Initially, the linear process (putting info about who you are, creating personal profiles i.e. the “footprint”) may appear to be about “me-me-me,” but I believe the real goal here is to engage. And people want to engage with people, not companies.

Perfect examples of folks who do this well are Tony Hsieh http://twitter.com/zappos (CEO of Zappos) and Jeremaih Jowyang http://twitter.com/jowyang (Senior Analyst of Forrester Research) who interact on behalf of their companies.

As for me, a lot of the time on Twitter I bring up random stuff. But often, that’s when I’m able to find an extra common thread with the folks there (on a more personal level). And some of these same people have become meaningful contacts for my biz. More importantly though, I just enjoy them…as people.

Conversations on specific topics, in large numbers and with vast communities (that can create groundswell for your offering), start on the Web. Before engaging, there has to be something about who we are. I think that it has nothing to do with “me-me” and everything to do with the engagement. And the better the content, the better the engagement.

For fun, I checked out http://singlemomseeking.com and can see you’re are providing cool, fun and useful content-kudos! Would be even cooler to get to know the person behind that!

Best to you and thanks for “engaging!”

- Bridget Z http://twitter.com/bridgetZtalk

It seems like more and more readers on the web want LESS of me-me-me. Instead, they want to network, chat, share ideas, get advice.

Wouldn’t you say that branding is becoming less about “look at me!” and more about “let me show you how…”?

I’d love to hear your thoughts Bridget Z… and thanks for finding me via Twitter!

Thanks for the reply, Bridget…I guess where I coming from is I started blogging because I’m a writer by trade. Blogging means I get to publish non-work writing like never before, and the world gets to decide if they care or not. I write very differently with even a potential audience, and it’s been great.

Past posting my link in obvious, appropriate places, haven’t done much marketing. Figure if I’m good, people will find me. Doing a lot of work to “brand” myself would only be worth it if I was selling something (for money) which I’m not. Still, the pointers about consistency are good.

Did you see the article in Wired? It was interesting…the person they profiled simply wanted to be famous…which is interesting. Wired made a whole how-to about it though, which really begged the question of why. Why do the hard work of marketing?

Not saying there aren’t as many answers to that as there are people doing it. Just that it seems like some are doing it for no reason at all sometimes.

The best advice of all is your last: “Keep it fun.” Totally.

Thanks again!

In regards to the etiquette, thanks mentioning that. Its one of those common sense things which people frequently forget. I guess its force of habit when folks have the natural tendency to ‘pitch’, rather than having just an engaging conversation.

In regards to ‘personal branding’, I agree, each and every step we make, whether its a blog post, a LinkedIn profile, a MySpace photo, or even a Twitter tweet, leaves a digital footprint where people can track back and assess who you are. So we ought to make sure that whatever it is we have, positively impacts the entire ‘package’.

Thanks for commenting! You bring up a great point/question: why a personal brand?? And you say: “Not even sure how some of these folks turn this into income, or even if that’s the goal.”

There are many reasons one may want to run with this, but the best I can find is that folks can benefit from making themselves more marketable on the web. I’ve seen many cases when thought-leadership in one’s space (visible on the web) has helped enhanced the image, negotiation of a raise, new salary and/or consulting fee.

If one does go ahead with building a personal brand, maintaining the thing can seem downright exhausting (writing, editing, monitoring, connecting, etc.) and there is the fear that if one’s contributions dwindle, that it’s sudden death to the “brand.” Folks should decide for themselves what they’re willing (or want) to do with their web presence and just be consistent with that, no matter how tiny the footprint. Consistency is the thing.

Everyone(as I’m sure you know) already has a personal brand on some level-even the guy who isn’t into “branding” himself, but just shares cool ideas, stories and conversations on a blog now and again. I think that’s you, Michael (saw some cool stuff when I “Googled” you. ie your personal “brand”)!

Thanks again, Michael (and Randy for including me, here). Make it fun! -BZ

Recent cover story in Wired made me ask the same questions…so, that’s how she did it, but why? Not even sure how some of these folks turn this into income, or even if that’s the goal.

Just saying. Thanks for the post!