Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Top 6 reasons to add video to your online profile

  • There is an honesty in video creates connections with people
  • Adding video to your profile increases your chance of a 1st page search ranking by over 50%
  • People like to watch, not read
  • Video is the best way to express your personal brand in a full communication
  • People with videos stand out
  • Adding video to your marketing and sales mix saves time and money
Whether you create your own video or go the professional route with http://www.videobio.com , the business case is clear. Stay tuned for more case studies and statistics on how videoBIO is making a real difference in the lives of professionals.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Tools for understanding and managing your online profile

What does your online profile look like now? Well, if you are curious, you can try out a couple of great tools that I highly recommend. videoBIO partners with Reach Personal Branding, an innovative company who is creating great tools to help professionals define and develop their personal brands. One of the tools CEO, William Arruda has co-created is called the ID Calculator. This calculator is designed based on the premise that relevance, distinction and quality of brand and profile is more important than quantity. This I agree with wholeheartedly. To check out your online ID go to http://www.onlineidcalculator.com .

There is another cool tool for ego surfers like us.... check out http://www.addictomatic.com

And finally, James Alexander, CEO of cool start up http://www.vizibility.com has created another tool to manage search queries on Google. Take a look!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Your professional video profile doesn't have to be serious!

video profiles are all about taking the opportunity to add the human, personal touch to your online profile. This is important when managing your reputation online while trying to make a connection with your audience. But that doesn't mean that it has to be serious! It just has to be authentic to you and what you want to put out to the world. Take Peter Shankman as an example. We did a social media videoBIO for Peter a month or two ago. It's one of my favourites because it's witty, funny, fast paced and exactly who Peter is. Smart, quick, adventourous and always thinking. Check out Peter's videoBIO and you will see what I mean http://www.videobio.com/pshankman

Monday, June 28, 2010

Cool online profile tester

Our partner, Reach Personal Branding has devised a super cool tool to test your online brand 'distinction'. As we all know, it is not all about quantity, it is quality that matters. How distinct and relevant is your brand? Take the Online ID Calculator test.

Your profile: bigger than the sum of its parts

Finding your authentic, niche voice is key to defining your profile online. It will drive what you talk about and define why people want to listen. Your profile is bigger than the sum of its parts but the parts are important. So what goes into a profile?

1. Your personal brand-- the brand called you. What is it at its core that makes you unique? Note- it doesn't matter if you are in a corporate position or are an entrepreneur-- we all have a personal brand.

2. The content, perspective and media that surrounds your brand and builds it every day. You need to keep it alive and fresh. Is it relevant, consistent and unique? The content surrounding your brand is your digital thumbprint online. How many places do you live online? How easy is it to find you and the information surrounding you that we want to know? Articles you have been published in, your professional profiles, your website, your videos and other digital assets?

3. Your community. Those who listen. Those who are your fans. Those who follow. Those who extend your brand. It is your community and network who ultimately will define your profile online.


Monday, June 7, 2010

Your online profile is not your brand

Your online profile is the reflection of your brand as understood by your community and managed by you!

You've heard the expression.... 'she's very high profile'. Well what that means is that she has a high degree of visibility and brand recognition in the market.

This profile comes from how you manage and develop your brand in the social media world. Your online profile is a moving target that takes lots of time, care and nurturing on a day to day basis in order to have it viewed by others in the way you hope it will be. If your online profile is measured by those who know it then we never ultimately be in control of it. But we will be the CEO of its development strategy and 100% accountabile for the consistency of its execution (both on or offline), which most certainly will impact the way it is viewed by others.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

The online profile setup

Google, Bing, Yahoo all have one thing in common. They have a lot of power over what people will find out about you when searching on your name.

What they find when going out in a search query against your name is a culmination of all activity you have had online associated with your name. For better or worse, you have an online profile. And once you do it is tough to change. So, the good news is that it can be managed but you have to know what's out there and how it works!

Over the next months I am going to publish a series of posts that will help you to understand how the online profile works and how to take control back and manage your repuatation online before someone or something else does!