself wearing various branded clothing and accessories. Yesterday’s article in the Cultural section of Svenska Dagbladet described fashion blogs as a Swedish phenomena.

In the article it says she will use her profits to purchase an apartment which is a legitimate problem facing young people in Sweden. But what struck me was her monthly allowance of 10,000 Swedish Crowns (roughly 1,700 USD) for the items she pushes on her blog.

That would have bought a lot of flannel shirts and cargo pants back in 1994.

Sponsor my blog?

I follow many blogs and they each serve a purpose for me. Some are work-related, others are written by mothers of young children or budding amateur chefs, and one or two are for pure inspiration. What they all have in common is a humorous and somewhat quirky writing style.

Nobody epitomizes that better than blogger Bossy. I Am Bossy is over-the-top humor, full of rip-roaring laughs, but with a subtle glaze of historical reference. The fact that she’s based in the tiny hometown I left 13 years ago is an added bonus.

As one of my favorite bloggers heads off on a road trip across the US, she is doing so in four separate vehicles sponsored by a major car manufacturer.

So, I asked myself: Does this make Bossy any less funny? Credible? Likable? No. Does this change my interest in reading this blog? No. Will I still read her blog if it is covered in ads for cars? Um . . . no.

Time will tell.

Image from I Am Bossy

Digital back scratching

Explaining the practice of blog linking to traditional media experts is like selling Girl Scout cookies to a dieter. It’s long winded, both parties get frustrated and the listener eventually gives in, against their better judgment.

What you need to know is that blog linking serves one main purpose; it gives you credibility or authority in the subject you are blogging about.

When creating a blog, or interactive website (you don’t necessarily have to have a blog to join the online conversation), your goal should be for your message to reach your target audience (whether it’s 25 or 5000 people). If you rely on word-of-mouth, you can expect your Mom and your neighbor to be your only regular readers. Bombarding people with e-mails about your blog or website is also not a welcome or reliable way of increasing authority.

You must, and I can’t emphasize this enough, must look outside your blog or website. Where are the hot bloggers or discussion forums where people are talking about just your subject matter, or even your company? What are they saying? What can you add to the online conversation?

When you have identified the sites to follow, start participating. Write comments, join discussions, share tips or interesting antidotes with the online community in your field. And every single time you comment, link to your blog or website. This sends a message that you are an active and interested participant. When people think you’ve said something smart, interesting or crazy they’ll click on your link. If you keep saying smart, interesting or crazy things, people will start linking to you.

I once tried to explain this to an old-school journalist. The conversation went a bit like this:
Me: Your authority comes from all of the people linking to your blog and the other sites you are linking to.
Journo: But what if you don’t check your sources and only tell one side of the story?
Me: If people link to you, you are credible.
Journo: But you could be telling lies.
Me: Still credible.
Journo: So, it’s a popularity contest?
Me: Yep, you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

New industry demands

People working with communications need to keep their eyes open to the quickly changing industry and be prepared to adapt to stay competitive. The messages your company needs to communicate have stayed the same over time, but the ways your target audience receive the messages have changed completely.

This American job ad shows that an employee’s social media activities are more important than their traditional communications skills:

She (or he) created her Facebook profile well before any of her buddies did, then encouraged them all to join, and now has 700 friends on Facebook. She writes her own blog where she talks about her favorite bands. She loves to experiment with new ways to drive traffic to her blog. She's read David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR, and is passionate about combining her love for social media with her work by applying the new rules in a B2B marketing environment.

David Meerman Scott invites people to add to the list of qualifications to create a profile of a new industry professional.

Pajamas at work

Important information should be delivered with dignity. In the case of 220 call center employees in the US, pajama day was meant to be a fun, whimsical way to boost morale. No one expected to be told the call center was closing down. And certainly not while wearing furry slippers.

Blog meets journalism

For all of the cynics out there, here is Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 making an interesting case for the blending boundaries between blogging and journalism:

On the face of it, the question of whether blogs can do journalism is absurd — like asking whether sites published on Vignette can do journalism. A blog,
after all, is just a content management system — revolutionary because it made web-native publishing free and easy for anyone — but at the end of the day still just a CMS.

So it would seem the answer to the question is an emphatic YES — IF the blog CMS is used by a journalist. Saul Hansel is one of the “bloggers” for The New York Times Bits blog, and I don’t think anyone would question whether Saul is a journalist, or that lowers his standards when he switches from the New York Times print newspaper to its blog CMS, ergo, blogs CAN do journalism.

Anamma: more than just a name

The Swedish verb “anamma” is not easily translated.

The English definition is: to adopt an idea and live by it – to embrace it, if you will. The reason this blog is named Anamma is that Citat Journalistgruppen’s customer magazine uses the same name.

I’m reminded of the old adage: it’s easy to sell something you believe in. I am a communication nut. I know that with the right information delivered on time, people can make smart decisions. I believe in communicating openly with my audience, be it customers, investors, the media or employees.

So, yes, I’ve anamma’d communication.

/Aimée