I am out on vacation this week, so I asked my new friend, Frank DiCostanzo owner of the Messina Editorial Group and blogger at Writing Killer Content to guest post, or actually to allow me to re-post one of his articles. It is a great post on authenticity and personal branding. Enjoy!

Authentic Branding and New Media Transparency

THE END OF SECRECY

I borrow the phrase “The End of Secrecy” from visionary and speaker Tim Sander’s recent blog post, where he reminds us “You can’t hide anymore in the new digital world we live in…this is great news for good people. Secrecy is the ally to evil. Think about the future of business in a transparent world: No bad act gets hidden, no good act goes unnoticed. What does this mean? Same things I’ve been saying since 2002—nice, smart people succeed.”

Nice, smart people succeed. It is certainly a utopian vision. But with an internet so appealing to the masses and the inherent transparency of social media networks, such a vision of a more open and honest internet is a win-win for many passionate small businesses.

Why? Because consumers are smarter than ever. And they’re just plain tired of hard sells and traditional advertising. In short, the digital natives are restless.

But just what is “transparency” and why is it important?

Transparency in business today means exposing your intentions. It means providing real value first, and it means developing an authentic personal or small-business brand. And today, an internet-oriented “brand” must convey WHO YOU ARE, not what you do.

A couple of weeks ago, we met Steven, our aspiring food critic. Steven isn’t sure where he’ll sell his restaurant reviews and lifestyle commentaries: online, in print, maybe both. What he does know is that in order to succeed as a food critic, he needs an online presence. He needs to take himself and “get branded.”

My recent post, “Brand Myself? Are You Kidding?” takes a hard look at the importance of self-branding in an internet savvy world. In this context, branding isn’t so much an effort to sell as it is an effort to share. For entrepreneurs like Steven, it’s a process of becoming the business he sees himself becoming.

But how do I go about branding myself?

Small-business branding is a birthing process, and it’s never easy to know who you are before you’ve become it! Yet this is exactly what one must do in order to build an entrepreneurial business online. Here are some tips on branding yourself and your business successfully:

• Be authentic. Express yourself in a brand that shows us who you are—your values, your voice, and your vision. If you’re uncertain about these, ask a brand image consultant (like us) to help you develop who you are into who you’re now becoming.

• Provide value up front. This means giving something of real value to your visitors. When someone arrives at your blog, be sure to reward them for finding you. Share with them your personal experiences (lots of value there!), links to interesting places, and other helpful resources.

• Avoid the hard sell. With small business websites, it’s obvious when someone is being obvious. Decades of print and mass media advertising have conditioned us to avoid the hard sell. Remember your readers can walk away with the click of a mouse. Don’t make it easy for them by pitching yourself on your home page.

• Think like a surfer. When creating your content, think about how you surf the internet. Do you enjoy seeing cluttered homepages? When shopping for a product or service, do you find too much content overwhelming? Use your own online experience as a reference point.

Stay tuned for updates on Steven’s brand-building adventure, as well as ideas for new business bloggers.

Cross posted on Writing Killer Content

I am out on vacation this week, so I asked my friend, writer and social media guru, Julie Roads of Soc Media 101 and Writing Roads to guest post, or actually to allow me to re-post of her outstanding articles. I think you will really like this as I know a common issue is finding topics for your individual and business blogs. Enjoy!

Blog content: trunks, branches, leaves

I just came across a post by Ari Herzog where he answers the question, ‘Should bloggers only blog about one topic or is it okay for them to talk about a lot of different things?’

I was relieved actually to see that his answer was quite liberal; he (with quote help from Jake Halpern) said that bloggers need to blog about what interests them. If the topics start to spread, so be it.

But, I have to add something to that. I agree that if you aren’t writing about your passions, then the writing will fall flat. Still, I think there has to be a tie that binds. It could be an industry, a product, a service, a genre, a person, a group, a pair of pants…something.

When I talk to companies/business about blog content strategy, I use the image of a tree. The blog’s main topic, your main theme is the trunk of the tree. All of the posts that you write are the branches and leaves of the tree.

Some posts will literally spring from the trunk, like those first two or three branches that separate and grow up and out.

Some posts will be quite far removed from the trunk, they’ll be those teeny tiny branches, fifty feet out, reaching into the sun – but they will still be connected to the trunk, they’re definitively part of the same tree.

And then you’ve got the posts that are everything else in between. But there’s always a connection, no matter how small.

Why is this important?

1. You don’t want your readers to get lost or confused. Make them feel good and smart, not disoriented and dumb.
2. You want to have a point. Otherwise you might end up sounding disoriented and dumb.
3. If you’re blogging for business, it’s good to have a tie back to your product, service or industry. If your blogs purpose it to showcase your talents as a dance coach, I’m not sure how talking about the many ways to cook an egg will help you.
4. You’re building a relationship with your readers. If you always blog about painting and suddenly throw in some posts about roller derbies, they’re going to feel a rift in the relationship. They might even feel abandoned and leave you comments like, ‘I don’t even know who you are anymore.’

I’m all for expanding your content. The more branches you create, the more likely you are to catch the web traffic blowing by in your tree. Just do your readers a favor and maintain your core connection.

Image credit: joiseyshowaa

Cross-posted on Soc Media 101

Part two in a series on social media sins; this is my fun way to impart sage advice for avoiding some of the pit falls, which have a way of sneaking up on you.  If you missed the first sin, Wrath, you can check it out here.

Sloth is officially defined as laziness or apathy.  It’s application to Social Media plays out mainly when it comes to business blogging (or any blogging in general). I have written about this before, but it is extremely important to be consistent in your blogging frequency. Once readers become accustomed to your rhythm, the will expect you to keep it.  You do not have to blog every day but you have to be consistent.

Blogging is often seen as a chore, and so it is pushed down on the list of priorities. But you will find that if you schedule time on a weekly basis and keep the post idea pot full, this will become less of a chore and more of an opportunity to add value to your reader’s (and customer’s) experiences with your brand. Consistent post will keep your company and your brand top of mind.

If you have fallen off the wagon, get back on it! Don’t apologize in your blog that draws negative attention, just start, continue, and keep going!

There are two common complaints clients often ask me about when it comes to their business blogs (1) finding time to blog and (2) coming up with topics. I have written about getting into a consistent blogging pattern before, so today I wanted to talk about ways to come keep the posts coming.

I have put together a list of ways to generate ideas:
- Take a recent experience and share it.
- If your personal story had impact on your business share or expand on it.
- Trends in your industry
- Thoughts and advice for your clients, customers, patients
- Comment on other blog articles
- Guest posts: think of people you admire in your industry or would like to interview
- Gather (to later publish) a list of links of items you find relevant or valuable
- Read other blogs in your niche, you may find a post that you disagree with, or have a different twist on that you can write about
- Read blogs in a completely different niche, you may get inspired with an idea
- Recommend a book
- Check out Chris Brogan’s post: 20 Blog Topics To Get You Unstuck
- Keep and a small idea log in your purse or laptop bag, you never know when an idea will come to you. If you have an iPhone, use of one of the voice recorder apps to record your idea

Now go out and write!

It is a little known fact that one of the best ways to bring people to your blog or website is to comment on other people’s blogs.

Not only are you showing goodwill when you add value to someone else’s post, but you may also:

- bring the blog author to your blog or site
- bring other reader’s of the blog you commented to your blog or site
- create relationships that could lead to guest posting opportunities

It does not require a lot of time to do this.  Schedule 20-30 minutes every day visiting blogs within in your niche or related to your niche, and you will see that “what comes around, goes around.”

You’ve written a really great blog post. One that is informative and timely. It is well received with good comment reception. Now what? How can you maximize your good content further? Distribute it.

One way to accomplish that is to submit it to an online magazine. Depending on your industry or audience, there are plenty of online magazines out there where you can submit your material.

Some of my favorites are:
- Blog Nosh Magazine
- Divine Caroline
- Blissfully Domestic

Search around, there are industry organizations all over that are always looking for good material for submissions.