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Personal Branding

Are You Asking The Right Questions?

August 3rd, 2010 by Ken Pickard

Welcome back! If you have a blog, make sure to join my Facebook fan page. Tribe Mastery for Social Buzz. Thanks for visiting, and get syndicated today!

I received an email in my in box the other day. Shocking huh? It was one of those forwarded emails that have been around the world something like 70 times. I’m not sure if you get these kind of emails or not, but I liked the story behind it and knew you would to…so here it is.

ALWAYS ASK, NEVER ASSUME  !!

His request approved, the CNN News photographer

quickly used a cell phone to call the local airport

to charter a flight. Continue Reading

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6 Reasons Why You Need a Blogging Alliance

December 8th, 2009 by Ken Pickard

blogging aliance

Before I jump into the reasons why you need a blogging alliance, let me explain what one is. Quite simply it’s a small group of people who banded together to promote each other. We use social media as our playground and personal blogs as the vehicles of choice to get our messages out. A blogging alliance usually has members from the same niche and similar levels of experience on the social sites. However this is not mandatory, as the group can bring in a new member, and rather quickly that new person can get up to speed.

Another term we use for this alliance is called a tribe. The charter for a tribe or blogging alliance is content syndication. This is the act of ‘buzzing’ each others posts or videos or anything they publish online. Ok… now that we’re all caught up on the ‘what’ is a blogging alliance, let’s dive into some of the benefits.

Benefit #1 is Content Syndication – Even the word itself demands attention. It sounds powerful and full of meaning. Syndicating someone else’s content is a way of showing that they have value. There’s something there you should pay attention to. You are not only promoting that person to your following but your giving that person social proof.

This does so much more than most realize. Next time you’re on Twitter or Facebook look your profile. Are people listening to what you have to say? Are there people RT’ing you and commenting on the information you’re putting out. Even if you’re just starting in social media you can gain so much ground by having an established alliance supporting you.

Benefit #2 is Exposure – This is a no brainier. If you are looking to make a name for yourself, carve a spot in the online marketplace you can not be worried about being over exposed. I can hear you chuckling now. I bet your saying… “That’s not a problem for me!” I need all the exposure I can get.

True… but you want the right exposure. It’s not enough to have a blog or website where you have to promote it by yourself and run the risk of looking spammy. That social proof I mentioned before is key and exposure from others is gold.

Benefit #3 is Relationships – Building relationships is a benefit as well as a requirement for a blogging alliance. You will actually strengthen your established relations as the alliance continues to mature. Just like making friends and connections offline you need to work with your friends online.

You also want to pay attention to the strengths that each person brings to the group. Look at the personality traits and what each offers. Build on this. You will also hear from many leaders that building relationships starts from within. This is a basic success principal that needs to be repeated often.

Benefit #4 is leverage – Ok bear with me on this. Leverage others is another key success. This should not be looked at as a negative thing. We’re not here to use each other for your gain only. That’s why this blogging alliance works so well. You MUST look out for others first. But you can leverage others for group benefit.

You’ve probably heard of OPT (Others People Time) and OPM (Other People Money) By pooling resources and strengths the group is able to learn and grow and share experiences. This happens almost automatically when the group dynamics are in balance. IE not one sided or focused on one person.

Benefit #5 is a quick learning curve or baptism by fire. – We had a new member join our tribe recently, and he is always mentioning how he continues to learn something new almost every time the group gets together. He’s not worried that he’s too far behind because he enjoys the journey. But how cool is it when we continue to learn from everyone else.

I am also learning all the time. Blogging, social media, marketing… there’s always something new coming out or something changing. We all want to keep learning and growing our knowledge. The real take away though is being able to pass that on to someone else as soon as possible.

Benefit #6 is joint ventures – Now we’re getting somewhere… the money! One key aspect to a blogging alliance to how to monetize your blogs and products as soon as possible. Yes it’s great to hang out and be social but if you really want to learn grow and share… make a product together. Put your knowledge to use. Get motivated, help some people and make some money.

This is what my tribe did. We launched a 6 week intensive that showcased; blogging social media and tribes by building communities and syndicating each other. By the way… this is only the beginning.

There it is… 6 of the many benefits for creating a blogging alliance. A tribe if you will. So now ask yourself again…” Do I want to promote my own information, products or services by myself, or leverage the power and massive exposure of a blogging alliance?

Leave a comment for the community and share what you would do. Did this shed any light on the power of an alliance? Have you benefited from one?

Ken Pickard

The Network Dad

You can also share with your Twitter and Facebook friends. This just may be what they’re looking for. As always I appreciate your Diggs and Stumbles.

P.S.S. If you want your comments to pop and the backlink to your blog to be clicked on more… get your Gravatar today!

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Begin your Personal Branding by getting your content out there

September 2nd, 2009 by Ken Pickard

Welcome to day 2 of my 30 day challenge. What can you change with a 30 day challenge?

 

In today’s video I cover several areas where you can find information and turn it into your own. I want to make it real clear though, DO NOT TO COPY others information. This is totally uncool, and will get you voted off the island!

 

I am simply pointing out the many places and avenues of finding information, creating your own content, and hot start your own personal branding. Listen for the three biggest reasons for creating content. One thought from any of these sources can lead to countless pieces of content.

 

YouTube Preview Image 

Several people have told me “I don’t know what to write about.” Or “I don’t know what to say in my videos.” After watching this video leave a comment below and let me know where you get your inspiration for your content.

 

To your ever growing success

Ken Pickard

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