Building Your Empire, I Mean Brand

When you think of your favorite companies certain things come to mind, maybe what they are known for or specific characteristics that make them stand out in some way to you.  In short, their brand image.  As I was procrastinating on Pinterest today (yes, senioritis is kicking in) I found an interesting article that made me stop and think (check it out here).  What is your personal brand? Last semester, I had a guest speaker come and talk to my marketing research class.  His name is Adam Naide, and he is head of social media marketing at Cox Communications in Atlanta.  I remember Adam's presentation so well because of how intriguing his personal brand message was expressed.  Check out Adam on twitter here.  During his presentation Adam said something that has stuck with me which was,  people are becoming more like brands and brands are becoming more like people.  This is such an interesting concept to me because I can relate it to experiences in my life and my learning career.  It's commonplace nowadays to see a brand on Twitter or Facebook talking to and responding to their customers with a distinguished personality and specific character traits that we as consumers begin to think that the said brand is a living, breathing entity.  On the other side of the coin, we as people are acting more like brands by developing ourselves into someone that everyone can relate to in some way. So, why create a personal brand for yourself?  It's a talking point.  It's something unique that others can find interest in.  It makes you MEMORABLE.  Take Adam Naide for instance, if you visited his twitter page that was linked above you probably noticed that he is serious about his cereal.  I remember him so well because of this niche hobby of his: cereal collecting, which in turn makes me want to search for more information about him.  It keeps his name in the back of my mind.

What you need to construct your personal brand:

1. Something that sets you apart.  Do you have a unique or quirky hobby?  Find something that you genuinely enjoy and immerse yourself in it. Expand your knowledge of this field/hobby, become an expert in it.

2. Dive-Deep!  If you're going to do something you may as well give it your all or nothing at all.  If you find that niche hobby that defines you, you'll be surprised at what can come out of it.  You'll occasionally see big-name brands tweet to Adam.  They know that he is seen as somewhat of a middleman between them and the consumer's they're trying to reach. He has built his own following of others who share a love for all things cereal, which is really very cool.

Fast forward to January 2015:  It's actually kind of funny because as a digital marketing emphasis major I am required to compete in The Digital Marketing competition offered at The University of Georgia.  It's a competition set-up like the TV show The Voice.  In short, the coaches pick the teams, there are battle rounds, knockout rounds and then the big finale which includes presenting your teams final idea to a board of executives.  Long story short, Adam has become my team's coach for the competition! We're in the first stages of the competition so far, but I'll be sure to keep you all updated on how it goes.