What is a personal brand?

It is you. Your story. This intimate story is portrayed via an overall message that weaves throughout your communications and social media platforms. 

Just as major consumer brands have well-known, universally recognized images, individuals can have them too. But more than just a mere surface image, it is important to have a deeper story too. This serves as the backbone for all you are about, who you are and why you do what you do. How successful you are in telling your story will determine how deeply it resonates with your audience and will ultimately determine the success of your brand. When you are first learning about social media, you are usually unaware that you are creating an online persona for yourself with each post, status update and tweet. It is all experimental at this point as you learn how to navigate the various mediums.

The essential element in creating your personal brand is to be authentic. ee cummings said, “it takes courage to grow up and be who you are.” Don’t copy someone else’s style: be yourself! Being an imitation of the most fabulous thing imaginable is still just an imitation, and people catch on to this behavior very quickly. Consider your avatar to be your logo: keep it fresh and real.

Be outstanding

Each person has unique qualities and gifts that make them special. Find yours and amplify them. If you are hesitant about what image you are projecting, find interesting blogs or links to share that fit within your strategy and build up your confidence as you go. Pay attention to what people “like” or retweet; figure out where you are connecting with your followers and build on that. Above all, please be interesting! You may start with a little kindling and end up with a big bonfire if you create the proper base.

Consistency is key

If your goal is to be viewed as a professional, this needs to be seen across the board throughout all of your social media efforts. The language that you use is the currency and relevancy to your message. Make wise choices and remember that the internet is permanent. Linking your social media channels together makes it seamless for a follower to travel from your Twitter bio or other social media page over to your blog. This does not mean that you should show all your tweets on LinkedIn and tweet your Facebook statuses. A separate, similar message is fine — no need to be redundant.

Your personal brand will evolve over time but you start projecting your brand from your very first tweet or post. You might not think you have a personal brand yet, but you do. Consider what this might be and polish it up if necessary. It is not just your avatar but all your interactions woven together to create a personal story: your personal brand. Make it a good one!

Design. All important and all critical to the success of your business.

Design as function, that is. Design that makes sense of what your business needs to say and how best to say it. Design that establishes a content hierarchy so navigation is efficient and intuitive, allowing people to find what they need without extra precious seconds wasted. Design that is not mere surface decoration, an off-the-shelf theme or the latest shiny bells and whistles, but design that clarifies and never obscures. Design that engages and yes, looks absolutely terrific as it persuades and accomplishes the business objectives set forth at the outset. 

Design that understands the big picture and how each website, each social media channel, each ad, brochure, sign, exhibit and business card are not separate entities but facets of a crystal where the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. This is your brand and is what will resonate in a noisy world if applied smartly, cohesively, and consistently.

In short, I am talking about design that makes your business sing. Nothing more, nothing less. The most admired companies in the world do it. You know them well and they know the power of design. It is part of their culture and in their DNA. You know them well because of the power of design. Whether your business is large or small doesn’t matter — the principles are the same. Isn’t it time you did the same?

Think design. Bring it into the earliest phases of your business strategy and listen to the pros, not the hucksters. And I know you have impeccable taste and two eyes just like anyone else, but please do not think that you can “do design” yourself. Yes, I know you know PowerPoint and maybe even a little Photoshop — well, not to be insulting, but you don’t know what you don’t know. Playing around with software, widgets and tools is not design any more than wielding a brush is painting. Respect yourself and your business enough to entrust the difficult work of design to a trusted, dedicated professional who has the talent and experience to do it right.

Effective design also incorporates solid marketing principles and communication skills. It values client input, understands market trends, analyzes the competition, pays attention to metrics, utilizes and optimizes for the latest technologies, accommodates manufacturing concerns, respects budget restraints, meets real-world deadlines, stands on its head, rubs its belly and chews gum all at the same time. Left brain meets right brain. Design does all these things and if it sounds like a challenge, it is! But it can be done with the right team. 

So what are you waiting for? Got design?

I know what you're saying: email has been around since the beginning of time so what’s to know? Well, yeah it has. :-)

So then... why can't people get it right? I see emails every day that violate the most basic tenets of communication and disregard simple common courtesies.

Just like social media, common courtesy applies and if you behave in a way that doesn't fly in real life, you're probably doing it wrong. If you don't want to be a dumbass...

1. Respond
You should usually be able to get back to someone within a few hours. If you can't, let them know you received their email and will respond more fully later. If on vacation with limited access to email, let them know that too. Bottom line — respect people and their time: after all, they took the time to contact YOU! Let them know they exist.

2. Reply all
If other people are cc’d in an email, don't forget to hit “reply all” when responding. Simple. Otherwise people are left out of the loop and well… you know what you’ll look like then.

3. Get to the point
Nothing is worse than long emails, especially when they're loaded with verbose redundancies. Emails should be succinct and to the point. Sometimes longer emails are inevitable, but you risk looking like a… yeah, you know.

4. Use meaningful subject titles
It's the most effective way of finding emails later and keeping a tidy email thread. It's a lot easier to search for an email with the relevant topic named in the subject line rather than trying to find something generic in a haystack.

5. Include your contact info
Rather than forcing more email and wasting time just trying to ascertain basic info, include these vitals at the bottom of every email.

6. Create a branded signature line
Taking the need for contact info one step further, emails are powerful branding touch points, especially if they include your company name, logo, website url and social media links.

7. Never email sensitive subject matter
When you least expect it, and usually at the worst possible time, that little rant you couldn’t resist putting in writing and send to a confidant will unwittingly be passed on. Avoid this potential business and social embarrassment by never sending this stuff through email. Otherwise, you know who’ll be the real… you got it!

8. Save important emails as text files
This is a smart thing to do with emails that you will likely need to refer to or repurpose for another need. For some reason, these are the emails that always have a way of getting lost or trashed. Just save them to relevant folders and they will be there when you need them.

9. Craft emails carefully
A clear, well-conceived business email takes time but saves time in the long run. Good emails can serve as powerful reference documents/checklists for getting a job done quickly and efficiently, especially when multiple people are involved. Bad emails waste valuable time by confusing people and generating more questions and more emails — you know what they’ll call you then!

10. Cover your butt
Forgetting to document the important steps along the way of an important project is a big no-no and can cause serious business woes. An email trail can be very handy when handling delicate business matters and vindicating you if necessary, especially when big bucks are involved and people start pointing fingers. But since you have what you need in writing, you’re covered!

11. Answer all questions
This is a pet peeve, as I often need specific questions answered before I can proceed to the next phase of a project and meet the deadline (usually the same one imposed by the very same person I am emailing!). Answering only some of the questions doesn’t cut it and wastes valuable time with more back and forth when it could have been handled in one email exchange.

12. Write complete, grammatically-correct sentences
This still counts, especially in the business world. Spell out words — texting lingo doesn't fly and if you use it, you will look like a real… YUP!

So what have I left out? I’m sure there are a few — let me know in the comments below because we all need to do our best in protecting each other from being that most vile of living beings… a dumbass.

Feeling pretty good about yourself? Now lookup “dumbass” in the Urban Dictionary and see what it says.

Today Google+ made an update and changed all the sizes for your profile images. The new art required is broken into three definitions and sizes:

1.  Profile picture — larger than before with a minimum upload of 250 pixels X 250 pixels and a recommended format of jpg or png.

2.  Cover photo — a large panoramic style photo that goes behind and extends past your profile picture on the right side. This new format ties the images together nicely, making a lot of impact. It can also create a beautiful branded image for you and/or your company. The size is 940 pixels X 180 pixels and the recommended format is either jpg or png.

3.  Scrapbook photos — these can either be five individual photos or one large photo cropped into individual squares that are 110 pixels X 110 pixels. The recommended format is jpg, png, or gif.

So, you have the option of using one large cover photo, five individual photos or five coordinated photos that make one long image (see image above). The cover photo is deeper and extends further across than the scrapbook configuration with the five square photos.

Once you have chosen your photos, go to the profile and click “Edit Profile” to edit your photos. Alternatively, if you mouse over the cover photos, it asks if you would like to “Change Cover Photo.” There are two small graphics over the scrapbook photos where you can choose a template for the large cover photo or the five scrapbook photos. 

You can preview your work before making it public, which is always a good thing. Enjoy!

More information can be found on Google.