For my penultimate post this year, I’ve been inspired by something Chris Brogan published yesterday on his blog about The Visible 
Media Maker. It’s a great post about being a personality while sharing stories.
One of my main goals for 2010 with Online Business Adviser is to make it more personal. When I say personal, I’m talking about injecting not only the blog, but also my social footprint with more information that is specific to me as a person in an effort to start more conversations.
In looking to achieve the goal, I’ve outlined 7 things that I believe are beneficial to any online business owner who wants to be more personal and build their brand. Some of these I have been doing all along, and some I am yet to do, but all are activities that should be a sooner rather than later project.
1. Video – Video is incredibly powerful tool. Putting yourself front and centre and giving people the information in person, rather than as just words on a page, holds amazing value to the consumer. Video creates trust, particularly in a field where there are so many people are declaring themselves experts and gurus. For me, I’ll be doing much more of this in 2010, both here and over at Talking Media Sales (particularly now that I have my hands on the Flip UltraHD
2. Your About page – this should be a fluid. You as a person change, your tastes change, the music you like changes, you discover new things – so why shouldn’t your About page change? Talk about what interests you, what you’re into at the moment, and make sure to update it. As time passes, new people discover this content, and will attract different types of consumers.
3. Use services like Blip.fm that integrate social activity straight into your Twitter feed – increasing your social footprint on the web through services that show what you enjoy adds a dimension to your online personality. You can attract people to your profile who may also have a need for the products you provide. Even if they don’t, they may have a friend, or can recommend you – you never know where your next lead can come from.
4. Register your name as a domain – here’s one I lucked out on. Unfortunately benshute.com was already taken by an artist, but Online Business Adviser embodies exactly what I wanted this site to be about. If you have the opportunity and it’s available, secure your name as a domain now. It helps you’re name become synonymous with your field, and again, helps build a trusted profile.
5. Be responsive – let’s face it, we’re in a conversation. Nearly every piece of technology we use to run an online business allows us to share, comment and interact. So make sure you do it. Respond to direct mentions you get on Twitter, respond back to comments you get on your blog, engage with people beyond your opening statement, and make customer service your number 1 priority. It helps to show that you are real, that you can accept other points of view, that you are open to debate and that you care.
6. Have an opinion – the web is full of facts. People already tend to have their trusted sources for facts. What you need to be providing as part of what you do is opinion. Understand that while not everyone may agree with your opinion, they will have their own. One of the beautiful things about this medium is the platform for discussion. Use it.
7. Be humorous, but be careful – If you maintain the same Twitter account for business and personal, it’s great for injecting personality into your interactions. But you need to be conscious of the fact that you are in an open forum, and while humour can be a great thing, off colour or highly controversial subjects can do a great deal of damage to your image and your business. Keep that in mind.
So that’s me - what are you doing to be more personal online? And just as importantly, what are your goals in 2010?
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This post is a winner. I have just started an update of my website and will use the idea of the dynamic “about” page. What a wonderful idea to keep the info not only up-to-date but conversational as well.
I LOVE the whole get personal approach and connecting as people. Online networking does not have to be impersonal. I will retweet this post for sure.
Check out my blog post on “Networking Soft Skills – The Surprise”. It underscores what makes for success in the personal approach and what can sink it — at katenasser dot com slash articles.
Happy Connections to all in 2010!
Kate
Hi Kate, thanks for your comments, it’s always great to get feedback!
I think sometimes as content owners and producers, we spend so much time focused on actually producing the content, and forget about the follow up, which is where true value lies in building relationships.
I had a read of your blog post that you suggested – it staggers me the way some people operate. The sort of approach he used seems to me to be one that had small potential for short term gain, but certainly no long term value. By not building the relationship first, he cut himself off from future contact and trust that may have delivered him some leads along the line.
I’ve read some of your other content, it’s fantasic. I’ve subscribed to your newsletter and look forward to reading more (and checking out your new About page when it’s done!)
Thanks again for visiting, and Happy holidays to you!