Drowning in the Social Media Pool?

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Are you drowning in the pool of social media sites? Twitter, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, YouTube? Well, I’ve got some important advice.

Sign up for more.

Yes, you heard me. More.

Here’s why: Social media isn’t going to disappear. It will, hopefully soon, settle down and get more organized. When it does, you want to be sure you are accurately represented. But in order to do that, you need to take steps now to lay your identity foundation.

Chances are your name is not unique, so when the dust settles and the sites that will be sticking around become apparent, you want to be sure that each of those sites represents YOU. But what happens if someone else has already registered your name?

That doesn’t mean that you need use every site where you’ve registered. But consider the sites you may use in the future, or the sites the people you will be working with may use (usually the most popular sites.) Sign up for those, even if you have no intention of ever sending your BrightKite location. After all, people may follow thinking it IS you, so take steps now to lessen the potential confusion.

Here’s a good place to start: http://checkusernames.com/ Check that your username isn’t already being used – you may want to consider making a change if your name is already being represented by someone else. Look thru the list for sites where you think you need to be represented (where your clients or friends might be, if they’re not already) and sign up.

It may seem crazy – but a lot easier that dealing with the potential confusion.

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Filed under: Branding, Marketing, Brightkite, Facebook, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Social Media, Social network, Twitter, YouTube

Facebook Growth

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Not sure if you should be on Facebook? This might help you decide.

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Filed under: Branding, Marketing, Pssst, Social Networking, Facebook, Society and Culture

A No Show?

A major conference, and advertising. All on a “can you come”, and a “maybe”? No written communication clearly spelling out what’s expected, with dates, times, accommodations, etc.?

This isn’t a “having a get-together, can you stop by” kind of thing. People’s reputations are damaged, people’s wallets are emptied, and a lot of people end up disappointed. How does that reflect on you? How does that reflect on the conference organizer?

Do you keep in mind the business end of things when putting together, or participating in, a conference? Whether you’re a “big name” or new at the game, you should.

CrunchNotes » Blogworld

Filed under: Branding, Marketing, Networking, Social Networking

Second Thoughts

I like Chris Brogan. Love his blog. Lots of info and other good stuff.

So, he points to Jon Ray, and his great new blog. Because it’s Chris, I check it out, knowing it will probably have some good stuff there, too. But I chose to click on his first link, which is about Jon and his company – to see the person behind the blog I’m checking out, the one he’s suddenly started.

Um. Well, I can’t tell you what my first impression was. But all that was rolling around in my head was WTF? Did I really need to see this? What’s the message? Do I even care what the message is? Do I care what you can do for me? Do I worry where your mind might… lead?

I’m sure a lot of people will think it’s great. Oh, how clever, and all that. But you know… I’m not sure it’s worth the risk. Making a potential client want to barf, and all.

Filed under: Branding

Digitally Dabbling

According to this site about building your brand, my results are as follows:

Your online identity score is 6.5 out of a possible score of 10.

You are digitally dabbling. There is some on-brand information on the Web about you, but you need to work to build your volume of relevant results. Fortunately, this is an easy fix.

I didn’t expect anything near that result. And was surprised by some of the sites where I’m mentioned.

I guess I need to focus on some PR. I may not have as far to travel as I think!

Google yourself. You may be pleasantly surprised.

From Micro Persuasion, thru Ian

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Filed under: Branding