Posted on by Frank - Follow me on Twitter

credit attributed to http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardwinchell/

This is a second guest post by Jason Viglione

There is an old saying that you can shear a sheep many times, but skin it only once. This is something that applies to sales and, believe it or not, social media. Used car salesman are notorious for being the shadiest bunch of salesman out there. They will try to put you in a car no matter what. To them, the most important thing is not getting you the right vehicle for your needs or budget but getting you in a vehicle and off the lot so they can count the money you left with them. To continue the sheep analogy; you, the consumer, get fleeced.

How in the world does this apply to social media? Most people don’t know how to monetize once, let alone over and over again. If that was your biggest concern, I understand. It was also mine. Many people on social media sites don’t have a product or even a service to sell. These sites are offered for free and they are used quite freely. It doesn’t seem that any money changes hands. Initially, it wont. Not for me, not for you, not for most people out there. That is why we call it “building your brand.” You aren’t anybody in particular. You may feel like nobody spectacular. That doesn’t mean you aren’t. It just means that people on social media don’t think you are. That is not a bad thing, though. You are whoever you want to be. Now, I don’t mean for you to lie, exaggerate or be otherwise untruthful. I’m talking about transparency. You are pure and unadulterated as an online persona. Talk about your passion. Talk about your knowledge base. Play to your strengths and let everyone see it. You get the start from the ground up and build your personal brand in any direction that seems profitable. It always begins with your passion.

Too many people want to be who their audience expects them to be. Here is the magic of it all – nobody expects anything but transparency. There’s that word again. It’s a buzz word and a hot term these days. All I mean is, put simply, that nobody expects anything out of you because they don’t know you. So you can just be you. Be transparent and let people see into you. The real you. Let them see the inherent value in who you are. A window into the soul of your brand. That is being transparent in terms of social media. It is not hiding behind a shroud of hype and false promises. It is not talking about what you think you’re supposed to talk about. It goes back to your passion. If the things you say are contrived and planned and calculated, people will see through it. They’ll realize you’re doing it to make a buck and so you won’t. Natural excitement and exuberance will show when talking about your passion and people will want to listen. If you’ve read my fist post here and you’re obviously reading this post, can you tell that I actually LOVE social media and talking about building brands with people?

I mentioned some keys to remember. One of them was “Be transparent.” Another was “Stay human.” All business drives people away. Nobody wants to listen to a twitterbot. Being personable helps your audience identify with you.” Don’t be all business all the time. This is not a product brand that you’re building. It’s a personal brand. You’re a person so act like one. Your audience will appreciate the ups and downs you go through with building your brand and working with your passion. It means you’re committed to it when you tough out the bad times and celebrate the good ones. Don’t tell us about the peanut butter and jelly sandwich you just had. Don’t tell us how bad your socks smell. Find the middle and tell us about the trials and tribulations of your branding building experience. Share and celebrate the victories – big and small. Maybe a hero of yours in your industry acknowledged you and you feel like the popular girl or boy in school just winked at you and you want the world to know. Well… tell the world. If you’re excited about it; your audience will be too.

So how does all this tie into the initial thought? You’re not trying to get someone to send you a bunch of money now. If you asked, you just might be able to, but never again. Take it slow, build trust between yourself and your audience. When you think you have a bite on the hook, don’t try to reel it in for big money immediately. It will be tough to wait. You will be excited. Trust me, I know. Your first “sale” may propel you to stardom, blow up before launch or just die on the vine. Any one outcome is just as likely as another so take care to nurture all relationships into maturity before trying to monetize them. I had a big fish. I had a nice slow plan. Someone came along with another plan and I took the bait. I tried to reel in my fish with the help of the guy that dangled dollars from jumpstreet. The fish let go and the guy that came to help… we haven’t been in touch since. Quell the excitement and leverage it against what makes sense.

Every status update is a seed. Plant it, let it grow and be careful to only pull from it when ripe. The only difference is that each seed grows into a separate plant whereas your status updates work together to grow your brand. Before you know it, you’ll have a mature, solid brand you can count on.

Jason Viglione has a lifelong passion for tech and is considered to be an emerging social media pundit. He is fast becoming a recognizable personal brand and trusted source for information about the latest technology, gadgets, or websites. Jason writes as the technology examiner for the national edition of examiner.com as well as his own website.  Follow Jay on Twitter @JayVig.  Every week there is a new weekly wrap-up in tech video as well as special pieces on YouTube

Further reading:

Personal Branding Through Relationships

Make Social Networking Work For Your Business

Craig Newmark – Building Brand With Social Media

How To Prevent Business Suicide

Posted in Social Networks | Comments (2)