We have a pretty solid methodology and process when it comes to taking our clients through a 'Social Media Transformation' project.

One of the key questions we always get asked is 'How do we keep coming up with fresh content?'.

And that's where the mindset needs to be altered, because its not just about how much 'content' you and your team pump out, its about what the strategy is. Your content needs to have a specific audience in mind if it's going to really resonate with those companies and people you are trying become 'front of mind' with, you want them to choose you, instead of your competitor.

One the key aspects of that storytelling activity is to build authenticity that generates an 'emotional' connection with the audience. I'm not talking about a tear jerker, albeit personal stories with relevance to the audience can make you seem more vulnerable, but that vulnerability is also a potential strength because it 'humanizes' you to the audience's you're trying to engage with.

What is Personal Branding?

Nicolas Cole over at Inc.com defines personal branding as follows:

“When people say, “I want to build a personal brand,” the first thing they think about is numbers. A number of Twitter followers. A number of Facebook Likes. A number of blog subscribers. 

Those are very poor metrics for building a meaningful personal brand. Building a personal brand means providing so much value in one (or multiple) niche(s) that people begin to associate your name with the idea of what it means to be successful in that industry.”

And as Mark Schaefer says;

"The real heart of marketing is finding a way to building an emotional connection between your business and your customer that leads to business benefits and perhaps even loyalty. The problem with the “teaching” articles I receive from SME or Ancient History is that I don’t really know the authors of the articles. The content is still a commodity and if I find something better I will immediately switch.

Emotional content connects to readers on a deeper level. You may love, admire, and even idolize a brand or personality through their video, photographs and blog posts. The biggest failure of marketing today is that it not building that emotional connection in a busy world. So this is an important type of content".

We are active 'practitioners' of what we do, we already know and can evidence the ROI of a robust and internally aligned 'Social' strategy.

Part of that evidence it that you are reading this blog, just like many others - including your competitor!

We also don't do outbound pushy, salesy marketing, so if you would like to explore more, please contact the author of this blog.