Content is not King, it is You

Before I start, I want to give everyone a message, if you have a post on LinkedIn and want someone to give you encouragement and a thoughtful comment, please post the link to your article in the comment section. I will empower you like I have been empowered here. Let me just warn you now, this article will be a little bit like a self-help self-empowerment podcast.

What if, the content is not "king", the content is you. What if in the future, the channel that is most believable is the knowledge that comes from the trials and attributions of human experience? Why do LinkedIn pulse articles that are personal accounts get more views? Is your brand too fake? Is your brand connecting with actual people? Does it have social authority? It's not in the name, or the logo, the motto, or how many keywords you can stuff for SEO, that ultimately, will make your brand a cherished one. 

Maybe you are realizing the importance of authenticity, not only a social selling mechanism, because sure, who doesn't want to make a profit (even if it's just social currency) in maximizing our OtS (opportunities to socialize). At their core, the social influencer or seller - loves people.

 If you don't like people, don't even go into sales these days. If you are doing it for the $, people feel this. They won't convert. In age when we are increasingly immune to advertising and non-responsive to cold calling, you really have to know how to establish rapport and connect on the most informal human level possible, in order for the other person (your audience) to even care what you are talking about. Gaining trust is an interaction. Even as writers here, it may take reader's a while to realize they enjoy your writing style and gain some insight from your posts enough to follow you.     

Authenticity is not something we pretend to be, it's something that grabs attention because most people are not their authentic self. It's a freedom that they don't have. They are just playing a role, making a pitch, and it's pretty transparent if their heart isn't in it, and if they don't' believe what they are saying. These sales people are a dime a dozen. In 10 years, they will be virtually extinct. This is because of the rise of social selling, social ecommerce and the higher value of being human (compared to the automation and AI that is literally taking over with algorithms at every content interface or 'choice'). The perceived choice is an algorithms that has profiled you that wants you to do something, so someone can profit from your idea that you made this choice. 

Let's hypothetically say, part of how you make your living is by being a lecturer, inspirational speaker or some such thing. What qualities are important? What story-telling style do you want to convey? We are going to stray from this simulation and enter the realm of being ourselves and reinventing ourselves. 

Be Expressive

• Be memorable
• Be personable, share your personal experience
• Be relatable, mirror your audience
• Be an empathy displayer

Be Generous 

• Engage with helpfulness, kindness and respect that trust and rapport has to occur before the person (audience) is receptive to your message
• Reach genuinely without seeking anything in return
• Practice giving back to community and broadcasting why it's import as a global citizen
• Stand for causes bigger than you (environment, education, human rights, minorities, whatever it may be!)

Be Unique 

• Focus on your personal unique brand proposition (PUBP), the better you are at finding this, maintaining this and sharing this, the more people will find you oddly extradinary in some way.
• Be an idealist, believe in the power of positive action to change the world and contribute to a better future
• Take a middle path of respective diversity (don't enter into political or religious debate out of respect for all)
• Share your passion, even if you aren't an expert (be an open-armed knowledge enthusiast)

Be a Caring Citizen 

• Be comfortable with vulnerability and highlight your own as a "story-teller" in the process of sharing "how you made it" in your field or how you because passionate about a cause
• Watch lots and lots of Ted Talks, and notice what makes a gripping speaker weave their magic! Take notes, I kid you not!
• Have authentic integrity, what does this even mean? It means not sacrificing your integrity, respect and ability to be yourself at work. If you don't feel "safe" at work, for whatever reason, it means you are not in a healthy environment for your growth.
• Cultivate a strong self-image, this means being in touch with your true feelings and learning how to project them. When you are enthusiastic, learn how to be a visionary of enthusiasm, and so forth...
• Understand the charisma of being a minority, don't be afraid to emphasizes what makes you different from everyone else, and how it shaped you.... the majority of people have obvious or more secret things that puts them in some context as a minority.

Be Intimacy Driven 

• Bond with others like you, no matter what your interests and speciality, always find people like you who you can socialize who reinforce your interests, passions, personality type, activities (this is perhaps harder than it sounds)
• People are more persuasive if they have made an effort to bond with you. Not an effort to manipulate you or pretend they care, or sought to do some 'damage control' when they realize you no longer respect them. Motivate with oxytocin, not to manipulate, but to sooth, empower and protect their well-being. To motivate their learning. 

Don't be Afraid to Obsess 

• Specialize, if it takes 10,000 hours to be proficient in something, you may consider following some of your key passions to their bitter (or wondrous) conclusions. This demands a high investment of your time and personal sacrifice, but at 50, you might have something to show for it. Not everyone can be a specialize neurologically, but if you are the type that can, figure out as soon in life as possible what it may be.
• Inspire others with the mistakes you made. Help them avoid the same mistakes, don't assume they have a fate that somehow magically prevents them from making the same ones as you did.
• Built your brand, not on what you say, but in how you add value to others. Your most loyal fans and supports will be those that respect you as a person.
• Always reciprocate, this is the golden rule all society is based upon. One of your colleagues has a tendency of demeaning your work, don't just take. Give it back. Some people require negative mirroring even to really acknowledge your backbone.

Be Realistic 

• Don't make your personal branding be about you, you are a not a brand, what you love to do is your brand. I am not Obama, I'm Obama the President who believes in change. (having pictures of yourself in your banner is not authentic self-branding)

• Don't be a hedonistic user of social media or too overtly attention seeking, be that person in your network who goes the extra mile in comments and encouragement and praise and sharing of useful information.

• Optimize your presence in every interaction you have online, in creating value to your social partner (whether this is morale support, information, advice, questions, whatever).

• Consider adopting a pseudonym for your self-brand or a variation upon your name (strange advantages in this, not to mention your digital footprint and privacy management)

• Give yourself permission to be confident, if personal branding is about expressing and unlocking your authentic self, living in congruity with your inner self will give you a strange and uncanny natural confidence (even if you are neurotic or the carry awkward residue from your past, who doesn't!)

• Build a foundation of crediblity, by offering quality in whatever you do. If you are the content, make sure that what you say is relevant, understandable and targets your audience appropriately.

Be Wildly Inspirational 

• Showcase legacy, be able to summarize what you have done or what you will do that you suspect will have the most meaning of your entire life. Learn how to encapsulate personal meaning and summarize via improvisation in a variety of contexts both social and professional.