Quality SM connections for personal branding

Making connections is what social media is all about. When it comes to personal branding however, the quality of those connections is important.

For example, imagine a recruiter looking through your Twitter Followers and finding a spammy “Buy 5,000 Twitter followers” account or, worse, a porn account. What does that say about you that didn't block such accounts?

And, if you’re still using the number of followers to measure your social media success, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Do an audit of your audience and determine which users are the right ones, and cull your lists accordingly.

Once you’ve completed the audit what can you do in the future to ensure you have quality connections that will enhance your online personal brand?

Start by having a thoughtful approach to who you’ll follow.

How to decide who to follow on social media for personal branding success

Linkedin
When someone asks to connect with you, ask yourself:

• Are they in your industry or a related industry? (Related question: Are they in any Linkedin groups you belong to?)
• Are they active on Linkedin and other social media?
• What do they talk about and what do they share on SM?

If you are seeking new connections, first ask yourself:

• Who do you want to connect to? Why?
• How will you find these people? Using advanced search in Twitter and Linkedin, and Facebook’s graph search are good places to start – search for people mentioning the terms relevant to your interests.
• Are they active on Linkedin and other social media?
• What do they talk about and what do they share on SM?

Twitter 
In some respects Twitter is a better starting place to find industry-relevant people. It is a place where you can connect with anyone (unlike Linkedin where you need to be connected or pay a premium to contact people you aren’t connected to).

Basic tips to assess whether to follow someone on Twitter include:

• Does their bio indicate relevance to your purposes on social media?
• What kind of content have they shared in the past few days?
• Is their Following-Follower ratio in balance – in other words are there either more Followers or are they about the same. If there is a much higher Following number they are either new to Twitter or desperate for followers.

Still in doubt? Use one of the free tools that assesses Twitter accounts:

• Twitteraudit: It seeks to answer the question: "How many of your followers are real?" But it also evaluates the Twitter accounts of others. Anything higher than 10 percent fake followers indicates someone who indiscriminately connects or does not block spammy followers… i.e. they’re not very careful on Twitter.
• Status People: It sorts any Twitter accounts followers into Fake, Inactive and Good. A high number in Fake (more than 10 percent) or Inactive (more than 20 percent) should also be a warning sign.

Facebook
First, decide if Facebook is a place you want to open up to people beyond friends and family. Some people draw that line at Facebook.

But if you are OK with connecting professionally on Facebook you can use FB’s own search engine to find people who may be worth connecting to.

Start by using search terms such as keywords related to your industry and move on to search on relevant hashtags. And, although its focus is marketing the tips here can be applied to personal connections too: How to Use Facebook Graph Search to Improve Your Marketing

Google+
Any discussion on personal branding has to include Google+. Whether you’re a fan or not is somewhat irrelevant – it’s a Google product so you better believe being there helps in Google search results.

Using the Google+ search or a regular Google search use keywords and the usual Google search operators.

For more on doing better Google searches see How to Use Google Search More Effectively.

Was this helpful? Wil you invest some time in social media and ensuring your connections are worthwhile? It is the only way social media can help with personal branding.

Related link:
Blogging for personal branding
Personal branding – don’t leave it to chance

Blogging for personal branding

Building or improving your personal brand can seem like facing a massive mountain. But some strategic use of social media can help anyone improve their personal brand – or the collective impression online search results speak about who you are. 

One of the best places to start? A blog. 

Now a blog doesn’t need to be a massive undertaking. Think of it as a one-step-at-a-time approach to making a name for yourself or being an expert about something.

There are all kinds of theories about how to decide what your blog should be about and how to make it successful for personal branding. Here are some of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen:

15 Tips for a Successful Personal Branding Blog

1. Pick a blogging platform or a free website tool that is easy to work with. For a starter list of platforms see 5 Free Blogging Platforms to Start a New Blog in 2015.

2. Make it about something you care about so you’re more likely to keep it going. 

3. Write about an aspect of your industry OR make it about something you can have a lot to say about. Which means as long as you write an informative and enthusiastic blog it will get a following and get you some attention. 

4. Keep blog posts in the 250-500 word range. Shorter than that and it may not get indexed. Longer than that and it may not get read. 

5. Stick with it. In other words post regularly (something I’m guilty of not doing this year) – perhaps once a week or twice a month at a minimum. 

6. Plan how you will share your blog – this could mean via social media accounts and/or via email. And make sure social sharing buttons are always on your blog posts so others can share a post. 

7. Join a blogging network – a place where members share each other’s posts- or find another place that welcomes blog sharers. See 15 Places You Should Be Sharing Your Blog Posts. 

8. Discover sources of illustrative artwork for your blog. A blog post with at least one image is twice as likely to get attention and be shared by others. For a list of 20 sites and some good how-to-use-art tips see 20 Free Blog Graphics Sites and How To Customize Images For Your Blog. 

9. Write out in a single sentence what the blog is about. Then a list of topics it will cover. Refer back to this list regularly 

10. Develop a posting calendar. It can be flexible, but it takes a lot of pressure away to know what your next five to 10 posts will be about. 

11. Be patient. All blogs take a little time to get established and win an audience. 

12. Include two or more internal links to exterior, deeper content. 

13. Be sure to include links to your previous posts – two or three per post once you have a catalog of posts. 

14. Check to see how the blog displays in various browsers. 

15. Interact with those who comment on your blog and, if necessary, delete spam comments. 

So, do you have a blog? Will you start a blog? Will it be something you’ll add to your social media activities on a regular basis? 

Related post:
Quality SM connections for personal branding
Personal branding – don’t leave it to chance
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