It’s been more than 3 years since I last talked about the concept of branding and why it’s important for all of us. Not just those of us who are trying to sell our products and services, but any of us who produce any type of content that we end up putting out to the masses.
 via Nappy |
For me, the topic of branding came up twice in the last week, and I had an epiphany about something I’ve been missing out on. Let’s talk about that.
Back in March I shared my process for how I market myself on Twitter. I mentioned how I not only share my own content but I share the content of others. I actually share a lot during most days; I’m just that kind of guy. 🙂
The epiphany that hit me last week was that, other than my videos, anything I’m sharing on Twitter doesn’t identify what’s mine and what comes from other people. Actually, that 2nd part is only half true; if I can find a Twitter handle of an individual whose content I’m sharing, I’ll put that into what I post on Twitter. They’ll not only get credit for the article but they’ll see that I shared their stuff. Sometimes they thank me, sometimes they don’t; I’ll take what I can get. lol
But my stuff? Well… my videos are easily recognizable by people who know me because out of the over 700 videos I’ve created, less than 10 times have I used a thumbnail that didn’t have my face on it. That’s a pretty nice way of branding if you ask, but for someone like me it’s important that I do that. When you have a name like Mitch Mitchell and you’re competing with the former drummer of Jimi Hendrix online you need to use whatever you can just to get noticed (I don’t show up on the first 100 listings on Google by name, but I’m #24 on DuckDuckGo; that’s why I like it so much).
However, when it comes to Twitter and I’m marketing my written content, unless I’ve used a picture of myself (always add an image when you’re sharing your posts on Twitter; articles with images get clicked on more often than without. The people who follow me should be easily able to look at my Twitter profile image and the image on the post and realize it’s me (I’m unique in my own way lol).
But what about when I don’t have an image of myself? Posting my articles along with articles of others with or without images can make it confusing for anyone to be able to figure out whether it’s something I wrote or not. It’s possible that people who are following me on Twitter only want to see my content instead of all the content I share (that might sound conceited but there are people I follow whose content is the only thing I want to see from them most of the time; that’s why I’m following them). It’s also possible that, because they’re following me, maybe they’d like to know that something I’ve posted is by me.
So… last week I started adding this to written posts that I created: by Mitch Mitchell. Fairly simple, right? Thus, a link to an article I’d share on Twitter will look like this: 6 Answers To Questions From New Bloggers by Mitch Mitchell https://www.imjustsharing.com/6-answers-to-questions-from-new-bloggers/ #blogging.
Now, anyone who looks at something I’m sharing will know that I’m the one who wrote it, and if they’re looking for some exclusivity they’ve found it. It also works better than adding my Twitter handle to everything; I’d rather not be notified that I just posted something about me. Right now if someone shares an article directly from my blogs my Twitter handles in there so that if I see it on Twitter I’ll know someone actually came to the blog and shared it from the blog; yeah!
In any case, now I have to go through multiple pages of saved links and add that little bit to all of them, and I’m sure I’m going to miss a few here and there. I’ll give me a chance to decide whether it’s time to either remove something I’ve been promoting or spruce it up a bit before going further. Luckily I don’t have to add it to all the video links; that’ll save me a bit of time.
You can use this particular tip on other platforms as well, but it’ll be slightly different. On both LinkedIn and Facebook, you can post a link and the visuals will show up without typing anything else in. However, it wouldn’t hurt if you added your name somewhere in there, especially on LinkedIn; branding on business sites is a smart thing to do.
What do you think of this branding tip? Too much or just right? Let me know your thoughts; enjoy your day.
Hi Mitch,
This is a really good tip. I don’t have many articles on my business blog, so it will be easy to implement your idea…with a twist!
If you use Zapier, it can automate the whole process. I’m going to figure it out and let you know.
Cheers,
Mitch
Of course I’ve never heard of Zapier so you’ll have to tell me how it works out. Of course, you can also put your name on all your posts, not just your business stuff. I’m sure the people connected to you would love to check up on it.
That’s great post. I’m gonna use your methods from now on
Good luck
I have not tried Zapier, I hope you will have a blog on this. It is really nice if it makes my job easy. Thank you for sharing ideas with us.
That’ll have to come from Mitchell Allen; he’s the automation guy. 🙂
An excellent tip. I’ve been doing it on Medium and I have done it in the past with blog header images. I’m not consistent, though. A friend did some quote images for me the other day, and they had my name, the content title and a couple of hashtags.
I do need to find a strategy for sharing content I wrote for others, though.
Thanks for the prompt.
That’s a tough one to consider Sharon. I don’t add my name to the articles I write for my accountant because I don’t want to take anything away from her business.
Hey Mitch, that’s interesting! I noticed that it is possible to edit how a tweet appears, but I never thought of adding my name into the text. Thanks for the heads up!
Glad to help Ming. I love when an epiphany works out. 🙂
It is important to ensure that your stuff is linked together, but I think branding goes further than that. For me, it’s about communicating a message through words, colours and logos.
Depends on where you’re doing it, and how. On a site like Twitter, without one’s name being attached to it, if you’re the author you’ll get lost in the crush of posts from around the world because of the volume you have to deal with. There’s less volume on LinkedIn, and even less on FB if you’re trying to market or brand yourself without paying for it. Since I started putting my name on my articles, I’ve had a slight increase in traffic to my blogs from Twitter. Anything I can do to help more people deciding to know me better, I’ll take that chance.