Krishna De is an award winning digital marketing, brand engagement and social media author, speaker, commentator and mentor. Her expertise in personal branding and leveraging online marketing and social media is featured in several highly acclaimed books including World Wide Rave published by Wiley and The Career Doctor: How To Get And Keep The Job You Want published by Currach Press. She is considered by the media and clients alike to be one of Europe’s leading brand engagement, Employer Branding, Personal Branding, digital marketing and social media communications strategists.
She joined me last week to talk about social media, personal branding and what’s changed over this past tumultuous year.
She joined me recently on my BlogTalk Radio show. You can listen in streaming on-demand at this link to our conversation.
Krishna De. How are you? Where are you? What are you doing? No one wants stalkers but you’re always up to something grand. So bring us current.
I am still in the place of educating and encouraging people to adopt social media with business leaders. The economy has definitely had an impact on communication plans.
Looking at your website I see you have a completely new site with masterclasses in twitter, linkedin and Facebook, and a mastermind class in Biz Growth. You offer all sorts of free resources for marketers. You use video, podcasts, text posts and more. Let’s talk about the free content. Why free? Why do you and so many others like bloggers, offer free advice, wisdom and content.
I was running an even yesterday for a digital media marketing group. Some of the members of the group do not believe in sharing anything with anyone on their website. I take a totally different approach. If I can provide you with content and sharing what people will be interested in, there will be some people who will become clients, while others will just take the information and run with it on their own. I do believe that if you share that information and are generous with it, it will all come back to you. The content there has really benefited me and my readers. I want to make sure that if I am the person for you, you have learned enough about me and I have taken the risk out of getting to know me.
Out of all of the content on your site, which one generates the most tangible results? And why do you think that is?
Looking at the analytics and tracking, sometimes it is a surprise to me and it also depends on how easy it is for people to find content. Video is huge this year too. One of the things that I have found is that people still like audio. I do put show notes and content around them too. There are still audios that are popular from over five years ago. People can listen at any time in any location.
What has been the biggest shift in social media and in the past 12 months? What has been the driver for that change?
Twitter has exploded in the past year. I have seen the adoption of Twitter by celebrities, reporting information which has lead to journalists watching for breaking news.
Facebook has made very significant changes for businesses with their pages. I also see that companies are starting to explore other platforms.
The Fortune 500 companies are becoming more involved. Video has also had an impact. Some services have also come and gone: Magnolia was a social bookmarking tool here. That is long gone now.
I look at social media communications as a platform strategy, how is my content, what is my risk plan, how am I making sure that I am out there. I may have a preference, but I have to be in many places in order to meet the needs of my audience. We can’t just stick with our preferences as we may limit our reach. I try to look at it as how do I meet you, the potential customer, on YOUR terms, where you like to play?
I like to think about it in the Harry Potter experience. Great Brand! Some people like to watch the film. Others like to listen to the audio book. Others like to watch the DVD. Others want the personal experienced in the theatre and still others want the book. It can be challenging for us, but we must think about repurposing our content to meet all of the needs.
What social media resource or resources are you using now that you weren’t last year? Why?
I have! I might try something out and explore different areas and some of my time each week is learning about them to enable me to share them. Posterous is one that I registered with as an easy way to blog. I tested it out awhile ago. I actually just went back to it after one year and saw others exploring it. I like the new platform. I use this tool as an adjunct to my other social media. It lets me bring new content and different ideas – I can also cross link to other platforms. I really like it. It is another way to bring it all together.
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Where or with what community is social media having its biggest impact? Business? Government? Teens? Moms?
Government: we have had local elections here upping their game with social media.
Charity: many non-profits are exploring it. We have Twestivals to raise funds for charities. Also organizations like LiveStrong have gone global. Here Lance Armstrong had put out a tweet about a ride…1200 people showed up to ride. The word spread from just one tweet! It was amazing. When he was meeting people, they wanted to know how was the LiveStrong conference. They weren’t asking about cycling. They also inquired about his thoughts on Dublin.
There are doubters about the power of social media. Why do you think there is still some hesitancy?
I did some workshops this week…there was a group of Facebook people and also some Twitter skeptics.
One company I met with is ready to move forwards with Social Media. They were concerned about: could someone impersonate us on Twitter? On another level they were concerned that they don’t get something right.
There is fear and some companies don’t understand the use of social media. I tell them they need to at least start listening. Companies must monitor their brand online. They have to learn where to start.
They want to know how much time does it take to start, how long does it take to put up a post and so forth. It is about educating them and letting them make the choice for each of those channels. They have to learn how to do a couple of things really well. They can learn what they can do quickly and how to repurpose their content.
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Start with one thing, understand it and move on-they can’t just quit after a short amount of time. They must learn to integrate it and see the power of social media. Many of the platforms are easy for us to access, but we need to set up enough time to educate ourselves on how to use them. It is worthwhile to invest the time to learn the platforms and invest in your business.
People have to find out for themselves what is relevant for their audience. It is good to test different platforms to see what works best and get your feet wet. Know what your goal is, who you want to connect with.
What are three misconceptions about social media to building a brand?
1. It is not relevant for you. For most businesses social media could enhance your communication plan either inside your business or with a particular stakeholder group.
2. It is free. The platform might be free, but the investment could be either time or money to invest in it.
3. Using an intern. You can’t just use someone who is young and inexperienced. I am not suggesting that they can’t do it, but they may not be the best choice for your communication plan. It can be more hurtful for your business. You need someone who is going to engage.
Can you share with us one case study with a client who “got it,” what did they do and what was the result?
One organization had gone to the search engine to answer a question that had to do with some specific training and their answer came up in a tweet, which was connected to a Facebook page, which had all of the details of the training and information they needed. They then booked that program (which was actually one of my clients).
Another case study was with a new business that hadn’t even launched yet but they are building their network, making friends and getting linked back in the search engines. They are building themselves to be credible in their area.
What are three four ways to build a strong personal brand?
1. Remember you already have a brand. Whether you know it or not or have tested it, you have a personal brand. Does it represent you and what you want people to see?
2. You cannot afford not to be found. You must be found in the search engines. You must look for yourself.
3. Do not leave your reputation at risk online or in the real world. Find out what people are going to find out about you online. You need to know this. Search your reputation. It is a great tool. Do that Google search for yourself every month and make sure it represents your professional profile.
4. If you are in the job search mode, consider LinkedIn!
You share great quotes on your website. Can you share with us you favorite quote:
You are what you tweet!
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