Social Media Trinity

Analyze Existing Media

When it comes to a personal brand, it’s not just where to start, but also who to join. There are several diverse ways to connect with another’s using social media. Who you are, and what you stand for, describes a great deal about your portraying image. Your individual brand is a description used to sell yourself to others.  I am presently on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, have a blog, a YouTube account, and Instagram. I am using these to construct a image in the minds of others to who I am, where I am going, and what I can do for them. I am also going to update and stay current on social media to involve with businesses, contractors, clienteles, investors, and overall increase my personal brand mindfulness while giving me a chance to learn from them (Dutta, 2010). With a effort and selectivity of groups I join, I can expand my brand consciousness and the societies in which I interact and look for employment opportunities, investment opportunities, and other individuals to work with.

Social Media Trinity

When working on my brand, I have applied a great deal of social media, and have a strong trinity in motion. Since the trinity includes microblogs, blogs, and social media, I have insured that each aspect is in place and up-to-date.  Through my social media trinity, I can review interactions and discussions to determine the level of mindfulness and input, as well as determine what people are seeing as my professional brand. I will also be given the opportunity expound on my experience and who I know, how I know them, and build a professional relationship of mutual benefit (Leadem, 2016). This in turn, will allow me to create or continue building a professional narrative.

Integration of Strategies

My personal brand strategy is to grow mindfulness and build specialized networks that can assist and provide opportunities for growth and information. As discussed in our text, social media is not just one set of tools that can be dealt with as a separate strategy or entity, but instead must have all the separate aspects integrated and working together. (Safko, 2012). When it comes to putting it all together, I want each social media site to have a chicklets and other links and addresses to track and linking it all. This gives interaction, definition, a full picture, as well as communication surrounding my brand.  Since the goal is to generate a strategy that integrates all aspects of my social media presence to enhance my brand mindfulness, integrating the different aspects and putting more out there for others to find, will increase that mindfulness and the interactions, which in turn will generate positive connections and a greater positive brand image.

Resources

When it comes to locating resources to increase brand mindfulness first decide if this is something you want to manage, or if turning the control of your image over to someone else. For me I need to be in the driver’s seat. Who is more capable to tweak and build on my personal brand than me? The networks I join say a great deal about who I am, and can be used as a resource to not only build my character and image or brand, but to also acquire what I need to do or change to make my brand stand out and become stronger. “Recent research on identity as a narrative creation supported Erikson’s view that such social recognition is particularly important for the identity development of emerging adults” (Brooks & Anumudu, 2016. P.24). That same thing can be said for emerging brands and images.

Implementation and Measurement

Defining the ROI of personal time spent maintaining a brand, especially a professional one, can seem daunting, and to be realistic I need the time to track and maintain them. “Like all marketing, social media marketing is a long-term strategy that needs to be coupled with your conventional long-term marketing strategy” (Safko, 2012. P.593).

One of the resources I will be using is a tool from Google, called Google Analytics that allows you to track and monitor movement. I will be able to track the activity and monitor the types of groups and connections I am involved with, as well as the comments and followers of my sites. Using the free analytical tool from Google is the first step in being able to monitor the traffic, and as it grows or slows down, I can adjust the feeds accordingly. Being able to track and monitor what is being said will also help me to see where and what I am putting out there and how it is received.

As I monitor my networks and sites, I will continue to grow my networks, which in turn will continue to offer learning and experience for myself and my brand. Social media environments have increased and encouraged new ways of communication, growth, knowledge sharing, and information gathering, as well as being used by millions of people at a growing rate. It is where social and professional connections are made and improved across the globe (Kose & Sert, 2015).

References

Brooks, A. K., & Anumudu, C. (2016). Identity development in personal branding instruction: social narratives and online brand management in a global economy. Adult Learning, (1), 23. doi:10.1177/1045159515616968

Dutta, S. (2010). What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy? Harvard Business Review, 88(11), 127-130.

KÖSE, U., & SERT, S. (2015). SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENTS AND THEIR ROLE ON SUCCESS OF MARKETING PROCESSES. Journal of Knowledge Economy & Knowledge Management, 10(2), 1-19.

Leadem, R. (August 13, 2016). Your Personal Branding Strategy in 10 Steps. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/280307

Safko, L. (2012). The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success, 3rd Edition. [Kaplan]. Retrieved from https://kaplan.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781118553831/