The Elements Of The Personal Brand &amp; Why beBee Is A Great Place To Build You

Jim Murray

7 years ago · 5 min. reading time · 0 ·

Blogging

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The Elements Of The Personal Brand & Why beBee Is A Great Place To Build Yours

One of the first things I did when I got settled in St Catharines was to sign up with Meetup, which is a networking directory site, and start looking for business groups to attend.
This is one of the best ways to make connections and get to know what the market down here in the Niagara region is like.
One of the first group get-togethers I attended was run by a lady named Charlene Norman. Like many of the business people I have met, she is also a refugee from The Big Smoke, (Toronto), where she was a business development specialist.
After she got to know me a bit, and found out that I was a beBee brand ambassador, she thought it would be a good thing for me to talk to the group about my experiences as an op/ed blogger and why have chosen to make beBee the source for my posting.
Hardly anyone I have talked to, even the two young guys who talked about SEO and digital marketing on social media in my group last week, knew about beBee. So I’m taking this presentation as an opportunity to inform them.

The Personal Brand Thing

Last week I wrote a post on branding, which I consider to be a flavour of the month term that has hung around for a long time because it’s basically a bucket that can hold a lot of water.
The reason I objected to it in this post was that the term has been so overused that it’s actually starting to go out of style.
Having said that, and knowing a fair bit about beBee, I believe the concept of ‘personal’ branding is completely valid. And the reason I believe this is because the going forward strategy of beBee is all about how a strong personal brand can be one of the more important keys to attracting and developing potential business relationships.

Many of the business relationships I developed since the turn of the century have been directly related to the personal brand I developed through my long format writing and through my emailing (until the draconian Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation made the process so complex that it was hardly worth doing.
It started with my first blog, (even before they were referred to as such), which I called The Couch Potato Chronicles. This blog, and it was a blog in the truest sense of the word, was basically a review column part entertainment, part sports, part politics, part marketing.
It was directly responsible for several of the long term relationships I developed with boutique agencies, designers and marketing consultants.
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/how-to-lose-friends-piss-off-a-lot-of-people-on-social-media

What Was I Doing Right?

You hear a lot of people complain about how social media posting is doing nothing for their business. My marketing brain tells me that for many people this is probably true and that there are a number of reasons for that to be the case.
So for those people, and anyone else who is interested, I have summarized the things I have come to believe about the development, care and feeding of the personal brand.
A Personal Brand Starts With An Identity. This is a fundamental rule that is drilled into your head when you first get into advertising. When I started the Couch Potato Chronicles back in 1998, I designed a logo for it and made sure that it was attached to every post I wrote. along with my contact info.
A Personal Brand Has A Pre-Defined Target Audience:
Like any other marketing, you need to focus your efforts on reaching the kind of people you think will be most likely to be responsive and interested.
A Personal Brand Has A Common Sense Objective
You need to think long and hard about what this is and the content you create should support that.
This doesn’t mean it’s all about your business. Because people are looking for more than that. They want to learn about how you think and what you believe, because those elements are the ones that will build trust in you. And nothing happen without that element of trust.
A Personal Brand Has A Consistent Character
If you read my stuff regularly, you probably notice that there is a consistent feel to almost everything I do. A lot of people call this 'authenticity'. But advertising people call it brand character. Tomato Tamato.
I tend to be a lot more assertive and hard core than a lot of people in social media, but this character has been shaped by the responses I get to my posts.
Sometimes I piss people off. (Of course, these are people who have stumbled into me by mistake, or trolls of one kind or another). Sometimes I make them think a little deeper about things. Sometimes I give them insights they can use. Sometimes I attack stuff that needs to be attacked. But most of the time you know it’s me. And this is another fundamental rule: consistency builds recognition which helps build your personal brand.
A Personal Brand Is A Personal Commitment
If you are lucky enough to find a digital marketer who is honest and realistic, (and I know one or two), they will tell you that the development and ongoing maintenance of your personal brand is something akin to a religion.
This has less to do with the frequency of your posting than it does with the ongoing presence you need to maintain and the willingness you have to promote your posts at enough of a frequency to actually make your efforts worthwhile.

Why beBee?

In order to achieve Point #5, you need to be posting on a number of sites. But if you have any experience with posting on LinkedIn you have no doubt come to realize that their publisher, Pulse, is almost useless.
You will be much further ahead, (and I have proven this to myself a number of times) by using beBee’s publisher for your point of origin for longer format posts, and linking to LI, FaceBook, Twitter, and Google + than you will by posting in Pulse and hoping for the best.
The other advantage of posting directly on beBee is that you can link your posts directly to your email lists and promote them that way, all from one place with just a few clicks.
When you create your post on beBee, you can have it forwarded within the site itself to three different affinity based groups or ‘hives’, so you can put your posts in front of the people who are more likely to be interested in what you have to say.
And of course, your post will appear on the home page of every one of your followers as well.

The Intangible Advantage

I have been blogging from beBee for almost a year now and have come to realize that the people who belong to this site have a higher level of interest in reading commenting and sharing good posts and generally have a very positive attitude towards the site and the people who populate it.
Being in a good space with a good vibe can, for many of us, be very stimulating. And that makes the job of maintaining your personal brand that much easier.
Yeah, I’m a beBee brand ambassador and part of my role is to help promote beBee. But you know what…my severe allergy to bullshit prevents me from writing anything that is not, at least in my personal experience, true.
But the proof, as they say is in the pudding. This whole article is my advice to you. It will cost you nothing but time you are spending anyway if you should decide to take it.
And in the now immortal words of D Trump: “What the hell have you got to lose?”

Related Posts

https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/why-every-linkedin-group-owner-should-consider-carrying-their-group-over-to-bebee
https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/my-goodbye-to-publishing-on-linkedin-my-hello-to-publishing-on-bebee

If your business has reached the point where talking to an experienced communication professional would be the preferred option to banging your head against the wall or whatever, lets talk.
Download my free ebook Small Business Communication For The Real World here:  https://onwordsandupwords.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/small-business-communications-for-the-real-world/
All my profile and contact information can be accessed here:
 https://www.bebee.com/producer/@jim-murray/this-post-is-my-about-page  

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#Pulse #Personal Brand #Couch Potato Chronicles #Place #Elements

Comments

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #33

beBee; the platform to create, showcase, and share your personal brand https://www.bebee.com/producer/@juan-imaz/bebee-the-platform-to-create-showcase-and-share-your-personal-brand Building a Successful Personal Brand https://www.bebee.com/producer/@javierbebee/building-a-successful-personal-brand Why Blogging on beBee = Better Personal Branding https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-blogging-bebee-better-personal-branding-david-b-grinberg

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #32

#31
Sticks and stones, Jim, sticks and stones. (I remember the exchange too)

Wayne Yoshida

7 years ago #31

An excellent quote from Jim Murray -- "... my severe allergy to bullshit prevents me from writing anything that is not, at least in my personal experience, true." Love that. It is a great reason to be driven - this is your "why" statement, as Simon Sinek would say . . . https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

Jim Murray

7 years ago #30

#29
Fuck you, Phil. (How's that for nostalgia). Yer pal, jim

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #29

#29
Then it would be a nightmare for you again (and even more for all the other members too), only this time with a decent fractal troll. Please don't do that Mr No-Muzak :) "Mr No-Muzak Said Fractal Troll Said" - That's too much, I guess :)

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #28

#25
Yea, well now if I could just stop arguing with that trollmudgeon, Jim Murray, things would be much calmer. Wait, check that. If that were to happen, "He Said He Said" would stop being so much fun. https://www.bebee.com/producer/@friedman-phil/censorship-to-cut-or-not-to-cut-that-is-the-question

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #27

#27
Bz 🐝 :)

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #26

Bzzzzzzzzzzz 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

don kerr

7 years ago #25

Jim Murray "Yeah, I’m a beBee brand ambassador and part of my role is to help promote beBee. But you know what…my severe allergy to bullshit prevents me from writing anything that is not, at least in my personal experience, true." Couldn't have written it better. So, I didn't. Good advice Jim. Sharing.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #24

#24
Yes Phil Friedman, it's true! I will try to be more focused and productive. It's probably my fault. Cheers, for a start.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #23

#23
I know that, Milos, and agree. But that is sometimes counter-indicated, at lest to me, by certain ways in which you say things.-- almost certainly my misinterpretation, though. However, I think that you and I demonstrate how it is possible to engage in disagreement while remaining friends and devotees of truth and intellectual growth. Cheers!

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #22

#19
The common good is not utopia for me, it is reality based on the confrontation exchange and opinions. It's mutual learning. I'm practicing this skill for years, just as you :)

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #21

#15
My pleasure Jim Murray. We share the same position.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #20

#19
Phil Friedman, my friend. We have always had fruitful discussions and I'm not worried regarding disagreements. This represents mutual cooperation and support. Thanks.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #19

OLE OLE OLE ! "the going forward strategy of beBee is all about how a strong personal brand can be one of the more important keys to attracting and developing potential business relationships." you got it!

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #18

#11
Milos Djukic, my friend, you and I have disagreed about this for a long time and will likely continue to do so. First, your statement that "Our future "Brave New World", despite some dogmatic principles could be a lot of different place, much better too and full of some glittering prizes for all of us ..." makes me generally uncomfortable. For it strikes me as a typically utopian vision, in which someone is willing to sacrifice individual humanity if the cause of some undefined "greater good". Beyond that, I do agree with you that "We need self-organizing system in order to be adaptive and sustainable ...". To my mind that self-organization is organic and arises from the constant interplay and adjustments that result from free and open exchange of ideas and opinions -- which includes the tolerance of non-violent, civil disagreement and criticism. When I refer to "aggressive passivity" what I mean is the emerging tendency on social media to insist on the elimination of questioning or dissenting exchange on the basis that all engagement should be sweet and without conflict of any sort. For this is to confuse mutual support and respect with shallow common stroking. Cheers!

Jim Murray

7 years ago #17

#3
Thnaks Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee. I enjoy writing about things I like.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #16

#5
Thanks Matt \ud83d\udc1d Sweetwood.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #15

#14
Thanks Paul Walters. It is a very good hat. Light and well balanced.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #14

#8
Milos Djukic..You are always going to run into people who will get pissed of at what you have to say, especially of you are trying to speak the truth as you know it. I don't mind these people all that much because criticism is how we learn. The wold is not all peace, love and groovy. The people who learn to roll with that are the ones who, in their own ways are helping to bridge the Great Divide. Thanks for your comments, my friend.

Paul Walters

7 years ago #13

@thanks Jim Murray Oh and by the way....nice hat!!

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #12

Any kind of manipulation is ultimately fatal for the one who manipulated within complex adaptive systems. We need self-organizing system in order to be adaptive and sustainable. Their current algorithm does not provide an adequate degree of self-organization. It is well known that "Fine scales influence large scale behavior" - the butterfly effect. We need co-evolution of all writers and that means same rules for all, without manipulation. Since "We" (not all) have recent "environment" changes (strict algorithmic control of exposure), we also need to change our behaviour in order to ensure best fit. Currently, there is no solution (best fit). That is the reason why we are here. Chaos is an integral part of transformation. "Order is not pressure which is imposed on society from without, but an equilibrium which is set up from within." - José Ortega y Gasset, Mirabeau and Politics

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #11

#10
Here is the proof. You're Closer Than You Think - LinkedIn "The future is all about what you do next and we’re excited to help you get there. Ready for your moonshot? You're closer than you think." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_cz6Xt-SZM

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #10

I don't share your opinion Phil Friedman related to beBee. This applies to LinedIn only ("Aggressive Passivity which seeks to assimilate all into a Borg-like collective"). They (LI) succeeded: single-mindedness. "And finally the most obscure aspect connected with statistical self-similarity which reflect the most current state of social structure in which randomly generated fractals (humans) have a chance to make a new Renaissance, which is far from totalitarian single-mindedness as expressed in Star Trek Borg Collective model, Equilibrium movie by Kurt Wimmer, "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell, Kafka's "Der Process" or in "The Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Our future "Brave New World", despite some dogmatic principles could be a lot of different place, much better too and full of some glittering prizes for all of us. Even perhaps only on this micro scale where we have some influence, if not globally. The Fractal Revolution in Society, beBee affinity network is the first social media." - from "The Fractal Revolution in Society, Social Media First", Linked long-form post, published on September 4, 2016

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #9

#8
Unfortunately, Milos Djukic.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #8

Reductio ad absurdum.

Milos Djukic

7 years ago #7

"Sometimes I piss people off." - Jim Murray Ok Jim, my friend. As an exercise for all beBee members, in accordance with your "A Personal Brand Has A Consistent Character" approach, I will piss off all beBee members, including me (the Important difference in approach), for the first and the last time here on beBee or any other social media with just one quote: "If they're that sensitive, you don't want anything to do with them anyway. Sensitive people are like bees — they sting once and die. No one wants to live life surrounded by weak people whose sole purpose in life is to find something to cry about. We don’t need buzzing in our ear every time they think they smell something sour. Sensitive people are not worth your pity; they are people who need either bigger balls or thicker skin." - from "Why It’s Better To Piss People Off Than To Let Them Walk All Over You" by Lauren Martin on elitedaily.com (http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/better-piss-people-off-let-walk/912646/) Charming? I don't think so... :) Successful personal branding techniques depend on mutual respect.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #6

#2
Thanks I'll repost this in your LI group.

Jim Murray

7 years ago #5

#1
@Robert Cormack....Port Dover? For real? I love Port Dover. I go down in the summer to photograph bikes and their riders.

Matt Sweetwood

7 years ago #4

Nice post Jim. Buzz On!

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #3

thanks Jim Murray ! buzz on !

David B. Grinberg

7 years ago #2

Congrats on another buzzing blog, Jim (following a long list of them over the past year). You make excellent points about personal branding and how leveraging beBee can enhance one's personal brand. I commend you for your prolific prose. Keep buzzing, my friend! cc: Javier \ud83d\udc1d beBee

Robert Cormack

7 years ago #1

All excellent points, @Jim Murray. I'll think more about them when I've moved down to Port Dover. Thanks.

Articles from Jim Murray

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1 year ago · 2 min. reading time

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