It seems like there has been a compensation transition due to the rise of social media. Although cash compensation will always reign supreme by the majority, I’ve been seeing more and more social media participants “stick” to other new age forms. One example is what the blogosphere calls “link love,” which I define as recognition given from one blogger to the next in the form of a link to relevant content. There are even some bloggers out there that feel like they haven’t given enough link love, due to high volumes of email and asks. Already in this post, I’ve given out link love twice. Link love is about mutual respect for ideas and personal brands. If one blogger views your blog entry as insightful and creative, they may use link love to commemorate that blog post, giving you credit, while hopping for recognition back. It turns out that “link love” is a creative form of building links, increasing page rank with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and a great way to network. I’ve seen a lot of unique strategies for building these types of links and even have developed a contest, where the winner receives link love.
Oh wait, there’s more. Bloggers are even interviewing other bloggers through either podcasting or written content methods. Recognition has become a new form of compensation because there is actual value in building links. Now, more than ever before, people are willing to do more for less and accept compensation in the form of recognition and respect for their brand and their hard work. Personal Brands are not built by the dollar, but rather take form by building a reputation and respect from people in your industry. I find there to be a lot of forced “link love”, where individuals ask for a link exchange or a blog post dedicated to them. I’ve been a victim to this and used to think it was a best practice, but both Google and everyone else knows that this strategy is no longer effective. The real success lies in building relationships, that will unveil new opportunities such as guest blogging, interviewing, posting and link exchanges. By getting yourself out there, meeting new people and creating new relationships, you are forming evangelists for your Personal Brand. Experts, such as Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki don’t need to link to others as much because they are thought leaders and respected individuals with a worldwide reputation. Since not everyone starts out with an “expert brand” we must reach out to others before we receive the same in return.
