How will you present yourself?

You will want to ensure that you present a consistent version of yourself, so try to avoid, recording videos straight after getting up in the morning before your shower. Remember, this is going out TO THE WORLD! So, before you press record ensure you putting across a version of yourself that you’re happy being seen by anyone that you’re trying to impress.

What’s in your background?

Remember to think about what your environment is saying about you. Does your background include a grubby dressing gown hanging on the back of a door, or a dirty pile of washing stacking up on the floor? Eugh! Think about what’s behind you.

What kit are you using?

The kit you use will make a huge difference to the quality of your video. Now, you don’t have to go and spend a huge amount on your video kit, but essentials you need to think about are the audio and visual quality. People will be a lot less forgiving with rubbish audio quality – if they can’t hear you they certainly won’t be watching you! So do some dry runs to listen to your kit.

Where are you looking?

This will depend a lot on the kit you’re using. If you’re using your webcam, then you need to be careful that you don’t record your video by watching the video of you on the screen. If you’re doing that, you’re not looking at the camera and it just looks a bit weird, like you’re cross-eyed. This is never a good look.

If you’ve got a free-standing camera on a tripod, great! This will make it much easier to look straight at the camera. Unless, you’re reading some notes off camera. If you’ve not managed to get hold of some auto-cues then make sure that any notes you’re using are behind the camera so that it still looks like you’re speaking to camera.

Are you using notes?

If you’re using notes, what ever you do, DO NOT READ THEM OUT! Did you get that? DO NOT READ THEM OUT! This is not only intensely irritating to listen to, but it definitely does not help you to convey your expertise. People who know what they’re talking about don’t need to read their notes. They might need prompts, to keep them on track, but that is it. If you need to read your notes word for word, then you need to question why you’re doing this.

Have you practiced?

Before launching into video blogs, put aside half a day of just faffing with your kit and getting comfortable with it. Get comfortable talking to camera and watching how you look. Look out for any weird on camera habits you may have [hair flicking, looking sideways, eye twitching, licking your lips, etc).

Have you heard yourself speak?

One of my main challenges with videoing myself was to slow down my pace of speech. I talk waaaaay too fast. So, one thing I’ve had to learn is to SLOW down. And the only way I’ve done that is by practicing. Some may say that I still do, but believe me, at least you don’t get out of breathe just by listening to me now! Listen to what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. You might have to cut out your colourful language (if appropriate) or stop saying “uh” and “you know” every other sentence. Ask a friend who’ll be honest to give you some feedback.

Are you aiming for recording your video in one take?

This is ambitious, so you’ll need to think about how long you want to speak for and what points you want to get across. Waffling does not score high points here. Sometimes, you’ll be able to pull it off in the first take, other times you’ll be there all afternoon!

Do you have an editing suite?

If you’ve decided that a one-take shoot is too much, then you’re going to have to edit. Make sure you have some good editing software to help you do a good job. Some cameras come with their own easy-use software, but watch out because these can be very limited in their scope. On the other hand you don’t want to get caught up using professional software, because you could waste a lot of time faffing.

1-2-3 Action!

It can be too easy when you’re recording yourself to talk to yourself in your head and count yourself in, usually while getting your words straight in your head and staring out the window. Then when you reach three: you flick your hair while taking a deep breathe while simultaneously turning your head toward the camera. Then you deliver your perfect video, finish off and quickly walk toward the camera, happy that you’ve done a good job. UH-OH! Your video is a nightmare to edit!

Before you decide to start recording make sure that you’re looking at the video for a few seconds. Then at the end, stay looking at the camera for a few more. This ensure that you have sufficient footage to edit your video without cutting it too short.

If you’ve got any more tips that you’d like to share, feel free to post them in the comments below.

Here is an interview I did recently with Hung Lee aka Wise Man Say.

Some of the things we talk about include

• Brand Creation vs Brand Discovery
• Brand Values = inflexibility? Or does it allow for inconsistency in life?
• Brands get ossified as they mature – harder to change as you go on – implications for young people?
• Transparency of social media – effect on personal brands
• Language – and the need to do better. Bring in your ‘personal capital’

The current debate on privacy here in the UK is an interesting one. A well-known footballer has been caught with his pants down. Literally. And so, in order to protect his reputation he paid in excess of £200k to lawyers for a super-injunction to keep this mess out of the press. Unfortunately, this didn’t keep it off the social networks and now it’s public knowledge. So, now not only has his misdemeanour come out, but it’s a hot topic on all media. Surely not what he had in mind when he coughed up his £200k.

This situation is quite complex so rather than get distracted in the privacy part of this debate I’d like to focus on the reputation angle.

If you are going to do something that damages your reputation, then you need to be mindful of the consequences. The transparency of social media has forced many of us to be more mindful of our behaviour. Whether it’s flirting around the boundaries of a relationship or showing a side of us that only alcohol reveals, we are all only too aware of the chaos that can ensue once it appears on Facebook.

So, to use the argument that a super-injunction is required to protect his reputation is a very weak one. The responsibility for reputation damage only lies with him! If he hadn’t acted like an idiot in the first place then he wouldn’t have anything to hide. And that is a lesson to us all.

If you do happen to act in a way that betrays your reputation, then surely on a personal level you need to learn from this. One of the first lessons of crisis management is to own up. Once you admit that you have made a mistake and that you are sorry, you are showing a human side. And that alone may gain you respect, merely for your honesty despite what you may have done. But trying to hide it, suggests that you are ashamed of your behaviour and that you know it was wrong. That is fuel for gossip and will only make things worse.

If we act is a way that is in line with our view of ourselves and reinforces what we want people to think about us, then there is no story.

So, has the transparency of social media affected how you behave? Are you more mindful of what you’re doing BECAUSE others have a window in on your life? Leave a comment below.

The term “Personal branding” is massively misunderstood. Even in marketing circles, branding is not understood, so the likelyhood of the masses getting their heads around personal branding is slim. So, to help out I’ve collated my personal favourite top 4 quotes that attempt to define what personal branding is all about.

Quote 1.

“Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room” Jeff Bezos. Founder of Amazon

What I like about this quote is the fact that Jeff captures the idea that your brand is what people THINK. After all, people tend to say what they think. And this goes back to what a brand IS; it’s the place occupied in the mind of others. It’s the associations and feelings people have about an brand entity (product, company, service or person). So here, Jeff really is drawing a comparison to the world of business branding.

Also, people like shortcuts and will try to pigeon hole you for sake of ease. Understanding how people choose to file you in their mind is incredibly insightful and worth finding out.

Quote 2.

“Personal branding is about managing your name — even if you don’t own a business — in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records.

Going on a date? Chances are that your “blind” date has Googled your name.

Going to a job interview? Ditto.”

Tim Ferriss. 4 hour work week & 4 hour body

Here Tim reminds us of the importance of the digital world on our reputation and how Google can be our downfall if we don’t use it correctly.

Quote 3.

“It’s important to build a personal brand because it’s the only thing you’re going to have. Your reputation online, and in the new business world is pretty much the game, so you’ve got to be a good person. You can’t hide anything, and more importantly, you’ve got to be out there at some level.”

Gary Vaynerchuk Wine Library TV & Crush it!

This is fab quote because Gary highlights the importance of transparency and authenticity for a strong personal brand. You’ve essentially got to work out WHO you are and BE that person. Forget about managing different personas or trying to be someone else. You’ll fail. You’ve also got to be nice. People like nice people. If people are on your side, you’ll go much further than if they’re not. Helpfully, he also reminds us that you’ve got get out there… reminds me of one of my favourite Winnie the Pooh quotes “You can’t stay in your corner of forest waiting for others to come to you. You’ve got to go to them sometimes”

But, my favourite quote …

Quote 4.

“Personal branding is about figuring who you are and what turns you on and then monetising it”

Kelly Cutrone. PR Maven & Publicist. People’s Revolution

Not only does Kelly keep it nice and simple, but she manges to capture what I believe are 3 really important points whe it comes to defining personal branding;

1. Knowing WHO you are 2. Doing something that you LOVE!  3. Making money from it.

If you can find the sweet spot here, you’re rolling in it!

What do you think? Have you got any quotes that should be added to my list? Pop your favourite quote in the comment section below.

My last blog article Personal branding & consistency: the great debate #1 certainly prompted a lot of comments – feel free to have a peek.

Essentially, I wrote how about I came across the idea that consistency is not something to strive within the context of branding as it’s predictable and boring. An idea that for me I found hard to swallow. It was one event of two last week that ruffled my feathers! The second disruption of the force came from Hung Lee @wise_man_say when I came across his blog article entitled 5 reasons why Gen Y hates personal branding.  It’s a brilliant article that is well worth a read, so please do check it out. It raises some of the great issues of personal branding, and many that I felt compelled to comment on (read the comments section!). But it’s the consistency thread that I’ll pull out here…

Hung writes

“… the tension that exists between the twin tenets of Personal Branding – Authenticity and Consistency; it is essentially inauthentic to be consistent. Are you, my fellow humans, consistent? Almost certainly not. You have good days, bad days, every other kind of day in between; this is self evidently normal. However, the concept of Personal Branding doesn’t capture this dynamic; instead, it rails against it, preferring the static position of ‘always on’.”

But for me… [or at least my response to this was]

Consistency in brands is when the entity in question (person, service, product etc) behaves consistently according to their values. This still allows for massive inconsistencies in behaviour day to day. You’re unlikely one day to be tirelessly motivated by money, success and recognition, and the next day decide that lobbying for Greenpeace is actually more important to you in life.

If you’re not being consistent, it probably means one of 2 things: 1. you’re trying to be someone you’re not and you’re “borrowing” values, but can’t help defaulting to your true values. Or 2 you have a value conflict going on that is pulling you in different directions. But this pattern in itself will have consistency.”

Hung’s response to my comments were

“Brands Attached To Values, Allow For Inconsistencies In Day To Day Living. I agree that that Brands that have value embedded into them are more powerful than those that do not; however, I do not agree that this allows for the inconsistencies of authentic living. A brand is an abbreviation – a shortcut for people to understand who you are, in as short a time as possible. People do not have the time to process the ‘full you’ – hence why we create badges we call ‘Personal Brands’ so that overloaded consumers won’t have to have the hassle of dealing with you a human being. Any deviation from this and you are forcing your audience to do just that and, make no mistake, you will be penalized for it. Try it – tweet all day about something that really pissed you off (can’t think what..) and see what happens to your market. Something will.”

The problem we have here is a two opposing views that are unlikely to ever meet and so the debate could carry on indefinitely….

But before I move on, I just want to return to the idea of conflict between authenticity and consistency. I don’t see any conflict here. When you are true to yourself and behave in accordance with your values, you have integrity and when you have integrity, you are naturally authentic. People who are inconsistent in their behaviour are unlikely to be described as authentic, because they are clearly struggling to understand who they really are, and hence behave in such a way that reflects their true essence.

I decided to ask a few knowledgeable brand peeps how relevant or important they felt consistency was in the context of branding and this is what they said.

Will King, founder of @KingofShaves, says

“King of Shaves brand: “It is what it does, it does what it says”. Don’t just shave, King of Shaves #brandconsistency critical”

@BenAfia, Founder of Afia, an agency that helps brands to stick/engage through language

“Very important, but we need to let people’s (cust serv) personality come through too, Social media is changin things fast.”

@MalcolmLevene, Personal Branding Expert

“I put ‘reliability’ above ‘consistency.’ Reliability enables one to constantly raise the bar & change for the better.”

But it was @RachelElnaugh’s comment that really hit the nail on the head for me

“it’s about integrity – if you are true to yourself you can never be inconsistent!!!”

So, what do you think? Are consistency and authenticity happy bed fellows or never the twain shall meet?

If you want to read part 1 of this article go here: Personal Branding & consistency: the great debate # 1.

Thanks to Stockie for the image