Probably one of my favorite parts of this film! But you may be asking, “ok…what does Top Gun have to do with Social Media, or Branding?” Fine, it doesn’t really have anything to do with it except for the fact they’re “Communicating”.

Communication is the one thing that without it, you will crumble. Communication in your enterprise may not exactly be your top forte, or your main focus. But as a marketing or sales department, it should be. The ability for a company to maintain a constant interaction with it’s clients or associates is an aspect that cannot be surpassed by many other departments.

US Airways & the Harvard Business Review had a case study of  Dessert Gallery.  In it they used a Survey and Facebook, to alter their customers behavior (read the Case Study for more details).  On the off hand I look at this from a different perspective.

What did communication have to do with their success?

Probably more than you might lead to believe. The fact that their upkeep within the Facebook page and in their surveys shows more interaction than before they began this campaign. An ability to start, build, and maintain a constant stream of communication and interaction not only on Facebook, is a difficult task. The time and effort that is needed is one that not everyone can hold on to.

Don’t Focus on Yourself, focus on everyone else who is in your Twitter or Facebook stream. Look at your competition, how are they interacting? Are there questions being unanswered about a product or service you prove?

Answer them, be a presence. Be something people want to be a part of!

With your brand that is; your personal brand. What are you doing with it? Do you have your objectives set up?
Since the first times I have been following a lot on personal branding and self-marketing, it’s rather interesting to see how little has changed and how much is repeated. Often times I will stumble in and read something I see that is new but in reality I am reading the same tips and suggestions over and over with different wording. To be quite honest it gets kind of frustrating.

For the sake of clarification here are some of those points. Engage on Twitter, Engage on Facebook, build recognition though a blog, and for those in a more professional setting; enhance the use of your LinkedIn network. Now, that’s all fine and dandy but if you’re not entirely new to this gig, like me, reading the same thing gets tiring and overwhelming.

I love the Student Branding Blog, an offshoot of the Personal Branding Blog. But the thing is, I’m tired of reading tips I’ve been hearing from my parents and college advisors. Every once in a while I will come across something interesting that I have yet to read, but that is a rare occasion. With no disrespect to the author, I would like to look at this post at the Student Branding Blog: Facebook: Personal Branding Friend or Foe?. I just have one comment on this; the whole post is almost one big, “no s*** sherlock”. The points are obvious, points that people already know, but yet students obviously still haven’t caught on to efficiently. I still see my friends’ pictures with beers and bongs thinking, “are you stupid?”, not to mention on a 100% public profile too!

When all is said and done, I implore many of you personal brands, and aides to personal brands to advance your techniques and posts. Don’t repeat the same information for a professional personal brand for a student. It IS different, there are differences that should be addressed, that have not been explored to their full extent.

So I ask you again; where are you taking your personal brand? Are you advancing in the way you want to? Where is your focus?

Image by DigitalParadox