Arc 3 Communications

Crisis Communications, Social Media and Pecha Kucha

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In order to better protect the reputation of your organization, new crisis communications protocols that integrate social media strategies must be put in place to meet today’s new challenges. The following presentation by Patrick L. Burns, President of Arc 3 Communications, quickly highlights key strategies that are an important part of an updated crisis communications plan that incorporates social media. Presentation was originally presented to Social Media Club of Atlanta at their 2012 Pecha Kucha Night. Presentation is in pecha kucha format which is a simple, fast-paced style where the presenter shows 20 slides, each for either 15 or 20 seconds so that presentation is either 5 minutes long or  6 minutes 40 seconds long.

To view Patrick’s presentation to the Social Media Club of Atlanta, please click the following link:

What Happens In Vegas Goes on YouTube: Crisis Communications and Social Media

 

 

Storify and the Power of Content Curation

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Storify is a powerful tool for content curation. In today’s digital age of social media and mobile devices, everyone is now a content producer as the 24 hour news cycle yearns for instant reporting of news events. Storify is a platform upon which individuals can aggregate tweets, posts, photographs, videos and links from social media including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Reddit and Flicker to create powerful stories on any subject matter. Storify creates a new layer above the social networks that helps users create a coherent story that is interactive and dynamic.

Started in 2009 in San Fransico, Ca. by founders Burt Herman and Xaxier Damman, Storify currently has well over a million and half individual users. News media outlets from the Wall Street Journal to ABC News have reporters and editors that are using Storify to curate content from the social web. Presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama also utilize Storify in their campaign efforts. Team Romney has created 145 stories while President Obama’s campaign has created 78 stories on Storify. The Romney campaign was able to obtain over 38,000 views of a Storify story regarding a bus tour that coincided with Romney’s announcement of Paul Ryan as his pick for Vice President. President Obama’s campaign used Storify to highlight First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to the Olympics in London to draw attention to her visit.

Our founder and President of Arc 3 Communications, Patrick Burns recently used Storify to curate content from social media to tell the story of his experience as a Delegate from Ga. to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Patrick was able to use Storify’s bookmarklet to drag and drop status updates, photos and videos from Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube and Instagram to bring together the social media elements that best illustrated his experience as a Delegate in Tampa. Storify not only allowed for the collection of elements from social media, but also allowed for the writing of a headline, introduction and text inside his story. As one who utilized social media and pitched traditional media at the convention, Storify was an excellent vehicle to assist Patrick in pulling together all the elements of his trip and better communicate his experience. Upon completion of his story, Storify also allowed Patrick to share his story with his social networks, and notify all the people quoted in his story such as comedian, Dennis Miller; RNC Chairman, Reince Preibus; Mitt Romney; Chris “The Fix” Cillizza of the Washington Post, Erik Erickson of Red State.com and Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner. Storify’s platform also allows readers to interact with the social media elements of Patrick’s story and share it with their followers.

Below is a link to Patrick’s story in Storify regarding his experience as a Delegate as told via the many social media networks that were prevalent at the RNC Convention.

http://storify.com/PatrickLBurns/arc-3-founder-serves-as-delegate-to-republican-nat

 

What is your Klout Score? How Your Social Media Influence Matters

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What is your Klout Score? Your Klout score is a two digit score that measures your social media influence. If you have a Twitter account in which you are doing public updates you have a Klout score. You can supplement your score by adding Google Plus, Facebook, LinkedIn,  Foursquare, Tumblr, Instagram, Blogger, WordPress, LastFM or Flickr to your Klout account. While Google has an algorithm that measures page rank, Klout has developed an algorithm to measure social media influence. Google has an algorithim that ranks the relevancy of every webpage, while Klout is working to measure the influence of every person online. Klout scores are calculated using variables that can include number of followers, frequency of updates, the Klout scores of your friends and followers and the number of likes, retweets, and shares that your updates receive. Interacting with someone who has a high Klout score also helps to increase your score.

The Klout Score algorithm was created by it’s founder, Joe Fernandez in 2008. Klout’s algorithm was little changed until October of 2011, when the algorithm was tweaked, most likely to more greatly account for Facebook as tool of influence. This caused a considerable uproar among technologists, who heavily dependent on Twitter, saw a dip in their scores. Many technologists clamored that Klout simply no longer mattered and was meaningless.

However, with the most recent change in the Klout algorithm last month, technologists are giving Klout a second look and liking what they see. Prominent tech blogger, Michael Arrington (formerly of  TechCrunch) liked what Klout was doing so much that he  proceeded to invest in the company. The new Klout algorithm takes into account more real world influence — through a combination of bringing in 12 times more data points everyday, and taking into account things like Wikipedia pages and weighting LinkedIn profile data higher.

The new Klout profile page for an individual also is a timeline of recent social media interactions — specific Tweets, status updates and Instagram photos that have resonated with people. It’s no longer just about how many Retweets an individual gets, but who Retweeted them, and how they did it. Did they add their own commentary? Was it a “via”? Or a straight RT? Some 400 factors play into the new score. It’s less a number, and more a social resume on one page. The new version of Klout is focusing not just on the number of measurement of influence but also shows which clever tweets or posts by an individual resonated the most with their followers.

Does your Klout score and the social media influence that it represents truly matter? The answer is indisputabley yes.  Klout scores are entering into our everday lives, especially for those who travel and conduct business on the road. Airlines, hotels and retailers are starting to evaluate ways in which they can use Klout scores to identify brand evangelists of whom they wish to keep happy. Individuals with higher Klout scores will get aisle seats on airplanes, more spacious hotel rooms, and special discounts at big name retail stores. The enterprise software giant Salesforce.com has a service that lets companies monitor the Klout scores of customers. Those with higher Klout scores will get more attention and quicker service from customer service representatives determined to keep them from tweeting or posting negative comments to their many followers. Klout has nearly 2 billion API (application programming interface) calls per day from some 8,000 partners  – frequently from customer call centers who want to know exactly who are the customers that are calling in.

Some of the most influential brand customers with Klout scores of 50 or higher are eligible for perks and gifts ranging from free smart phones to all expense paid trips to weekend test drives of automobiles. Klout has done 400 “Perks” programs that have given some 750,000 influencers special deals with no quid pro quo– only a hope that they’ll say something nice about a brand. Brand rewards for Klout scores are a reflection in the social media age of the special treatment that brands have given out for years to high profile names, the press, and individuals who have spent lots of money on the brand. Klout has democratized influence.

Beyond the perks, Klout is rating and showing people’s online influence on various topics so that others can learn from them. In addition it rewards individuals for their social media efforts by helping them to feel listened to on certain topics. In this way, Klout’s ranking system is working to build a better online community. In today’s social media age, those that push out interesting content are the new influencers, and after several attempts, Joe Fernandez and Klout appear to be on their way to develop a rating system for measuring social media influence that is accurate and matters.

Metro Atlanta Regional T-SPLOST Vote: A Choice Between NPR and Fox News?

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Was the Metro Atlanta Regional T-SPLOST referendum vote a choice between NPR and Fox News? In a recent social data study by Arc 3 Communications of supporters and opponents of the Metro Atlana Regional T-SPLOST referendum utilizing Facebook’s Wisdom app, it was revealed that a cultural divide existed between the most ardent supporters for and against the Metro Atlanta Regional T-SPLOST referendum.

Many traditional polls had been taken showing a partisan divide among voters for the regional T-SPLOST referendum. However, through the use of Facebook social data, Arc 3 was able to identify not only a partisan divide, but a cultural divide as well among the most ardent supporters for and against the referendum. This data shows a significant cultural divide on regional policy issues.

For the study, Arc 3 Communications examined the Facebook pages of the two most prominent pro and against T-SPLOST campaigns, Untie Atlanta (Citizens for Transportation Mobility) and Traffic Truth (Transportation Leadership Coalition) utilizing Facebook Wisdom app’s detailed demographic profile data and breakdown of page likes. Arc 3 analyzed Facebook Wisdom Network data on basic demographics; political party identification and interests; sources for news; interests in music, movies and authors; sports favorites; and consumer choices. Among the key findings in each category:

  •  Supporters and opponents of the T-SPLOST referendum were evenly divided along gender lines with variation among age and education level. Significantly more of  the opponents of the T-SPLOST were married than the supporters of the T-SPLOST.
  • Consistent with polling data, the T-SPLOST groups broke out along partisan lines with pro-SPLOST forces showing Democratic leanings and opponents of the T-SPLOST being Republican.
  • Supporters and opponents of the T-SPLOST relied on very different news sources. T-SPLOST supporters’ favorite news source was National Public Radio, while opponents preferred Fox News.
  • In area of entertainment tastes, T-SPLOST supporters and opponents differed in television, movies and tastes in book authors. T-SPLOST supporters’ favorite program was The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, while opponents program of choice was House on the Fox Network.
  • While a dichotomy existed in preference for sports leagues – supporters of T-SPLOST were NFL fans, while opponents were NASCAR fans- both groups agreed that the Atlanta Braves  was their favorite sports team.
  • Both sides tended to agree in the area of prominent consumer choices, with both groups most favorite food and beverage product having been Chick-Fil-a, and favorite retailer having been Target.

The partisan divide between advocates and opponents of the T-SPLOST was clearly evident in this Facebook study as it had been in traditional polling. However the social data reveals a much deeper story showing the cultural preferences that were identifiers not only of partisanship but also attitudes toward regionalism and policymaking. T-SPLOST opponents clearly had cultural preferences indicative of more suburban living, while the T-SPLOST supporters had more urban cultural preferences. This may have been at the heart of the transportation policy debate over what the Atlanta region should look like.

 

Arc 3 Facebook Social Data Study Tables 

Basic Demographics

Untie Atlanta Traffic Truth
Male 60% 58%
Female 40% 42%
Married 49% 76%
Single 34% 20%
Average Age 36 49
College Education 58% 69%

 

Political Interests (Most Likes)

Untie Atlanta Traffic Truth
Political Party Democratic Party of Georgia Republican National Committee
Political Official Barack Obama Mitt Romney
Public Figure John Lewis Herman Cain

 

News Sources (Most Likes)

Untie Atlanta Traffic Truth
Media/News/Publishing NPR Fox News
Magazine The New Yorker Weekly Standard
News/Media Yahoo!News NewsBusters.org

 

Entertainment Interests (Most Likes)

Untie Atlanta Traffic Truth
Television Shows The Daily Show House
Movies The Hangover Atlas Shrugged The Movie
Favorite Author Maya Angelou Ayn Rand

 

Sports Interests (Most Likes)

Untie Atlanta Traffic Truth
Sports League NFL NASCAR
Sports Team Atlanta Braves Atlanta Braves
Athlete Michael Jordan Dale Earnhardt Jr.

 

Consumer Interests (Most Likes)

Untie Atlanta TrafficTruth
Food/Beverage Chick-Fil-a Chick-Fil-a
Retail and Consumer Merchandise Target Target
Hotel St. Regis Atlanta Chateau Elan Winery and Resort

 

Note: Untie Atlanta Facebook page analysis included analysis of Untie Clayton, Untie Cobb, Untie Cherokee, Untie Dekalb, Untie Douglas, Untie Gwinnett, Untie Fayette, Untie Fulton, Untie Henry, and Untie Rockdale Facebook pages

 

 

President of Arc 3 Communications Selected as a Delegate to the Republican National Convention

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Our founder and President, Patrick Burns was recently selected to be a Delegate from the Sixth Congressional District of Ga. to the upcoming Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.  The Republican National Convention will meet from August 27th to 30th at the Tampa Bay Times Forum where delegates will ratify the party platform and nominate a candidate for President and Vice President. The presumptive GOP nominee is former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney with the candidate for Vice President not yet chosen. Patrick is one of three delegates to the Republican National Convention from his home county of Cobb and one of three from his Congressional District. The Georgia Delegation to the Republican National Convention will be staying at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. Patrick’s selection as a delegate was recently mentioned in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Marietta Daily Journal.

The Democratic National Convention will be held from September 3rd to 6th in Charlotte, NC. The first three days will be at the Time Warner Cable Arena with the final day being at the Bank of America Stadium. The delegates at the Democratic National Convention will also ratify the party platform and nominate a candidate for President and Vice President. The presumptive nominees for President and Vice President are Barack Obama and Joseph Biden respectfully.

Patrick is honored to have his 24 years of involvement in politics and campaigns recognized by the opportunity to be a National Delegate. Patrick served as an Alternate Delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City which nominated President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Patrick is looking forward to seeing old friends; attending the convention speeches and platform meetings; and voting to nominate the GOP Presidential ticket. Patrick will also be spending time on bloggers row and live tweeting from the convention floor.

Among the many exciting things at the convention, Patrick will also have the opportunity to check-in on his mobile device on the convention floor and earn a Republican National Convention badge on Foursquare issued by Time Magazine. Time has also issued a Democratic National Convention badge for Foursquare users who check-in on the convention floor in Charlotte.

Patrick has promised to provide updates to the Marietta Daily Journal  and other local media about the many happenings at the convention. Congratulations on your selection Patrick!

Happy 4square Day 2012: The Power of Social Media and Gamification

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This month marked the 2nd annual celebration of Foursquare Day on April 16th. The day honors the social media platform Foursquare and its users. Hundreds of cities around the world held Foursquare Day events from Kennesaw, Ga. to Portland, Ore. to Istanbul, Turkey.

What is Foursquare?  Foursquare is a location-based social networking platform for mobile devices.  Users “check in” on their mobile phone at different places visited, from restaurants to parks, museums and retails stores. Foursquare rewards users for checking in with badges, points and mayorships. Users can choose to have their check-ins, mayorships and badges posted on their Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.

Foursquare also allows users the ability to leave tips about a venue. People can leave tips about their favorite dishes, things to do, and how to get a discount.  Users can also track things that they have done by clicking “I’ve done this” next to a tip or can add something that sounds good to their to do list. Lists are collections of tips and venues created by users. Lists range from the Best Museums of New York City to Gone With the Wind. Each is created by a local expert, giving unique insight into the best places to visit in a city

To get users interested in the social media app and to keep them checking in (and thus providing more data to the recommendation engine), Foursquare has developed a unique set of “games.” The badges, points and mayorships are ways in which users can compete against friends. The mayor is the person who’s checked in the most times at a venue over the past 60 days.

Foursquare was started by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai in the fall of 2008 in New York City. Foursquare was launched at South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas in March 2009.

Foursquare has grown into a community of over 20 million people worldwide with over 2 billion check-ins. Half of Foursquare users are in the United States while the other 50 percent are international. Over 750,000 businesses are using the Merchant Plaftform.

So, how did April 16 become 4sqDay? Back in 2010, Tampa, Fla. optometrist Nate Bonilla-Warford realized that 4² = 16 and that April 16 would be a perfect day to celebrate Foursquare. He got together with some friends and started putting together a worldwide movement. Other cities quickly joined in and parties were held all over the world that first year. It’s grown since then to include cities in every corner of the globe.

Foursquare Day is a worldwide movement and the social app is being embraced around the world by political leaders and the media. All major media and news outlets currently have a Foursquare brand page. In August of 2011, President Barack Obama joined Foursquare and other world leaders including Prime Minister of Great Britian David Cameron and French President Nicholas Sarkozy followed suit.  All of these leaders are using Foursquare to check-in to places they visit.  The Republican candidates for President, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry joined Foursquare before the start of the first presidential caucus in Iowa. NBC News and Foursquare have teamed up to map out the 2012 presidential election. Visitors are able to see where candidates are making campaign stops in real-time, and where they’ve been throughout their entire election campaign.

In addition to checking-in at events, the gamification aspect of Foursquare is being used by politicians and the media in creative ways to engage the public in the political process. For instance, French President Nicholas Sarkozy recently rewarded campaign volunteers with cookies for checking into his campaign headquarters. Time Magazine will reward attendees to the respective Democratic and Republican National Conventions with a badge. NBC Politics recently established 3 badges for checking-in to Presidential campaign events.

In the same way that Foursquare makes buying a cup of coffee a competitive event, political operatives and the media are trying to harness the power of games to collect data and engage potential voters, readers and viewers. Foursquare and gamification can actually be a powerful tool for identifying and engaging the public.  As the over 16,000 participants in Foursquare meetups around the world can attest, social media married with gamification is a powerful tool for mobilizing people and driving results for your organization.

 

 

 

 

SXSW 2012: The Year of the Ambient Social Location App

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At this year’s SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas from March 9th to 13th, one of the most popular apps was the ambient social location app, Highlight.

SXSW is one of the most innovative and trendiest shows of the year in the tech community. Often referred to as spring break for geeks, it has been the place for the launch of some of the most notable platforms in social media.  Twitter was launched at SXSW in 2007 and Foursquare was launched there in 2009. Often what is launched successfully at SXSW becomes a household name in the tech community overnight as it is adopted in mass by tech early adopters.  These early adopters then set the stage for introduction into the general consumer audiences.

In the midst of discussions ranging from the speed of change in interactive to reinventing the agency to social ROI, the most talked about trend at SXSW was the ambient social location app. This form of mobile app shows the user people that are around them using the app and what their interests and social profiles are. The ambient social app identifies your location and alerts you to the people around you, showing their social profiles such as Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare.  The most well-known ambient-social location apps are Highlight, Glancee, Banjo and Sonar.

These ambient social location apps all competed for attention at SXSW. The most talked about app at SXSW was Highlight, started by Paul Davison of Silicon Valley. Davison was able to explain clearly and concisely what his product did and make a big splash at SXSW. His public relations team’s effort was a good example of how despite all of the flashy digital tools for the dissemination of information, messaging still matters. Influential tech journalist, Robert Scoble was so impressed with the Highlight team’s message and product that he became an advocate for Highlight during his week at SXSW. Scoble befriended 900 people on Highlight and defended the app when it began to receive criticism from some SXSW attendees. Twitter and Foursquare received similar criticism in earlier SXSW shows, but have certainly met success since their launches. Twitter currently has 465 million users and will reach 500 million users this month. Foursquare currently has 15 million users.

Highlight is a mobile app available on the i-phone market only.  Upon downloading, the app tracks your location in the background and sends you a push notification when someone else using the app comes within 50 yards of you. You then have the opportunity to say hello and talk about shared interests and a recording of that meeting is saved on your Highlight account.  Highlight often identifies people of shared interests at a geo-location and promotes networking and connectivity.

The other apps in the ambient social location space are Glancee, Banjo and Sonar. Like Highlight, these social discovery apps alert you to others of shared interests at your geo-location upon their arrival.

Glancee tracks your location in the background and links to your Facebook and Twitter accounts. It will show people who are using the app and their shared social graph interests and Facebook picture.

Banjo also tracks your location in the background, but aggregates geo-location data from Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook and Twitter to provide a map of people near you. The user is able to see on a map, pictures of others near them and their respective social profile data.

Sonar uses Foursquare to show you people nearby and utilizes a ranking system to give weight to people who most share your interests. Sonar also has the ability to integrate with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and provide contextual data.

Ambient social location apps are following in the footsteps of Foursquare in their geo-social nature. However, unlike Foursquare they are leveraging the ambient nature of human interaction encouraging greater connectivity and social discovery based on location and shared interests. These apps accelerate individuals desire to discover who at the cocktail party is worth getting to know and most apt to share their interests and goals.

Like Foursquare, ambient social location apps will be adopted by the tech-savvy early adopters in metropolitan areas, university towns, and high tech areas. However these apps may be slow to reach a broad consumer audience. It may be years before they reach the type of adoption numbers that Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest have reached with consumers.

However, just as elite influencers such as reporters, congressional staff, technologists, marketing and public relations professionals were early adopters of Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, the power of these ambient social location apps will lead to their quick adoption by this group of people. It will enable elite influencers to better network at events and locations and share ideas and learnings. They will be better able to network and meet the people they need to know.

As tool for a campaign, marketing or public relations professional trying to organize an event and drum up last minute attendance, an ambient social location app alerts them to individuals in the area and allows for them to invite these folks to the event via notifications. For a reporter doing a story who is looking for individuals to interview in the area, these apps alert them to potential sources for their story and allows them to contact them.

Though ambient social location apps will not garner quick and immediate consumer success, they should be considered as an important platform to influence elite opinion and organize grassroots efforts.  In 2012 and beyond they will have an increasingly important role in molding and shaping elite opinion and those that influence the public and consumers.

 

 

Announcing the Launch of Arc 3 Communications

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Dear Friends:

I am pleased to announce the launch of Arc 3 Communications, a full service Atlanta based agency that provides public relations, interactive marketing and public affairs services to businesses, trade associations and non-profits throughout the Southeast.

After almost a decade at one of the oldest independent public relations agencies in the Southeast and with over 20 years’ experience in media and public affairs, I have made the decision to create a new type of agency that meets the needs of clients in the evolving media world.

Arc 3 is able to offer integrated solutions to clients that are customized by specialists who truly understand the nexus of media, technology and public affairs. We bring together public relations, interactive marketing and public affairs specialists from media, politics, the arts, non-profits, and business together into the same agency.

In today’s dynamic media and public affairs environment, Arc 3’s integrated services are more efficient and cost-effective than traditional agencies and provide greater return on investment for clients. While other public relations agencies are slow to change, Arc 3 is at the forefront of media and technology.

Arc 3 Communications provides a multi-disciplinary, diverse set of services ranging from media relations to social media to grassroots mobilization. Our comprehensive cross-platform approach integrates traditional media, social media and mobile with public affairs strategy to achieve client objectives.

Arc 3 has thinkers, solvers and doers. Our innovation, insight and integrity have created trusted, long-standing relationships that benefit our clients and achieve exceptional results.

When starting my career over 20 years ago in a world of pagers, payphones and rolls of quarters on the campaign trail, I never would have imagined the transformation that has occurred in media and public affairs. However, despite all the changes one thing has never changed- personal relationships.

I have been blessed to start a new company because of the help of friends, colleagues, mentors, and clients over the years who know that business is about long-term relationships and a commitment to a better marketplace.

At Arc 3 Communications, we look forward to the opportunity to build on our success and help you achieve results. Please contact us for a free initial consultation. We look forward to the opportunity to be of service to you.

Sincerely,
Patrick L. Burns
President, Arc 3 Communications

For more information on the launch of Arc 3 Communications, please click on Arc 3 Launch Press Release

Promoting and Protecting Your Personal Brand in a New and Uncertain Age

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The exponential growth of social media is stunning.  Facebook currently has more than 800 million users sharing 900 million content shares a day, and is estimated to reach 1 billion users in the next few months. The micro-blogging platform, Twitter, adds 11 new accounts per second and currently has 465 million users and will reach 500 million users this month. Google Plus, just created within the last year has 170 million users, many added in the last few months. LinkedIn, a professional networking platform, has 147 million users.

These are the most popular social media channels, but there are estimated to be 26 widely used social media platforms (API’s- application program interfaces) out there right now that are growing and may soon emerge into the top tier of networks.  Many of these are location based- geo social platforms such as Foursquare which currently has 15 million users.

Understanding the power of the social media; celebrities, politicians and popular brands are utilizing social media to promote themselves and their brand.

For example on Twitter, singers Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift have 18 million and 10 million followers respectfully. In the Presidential campaign race, President Obama has 12 million followers on Twitter while Newt Gingrich has 1.4 million followers and Mitt Romney has 303,000 followers. Among NFL athletes; Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow has 1.1 million followers and New England Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco has 3.1 million.

On Facebook, some of the most liked pages are Coca-Cola with 38 million likes, Starbucks with 27 million likes and President Obama with 24 million likes.

So popular people, politicians and brands promote themselves on social media channels, and many of us promote our small businesses via social media. However, how many of us think about using social media to promote our personal brand?

In today’s fast changing global economy – so many people have had to undergo multiple transitions in their careers. My father worked at Georgia Tech as faculty researcher for 30 years. My maternal grandfather worked in a carpet mill for 40 years. They worked at the same place for decades.  Unfortunately it does not work like that for most of us today. We have to promote ourselves and put our best foot forward with a strong personal brand. One important way to do that today is with social media.

You are a brand. People form their perceptions about you based on their interaction with you, but also on what they hear and learn about you from others such as friends, colleagues and members of the civic organizations to which you belong.

In today’s world, social media is the new social layer that influences how people perceive you. It is a powerful medium for influencing people regarding your personal brand.

What you say on social media channels such as Facebook and who you are connected with on channels such as LinkedIn, influence people’s perceptions about you.

Today we are in the world of the reverse elevator pitch. We are in a world where people are influenced by what folks say about you when you are not in the room and how you appear online influencers others. When people Google you – what do they see? Involution marketing is just as important as outward marketing.

Social media is a lot like a Washington D.C. cocktail party- you want to be sure that you get to know the right people and connect with them online and you want to look your best.

How do you promote your personal brand through the social media such as Facebook and Twitter?  You want to think about those things that are unique about you, what makes you stand out apart from everyone else. Everyone has talents, characteristics, history that makes them unique and distinct.

In your social media posts, you want to be consistent, have conviction and talk about those things that you are passionate about. The key to personal branding is finding something that you love and share that passion and love with the larger world. If you love to grill – please share your expertise and knowledge with your followers. If you are passionate about a candidate for elected office, please share your thoughts and why you have worked so hard to get that person elected.

I know that not everyone is comfortable with projecting themselves online and some may be reluctant to use Twitter and Facebook, but there are some important things that you can do to promote your personal brand online so that you look your best.

  1. Utilize LinkedIn. Keep your profile complete, updated and include a picture.  People will connect with you seven times more if you have a picture. 90% of businesses are using LinkedIn to recruit employees. You need 500+ contacts on LinkedIn, and 1 recommendation per 100 to attract the eye of a top notch employer. When you have done a great job at work on a project – ask your boss or civic organization leader to do a recommendation for you right then and there.
  2. Have a quality e-mail signature. E-mail is certainly not dead and is as important as ever in promoting personal brand. Your company should have an e-mail signature format that everyone adheres to. If not, WiseStamp, is a free and excellent application to offer professional e-mail that you can link to your LinkedIn or other social media. I would encourage WiseStamp for your personal e-mail as well.
  3. Set up a Google Profile – not Google Plus, but a Google Profile. It is the easiest way to insure that when people search online a positive snapshot of you appears.

The one thing you take with you from birth to death is your name and reputation. Don’t let the search engines or someone else create your reputation online. Own your personal brand online by putting your best foot forward.  Through your engagement in social media you may learn more about yourself and how important it is to live an interesting life in the real world – so that you can post, tweet or blog about it in the digital one.

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We’re located in historic downtown Marietta just off of the Square.

145 Church Street, Suite 290 Marietta Georgia 30060

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