Batten down the hatches on your personal brand!

Technology’s amazing, isn’t it. Every week there’s a plethora of new applications and plug-ins to enhance our ability to work and socialise online, all here to make our lives a little bit rosier.

It’s easy to get swept away by the ‘now-ness’ of it all, so as someone who’s known for her straight-talking I’m going to give you some sage advice: before you sail even further on the sea of the world wide web, there’s a very important hatch that needs battening down...your personal brand.

Why? We all know people buy people and just as a product’s brand uses its packaging, logo, adverts, etc to give you clues about what you’ll get when you buy it (both the tangible and intangible benefits) your personal brand tells people what they get when they buy into you.

At this point you might be thinking, “That’s obvious.”

And I’d wholeheartedly agree, which is why I find it so baffling that every business from the sole trader to the largest corporate will spend time and money defining and promoting their company brand, but give little or no thought to their personal brand...the thing that will drive ‘people buying people’.

It’s not rocket science to get started either; simply approach your personal brand in the same way you would a brand for a product or service. Work out the values you have, the beliefs you hold, the reputation you want, the behaviours you show, the skills you offer and even the look and sound of your brand. Keep your brand clear, concise and authentic and concentrate on finding your unique selling point (USP) to allow you to stand out from the crowd.

Only then should you venture onto the web, using it as one of many channels to get onto people’s radars so they can buy into you (and ultimately what you’re selling). By deciding what you want to get across before you set out your stall - whether that’s on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, your website, your blog, guest blogs...the list goes on - your messages will have more impact. (It’s no coincidence that every time Nike promotes its brand its message is ‘just do it’; say the same thing enough times and people remember you for it!)

However, if you take the scatter-gun approach and post random messages without the common thread of your personal brand you’ll just confuse people. And unless you’re Madonna and need to constantly re-invent yourself, that’s a bad idea.

About Me

You may remember I presented at the Glasgow and Edinburgh New Media Breakfasts earlier this year on the subject of personal branding. It's a pleasure to be guest blogging on the fatBuzz Blog, hopefully I can bring you some useful information in the future. Meantime, you can read more from me on my own Spark Branding blog here.

Alternatively you can contact me via Linked-In or Twitter at the links below or via Fiona MacDonald fiona@fatbuzz.com

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Facebook has biggest privacy overhaul in the company’s history

You may already be aware of the Facebook changes that have been rolled out  over the past couple of days. fatBuzz want to give you a brief overview of the main points and how the changes should affect you as a Facebook user.

As Mashable point out, the recent changes made by Facebook is one of the biggest privacy overhauls in the company’s history. So let us take you through the main changes.

On your profile
Before the changes most of the settings for content on your profile were a good few clicks away on a series of settings pages. Now, content on your profile, from where you are to your latest photo album, will appear next to an icon and a drop-down menu. This menu lets you know who can see this part of your profile, and you can change it with one click.

Other changes include the tagging system, in that you can now approve what photos are tagged of you before they go public. So if a friend tags you, you will be notified and you have the option of whether you want to allow it or not. Take a moment to read this blog post for a quick run through the changes and what they mean by clicking here.

Making it easier to share with who you want
The video below illustrates the changes to sharing your content and the enhanced choices that you have so you know who you are sharing with right next to what you are sharing.

Places Check-In Feed will be scraped 
Although this has not been rolled out yet, Facebook have confirmed that they will remove the 'Places check-in' feed from its mobile apps and interface. According to Insidefacebook.com a Facebook spokesman has confirmed that rather than check-in, users will be able to add their city-level location or tag a specific Place in any post. So in other words, you wont actually have to be physically in a place to tag yourself there. This change will mean that it's likely to make it difficult to find exactly where friends currently are and meet up with them. Furthermore, those who currently enjoy checking in will probably just post status updates, tag their current location and friends who are with them, and add a description such as “Here at…”. However, some say that it seems unnecessary to remove the check-in feed and the ability to populate that feed by explicitly informing Facebook of one’s current location.

So there you have it folks, there are a whole lot of changes going on in the world of Facebook. But what we would like to know is how the changes have/will affect you? What are your thoughts on the changes? Do you think this is Facebook's way to try and keep ahead of Google+ or do you think these changes have been planned before the launch of Google+? Do you think this is a way for Facebook to remind everyone that they are at the forefront of social networking? Please let us know, we would love to hear your views, visit our facebook page to tell us your thoughts.

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You can also follow fatBuzz on Facebook - please click here

We have a new addition to our fatBuzz family!

fatBuzz's very own Kyle and Kirsty are taking part in a charity challenge. They will be taking part in The Sally Challenge Duathlon to help raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

The challenge will take place on the 3rd of September, kicking off at Rowardennan Pier (11am), where Kyle will cycle 15 miles before Fraser King from FKS Business Services Ltd takes over to run 9k of The West Highland Way. Kirsty will finish the challenge by running the remaining 7k, where she will finish at Milngavie Rail Station.  

Help us reach our target

We (Kyle & Kirsty) have set our team target at £500 as we want to aim high to raise the vital funds for such a great cause. We are training hard for this tough physical challenge and are really excited about doing this for charity. We would really appreciate your help to smash our target by donating through our Just Giving Team page.

We have a new addition to our fatBuzz family!

We are always happy to welcome a new addition to the team and Emma, our new intern, in no exception. Emma will be joining the fatBuzz team every Friday afternoon. She has been with us for 3 weeks now, so let us find out what she thinks of the place:

I am a BA (Hons) Business Student at a Glasgow University. I work in the Procurement Department for a worldwide, temporary power generator company, based in Dumbarton (as a 1 year placement for the 3rd year of my degree). I'm really enthusiastic about: Branding, Marketing and Events Management; it has been interesting to study theoretically, but I am keen to learn the ropes with hands on experience- here at fatBuzz!

I first found out about fatBuzz by searching for Creative Consultancies in Glasgow through Google and I came across fatBuzz. I thought it was an unusual name, so I wanted to find out more about what they did. After researching fatBuzz, I found out that their specialisms were on everything that I was looking for experience in- Marketing, Social Media and Events. Furthermore, they do many more interesting things such as: Video Production, Podcast Production and a New Media Breakfast! I immediately contacted Marion, who is a co-owner of the business, and we arranged a meeting........ Great news! I'm in!

Since starting my work experience with fatBuzz 3 weeks ago, they have been involving me in a wide range of interesting projects and I'm loving every minute of it! They are very welcoming, a great team, funny but professional, and I have felt like a part of the team since day 1.

Phew! She likes us and we like Emma too! We are pleased you have settled in!

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. By sharing this post you will help us spread the word about our team charity challenge, meaning there is more chance of us reaching our target. Thank You.

FatBuzzKing take on The Sally Challenge Duathlon to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support

fatBuzz's very own Kyle and Kirsty are taking part in a charity challenge. They will be taking part in The Sally Challenge Duathlon to help raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

The challenge will take place on the 3rd of September, kicking off at Rowardennan Pier (11am), where Kyle will cycle 15 miles before Fraser King from FKS Business Services Ltd takes over to run 9k of The West Highland Way. Kirsty will finish the challenge by running the remaining 7k, where she will finish at Milngavie Rail Station.

Help us reach our target

We (Kyle & Kirsty) have set our team target at £500 as we want to aim high to

raise the vital funds for such a great cause. We are training hard for this tough physical challenge and are really excited about doing this for charity. We would really appreciate your help to smash our target by donating through our Just Giving Team page.

If you have found this post interesting please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. By sharing this post you will help us spread the word about our team charity challenge, meaning there is more chance of us reaching our target. Thank You.

Can you help fatBuzz, help 'With Kids' childrens charity? We need basic party food supplys...

fatBuzz believes in giving something back; if we are successful we believe we should share that success in areas where we know we can make a difference. One of our chosen charities is close to the hearts of everyone here at fatBuzz and we would like to ask you our friends, clients and colleagues of fatBuzz to help us, help them in the work that they do.

With Kids is based in the East End of Glasgow and provide much needed support to children. They offer a new approach to working with vulnerable children and families. All families may find themselves struggling from time to time. Illness, bereavement, unemployment or poverty, amongst other things can all cause us problems. If you are a parent or carer faced with a situation that is causing difficulties, With Kids is there to support you.

With Kids are holding their first ever End of Summer Party this Saturday at Calton Fire Station and expect between 60-100 children and families that are supported by 'With Kids' to be there. Although they have the venue arranged they are also looking for help in finding donations for party food supplies. They have a fully functioning kitchen, meaning they have the facilities to prepare food. However, given their really tight budget they are looking for any donations of any kind that would help them make the party more of a success and would really appreciate any food donations.

Do you know of anyone that can help us out with the basic party food supplies such as bread for sandwiches, ham/cheese for fillings, cakes or juice or any party food supplies? If you can help out in anyway, please get in touch and we will arrange to get the supplies to them. The kids who will be there on Saturday don't often get the chance to go to parties. You would be helping out in a massive way whilst ensuring the kids have the best party possible.

In addition, WithKids continually look for donations that they are able to sell on and use the money from the sales to put back into the charity. So if you have any old toys or anything that has been lying in your garage that you don't plan on using again please get in touch as With Kids will be able to find a use for it that will benefit the charity and in turn benefit the kids and families in need.

The fatBuzz team would really appreciate any help or donations that you can give.

ALSO: Look out for updates in the next few weeks from Kyle and I. We are taking part in a charity fundraising challenge- watch this space...

Even if you are unable to donate; simply sharing this post will help. Please share it with your online community using either the Twitter, Facebook and Share buttons below. Thank You.

Personalise your QR Code

After reading various articles on QR Codes, we discovered that you can create fun and interesting designs for your code to suit your brand's personality.

When your code is created, we can design it so that it suits your brand colors, logo, or maybe a design that you have in mind you would like to try.

In the same way that bar codes don’t have to be boring, quick response codes can also be creative. Thanks to a 30% tolerance in readability, you can have some real fun with clever designs. Besides looking good, this can also make them more successful.

Have you got your own QR Code ? If so how are you using it ? We would love to hear different ideas as to how you are utilising this very useful marketing tool. However if you do not have a QR code, you can create one directly from the fatBuzz Facebook Page. If you would like to know more about QR Codes, please email me on - malcolm@fatbuzz.com

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I've been bending the rules...

After being rained off the golf course this morning I decided to retire to the bath with 'Content Rules', a book by CC Chapman and Ann Handley which I strongly recommend. I thought it would be useful to revisit the book in preparation for the next New Media Breakfast entitled 'Content is King'.

After about 45 minutes I put the book down only to notice the steam from the bath has warped the hardback cover - I suppose you could say I've been bending the Content Rules?

If you would like to come along to the next New Media Breakfast in Glasgow please click here.

We also have the next Edinburgh New Media Breakfast this week - Back to Basics where attendees will be getting some sound advice from the Content Rules co-author, CC Chapman - well worth attending just for that!

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New Media Breakfast Glasgow - CONTENT IS KING - 2nd September

Date: Friday 2nd September 2011
Venue: No.29, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

It was CC Chapman's introduction video to the last New Media Breakfast that inspired the topic for the August New Media Breakfast - Content is King; partly because of what he says in the video and, partly because we are often asked the question - "What do we talk about?" Lots of people we talk to, even those who get the whole social media concept, are finding content creation a big challenge.  We may even play CC Chapman's video again!



Content for engagement

• What is content?
• What do we talk about?
• How do we say it?
• Where do we say it?
• How often do we say it?
• How do we make it engaging?
• How do we get people to share it?

These are questions we are asked on a regular basis by people new to social media and experienced users alike. Very often they have got off to a good start but their content has become more akin to "broadcast messages" which are not encouraging people to engage or to share. Other content related issues often relate to where the content is shared and how often they post. The New Media Breakfast will explore these issues and try to help guide you on what is good content.

The challenge for brands will be community retention; people are already asking why they should continue to "like" a Facebook Page or follow a Twitter Feed - what's in it for them? With the imminent arrival of brand pages on Google+ the issue of engagement is going to be even mow relevant; users expect to be engaged by the content a brand creates; broadcasters and advertisers will struggle to keep people in their community.

Content to drive advertising campaigns and SEO
We now know that SEO is being influenced by social media activity; functionality such as Facebook Sponsored Stories relies on user activity to make it truly work for your brand. Advertising on social media channels is an integral part of social media marketing but, the most successful businesses are those who are integrating the ability to share content among friends with conventional advertising to create social media advertising campaigns that tap into the massive power of word of mouth. The New Media Breakfast will look at how good quality content is becoming more important for optimisation and advertising purposes.

Case studies wanted - Good or bad!
In preparation for the Glasgow and Edinburgh breakfasts, we would like to hear from anyone who is struggling with content creation - we might be able to suggest some things to try that we can then use as case studies for the breakfasts.  Likewise, you may be doing well with your content creation and be happy to share your ideas or, you may be working with a client and want to share your experiences; whatever the circumstances, please email me gordon@fatbuzz.com and I will contact you to discuss it.

Venue: 29 Member's Club, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow
Date: Friday 2nd September 2011
Time: 7.30am for 8am

HOW TO BOOK

Non No.29 Members - £10 +VAT

BOOK FOR NEW MEDIA BREAKFAST GLASGOW HERE:

No.29 Members Go Free – If you are a 29 Member you can attend the breakfast free of charge. Please email malcolm@fatbuzz.com with your membership number and he will add you to the attendance list. We hope you can make it along to this event. If so, I look forward to seeing you on the day.

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