Marketing yourself in a 'hyper digital' world - 5 lessons of e-ttraction

blog 2016
Written By Andrew Ford

Just about everyone is on social media these days. The prevalence of wifi, cheap digital phones, and too many social media platforms means we are all online somewhere, whether we like it or not. If you work in the space, it's even worse. You run campaigns for major brands, you assist the CEO to learn Twitter and explain that Snapchat is now for marketing, not sexting. When you get home the last thing you probably want to do is write a blog and build your LinkedIn following. I mean LinkedIn is so naff right? Surely it's more value to Insta the raw desert you just created. Right? Well that depends on a few things. Before I tell you how to market yourself in a 'hyper digital' world let me tell you this.

 

Personal Branding

Personal branding is the convergence of three key forces: the prevalence of internet, smart phones, and social media. These trends have created an always on, information everywhere environment where people can search anything, anytime. Personal privacy is a thing of the past (according to Mark Zuckerberg) as we can all Google anyone, anytime. I'm sure you look people up before meetings and of course they do the same. We can see their photos, friends, likes, dislikes, education and more. We don't even question it these days, it's just standard business practice.

Google Truth

Even though we know that people look us up and that we do the same, most people I meet wouldn't know what Google says about them. If I asked you what are the first five links when you type in your name, could you tell me? If you can't you are not really controlling your personal brand. See the issues is most people know they 'should' manage their personal brand, but the vast majority are not doing it. 

Perhaps they don't have the knowledge or skills so are unable to do it. Some don't care as they don't see the importance and others think LinkedIn isn't cool.

I'm going to make a big leap here and possibly offend some people by saying that most people working in marketing today don't really understand how to use social media. Of course I am not talking to you, it's those sitting next to you. But pay attention so you can help those poor souls.  

Here are my top five tips for managing your personal brand.

1. Your brand isn't you. It's time to realise that even though your brand is about you, it isn't you. It's an advertisement of you. Just like an ad for Hawaii isn't like being in Hawaii. Your LinkedIn profile is like a brochure designed to communicate to your audience. 

2. LinkedIn is work. Sure we love hanging out on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube but LinkedIn is the most effective social site to get your next role or whatever other business opportunity you want. You don't need to love it, you just need to work it. Think of it as the green smoothie of the social media world.

3. Your brand takes effort. To stand out from the crowd you need to put the work in. Just like rock hard abs, your brand requires effort. Invest 10 minutes a day on your brand and it could yield massive dividends. I had a 100% pay rise in 12 months just by using LinkedIn well. That's pretty good ROI for a few minutes a day.

4. Connect to people. If they can't see you, they can't hire you. Connect far and wide to people as you never know where that next opportunity may come from. The new guy in accounts might not be your cup of tea but doesn't mean his dad/brother/sister doesn't run the coolest new agency. 

5. Create content. Content is still king after all this time.  The more great content you share the more people know you and what you stand for. It also has the added benefit of annoying the people you don't like. You wouldn't work for them anyhow so why would you want them approaching you for work. By polarising your audience you create a strong tribe. These are the people who will spot those sweet opportunities that never get to SEEK.

There you have it, my top five tips for marketing yourself if you work in marketing. If you want to get your brand working for you, click below and let's chat.

 

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Andrew Ford
Marketing expert Andrew Ford, the founder of Social Star, has discovered the secret of ‘Powerful Branding’. With a fire for unleashing people’s inner brand and developing business models to generate profit from an individual’s passions, Andrew leverages ground-breaking digital and social media marketing techniques to create digital strategies for clients to attract maximum opportunities. Having established a strong name for himself in the field, Andrew blends traditional business techniques with now-necessary tools for entrepreneurs to achieve scale, quality, and influence in their niche. Andrew’s comprehensive business background and qualifications consist of a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (RMIT 2003), a Graduate Certificate in Management (MBA Executive Program, University of Sydney 2005), and a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Swinburne University 2011). Continually on the cutting edge of his own education, Andrew has tested his marketing theories in forums such as the BCG Business Strategy Competition, which he won in 2005 against all Victorian MBA schools, and the Venture Cup Business Plan Competition (Swinburne University 2003), which he won in the Masters category. With experience working at Hewlett-Packard, Sensis (Telstra) and IBM, Andrew also has mentored dozens of junior staffs to help them achieve their professional goals. Meeting and influencing high-profile public figures helped Andrew to realise just how many professionals require more understanding and control of their public brands or appearance, and need help with the skills to use the many amazing free tools at their disposal to generate success. At Social Star, Andrew consults with clients to uncover their personal brand – both where it is today and where it can be tomorrow – and refine and define how that should be displayed in social media in order to attract their perfect target audience. Andrew mentors his clients to rapidly grow their business’ audiences, resulting in larger potential client bases and higher revenue. Applying formulas that integrate over twenty years of Andrew’s business experience and fifteen years of formal business education, Social Star specialises in building clarity and velocity for clients’ brands using the ‘Understand, Build and Leverage’ methodology. ‘Having a Personal Business enables people to have an authentic, congruent connection with their valued clients and partners, using their brand as the bridge,’ says Andrew. ‘I’m highly driven to work with the new breed of entrepreneurs and small business owners – people who have a passion for making the world a better place. Traditional business models are stepping aside as people follow their innermost dreams and my role is to see them operate within their values while creating wealth. Some people think you have to sacrifice what you love to be successful in your business, yet it is actually the opposite. Follow your passion and success will come.’ Lecturing at Swinburne University from 2009 to 2011 on brand dynamics and digital marketing, presenting at numerous conferences, and consulting to hundreds of clients, Andrew has seen his philosophy work that if you follow your unique path, based on your skills, experience, values and goals, you will automatically attract the opportunities you desire and achieve the success you deserve. Living his mantra, Andrew has created a successful business and attracts high-profile clients including musicians, athletes, authors, models, entrepreneurs, professionals and small business owners, helping them find their ‘why’ in their business and fulfilment in their lives. Business for Andrew is more than work, it’s personal. Running a personal business means that he is able to fulfil all of his values rather than separating his life from work. It supports his two boys while providing social opportunities, educational development, fitness opportunities, spiritual fulfilment and many valuable friendships. Social Star has now become the vehicle for Andrew to crystallise his mission in the world, to help people love what they do, supporting his ‘why’, that if more people loved what they did, the world would be a better place.
http://www.andrewford.com.au/
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