Rob's Blog

What do you want to be known for?

What do you want to be famous for?

These questions are tough to answer. Most people can tell you what they don't want. Few can tell you what they do. The world of personal branding is constantly telling you to have a brand and stand for something. Problem is, the brand you come up with is either not quite 'you' or a bit of a mashup of everything you are right now.

Any uncertainty about who you are and who you want to be will create mixed messages with your personal branding. Heck, your personal brand might not even get off the ground. And this will seriously affect your reputation!

Your reputation is what people see, think, do, feel and say when they come into contact with you, your name or any aspect of your personal brand.

If the messages, cues, signals and sightings you give out are fluffy, woolly, vague or ambiguous, people will struggle to see you as the number one choice and trusted voice for what you do.

To solve that, you need to be clear about who you are and what you do better than most other people. In other words, what do you want your reputation to be?

Here are six questions to help you answer this most difficult of questions:

1. What motivates you? What project, mission, core belief or dream is driving you forward? What is it that makes you want to be better than you are and make a difference?
2. What infuriates you? Sometimes it's the stuff that you loathe, despise, rebel against or get annoyed by that creates the cause you're willing to live for. The stuff that makes your blood boil is where your passion may lie. What wrongs do you want to put right? What causes do you want to fight for?
3. Who inspires you? It could be a person that compels you to move your life in a certain direction. Who are your gurus, mentors, role models and advisors that attract you into certain professions or roles?
4. What do you love doing that people might pay you for? Your passions, your desires, your enthusiasm and your drive are attractive to people. They say when you're on fire with desire, people will come to see you burn! You could be famous for something you'd do all day even if nobody was looking!
   
5. What can you do really well that people might pay you for? Your skills and talents are marketable assets. What do you find easy that other people find difficult? This is where you could be world class and thus become the stand-out thoice and compelling leader.
   
6. What do you know that people might want to learn? Your insight, your knowledge, your wisdom and your brains could be commercial assets. You can carve out a reputation for what you know. And with social media, there are multiple avenues for you to share that knowledge and draw the world to your mind!

Don't compare yourself to others at this point and say 'well there's already someone else doing that.' Comparisons can kill your dreams stone dead if you let them!

You don't need to be better, just different, says marketing strategist Rod Sloane.

So what do YOU want to be known for?

We're well into my experiment 'Zero to Hero' - building a reputation and a profile online using social media and online networking. Part of the promise was doing a series of interviews with experts, gurus and top practitioners who are making their mark in this world.

In the third of our social media interviews, we talk with the incomparable Rod Sloane. Outspoken and usually right, Rod has a corporate marketing heritage with a small business mentality, which brings core messages home about how to succeed in business today.

In this 15 minute interview, you'll learn about how to differentiate yourself online and how to make the right kind of contributions to a range of social media. It's very entertaining!

Alternatively,  download Social Media Interview with Rod Sloane>>

Evern wondered where people get all their twitterings and blog ideas from? Ever wondered what people are writing that makes them so 'followable' (if that's a word)?

Just done a great interview with Rod Sloane where he told me (amongst other gems} that the sensible balance for your online contributions is:

• 80% - pointing to other people and resources which reflect your areas of interest and hold your respect.
• 10% - talking about you as a person. People often want to know who you are before they need to knwo what you do.
• 10% - talking about your products, your services, your business.

I suppose there's a case to be made for spending time doing contributing in the following ways:

• Commenting on the comments, tweets and blogs of others.
• Writing articles and insightful content of your own.
• Asking and answering good questions.
• Introducing people to each other.
• Giving testimonials and endorsements

In addition you need to leave some time for:

• Keeping your profile up-to-date.
• Making connections and answering requests.
• Learning new tools and applications.

Online networks are like offline ones. They only work if you work them. If you want to build a great reputation online (and you're not a celebrity) then it's sharing, contributing, adding insight, connecting and learning. Those kind of things will get you a great name, a great following and a great deal of trust. And that can mean business, wealth, influence and recognition.

Of course, if you're so busy doing all of this, you may not have the time to go out and deliver the business! But that's another problem!