Nina Burokas on Better Living Through Brand

It's a Social Media World

In a social media world, rapid response is critical. A couple of recent examples of what works, what doesn’t and how to.

The overall perspective, from Ad:tech's Craig Peters: defensive branding is better titled "Crisis Communications In the Hyperlinked Era of Social Networking."

What works: Aggressively addressing negative brand perceptions – true or false
Example: Senator Hillary Clinton’s Fact Hub: “Cut through the noise and get the facts” (via The New York Times).

The context, from Clinton spokesman Phil Singer: “There’s just been a proliferation of news reporting on the Internet. As such, you’ve got a much faster echo effect when something hits the political zeitgeist, and it’s becoming increasingly urgent to have a mechanism in place that allows you to respond.”

What doesn’t: Going dark.
Example: Whole Foods Market’s Board decision to ban officials from posting messages about Whole Foods, its competitors or vendors on non-company-sponsored Internet forums (via The Wall Street Journal). As discussed during the Evangelism session at the Brand You World Personal Branding Summit, it’s absurd to pull the plug at a time when a company needs it’s greatest fans to speak out on it’s behalf.

How To:
Ad:tech's Defensive Branding 101 Session Summary
Japie Swanepoel’s takeaways from Ad:tech's Defensive Branding session

A closing reality check: from Anita Esterday, one of the waitresses in Clinton’s tipping brouhaha: “There’s kids dying in the war, the price of oil right now — there’s better things in this world to be thinking about than who served Hillary Clinton at Maid-Rite and who got a tip and who didn’t get a tip.”

Additional perspective or 411?

Every Video, Mashup, Comment Tells a Story

Three acts in an ongoing play (conversation). Credit to Pete Blackshaw's cgm for the original post, Selective & Arbitrary for a heads up on the riff and odd professor's comment, and BlogPulse for connecting the dots.

Act One: Onslaught ("Dove Self-Esteem")

Act Two: Dove/Axe Mashup (aka Talk to Your Daughter)

Act Three: A Conflicted Response with an interesting close: "which came first, the desire for ['X' (beauty or attraction, however defined)], or marketing creating a hitherto-absent desire for same?"

Walking the Brain

If you share my passion for physical fitness and mental agility (or one of the two), give The New York Times’ Exercise on the Brain article by Welcome to Your Brain (March 2008) co-authors Sandra Aamodt & Sam Wang a read.

The espresso version: Although “environmental enrichment” – computer-based brain exercise programs – has been proven to improve brain performance in laboratory animals, the findings don’t necessarily apply to humans. Also, in terms of the impact on aging, improvement seems to be limited to a specific activity or function, for example, Scrabble or memory.

What has been proven to provide a generalized mental fitness benefit is physical exercise. Exercise improves our “executive function,” a range of abilities that include processing speed, behavior response, focus and working (current) memory. Physical exercise yields three primary brain benefits: (1) reduces age-related shrinkage of the frontal cortex, (2) reduces risk of brain damage due to heart attack or stroke, and (3) stimulates connections between neurons.

Art Credit: Graham Roumieu

Living the Brand & Other Stories

No need to wait until Thursday's Brand Your World Summit to get your brand on! Click over to Personal Branding Magazine for a dose of brand attitude and expertise (37 authors on topics ranging from authenticity to social media and SEO). Annual subscription (4 issues) is $12.95. Proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

Issue #2 highlights: Jack Welch on Development, interviews with Linden Labs’ founder Philip Rosedale and the ever-interesting ; ) Greg Verdino (my Living the Brand column), and our “Young Turk” Publisher Dan Schawbel’s pick for 2007 Personal Brand of the Year. Kudos to editors Connie Bensen and Rebecca Thorman for distilling the essence of my 3,100 word submission. Finally, a shout-out to my Reach colleagues Rob Cuesta (Brand Assessment column) and Paul Copcutt (Engaging and Retaining Employees) - great articles!

Get Your Brand On...

...at the Brand You World Telesummit!

Join me and a global cast of bestselling authors and personal branding experts for a marathon event in celebration of the 10th Anniversary of Tom Peter’s seminal “The Brand Called You” article.

Date: Thursday, November 8th
Time: 7A-7P Pacific
Program Schedule; Speakers & Panelists
Registration: Upper right hand corner, any page

Registration is free; participants are invited to make a donation to Kiva, a non-profit organization that provides microfinance loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.

I'll be interviewing blog consultant and The Corporate Blogging Book author Debbie Weil on How to Write a Great Business Blog at 8A Pacific/11A Eastern on Line 1. Questions are welcome; ping me or submit via the session comments section.

Content Streams:
Career Management Success
Relevant for career professionals who want to apply personal branding strategies to support their career success as well as professionals in the field of career coaching, resume writing and career counseling.
Talent Management
Relevant for HR professionals and business leaders who want to discover how to attract, develop and retain talent through the application of personal branding strategies.
Entrepreneurship
Applicable for business owners and solopreneurs who want to apply personal branding strategies to grow their business.