The Charismatic Personal Brand: Be Discoverable

When I was about 10 years old I played on a baseball team. I was a shy kid (we all know that changed), but at the time I wasn’t confident enough in my ability. I complained to my Dad that none of the kids on the team even knew my name. I didn’t go to school with any of the kids, and felt like an outsider. I knew that I loved playing baseball, and my coach Mr. Hart was a great guy that encouraged me, and gave me more than ample opportunity to shine.

One afternoon I was playing a game, and I was missing my Dad. He was working long hours at the time, and was having trouble getting to some of my games. It was a sunny afternoon toward the end of the game. I was in the on deck circle when my Dad showed up. He has obviously rushed directly to the game from the train station – he was still in his suit, and I couldn’t be happier. He came over to me, gave me a piece of trident gum, and encouraged me to swing away - “hit it just like we practiced in the backyard”. I got up to the plate and hit my first home run. The game ended and as we walked back to the car, Dad said “I think they know your name now”.

This lesson was invaluable. Before I was just a player, now I was Chris Dessi, the kid who hit the home run. In business, as in life there’s a time to be noticed. Today, more than ever social media allows you, as an individual executive to be noticed. Imagine if I hit that home run and nobody was there to witness it? That’s the equivalent of knowing your business, but not sharing your knowledge with your community.

When developing your personal brand, Drive Action Digital recommends that you keep it simple, unique and focused. Provide great content, and express your unique opinion on topics associated with your area of business. Be unique in the content you generate. Perhaps find posts about your industry, then offer your opinion in a blog post. Focus on your area of expertise and own that niche. Become a thought leader, and position yourself as a thought leader.

Once you’ve set up your social places, make sure that you have synced all of your content via services like Networked Blogs, or Hootsuite so you have some scalability and can quickly post content to each social place at once. Offering great content via your social places, and being able to track the interactions with your content, and iterate off the reactions from your community.

Over and Out.

The Charistmatic Personal Brand: Case Study Richard Branson CEO of Virgin

This is the third installment regarding the charismatic personal brand, and how elevating your personal brand can help you and your company within the social spaces.

Recently while compiling a presentation for a senior executive looking to boost his social media presence, the team at Drive Action Digital came across a great case study for a personality who is doing social the correct way.

Richard Branson is a dynamic personality and CEO of Virgin. He leverages his personal site as the central hub of all of his social media activity. He has a strong presence on his blog, twitter account and Facebook page. Each of these social places link to eachother, and he makes it very easy to follow him, and to share the content that he provides. He is ensuring that he owns his personal brand, and allows his followers the ability to discover his content via numerous outlets. Here’s a visual of his social places:

Richard Branson

Richard makes it easy for his content to be easily shared in the social places. You’ll notice that I “liked” his content on his site, which posts out to my Facebook friends. This is an excellent execution of the Facebook Open Graph. Now when my friends see this link it functions essentially as an ad unit for Richard. This is free advertising for Richard, and will easily serve as a creative way for Richard to cultivate additional followers. Chances are that if I’ve “liked” his content, some of my like minded friends on Facebook will like the content as well. This will snowball into a thriving community of like minded followers who are interested in Richards content. Think of the implications this will have on any personal brand. This is where social media starts to get really exciting. You don’t have to spend money on ad units, you just have to create content that you feel will resonant with your community.

Over and out.

Social Media for Beginners: Ten Tips to Get Started

Happy Friday everyone! This is the fifth and final installment of a week long tutorial on the basics of social media. I thought it would be appropriate to offer a final recap of all content covered, along with some final food for thought.

Today, more than ever it’s simple to engage in social media. The real issue then becomes, are you engaging appropriately? Here are ten quick tips to being successful in social media for your business:

Wrap some management around your social media endeavors. At Drive Action Digital we create content calendars on behalf of our clients. Taking the time to map out the type of content, as well as the frequency of the content you share will pay dividends. Your followers will begin to expect to see your walls posts, and they will seek your insight. We also make sure that the “type” of content is defined – solicitous content, conversation starters, thought leadership content etc. It will help you scale the program as well when you share the content calendar internally so that everyone is aware of what information will be pushed to your social places.
You’ve got to be in it to win it. Get started today. If you’re not, you’re making a huge mistake. I’ve discussed this before, but whether you like it or not, social media is “happening” to your brand.
Making money in social media, means you have to stop trying to make money in social media. This one is difficult for some to wrap their heads around. At Drive Action Digital we work off the premise that social media has effectively flipped the traditional marketing funnel. So instead of worrying about: initiator, influence, decider, buyer and end user, you should focus on enhancing each step in the funnel. Allow your brand to be approachable, and discoverable, and you will further enhance your brand, and increase sales across the board.
Social Media is a qualitative endeavor, but you can add some quantitative data to help you glean some learning. Leveraging services like Hootsuite will help. Make sure that you’re tracking your tweets, and Facebook posts. Analyze the data and see what resonates with your community. Services like Hootsuite will help you generate fantastic reports.
Don’t be afraid to ask your community what type of content they want. If they’re fully engaged, and they trust you, they’ll offer guidance.
Produce content that resonates on a human level. Don’t be afraid to write from the heart. We’re all human beings, and we’re it’s ok to show some vulnerability. Let the community know when you’ve made a mistake. Acknowledge a complaint immediately, and let the community know you’re working on a resolution. People will understand, I promise. Just don’t let complaints fester
Have some fun with this. Creating content is a blast. You love your brand, and you love what you do. Share why you love your brand. Tell your community why you get out of bed in the morning. Let them know what ignites passion in you. Chances are that they feel the same way.
Think “behind the scenes”…generate content that your community wouldn’t ever see elsewhere, and they’ll love you for it. Allow them into your living room. While chatting with my Uncle about what he should blog about, I encouraged him to talk about his travels throughout his career, not just about business. I’m sure there is a young executive out there (myself included) that will be inspired by his posts. Show people how things work. No matter what you think is mundane may be exhilarating for someone else. Jason Hartelius is a producer at Fox TV that isn’t impressed with much in TV considering that he’s been doing it for so long, but when he gave me a tour of the control room at Fox TV I felt like a 10 year old. Same goes for the Brian Vastano at Steiner Sports. He gave me a tour of their factory (pictured) and I went nuts. He had been there often, and didn’t think much about it. Imagine if he posts vlogs about the new content, or if the producer vlogged from the control room during a live broadcast – magic!
Steiner Sports
Don’t focus only on your business. Recently I received a comment on my blog that I didn’t publish. The person was annoyed that I had blogged about my daughter on a business blog. I don’t regret posting personal content here, because at times, those posts get the biggest readership. They also tell my readers about who I am, what I value, and who I am. I guarantee that this factors in when one of my potential clients is thinking about hiring me. People want to work with people they like. Let your guard down, and be human.
Synch your social places. Personally, I use Networked Blogs. When I post here, the content pushes to my Facebook page, Drive Action Digital Facebook page, and my Twitter account. It limits my time spent on tactical endeavors and it ensures me that I won’t forget to share in the appropriate places. Leverage the technology to help you.

Please email me at christopher.dessi@driveactiondigital.com if you would like to hear more about specific topics, or just add a comment.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Over and out.

Social Media for Beginners: Facebook

This is the fourth installment of a five part series: Social Media For Beginners: Facebook

1. If you run a business, you must be on Facebook. The numbers tell the tale. There are over 500 milllion people on Facebook. The more powerful number however is that 50% of those people log into Facebook daily. That’s a huge audience that you cannot overlook. There is no reason why your business shouldn’t have a Facebook page. Even if you have highly sensitive information that isn’t appropriate for sharing etc, people expect to be able to find you on facebook. If you’re company has sensitive information then start a page and only add contact detail, and perhaps just some information about your business. Thing of a Facebook page as a natural extension of your business. For many people Facebook has become the Internet. They send email, instant messages and glean information about the brands they love. If you’re not there, you have an issue.

Drive Action Digital Facebook Page

2. Facebook pages are not websites. They are not linear animals. The key for your business is going to be engagement with you community on Facebook. The reason is that you want to have fans “like” your page, and share your content. Once they “like” you page they’re now listening. It’s up to you to create content on your wall that will post into their news feed. It helps to wrap some management around the manner in which you post on your wall. Ensure that you have defined “types” of content. At Drive Action Digital, we look at it this way: you should have information that positions you as a thought leader, information that stimulates conversation, and information that’s unique to Facebook, like sweeps, coupons or some other offer that your fans can’t find anywhere else. Give them a reason to “like” your page.

3. The news feed is the life blood of Facebook. When those 250,000 people log in daily they come to their home page. They review what their friends are up to in the news feed. When Facebook first made this change, people thought Mark Zuckerberg was crazy. The reality is that he is a genius, and has created an ecosystem that is very favorable for your brand. Each wall post alone may mean nothing, but soon, if you have a schedule of appropriate content the user “fan” starts to expect to see your wall post when they log in to Facebook. Each post starts to tell a story. Think of it as a monet painting where each brush stroke alone means nothing, but together they tell your brands story. They create the painting of your brand. This is a powerful branding tool, and you should leverage this appropriately.

4. It’s NOT about getting thousands of fans, it’s about engagement. If you have millions of fans that don’t listen to you, or engage with you, they’re useless. Give them something to hold onto.Give them content to share, that stimulates them, and that means something to your brand. Also, don’t forget to give thanks. In digital marketing as in life, it’s important to take a moment and thank those that have made your brand possible. Don’t be afraid to connect with your consumers by thanking them. It will go a long way, I promise.

Over and out.

Social Media for Beginners: Twitter

This is the third installment of my week long review of social media for beginners.

Twitter

1. Create an Account that tells us something about you. When I started on twitter back in 2007 I didn’t truly understand the power of Twitter. At the time the content was not wholly discoverable by search engines. So my Twitter handle, instead of being Chris Dessi is @cdessi. In hindsight, I wish I were @chrisdessi. I’ve since “squatted” on the @chrisdessi handle, however I’d built such a healthy following at @cdessi that there was no turning back. This week I noticed that my Uncle Bill, who I mention in my first post on Monday had changed his Twitter handle from @Bill711 to @Bill_LaRosa. When I attempted to do this Twitter notified me that someone (Myself) already had the handle @chrisdessi. I’ve since de-activated that handle, but I’m still having trouble transferring. As soon as I can, I think I’ll make the change. Twitter is discoverable by search engines. Make your profile easy for people to discover. While having a handle that doesn’t include your full name isn’t the end of the world I just feel it can only be a good thing if you did. At least I have my last name included. If you’re just starting I’d encourage you try to get your whole name, or something associated with your business. My companies Twitter account is @driveaction – only because @driveactiondigital is too long. So if you’re Bill Smith. Try to get @billsmith. Get it?

Chris Dessi on Twitter

2. Tweet about what you know. Start immediately, and tweet about everything you encounter throughout your day. I’ve linked up with some of the most influential people in my social media ecosystem by tweeting about simple things like a lost dog in Chappaqua. I don’t mention that I live in Chappaqua in my profile, however I connected with people in my town simply by mentioning it. They were searching for Chappaqua as a key word, and discovered me.

3. Search for like-minded people, and follow them. Think of a few key words that may define people you’d have interest in connecting with. If you sell real estate like Lou Cardillo, search for the towns you sell homes in, search at search.twitter.com, and follow those people. There’s a sort of unwritten rule on Twitter and in life of reciprocity. If you begin to follow people that are like minded, chances are that they’ll review your profile, and follow you back. This will help you build your Twitter community, and also help you create appropriate engagement. Again, chances are that these people will be interested in what you’re tweeting. Therefore they’ll be more inclined to Re-tweet your content, and spread your content throughout Twitter.

4. Participate – jump into the deep end, there’s no kiddie pool here. Happy Tweeting.

Tomorrow I’ll cover appropriate engagement in Facebook. Please add comments, and questions – I’m happy to help.

Over and Out.

Dialogue on Social Media

Social Media

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