Developing Relevance.

I’ve added an additional topic to this blog, Personal Online Branding — it’s a loaded term that has recently attracted some attention, and it’s worth talking about.  At first it appears to have little to with Enterprise 2.0 (the primary topics of this blog).  However there is a subtle connection between the two.  In both areas, we address issues of social computing tools and behaviors in order to achieve some business results. So lessons from one can apply to the other.

I’ve had some great conversations with branding experts and career coaches lately, and I’ve done a lot of introspection on what I have been doing over the past few years — and more critically — what seems to be working and what seems to not work so well for me.  And along with the conversations and the thinking, I’ve been coaching some people and helping them get their act in order.  Some are job seekers and some are small business owners — and all are looking to understand how to be effective citizens in the new socially mediated online channels.

I’ll touch on the question What is a brand? by pointing to this thought-provoking blog post.  Yes, this is fuzzy and confusing.  Let’s just focus on the part of branding that we can easily talk about — that being those actions you can take that will help develop a desired impression about you by others whom you wish to notice.  I’ll share two (modified) stories with you.

Harvey is a friend of mine who is looking for a job.  He’s an expert in a niche area of technology architecture.  He’s very well read, has lots of experience, and is quite articulate. He’s been focusing on his ideas that he thinks could “revolutionize the industry” and really solve many problems in his field.  But he has not found an audience to hear him out.  It has been a while since Harvey has been employed (he does some private consulting now), so I asked him if he is aware of the current pulse in his industry.  He didn’t know what I meant, so I asked him the following questions:

• Who are the thought leaders in your industry?
• Who are the relevant vendors?
• What is going on in your industry, are there new products on the horizon?  Were there any recent mergers or layoffs among major vendors, consultants, or clients?
• Who else is in the job market that would be applying for the same jobs you are?
• When/Where is the next industry conference?
• Are there local networking meetings you should attend?
• If you get an interview, what do you think your interviewer will ask you that demonstrates how up to date you are?

These made him a bit uncomfortable.  He certainly knows his technology skills, but admitted that he does not spend any time keeping current — and actually is afraid that his skills may get outdated — resulting in being considered irrelevant to a potential employer.

Nicole is another friend of mine.  She’s a small business owner and is trying to build her “personal brand” online in order to build her business. In contrast to Harvey, Nicole is very tuned in to her industry and she is very attentive to her clients and prospects.  But she has no presence on-line.  The only way to engage her is to find her ad and talk to her on the phone or in her office.  For Nicole, the Internet is a great resource to lurk and learn, but she does not have the time or energy to set up anything more than a static webpage — one that gets little traffic.  Nicole is very aware, but she’s not engaged — at least not online.  She’ll find you, but you might not find her.

One of the first models I share with people when I discuss online branding is this simple equation:

Awareness + Engagement –> Relevance

One of the important goals of a personal brand (e.g. for a job seeker or a small business owner) is to become relevant to an audience. There are two essential elements to develop that relevance, and you need both of them.  First you need to be aware of what is going on in your area of focus.  Then you need to be engaged actively.  Excel in both, and you develop more relevance. Do one without the other and the results are not so effective.

Some branding experts suggest that you must get out and blog, get on Facebook, and be prolific, get found, generate noise and buzz, etc.  But before you do, I suggest you take the time to review the questions above and chart a path to answering them.  Spend more time listening and learning, so that your engagement activities are effective.  Personally I find Twitter and blogs to be very helpful to help me develop my awareness — but there are other tools/places that can help, and this depends on the industry you are in.

Once you are a bit tuned in, then you need to get involved.  Why?  I asked my friend Harvey one last question:

• Who in your industry is aware that you are looking for a job?

I explained that you cannot just become very informed and not do anything about it.  Nor should you put up a billboard and say “Hire me, I’m really smart — I promise.”  That does not work either. Engagement is conversational interaction.  It requires you to show up and contribute — and as a prerequisite it requires you to know something about the conversation you are engaging in. Although it takes more than just conversation, this does help develops a sense of trust with your audience.  And this is essential in developing an effective personal brand.

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Tagged as: blogging, community, expert, marketing, personal branding, social media, success story, tip