Browsing Archive: January, 2010

The Four Tenets of the Community Manager

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 29, 2010, In : Community Manager 

1) A Community Advocate
As a community advocate, the community managers’ primary role is to represent the customer. This includes listening, which results in monitoring, and being active in understanding what customers are saying in both the corporate community as well as external websites. Secondly, they engage customers by responding to their requests and needs or just conversations, both in private and in public.

2) Brand Evangelist
In this evangelistic role (it goes both ways)...


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Social Media Marketing Approaches

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 28, 2010, In : Social Media 

Web Strategy Matrix: Social Marketing Approaches, Shotgun vs Laser

  Shotgun Laser
Description Hiring multiple agencies to conduct social campaigns Building a deeper relationship with a core group of influencers
Similar to Interactive Advertising, “Fishing” Influencer Relations, ‘Friending”
Benefits Efficient way to get started, identify hot spots to pursue. Deeper relationships with core influencers who may spread word of mouth, and become brand evangelists.
Risks Brand ...

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What Is Content Strategy

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, In : Web Strategy 

At its best, a content strategy defines:

  • key themes and messages,
  • recommended topics,
  • content purpose (i.e., how content will bridge the space between audience needs and business requirements),
  • content gap analysis,
  • metadata frameworks and related content attributes,
  • search engine optimization (SEO), and
  • implications of strategic recommendations on content creation, publication, and governance.
via alistapart.com

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Five Reasons You're Failing at Social Media

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 25, 2010, In : Social Media 

1. You really don't want to engage directly with customers, employees, etc.—you just want them to hear what you have to say.

2. You're not ready to create new roles, update process, re-distribute resources and budgets, re-train people, and revise old policies.

3. Social media actually threatens how you make money—but you pay lip service out of fear.

4. Politics.

5. You see it as a career advancing opportunity as opposed to a significant business transformation.

Reverse any of the...


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5 Reasons Why Content Strategy Comes Before Social Media

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Sunday, January 24, 2010, In : Social Media 

Here are five important reasons why a content strategy needs to be considered before integrating social media into your marketing plans.

  1. Social media does not work unless you have something valuable to say! Developing a content marketing strategy is about understanding your customers' pain points, and then delivering multi-channel content that solves those customer challenges. Without having something to add to the customer conversation, how is it possible to leverage social medi...

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Personal Branding Is About Fashion

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Saturday, January 23, 2010, In : Branding 

I recently presented my pitch on personal branding at two lunch time events in Sunnyvale.  On the first occasion I wore tan corduroy pants with the shirt you see above.  And more recently I wore black pants with the same shirt.   I didn't really think too much about it except that I know this is a good color on me.

I started a small buzz when people realized that the business cards I was handing out before the event matched my shirt.  I had several people remark about it to ...


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The Brand Evangelist and Social Media

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 22, 2010, In : Branding 

A Brand Evangelist is a person who promotes your brand without regard for compensation.  Their reward is the association with your brand.   Your brand becomes part of their identity.  The goal of any brand is to find and cultivate Brand Evangelists who can promote your brand everywhere without costing you a cent.  Social Media provides a great platform for you to grow some Brand Evangelists for yourself.

A Brand Evangelist:

  • Purchase and believe in your product or service
  • Passionat...

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Personal Branding - You Are the Fulcrum

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, In : Branding 

“Give me a place to stand,” said Archimedes, “and I will move the world.”

As you probably know, a fulcrum is the pivot point for a lever. And we know that Archimedes was planning to use a lever to move the world. But a lever by itself is worthless. It needs the fulcrum to actually do the leveraging. You are that fulcrum.

Part of a good brand is being focused on a dream that you want to come true. It is the thing that drives a personal brand. While branding is about creating im...


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Selling the Dream Using Social Media

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 18, 2010, In : Evangelism 

An Evangelist is not a well known role but is experiencing a resurgence in the age of Social Media.  Guy Kawasaki was probably one of the first to popularize the roll of the evangelist working for Apple computer.    I was recently re-reading his book on evangelism called "Selling the Dream"  It is still inspiring.

 One of the jobs of a product evangelist is to consume, distill and disseminate vast amounts of information.  And like Guy says - an evangelist must "eat like a hummingbird ...

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The Well Branded Business Card

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Sunday, January 17, 2010, In : Branding 


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Listen and Engage at the Point of Need

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Sunday, January 17, 2010, In : Social Media 


We all know that listening is the key to a great social media marketing strategy.  But listening goes for naught if you cant connect with your customers and grow your business.  There is a concept called "The Point of Need" which is a dividing line between the hard sell on one side and a welcomed and connected sales pitch on the other.

The key is to know when to merge into the traffic of conversation.  No one appreciates a person who barges in on their conversation.  There is a...

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Characteristics of a Technical Evangelist

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 15, 2010, In : Evangelism 

The most salient characteristics of the typical technology evangelist role include being:

  • Proactive in rapidly connecting with others; open and generous in extending time and assistance; willing to build and leverage relationships to accomplish tasks and meet goals.
  • Able to communicate large volumes of content rapidly and clearly. Enthusiastic and persuasive, motivating others by considering their points of view, and then adjusting the delivery to fit the specific individual.
  • Collaborative,...

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Interact First - Sell Second

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 15, 2010, In : Marketing 
via thelostjacket.com

I dont know how many times this idea has been drilled into my head. Im a believer. However, it appears to be quite a difficult concept for many on the web. I think you have to have a marketing/customer sensibility before you can understand it.


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Your Personal Brand Can Change the World

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 15, 2010, In : Branding 

I remember a comment Neil Young had about Live Aid and other similar events. He said "save yourself". I have always thought about that and realized that after I find my true self and act upon that fact - the world will change around me.


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Personal Branding - Expertise vs Expert

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 14, 2010, In : Branding 


I have found that when we talk about ourselves we might say that we have some particular expertise in something and only rarely do we say "I am an expert". This is a personal branding mistake. For example, I might say that I have expertise in Java Software Architecture. But it would be better expressed as saying "I am a Java Software Architecture Expert". 

And another thing, the more you repeat this phrase - the more people will believe it and refer to you as the "Expert".  Saying tha...

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How to update status on Twitter and Facebook

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 14, 2010, In : Twitter 
Its quite easy to provide a link that creates a twitter status update for something you are promoting in your blog.  Same for Facebook.   You dont want them to just go to Twitter but you want to help them out by filling out their status promotion for them.  Usually in your blog software you can highlight some text and select the link icon which will pop up a small window and allow you to insert a target url.  All the information is in the target URL.  
 
In order to understand wha...

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Internal and External Brand Mantras

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 11, 2010, In : Branding 

We have all heard about taglines sometimes called "brand" taglines. A tagline is really an external mantra for your customers to resonate with. Its also important when developing a personal career brand to have an internal mantra. Just like the word "OM" - which is chanted to bring inner calm - we need an internal mantra to guide our career and to give it meaning.

Finding an internal mantra that "fits" is not an easy task. It relies on some deep reflection of your core values and then simpl...

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Criteria for a Great Brand Name

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 11, 2010, In : Branding 
  • DISTINCTIVENESS - always important in branding.  You must standout.  Ive seen some pretty interesting names lately that have been creative with spelling - apptizr.com as an example.  This company provides a smart way to find iphone apps.
  • BREVITY - Often you want to have your brand name be your domain name.   So some brand names or company names are just too long and you are forced to have a domain that is different from your brand.  Not that good. The shorter the name the easier it is ...

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Inspiration Feedback

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 8, 2010, In : Branding 


We all need feedback.  Often we can't see ourselves clearly and we need someone to mirror back observations.   I call this the "Rosalind Principle" named after a very smart and wise friend who is quite insightful about others but has more difficulty with herself.

When I ask for feedback - there is often a feeling of dread - because most of my friends give me left brained feedback - it can be brutal.  I hear the feedback and recognize that its true but frequently I have difficulty a...

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What is a Personal Brand Tagline

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 8, 2010, In : Branding 

Taglines aren't just for companies - they are for individuals. A tagline is a very short expression that conveys meaning to your audience. When developing a career we can use these short expressions in conversation or on our business cards to quickly help others understand who and what we are. A good tagline starts a conversation and provides context for everything that follows. Without any further preamble (Just do it), I am going to list some qualities of a good tagline.

Simple...

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Personal Branding is Outcome Thinking

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Thursday, January 7, 2010, In : Branding 


Personal Branding - especially for your career has to do with setting and achieving goals. In essence - getting things done. We are not used to setting our own goals - more often we are buffeted about by forces around us. But branding ourselves in our career is about setting some personal goals and actually accomplishing them. In David Allen's book Getting Things Done he uses a term called "Outcome Thinking". He says "Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired outcomes i...
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Personal Branding is Like Buddhism

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, In : Branding 



One of the reason so much branding fails is that people arent aware enough of their circumstances - personally and in the marketplace. While I dont profess to be a Buddhist, I have benefited from some meditation and slowing down of my crazed monkey brain - thereby starting to notice a bit more nuance in my life. Personal branding is about personal awareness. We could learn a lot from the Buddha.

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The Personal Branded Avatar

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, In : Branding 


Its important to present a representative image of yourself in all of your social network profiles.  People respond visually and make very quick decisions about you.  If your avatar is a cartoon its hard to take you seriously.   One caveat to that is - if you are not concerned about your brand then the avatar could be anything.  Sometimes you want to be anonymous or be known as something other than what you really are - thats playful and fun - but its not a personal brand.

...


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Advantages and Disadvantages fo URL Shorteners

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Wednesday, January 6, 2010, In : SEO 


URL shorteners are everywhere now.  I cant keep up with them.  Im talking about url shorteners and redirectors as tinyurl.com and bit.ly among many others.   It doesnt take a lot of reflection to understand that controlling links is a money making venture.  I think there are still opportunities in how the url shortener uses the links.

Some of the advantages of using one are:

  • Short URLs - duh.  With the rise of Twitter and the need to keep tweets under 140 characters h...

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How to Add Twitter Feed to Facebook Fan Page

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, In : Facebook 
Many people wonder how to have your Twitter updates go to a Facebook Fan page.  Its pretty easy.  The basic strategy is to add a RSS feed to the Notes tab and let Facebook post naturally to your Page Wall.

1) Go to your Twitter page and click on your Profile so that you see only your updates.  At the bottom of the right side you will see an RSS icon and "RSS Feed of <YourID> Tweets".   You can right click and "Copy Link Location" or just click on it to view it and then copy the url...

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Jon Blake - Land Surveyor - Encinitas - San Diego

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, In : Branding 

Authentic • Honest • Experienced

  • Over 30 Years of Experience in and around San Diego
  • Specializing in Boundary Disputes and Boundary Surveys
  • Expert at Boundary Line Determination
  • The Sherlock Holmes of finding lost markers
  • Unfailingly willing to go the extra mile to do things right
  • Always Delivers Exceptional Value
  • Expert Witness for Federal Court on Boundary Disputes
  • United States Mineral Surveyor
  • Accomplished Land Surveyor Instructor
  • Speaker and Storyteller of San Diego Land ...

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Personal Branding Is Made to Stick

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, In : Branding 
Like any branding - its about marketing and the ability to be memorable. Its unfortunate that most of us are terrible at making impressions. The good news is that there is a simple recipe which you can use to improve. I simply cant recommend the book Made To Stick by Chip and Dan Heath enough. You gotta read the whole book to get the whole picture - or at least start reading their columns in Fast Company. These two brothers provide some simple guidelines that can be remembered by the acronym ...
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Personal Branding is the New Black

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 4, 2010, In : Branding 

A few years ago personal branding was more of a curiosity for individuals.  Now we cant read a magazine without hearing about personal branding.  I think in some ways branding  yourself was considered vain.    The "corporate man culture" had not died out.  I think those days are gone.  Just as women rely on having a black dress in the closet - professionals need to have some sort of personal branding going on - or they will seem out of it.   Well I have to admit that many unemployed people I...


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Personal Branding - I am the Singularity

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Monday, January 4, 2010, In : Branding 

Click to view large
The number one rule of personal branding is to be unique - possibly the best in the world as Seth Godin suggests in his book The Dip. This is not as hard as it might seem - it just takes a bit of self reflection to find the things that differentiate yourself from the rest of the commodities out there in the world. Its a bit about finding your own personality and being ok with it - because being yourself and having a special point of view sometimes makes you at odds ...

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The Brand Called You - Tom Peters - Fast Company

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Saturday, January 2, 2010, In : Branding 

It's a new brand world.

That cross-trainer you're wearing -- one look at the distinctive swoosh on the side tells everyone who's got you branded. That coffee travel mug you're carrying -- ah, you're a Starbucks woman! Your T-shirt with the distinctive Champion "C" on the sleeve, the blue jeans with the prominent Levi's rivets, the watch with the hey-this-certifies-I-made-it icon on the face, your fountain pen with the maker's symbol crafted into the end ...

You're branded, branded, brand...


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Business Blogging Rules

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Saturday, January 2, 2010, In : business 

Any time you write for your business - in a blog or on your website - the message must be easily understood.  Here are a few rules you can use to stay on track.   You can be your own copywriter.
  • BE ON TARGET - Your business message should have a target audience in mind.  When you write for your business its not about you but about who you are attempting to reach.  Knowing your audience for the message is the first step.
  • ADJUST YOUR READING LEVEL - Im not saying dumb down your message, but make ...

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Personal Branding Is A Lens

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 

Personal Branding is a way of looking at things. It is a lens through which we can interpret and decide if actions and behaviors are good or not. Most of the things about personal branding we already know about – but we dont always know what to apply and when. A personal branding lens groups and guides our thoughts and actions. It’s actually very exciting because I can now prioritize what I do using this “branding” lens.

I was thinking about this today when I set up my first Squidoo p...


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Personal Branding - Dont Be the Invisible Man

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 

Everybody has heard of the Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. The Invisible Man in the story is a scientist who theorizes that if a person’s refractive index is changed to exactly that of air and his body does not absorb or reflect light, then he will be invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but cannot become visible again, becoming mentally unstable as a result.

Without personal branding most of us are exactly like the Invisible Man – but without going through the ...


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Personal Branding is Telling Authentic Stories

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 

Lately, Ive been attempting to come to grips with telling my personal story more effectively. I know its important to tell a good story in order to have people remember you positively. But I didnt really understand the power of story telling until I read Seth Godin’s book called “All Marketers Are Liars”. And before you misunderstand the title I have to tell you the subtitle is “The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World”.

liars
The whole book is interesting but Im only ...


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Personal Branding Makes Blogging Easy

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 
Many people around me seem to be interested in blogging. Its almost as if they feel they are missing something if they don’t blog. Beyond selecting which blogger to use to create the posts – most people I know have difficulty figuring out what to write about sustainably. The primary reason people dont know what to blog about is that they don’t know what their personal brand is. If you have a clearly defined personal brand (especially for your career) – then blogging is easy. The reaso...
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Twitter Tips For Personal Branding

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 

I have been reflecting on how to be most effective on Twitter – and to use Twitter to convey my brand. Since my primary trade is a software architect – I immediately recognize what I think are best practices – in fact are probably patterns for success on Twitter. So here they are:
twitter_logo

  • First start with an interesting design. You can customize the Twitter page using what Twitter gives you. Or you can upload a custom background. I uploaded a simple image of the ocean – an image large enough...

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Defending Your Brand Online

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Branding 

So what do you see when you google your name. Is it a listing for a convicted felon or porn star? If you have an unusual name (like a well differentiated keyword) you will rise to the top automatically. But if you have an ordinary name you might not even show up. What you don’t want to happen is to have a search result that doesn’t represent you.

  • Your name is your brand so use it consistently. Don't dilute it by using different variations – pick one version of your name and stick with i...

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Tips For A Well Branded Blog

Posted by Jeffrey Blake on Friday, January 1, 2010, In : Blogging 
  1. You cant blog unless you already have a personal brand. I joke about this – but I really believe that you cant blog sustainably unless you find your voice, have an opinion, and have something valuable to say. Having a brand is like being in the groove – and when you are in a groove – things roll along.
  2. Start with an attention getting title. If you dont capture an audience in the first sentence – you have lost them. The title is going to show up in a list of your blogs and that is all t...

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