the hurricane inside my brain

I said to a friend of mine yesterday “Well, the good thing about being kicked off twitter is that I finally got my Flickr strategy firmly in place.”

And she said “What’s a Flickr Strategy?”

So in light of making my “private conversations public” and sharing my strategies with the world, here’s what I told her.

One thing I’m always telling my clients is this: “Social Media is not JUST about brand awareness. However, done right, that’s a huge added benefit. Happens every time.”

In fact, I keep hearing the words about my own personal brand “Lisa, you’re everywhere”, a comment which has led to more than one proposal.

So my Flickr strategy is, partly a “be everywhere” strategy. But it’s also the following:

1) It’s a way to create a collection of original imagery I can use for my other social media channels.

I love great photos. I’m not a great photographer. In fact, I never bring a camera unless it’s a wedding or graduation. But guess what I discovered? With my camera phone and Picnik, I can create cool looking web-friendly photos with only a smidge of effort.

Picnik is like “photoshop for dummies.” My kids showed me how to use it in about 10 minutes. (And yes, you design purists out there: I KNOW. I KNOW. I KNOW! It’s like telling someone it’s okay to use desktop publishing even if they don’t know the first thing about design. But. Still.). You can create all sorts of effects, fix flaws, colors, etc. Your photos are saved at the correct resolution to use on the web. And they can be stored directly to your Flckr photostream.

So now, part of my strategy is to take pix with my cell phone – “visual observations of life”, I like to call them — “picnik them”, and then store the images on Flickr. Then they are available to me – to use when appropriate in blogs, Facebook, twitter, etc.

2) It lets me share with others.

Oh right! Social media is about sharing, lest we forget. : )

So now my images are also available for other bloggers or anyone to use, as long as they link back to me. I also have a strategy (go figure!) for how I license my images through Creative Commons. Most of my images are available for anyone to use, for any purpose, even commercially. The pictures of my kids, I’m stricter about how they can be used. The licensing part is great. It spells out exactly what your intentions are. Take the time to figure out what you’re comfortable with.

Oh, and here’s a good article by Chris Brogan on how he uses Flickr as a blogger to find images for his site.

3) It reinforces the fact that I am a visual thinker.

I love design. Love love love it. I like nothing better than seeing a brand who has great design sensibilities. It makes me go “Ahhhhh…”
And the thing that took me a little while to get about Social Media is that design can and should still be an integral part of any social media strategy.

So part of my Flickr strategy is to use this as a proof point for myself. How does great design get used in Social Media? What do images say about you, as a person, as a brand?

Even to the point of having part of my design strategy be this: I write “headlines” which speak to my view of the world. Design them so they look cool. Post them on Flickr. Brand myself as a visual thinker. Ahhhhh….

Anyone else out there with other strategies? Other sites that they use for “visual social media”? Other thoughts, ideas? Would love to hear from you.

photo: malias

Back ten years ago, when I was starting my own advertising agency, I read a book called “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber. Terrible name, but great book, one whose proposition was that any company you start you should start AS IF it were going to be franchised. Make it turnkey right from the start. That way, you get the systems down pat and the process so it can be duplicated day in and day out. You also get the branding right. You are able to duplicate the *experience* for the consumer whenever and wherever they encounter you.

The author gave an example of how he once went to a hairdresser. The first time he went in, the place was neat as a pin. Everything was lined up, organized. His hair was cut with precision, exactness. Not much chitchat, he was in and out. Got a great haircut, felt good about himself and the place. The second time he went, his experience was much mellower. There was music in the background. He was served a cup of tea. It was more conversational, took a while longer. His hair was cut slowly, with painstaking attention to detail. Again, he got a great haircut. In fact, both experiences were good.

But because there was such a disconnect between the two experiences, it completely shook him up. He never went back to that hairdresser again. He didn’t know what to expect.

Fast forward ten years. Companies have a digital “presence” all over the web. They are interacting with people everywhere. But are the experiences that customers are having with brands as they encounter them all across the vast array of networks similar enough so that the customer is not confused? When you have multiple contact points, multiple bloggers writing stuff, multiple twitterers, bunches of videos and pictures and hundreds of conversations a week, thousands of conversations a year, is the brand story still being told in a cohesive, easy-to-understand way? Or are brands just getting out there and talking to people, without understanding what they really are communicating? Thoughts and ideas anyone?

photo credit: purpleslog

Think, for a moment, about how a movie works. There’s a concept, something you can sum up in an elevator speech. There’s a story line. Characters, with personalities. There’s dialogue and conversations. Then there’s some random imagery, there’s the look and feel of the movie. Production values. And oh, yes, you know that sequence that doesn’t say much, but is just a random little video sequence set to music? There’s that too.

Now think about a brand, and how it communicates in social media. There’s the concept behind the brand, something that you can sum up in an elevator speech. There’s a story line – a history of the company and what it’s doing. There are characters: the CEO and all the little supporting roles. There are conversations and dialogue. Then there’s some random imagery, and there’s the look and feel of the brand. There are production values. And oh, yes, you know that sequence that doesn’t say much, but is just a random little video sequence set to music? It’s on YouTube. There’s that too.

What if we thought bigger picture about how a brand functions in Social Media. What if we really truly thought of it like a movie for the brand? A story line that gets told through words and images and a level of engagement so great you get lost for a period of time.

And yes, I know, I know. The conversations in social media take place in real time, and have to be authentic, and can’t be acted or scripted.

But that just makes the idea even cooler.

Just thinkin’ 

Quick! Who’s on a US ten dollar bill? Do you know? If yes, congrats (and you can stop reading now). But if not…think about why you don’t know. After all, assuming you live in the United States, you’ve probably seen hundreds or even thousands of those bills in your lifetime.

The reason is this: you don’t remember what doesn’t engage you. In fact, you barely even *see* something that doesn’t engage you first. If there’s no story, or message, or context or relevance to you, something you see almost every day might as well be invisible. So marketers, advertisers, writers, information pushers – why does so much of what you do not have any effect on people? Just ask Alexander Hamilton.

photo credit: discoodoni

For those of you who do believe in a “personal brand”, you know how this works. There’s the “real” you, and you’ve set about making sure your personal brand reflects that. Your core values are expressed consistently across a wide variety of communication channels. You make sure that what and how you communicate about yourself is both relevant to your target audience and differentiating from your competition. You’re proud of your brand and what you’ve created but one thing is nagging at you.

See, there’s this other side of you that’s disorganized, parties too much, swears on occasion. Or maybe it’s the side of you that is so driven you sometimes forget the niceties of social interaction. Or you are painfully shy, or you ramble on and on, or you can never remember where you put your car keys.

The real you is a complex person, and far from perfect. So what do you do when you want your brand to be perfect but you aren’t?

Communicate. And demonstrate. Keep the focus on your positive qualities. You can tell the world about those – in an authentic, non-boastful, factual way. But better yet, demonstrate those qualities every chance you get.

Want to be known as a “friendly, smart problem-solver”? Talk with people. Ask what their problems are. Help solve them. A world-class strategist? Start strategizing, publish your thoughts. Want to be known as “creative?” Create things. Bake pies for a homeless shelter with cool designs on them. See how quickly people start saying, “Oh, you’re so creative.” And then notice how quickly that trumps shyness.

Word of mouth is great. Word of action is better. Hint: if you don’t have time to actually do the things you want to be known for, you’ve chosen the wrong brand for yourself.

The right personal brand will allow you to have flaws. If you do a consistently good job of branding the qualities you want to be known for, people will forgive you for your flaws. In fact, they will consider you more human. Caveat: keep your flaws legal and unhurtful to others.

Get out there and make mistakes. Then show the world how you fix them. One sign of a true professional is how much grace they exhibit when things get ugly. Go ahead. Demonstrate how you would fix a mistake, say your sorry, admit failure. And if you make a mistake while fixing the mistake, guess what? Do it again until you learn how to do it well.

If your real self and your brand don’t align, one of them needs to go. Tired of feeling like you are “hiding behind your brand?” Don’t.

In this world of transparency, know you will be found out. This is a good thing. Transparency means that everyone’s flaws, mistakes, shortcomings will become more obvious. Perhaps the world will become more forgiving. But, in the meantime, here’s another strategy: as other peoples’ weaknesses become apparent, use your strengths to help those people. Then watch how quickly your own strengths come to life.

I think of personal branding this way: It’s not that you can’t be yourself. It’s just being conscious of what you want the world to remember.