I’m truly honored to be in the position I’m in right now and thank you all for your support, as we evangelize personal branding and spread these ideas to the masses. When you start building your brand, don’t demand immediate results, but rather work as hard as you can to position yourself for the future. You must sacrifice today, to get what you want tomorrow. I really enjoy marketing, which is why I spend more time marketing than I do actually writing or posting on this blog. A lot of people say “if you built it, it will come.” This statement is not true unless you count on luck. Believe in yourself, never give up and always focus on the future by investing in your brand today.
Below I share with you my interviews with Entrepreneur and BusinessWeek. Both of them occurred in the course of 4 days! If you’re young, I hope this inspires you to put your ideas in motion and go after what you want.
Update: October 29th, 2:00 PM EST – MSNBC syndicated the Entrepreneur interview!
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Entrepreneurs Need Social Networking
by David Javitch
Can you tell me about the trend that has employers hiring employees to take on social networking duties?
Dan Schawbel: It’s a major trend that’s been growing significantly, especially in the past three years. Conversations are happening and they’ll happen with or without you; your choice is whether to participate or ignore this technological tidal wave. Due to the current economy, there are clear restraints on marketing budgets, so free social marketing is the best alternative. As companies grow and social networking continues to expand, the entrepreneurial boss simply cannot devote all of the time needed for a successful effort. He or she needs to hire someone else dedicated to assume this responsibility. This person will be the internal community manager who will create, monitor and transfer information about the company between and among employees who have a voice and can influence or build the corporate brand.
Externally, the community manager will reach out to current and potential customers. This person will spark interactive conversations, market products or services, and invite responses. In terms of public relations, this social media maven will protect and promote the company’s brand with customers and future employees, and help with the corporate blog and social network strategy.
What “bare bones” networking should small-business owners be doing on their own (if they can’t hire someone to do it for them) that will help them market their business?
Small-business owners should get involved in social sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Friendfeed. They need to go where the people are to promote themselves, recruit and maintain a relationship with specific communities, while obtaining new customers and building bigger communities. They need to draw accounts into their world. Above all, the owner must have specific goals in mind in order to strategize about what he or she wants to get out of these efforts. Is it to increase business by 500 more customers? Increase visibility? Sell more products or services? Without specific goals, the owner won’t be able to determine if the social networking process was a success or a failure.
While getting on these social sites, business owners must protect their name so no one else can use it. This includes claiming your identity on social sites before competitors do or people with the same name do. These sites have a high Google PageRank™, which means they’ll appear in the top results when someone Googles your name or your company’s name.
Entrepreneur interview continued…
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Brand Yourself to Fight the Bad Economy
by Marshall Goldsmith
Dan, what exactly is personal branding, and why is it so important in today’s challenging workplace?
Dan Schawbel: Personal branding is how we market ourselves to others. Each and every one of us has a brand because we are constantly being judged based on first impressions. Also, we are forced to sell our ideas and unique abilities to all stakeholders inside a company or as an entrepreneur.
Ten years ago, in a Web 1.0 world, your brand was hidden unless you were an executive at a leading company or a Hollywood celebrity. Now, with the evolution of the Internet into a Web 2.0 environment, every single person has a voice that can build or destroy their reputation and that of their company in an instant. Another major difference is that you needed a lot of mainstream press years ago to make a name for yourself. Today you can start a blog and join social networks for free.
Everyone from hiring managers to admissions officers and even talent agencies is scrubbing the Internet, either in search of their next hire or as a background check. According to Careerbuilder.com, 22% of managers screen their staff using social networks like Facebook, and Kaplan says that 10% of admissions officers verify potential students using social networks. There is a massive opportunity for you to position yourself as an extraordinary brand and be recruited based on your passion.
Can you explain how social media tools can protect workers?
Dan Schawbel: You need to build your brand equity outside of your current job because there is no such thing as job security anymore. To do this, you should become a blogger, reserve your name on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and take ownership of your Google results by constantly monitoring what shows up for your name over time. Each of these social media tools rank high in Google, therefore they can give you the necessary visibility you need to seize opportunities.
BusinessWeek interview continued…
