Insider Insight: Creating An Online Personal Brand = ScLoHo

Creating an online personal brand is a mystery to many people.  That includes me.  Except after 10+ years I have some insight that I can share. 

First off, each of us has a personal brand.  A personal brand is simply an identity, not necessarily one that you create for yourself, but what people think of when they think of you.

Take a second and read that again: A personal brand is simply an identity, not necessarily one that you create for yourself, but what people think of when they think of you.

For those of us who are old enough to have had a life before the internet, we had very little control of this.  Do something crazy, something stupid, something heroic, and someone labels you with a nickname.  That nickname became your personal brand, among those that knew you at the time.

Online you have more control because you get to decide what to share.  You can even create a new nickname.   That’s how ScLoHo began.

Actually ScLoHo started as an alternative to my given name, Scott Howard when I was setting up an email account on Yahoo! years ago.  I started using ScLoHo also when I began blogging and carried it over to all my online accounts.

Enough history, on to what I do now.

5 days a week, I publish an article on my own website which is where you are reading this right now.

I have the wordpress plugin Jetpack that will autopost these daily updates to my Twitter account and to my personal Facebook page.  I also have them autoposting to my two Google+ Accounts.  This is the primary method I am currently using to share content that I write.

But there is more.

I hand select certain updates from this site to share on LinkedIn.

However, (and this is important):  I share more than just my stuff on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

My Facebook account also has stuff from others and personal stuff that is original.

I fill my Twitter feed with all kinds of stuff from others including articles and stories that may be controversial.  I am tweeting at least 10 times daily, but I use the buffer app to  autotweet most of these Tweets.  That way I have a real life that is not tied to the computer or my phone.  I subscribe to a few newsletters that send me links to stories that I am often interested it and those are often the links that get buffered.

I avoid political talk on social media.  Too much risk of offending others for no good reason.  I will not shy away from my Christian beliefs.  But I would rather live them then preach them.  There is a verse in James that I try and follow regarding this.

I listen, at least I try to.

Responding is critical.

If someone comments on something you have posted, shared or said online, please reply.

Also comment and share with others on their stuff too.

A few more random but important thoughts:

• I still believe in blogging.  At one time I was posting over 30 articles a week.  Now I do 5. That’s 5 articles every week, 52 weeks a year.  Some of the people who read what I post are not in the United States and don’t observe the same holidays we do.
• I do not write articles every day.  I write in batches.  I schedule in advance.  I wrote this article while sitting in a coffee shop on Labor Day weekend a couple weeks ago.  I have some articles scheduled months ahead of time.  (There will probably be fresh articles appear after I die, which is weird.)
• Share more than once on Twitter.  I follow around 1000 people on Twitter and have 3700 following me.  I don’t see every tweet because I have a life that doesn’t involve staring at my Twitter feed.  Share your content on Twitter at different times on different days to get more exposure to more people.  Unless you only have 30 followers.
• Join Groups.  Facebook and LinkedIn has groups you can join.  Or create your own and invite others to join you.  A friend of mine started a Facebook group in Fort Wayne to match employers with career and job seekers. In less than 6 months he has over 6,000 members.  And it is helping people get jobs that need work.
• Be yourself but filter yourself too.  You should know what this means but let me help.  If you would not want your minister, mom or grandpa to see or hear what you share, then think twice before you share.

Even though I was honored this year again with an award for blogging, I didn’t jump online a dozen years ago to become an expert in any of this.  Yet there are some who think of me as an expert. (I reply to them that an expert is a former pert).  I just started doing this and never stopped.  I learned from others and continue to learn.  I know there are somethings I could do better but this is just a portion of my life.  Have any thoughts or questions?  Tell or ask.