Tribal Seduction

Many “Social Media experts” spout the talking point that if you “align your personality with your brand” you’ll sell like gang-busters. But is Social and New Media marketing about revealing your personality? Or is this advice a recipe for disaster?

Personality and a personal brand are two very different things. And once again, as we discussed with Social Media Profit Killer #1, understanding the difference will either rip the heart out of your business, or put more money in your pocketbook.

The Personal Brand quagmire

Marketing with New Media relies on a strong personal brand. No getting around that. In fact, it’s a requirement to win in today’s marketplace; online or off-line.

Everyone knows:

• If you don’t stand out
• If you ride the middle of the road
• If you don’t create a strong presence

… you’re doomed to mediocrity at best.

But many of the same people chanting the “authenticity is a currency” mantra are also advising that you align your brand with your personality. And by doing that you’ll magically “maximize your every social media interaction.”

That may be true for those who have a naturally magnetic persona. But what about the rest of us? What if we have “flaws” in our persona or personality?

The fact is that everyone has personality flaws. To be perfectly honest, some people’s personalities just plain stink.

So if we were to follow the logic of these Social Media experts, and people were to align their brand with their personality without knowing what to magnify and what to suppress — they will lose! Big time!

They’ll flail away blindly trying to use New Media channels to market. And when they fail to achieve monetary gains, they’ll give up. And worst — they’ll think it was the channel’s fault, not their own. And so they’ll go on to keep making the same fatal mistakes elsewhere, over and over again.

To solve this problem, you can start with chapters 11, 12 & 13 in Secrets of Online Persuasion. And if you’re serious about making not just friends using New Media, but money (and lots of it) — just reading a book on it’s own will not do the job.

You need to dig deep into YOU!

First identify your strengths in three areas:

• Communication (How you naturally behave, react and connect)
• Motivation (What motivational values drive you from the inside)
• Learning Style (How you best take in and absorb information)

Second identify the key aspects of your persona. In addition to the above this includes your:

• Natural skills and talents
• Experience and education
• Interests and passions
• World view and beliefs
• Physical attributes

Third create your Personal Brand Declaration by comparing, adjusting and combining the factors above with:

• Your lifestyle goals
• An analysis of the marketplace (including the Squatters and Seekers)

Once you have completed these steps you’ll have the cornerstone for your Persuasive Selling Platform. A platform that will attract raving fans literally for the rest of your life — no matter what changes in the marketplace.

Sound like too much work?

Think you can just buy the latest product pitch by a hot internet marketing guru and get the monetary results you want? That’s fine. The truth is, you might “get by” for a while.

Just know that when you finally realize that you’re still struggling while your marketing heroes keep making millions (because they already have what you’re still refusing to focus on,) the answer will be there waiting. Because no matter what technology, tools or strategies you use — the answer is in YOU.

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