Conference report #4

In this conference report, Jackie Gortman goes more in-depth about Mary Ellen Bates’ “Brand You and Web 2.0” presentation. Thanks Jackie, for summarizing this very timely and important topic.


SLA-SCC gave me the opportunity to attend the 2010 SLA conference virtually and this is my coverage of Mary Ellen Bates’ “Brand You and Web 2.0” presentation. Branding yourself involves how you want to be known and how you present yourself to the world. Bates quoted fellow SLA 2010 presenter Kim Dority: “Intelligent personal branding showcases your authentic self so others can understand your value.”

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the three main tools used for personal branding in today’s Web 2.0 world. The audience and content are different for each – LinkedIn is the most professional, while Facebook and Twitter are more informal. Using all three increases your online presence and helps build your network, which helps you to build your brand. Bates recommends spending 30 minutes each week building your online profile and presence using these tools and keeping in mind that a high quality presence will take some time to build. She emphasizes the professional importance of having a LinkedIn account, as well as an informative and value-added Twitter account. She also recommends having a blog and suggests spacing entries out over even amounts of time.

Bates says that you get what you put into social networking. Filling in your profile and providing a photo are important first steps in building others’ trust, especially when using LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, you should also include a resume, establish connections, and join professional groups such as SLA. You can help others by sharing resources, creating content, and answering questions. Keeping in mind that many people have short attention spans, try to be concise in your writing, especially in Twitter where you are allotted only 140 characters per tweet.

When using Twitter, live tweeting a conference and blogging the highlights of a conference are two ways to add value for your followers. You can gain followers by writing your own content, by retweeting something interesting, giving your insight on a topic, and including context with any links you provide. Although some people are hesistant to join Twitter because they view it as a fad that will soon pass, Bates believe that it is a sustainable business, mostly due to the large volume of information it holds collectively.
-Jackie Gortman


We're not done yet! Watch for more conference reports in upcoming editions of our newsletter. And while we're talking about web 2.0, come on over and join our groups on Linkedin and Facebook.
-Robin