In through the outfield

22 August 2012

Our YouTube channel is now up to 341 thousand hits

Back in October 2011 I wrote Our YouTube channel gets 250 thousand hits.

This has proved to be a very popular topic on my blog recently, so I feel obliged to point out that the number is increasing rapidly, and today stands at 341,492.

Our BIPCTV channel has been going since the Centre opened in 2006, when we began posting recordings of our Inspiring Entrepreneurs events, and our success stories.

The most recent upload was From Battlefield to Business, and run in partnership with Heropreneurs, Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, British Legion, Franchising Works and Help for Heroes.

The wonderful Levi Roots and his Reggae Reggae Sauce still tops the charts with 25,541 views, but he has stiff competition from Success Stories Guy Jeremiah of Aquatina Ltd, and William de Lucy from Amplify Trading.

However my favourite remains Sam Roddick, founder of the ‘erotic emporium’ Coco De Mer, and daughter of Body Shop legend Dame Anita Roddick. She describes herself as an activist first and accidental entrepreneur second.

http://www.youtube.com/bipctv

16 May 2012

Organizations Don’t Tweet, People Do by Euan Semple

Yesterday evening the British Library hosted a book launch for Organizations Don’t Tweet, People Do: A Manager’s Guide to the Social Web by Euan Semple.

Instead of a speech, Euan was interviewed by Richard Sambrook a friend and college from their days together at the BBC.

Here are my notes from the evening followed by my selections from Euan’s book:

The development of the internet and social media present a unique opportunity for social change – Euan considers this a phase change in society.
Euan wanted to be part of that change for his children’s sake.
He felt that when he was at the BBC, the World Service was a role model for the rest of the organisation. There people rubbed along together from all departments and levels sharing information. Other parts of the BBC were much more hierarchical and stuck in their silos.
A lot of the use of early collaboration technologies were simple tools to help people find out answers to simple questions, such as ‘does anyone know a fixer in Poland’, or ‘how do you claim for petrol expenses’.
On a wider level introducing these collaborative tools helped to create a shared understanding of corporate issues.
Euan recognises that the control issues for social media for many organisations such as law firms are non-trivial, but he believes they will get there eventually.
Finding your own ‘authentic voice’ through blogging is so much more valuable than writing endless management reports written in “management bollocks”, to a set formula, which no one actually reads.
Euan describes his idealised vision of future corporations as ephemeral meritocracies.
He wonders if it is unreasonable to expect people to be able to, or want to have their own voice. And thinks that education and corporate structures have led to many thinking they don’t. But he believes that ultimately everyone wants to have a say in their lives.
The barriers to social media are not about age, but about open versus closed approaches to the world.
He believes the internet and social media is the next big story after 18th century religion, early 20th century fascism and communism, and late 20th century capitalism.

The tweets from the event have been Storified here.

A more detailed summary from the Strange Attractor blog by Suw Charman-Anderson.

Review of Organisations Don’t Tweet, People Do

The book comes in 45 Bite sized chapters, each with introductions and summaries. And in fact each chapter can be purchased individually in electronic format. Euan’s idea is to make it as easy as possible to spread the message to those who remain unconvinced by the benefits of social media.

An essential read for anyone with a connection to social media in the workplace (which means everyone), it is very wide ranging, quite philosophical at times, and always passionately personal.

Euan makes a strong case for the democratising benefits of adopting social media and collaborative tools.

However, my experience of both successes and failures to introduce these technologies in various workplaces, makes me think that Euan is somewhat naïvely optimistic (an accusation he is aware of, and attempts to address several times in the book).

He ended the engaging question and answer session by saying he thinks it will take up to fifty years for the change to fully occur, and this strikes me as more realistic.

Here are my highlights from reading the book:

What is the book for? – It is not a “how to” book nor, I hope, is it cyber-utopian vision of the future….I prefer to think of it as a collection of ideas that… can make the web more understandable and useful in the world of work.

Growing up online – We will only be able to take full advantage of the networked world if we grow up, think for ourselves, and take responsibility for our lives and our actions. I am not naïve. I know that, at least to begin with, truly thinking for yourself and saying what you think with any degree of authenticity is a big ask. It may never happen for many people. There may just be too much at stake and too much to take into account for a politician or someone in a corporate setting to really be authentic.

Don’t let the techies ruin the party – …keep things out of the hands of technologists as much as possible. Some of them aren’t so bad, and some of them are re-inventing themselves…if there is a single biggest block to making social media happen encountered by my clients in large organizations it is with their IT department.

Ten steps to success with technology:

Have a variety of tools rather than a single system.
Don’t have a clear idea where you are headed.
Follow the energy.
Be strategically tactical.
Keep moving, stay in touch, and head for the high ground.
Build networks of people who care.
Be obsessively interested.
Use the tools to manage the tools. E.G. Blog about blogging in your organisation.
Laugh when things go wrong.
Unleash the Trojan Mice. Don’t do big things or spend loads of money. Set small, nimble things running and see where they head.

Anarchy versus control – Someone once called me “an organizational anarchist” and I have to admit I was quite chuffed at the description and took it as a compliment…. What I am talking about here is not complete free reign for individuals … I am more interested in the possibility of all of us taking full responsibility for ourselves and those around us – the ultimate in democracy.

How about moving democracy inside the firewall instead of outside it?

Bosses who don’t get it – If you can’t get support from your boss, see if you can get support from their peers. Find senior people who get what you are trying to do and enlist their support … Keep talking to them in their language about what you are doing and why – even if they occasionally glaze over!

Collaboration and trust – There is a lot of “collaboration software” out there that is really just the same stuff that failed to deliver data management, information management, knowledge management and is now failing to deliver collaboration. In fact a lot of the tools labelled as collaboration tools actually work against effective collaboration.

Blurring work boundaries – The blurring of the inside and outside raises issues both for us as individuals and organizations we work for. For us it means that we have to take more responsibility for whatever lines we draw between work and non-work.

PR and marketing under threat – I believe that marketing and PR are professions at real risk of disintermediation by the web. We will need people to do our marketing for us less and less as we use the tools in everyday work and start to have more effective conversations between ourselves and our customers.
Help your staff to become your best advocates. Give them the tools and the insights to become your ambassadors online.

The Return on Investment of social media – … I am becoming more robust about the ROI question and turning it back on those who ask it. What is the ROI of the way we do things now? … Where is the competitive advantage in preventing staff from using these tools to build and maintain the networks that develop their knowledge and their ability to get things done. Where is the competitive advantage in allowing your competitors to embrace these changes before you do and potentially re-inventing the industry you are so rigidly clinging to?

Online indiscretions – Much has been made about recruitment teams searching Facebook and LinkedIn to find prospective candidates and the damage supposedly done by online indiscretions. In some ways this is an anachronistic attitude coming from people who don’t themselves engage online. People are becoming much more robust and open in their online lives. Besides, what is so awful about these supposed indiscretions? Rather than worrying about photos of potential recruits drunk at parties, I would be more worried about people who appeared to have something to hide. In fact I would be less likely to employ someone who hadn’t been indiscreet as a student!

Deal with management fears – Online …You can’t hide behind your status or your pomposity. In fact being remote and pompous will severely inhibit your attempts at effective communication on the web.
…
So the answer is to help those who are disapproving or pompous in reaction to what is happening on the web. Don’t dismiss their reactions or sneer at them but make it easier for them to relax and say what they think. Show them the ropes and hold their hands rather than ridicule them as they discover for themselves the fast changing world they have felt excluded from.

Develop guidelines-not rules, collaboratively – Don’t start with rules. Learn to use your tools, and see how people make them work before you cast too much in stone.

Use Trojan mice – Set up small, unobtrusive, inexpensive, and autonomous tools and practices, set them running, and cajole and nudge them until they begin to work out where to go and why.

Don’t feed the Trolls – The best way to deal with trolls is to befriend them. Even the worst of them are human.
…
If your critics have shown the energy to engage, and can then be turned around to be supportive of you, then this sends a very strong signal to other dissenters.

Radical transparency – In fact online I recommend that people assume that if you have written something on a computer then someone else will at some time be able to see it.
…
Does this mean you can’t write about anything? No, but it does mean you have to think harder bout what you are writing, where, and why.

Blogging as therapy – By writing about the workplace you become more thoughtful about your place in it and what it does for you.

My favourite quote in the book comes from Vint Cerf, one of the ‘fathers of the internet’. When asked by a journalist if the internet was a good or a bad thing, he replied, “It is just a thing. Whether good or bad depends on what you are doing with it.”

Euan ends the book with his final blog post at BBC after 21, years about the importance of love at work.

3 April 2012

Personal Paralegal: The Social Media Dos and Don’ts to Protect Your Privacy

Many thanks to Fiona Causer from Paralegal.net for writing this useful guide to Social Media Privacy.

In this day and age, it behooves everyone to use social media to some degree – and it can be a great and fun way to keep track of friends, promote a product, or interact with customers. But with this freedom of idea and information exchange has come a new platform for privacy to be compromised by Internet predators, governments or even potential employers with whom one may be seeking employment.

With these cases of privacy violations on the rise, they have become a key topic of interest to paralegal schools looking to equip their graduates with the correct tools to navigate the murky waters of privacy law. With social media usage sky-rocketing, more accounts of privacy violations will surely arise. In order to protect your privacy, there are certain Dos and Don’ts that need to be kept in mind when using sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Foursquare.

Do:

1. Follow the sites you are on regularly. If someone posts to your wall or says something unflattering, inappropriate or untrue about you, you want to be able to react within hours, not days or weeks.

2. Know the privacy policies of each site. Reading the fine print can be a drag, but it allows you to understand what information is publicly viewable, what information is shared with other companies and what options you have in protecting yourself.

3. Think before you post. You may write things or provide information that you later regret. If you’re angry or upset, wait a few hours before posting.

4. Make sure that you have the latest security updates installed in your computer. This is just generally good advice. Also, consider downloading Facebook’s security software to further protect yourself.

5. Keep your credit card and bank information to yourself. With the ubiquity of online purchasing, there’s a tendency to get a little too free with one’s financial information. If you’re not on a secure site with the intent to purchase, there’s no reason to provide this information.

Don’t:

1. Don’t accept requests from strangers, particularly if something seems fishy. They may be after your password, or attempting to pass you a virus. Check out who they are before clicking on any links they provide.

2. If you’re an individual, don’t provide your exact address, particularly on Foursquare. People can tell when you’re on vacation – publicly letting them know that you’re out of town, while also showing them a map to your door is a bad idea.

3. Don’t let unflattering photographs be tagged. Facebook will allow you to un-tag any photos taken of you. Make sure you’re in control of your own images.

4. Don’t post without proofreading. Spelling errors, clumsy grammar and typos all serve to make you look bad – and it gives view to a private thought process that you may want to keep to yourself. In other words, no reason to show others your first drafts. An extra minute and you can look much better.

5. Don’t keep an account if you’re not going to use it. Especially if you’re running a business, having a Twitter account (or other account) that is only used once every five months is worse than having no account at all. Plus, because it appears that you’re inattentive, it’s ripe for poachers, who may start using your account to spam others connected to you.

21 February 2012

Blogging for fun and profit

Sorry for starting with such a cliché headline, but I am conducting a scientific blogging experiment, more of which later on.

This post (my 509th to be precise) is about why I blog, and why any start-up or small business should seriously consider blogging.

This evening I am giving a talk as part of our Web in Feb series of events. The title is Business Blog – Live, and I am looking forward to some lively debate about the whys and wherefores of blogging for business.

I have already posted up my slides on Slideshare and am happy to share some of my key points below:

Why do I blog?

By accident… the idea was to show a colleague how to blog
Because it works – 25% of traffic to the Business & IP Centre website – 200,000 hits in 4 years – comments and feedback
Because I enjoy it – writing about interest business ideas
It is easy… and free – well not quite, now I am paying $20 a year for an advert free WordPress
It is my memory of events and ideas – I want to be able to look back in a few years time
I believe it helps the reputation of the Centre… and hopefully mine too – only my readers can be the judge of that!

Why you should blog

To build trust – ‘real’ people vs anonymous business – this is an increasing desire from customers
To build an audience – you can start before you business goes live – you might even attract some pre-launch orders
Increase SEO without the risk – Google loves blogs-hates cheaters so keep away from search engine optimisers with ‘magical’ properties
Drive traffic to your website – see Google above
Be seen as an expert in your field – requires insightful, quality content – but hopefully you will have this if you are starting a business
Reach a wider market – word of mouth referrals – one post might go viral

With passion… and patience – wait at least six months for the numbers to come through
For your audience – you do know your potential customers likes and needs… don’t you?
Mainly about things related to your business – don’t stray too far off base
Headings must be ‘Ronsealed’ –
Regularly – a minimum of once a week
Content must be engaging / surprising / controversial / intriguing
Length must be ‘just right’ – somewhere between Stephen Fry’s blessays and Euan Semple’s The Obvious.
Leveraging your other social media channels – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, +Google
Using your web domain if possible – to maximise traffic to your website
Promote using contacts and ‘Blogroll’
Measure using built in tools or Google Analytics
Handling comments and spam – to moderate or tolerate comment trolls

Ah yes, back to my scientific experiment. I want to prove that even by picking a popular title for this blog post, it will still soar up the Google rankings the minute it is published. Time to find out!

25 January 201219 February 2013

The Key Trends for 2012 from Cate Trotter – Insider Trends

I have been covering sessions from founder and Head of Trends at Insider Trends Cate Trotter for a while now: Insider Trends – The Future of Online Marketing, The growing grey market in the UK and How to become a cutting-edge retailer.

As previously, Cate showed an impressive grasp of the trends that new and existing businesses need to know about, to keep ahead of the competitive curve.

Tonight’s topic proved even more popular than before, requiring a move to a larger room, and an overflow event last-night.

Here are my notes from the event:

Cate started the evening by identifying three headline trends for 2012 of Doom and Gloom, Ubiquitous Digital and Humanness.

Doom and Gloom (aka – the economic recession is killing business opportunities – or is it?)

If you only read the papers or watched TV you would think the end is nigh.
Unemployment is at a 17 year high in the UK, with over 1 million young people out of work.
The UK economy is predicted to grow by 0.2% in 2012 (i.e. no growth to speak of).
But…
Interest in entrepreneurship is at an all-time high, and barriers to entry are at an all-time low, thanks to technology and the internet, with the likes of Facebook, PayPal and on-demand printing.
Slowly we are shifting to become a nation of entrepreneurs.
There are plenty of opportunities for person-to-person (P2P) businesses thanks to the likes of Kickstarter and SellAnApp. Or how about MinuteBox which allows you sell your expertise by the minute.
Opportunities also exist in the off-line world too, such as ‘cheap and cheerful’ offices for start-ups like The Ugli Campus, or how about opening the first cafe for entrepreneurs.
Too many business websites use ‘me too’ branding with stock photography and unclear messages – Cate gave the example of BubbleWebs as one that ‘shows what it does on the tin’.

Ubiquitous digital (it really is everywhere now)

65% of adult internet users now use a social networking site of some kind.
By the summer of 2012 over 50% of Brits will be using a smartphone.
So:
Cate’s tip no.1 – Mark your location on Google Places to boost traffic to your website.
Cate’s tip no.2 – Make sure you website is mobile friendly using 11 Excellent Solutions for Making Your Website Mobile Friendly.
Need to think beyond using social media just for marketing and PR – add customer support roles (e.g. Hippo Munchies in India using twitter prompts from customers to re-fill their vending machines).
Companies will develop intelligent and selective strategies for social media channels. No more scatter-gun approach to digital marketing.
Digital data will give commercial insights. E.g Klout score to measure your online influence.
A/B test your website your website using Optimizely to maximise visitors.

Humanness (the importance of trust in a digital commercial world)

Ask yourself how is your digital strategy enhancing the lives of your customers?
More targeted communications and email lists – less scatter-gun.
Google is starting to highlight more human related content, so you need to have people talking about your business in social media.
Which means you have to do stuff that people think is worth talking about.
Results in a move away from novelty campaigns to real customer value. E.g. Zappos.com have a 24 hour staffed phone line, and up to a year to return products.

Inspirational brands talk about why they do what they do, not what they do, or how they do it – read Start with why by Simon Sinek or watch him speak at TED.
The need to stay human, once you grow beyond a single person business, think of your brand as a personality or celebrity.

2012 is all about being connected – individuals, networks and businesses
Use customer value to cut through the ubiquitous social media noise. Connections through honest communication is key.

Cate ended her talk by encouraging us to go away and start experimenting with some of the ideas covered. We now had 11 months lead on our competitors.

She really wants to hear from us how we a get on, so please get in touch with her at cate@insider-trends.com

12 December 20112 July 2013

90 Tiny Tips to Build Your Personal Brand

In the past, Rasheed Ogunlaru (who presents our monthly Your Life, Your Business workshop), has talked about the importance of building your personal brand.

So this list of tips from Alissa Alvarez at Online MBA is welcome.

90 Tiny Tips to Build Your Personal Brand

Personal branding isn’t something you can just sit down and work on for a day and then forget about. Rather, personal branding is built in small pieces, as your day-to-day actions all add up to the brand that is you. That’s exactly why we’ve found so many small tips that can help you build your personal brand, taking things one tiny step at a time. Read on, and we’ll share 90 tips that can help you slowly but steadily build your personal brand.

Finding Your Niche

Personal branding is all about figuring out who you are and how you want to project your image. Use these tips to help identify what you’re really all about.

Consider what makes you different

1. When determining your niche, you should think about what makes you different from other brands out there.

2. Identify your primary product

3. Think about what you have to offer others, whether it’s a service, resource, or special ability.

4. Find out what your talents are

5. Consider what your talents are, what you’ve been recognized for and what you’re better at than most people.

6. Think about how others identify you

7. Take a look at your brand attributes and confirm that your brand matches what others would say about you.

8. Do something remarkable

9. Instead of playing it self and sticking to what you know, do something that’s worthy of taking notice.

10. Identify your core values

11. Share what really matters to you in order to identify what your core values are.

12. Be unique

13. Don’t feel like you need to copy another person’s brand. Be unique and stand out.

14. Think about your passions

15. Identify the things and ideas that you love, and identify your passions.

16. Ask colleagues and friends to sum up your professional image

17. Get a true reflection of what you’re all about by asking others to define you.

Creating A Message

Follow these tips to find out how you can share the personal branding message you have created.

1. Physically make a message

2. Write a paragraph and tag line that tells your story and emphasizes your speciality and talents.

3. Share your message

4. Once you have your message, be sure to actually share it with someone.

5. Be authentic

6. Don’t create a message that’s about someone else: be true to yourself.

7. Control your message

8. Don’t be too many different things to too many people. Stick to your primary message and focus on that.

9. Find your target audience

10. Consider who you really want to be talking to, and use your target audience to define what kind of presence you want to create for your brand.

11. Know your audience

12. Think about to whom you’re directing your personal brand, and communicate your messages appropriately.

13. Be yourself

14. Let your personality shine through and show the real authentic “you.”

15. Use the right vocabulary

16. Communicate with your audience using the right words from the industry so you can show your understanding of what’s going on.

Credibility

1. Use personal branding to establish yourself as a trusted professional in your industry with the help of these tips.

2. Be useful

3. In everything you do, take a moment to consider how you are being useful to others.
4. Live what you say

5. Have a trustworthy, transparent, and educated voice to build your credibility.

6. Be trustworthy

7. Be careful not to offer anything you can’t provide, and deliver on what you’ve promised.

8. Believe in your brand

9. Commit to and invest in the ideas that support your brand.

10. Create a portfolio of successes

11. Showcase your past work, get testimonials, and do whatever you can do show off how great you are.

12. Find and share great content

13. Create a buzz around your own personal brand by finding great content and sharing them with others.

14. Create a visual hook

15. Find a memorable visual hook that people will enjoy and remember you by.

16. Find out what other leaders are doing right

17. Find the experts and leaders in your profession, and see what they are doing to promote their brands.

18. Cultivate a personal style

19. Select clothing that represents you and makes you stand out from the crowd in an attractive way.

20. Be a leader

21. Lead by helping people, and use leadership to grow your influence.

22. Get featured in the media

23. Find opportunities to be featured in the media, possibly creating even more opportunities for exposure and credibility.

24. Show your confidence

25. Don’t be arrogant, but be sure to project confidence so that others will be comfortable with you.

26. Contribute to Q&A sections

27. LinkedIn, eHow, About.com, and lots of forums offer opportunities for sharing your expertise.

28. Be a speaker

29. Much more effective than just attending, speaking at events shares the opportunity for showcasing your expertise.

30. Be consistent

31. Make sure your resume, LinkedIn, and Facebook are all saying the same thing.

32. Win awards

33. First, do work that’s worthy of awards, and be sure to apply for awards in your field. This can bring lots of recognition and credibility to your personal brand.

34. Take a writing class

35. The way you write has a major impact on how you are perceived, so take a writing class to make sure you’re getting it right.

36. Stay on top of trends

37. Educate yourself and stay on top of newly emerging trends in your industry.

38. Back everything up with proof

39. Share objective proof to back up broad statements, using numbers, dates, statistics, and more.

40. Toot your own horn

41. Publicize awards, achievements, and anything else that’s remarkable so that people actually know about it.

Efficiency

1. Keep personal branding from taking over your life with these tips that will help you streamline your efforts.

2. Interact effectively

3. Give yourself a time window for interaction so that you don’t spend all day networking and using social media.

4. Determine where to invest your energy

5. Building a brand is a major undertaking, and there’s only so much you can do in a day. Think about where you really want to invest your energy in brand building.

6. Be brief

7. State your value quickly and in bite sized chunks, or you run the risk of droning on and becoming forgettable.

Online Presence

1. Maintain an online presence that reflects who you are with the help of these tips.

2. Own your domain

3. Register your name or unique URL to project a more professional image.

4. Have a great website

5. Your website is still like a virtual lobby, offering a jumping off point for your entire online presence.

6. Learn about SEO

7. Search engine optimization might sound a little scary and daunting, but in reality, it’s actually quite easy, as long as you’re creating quality content. Taking the time to do SEO right can make all the difference when making your brand stand out.

8. Keep your personal and company brand separate

9. Establish yourself as a person, rather than a company, so that you don’t limit the power of your personal brand. This is especially helpful if you may not be with the company forever.

10. Be a polite emailer

11. Check your grammar, etiquette, and writing skills so that you’re communicating like a professional.

12. Pay attention to your email address

13. Your email address offers a significant opportunity for building your brand, especially if you use your real name.

14. Do your best to lock down your name online

15. Whether you have a common name or an unusual one, put out as much quality content as you can, with your name one it, so that you can better control your online presence.

16. Find out where you are online

17. Do a Google search to check in on your online presence to see you you’re doing and if you need to make any changes.

18. Monitor your online brand

19. Carefully keep an eye on what is being said about you online, and make corrections as needed.

Networking

1. Get connected and establish your brand with others by following these tips.

2. Find relevant people

3. Seek out the recommendations of colleagues, check out Twitter, and more to find relevant people that you should be connecting with.

4. Join industry associations

5. Meet up with people who can help you build your brand and career by joining industry associations.

6. Be generous with your time

7. Take time to do charitable work and go beyond the call of duty.

8. Say yes more often

9. Accept more invitations and go to more events, finding opportunities and taking advantage of ways to explore and experience.

10. Have business cards

11. Even if you don’t have a job, create business cards with your contact information to share with others who want to contact and remember you.

12. Do your research

13. Before any networking event, be sure to know who is going and what will be discussed so that you’re well prepared.

14. Be accessible

15. Let people know you’re out there, and that they can reach you on a regular basis.

16. Don’t miss out on events

17. Attend conferences, seminars, and other events to get out there and shake hands and meet other relevant people.

18. Ask for testimonials

19. Ask other people to recommend you for your expertise, and then be sure to publish what they’ve said about you.

20. Be an active alumni

21. Make the most of where you went to school by joining the alumni association and taking advantage of networking events.

22. Show support for others

23. Be passionate about helping other people when they need it.

24. Learn how to introduce yourself

25. Be ready to communicate who you are with others, concisely sharing the answer to “Tell me about yourself.”

26. Get connected with passionate people

27. Find other people who live passionately, and get together with them regularly for inspiration.

28. Take guest blogging opportunities

29. Extend your reach beyond your immediate network by taking opportunities to guest blog and share your expertise.

30. Promote others rather than yourself

31. Instead of spending all your time promoting yourself, take the time to point out what others are doing really well.

Job Hunting

1. These personal branding tips are especially relevant for job hunters.

2. Work for free

3. Your experience is worth its weight in gold, so when it comes to getting a job, any past experience can really pay off, even work you’ve done for free.

4. Create a value statement

5. Highlight your values and strengths to get the attention of a hiring manager.

6. Put your resume online

7. Add social features, photos, and more to your photo by putting it online.

8. Quantify your results

9. Prove your value by showing quantified outcomes.

Social Media

1. Follow these tips for great ideas in building your personal brand through social media.

2. Carefully consider which tools you want to use

3. If you can’t effectively use a social media tool, there’s little point to having it at all. A poorly managed social media presence can be worse than not having one in the first place.

4. Listen up and stay in the loop

5. Don’t be one sided: be sure to listen and respond to what others are saying.

6. Fill out your profile completely

7. Fill out all of the information fields to promote everything important about yourself.

8. Go out and find new followers

9. New followers will find you, but you can build your presence much faster by seeking them out yourself.

10. Listen first

11. See what others are saying on social networks, and even set up Google Alerts to listen in on how social networks are working before you get started with them.

12. Engage and interact

13. Participate in the back and forth of social media, engaging with others and interacting with content.

14. Create multiple streams

15. Be ubiquitous, creating an online presence on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more, as many as you can reasonably maintain on a regular basis.

16. Be adaptable

17. Social media is constantly changing, so always be ready to adapt to new developments with a consistent approach.

18. Don’t forget videos

19. Video projects can pay off in a big way and offer a great way to really showcase your brand.

20. Manage and optimize your social media systems

21. When creating your social media accounts, set them up so that they can be automatically updated, pushing to your blog, home page, and more.

22. Stay interesting

23. Don’t just set up social media and walk away: keep things interesting by writing, sharing videos, photos, and more.

24. Curate content like it’s fine art

25. Think carefully about how you share links, news, and resources, curating your content like a museum director might select works for an exhibit.

26. Use the same profile photo

27. Make your online presence easily recognizable by using the same profile photo everywhere.

28. Use a consistent name, too

29. Build recognition by using the same name in everything you do online, preferably one that is close to your actual name or profession.

30. Schedule regular posts

31. Stay on top of your online presence with scheduled tweets and blog posts, so you always have something new to share.

32. Think before you Tweet

33. Be careful not to write anything that’s embarrassing or offensive, or anything you wouldn’t get away with in any other professional setting.

34. Keep everything PG

35. Be careful not to post anything you wouldn’t want your grandma (or potential employers) to see.

36. Point to your social media presence elsewhere

37. Promote your social media presence everywhere, on your website, blog, and even email.

38. Bring offline relationships online

39. Ask your “real life” friends if they are on Twitter or Facebook.

40. Blog your voice on the web

41. Blogging is a great way to find natural traffic without too much marketing effort.

42. Don’t give away too much personal information

43. Be careful not to over-share information or be inflammatory when building your brand.

44. Make some accounts private

45. If you feel the need to share things online that aren’t professionally appropriate, be sure to make those accounts private.

29 September 201114 February 2013

Our Success Story Flubit is growing fast

Having met Bertie Stephens (Chief Flubitron) in a workshop last May, and signing up as Honourable Manlius Buggerflub (I’ve joined the fun Flubitron club), I wanted to keep in touch with their progress.

The good news is that they are growing at an impressively rapid pace, and have recently exceeded 14,000 Flubitrons. With four new demands every minute, their members have already demanded over 3,000 products and services.

I had a chat to their Online Marketing Rep Steph Fiala to find out more:

So what exactly is Flubit?

The idea of Flubit is incredibly simple but revolutionary. In an age of social media and online shopping, we have found a way to empower our consumers, through using our very simple platform. By grouping together and ‘demanding’ products they actually want to buy, we can get them great bulk discounts. Essentially, you tell us what you want and we do all the leg work and get you a discount, all because if you want something, chances are there are others online who also want it.

Bertie Stephens came up with the idea for a consumer-lead social marketplace at the end of last year, but it wasn’t until spring this year when he really decided to go along with his idea. In April, he met with the first investors and by May Flubit was sitting on a $1M investment and was valued at $4M.

But the successes run deeper, we managed to create a great team here at flubit. We have a group of really experienced, goal oriented leaders – Adel Louertatani, making sure we are in touch with all the right investors, Ricardo Gomez-Ulmke who makes sure all our ideas are plausible and ensures we do everything with structure, Patrick Perez, our non-executive advisor, the man who brought Apple Mac to Europe giving us needed council and of course our CEO Bertie Stephens challenging and directing us – and a group of younger, enthusiastic employees who know our market and make sure we get it right.

And how did the Business & IP Centre help?

The British Library offered founders Bertie Stephens and Adel Louertatani not only a meeting ground & research tool from it’s wide array of resources, but an important learning arena too via the IP Centre.

Partaking in a multitude of courses gave Bertie & Adel an ability to gain a further foothold into the world of small business marketing, financing, pitching to investors and even intellectual property protection.

From here Flubit have been in regular contact with a selection of speakers who have since become consultants who offer a reliable, experianced source of knowledge. It was only from the learnings of the IP Centre that Bertie was able to learn the correct and (more importantly) required steps to correctly copyright & protect the Flubit brand.

If you want to keep up with Flubit, you can join their facebook page, or become a Flubitron yourself.

Update October 2012: Flubit is now live

Update February 2013: Watch our Flubit Success Story video