A while back I wrote an article about Tweeting yourself out of a job. The point I was making was simply that business is going to have to get it’s head around the growing trend of self-promotion amongst their employees. Social Media has made this both easy to do and in-vogue amongst today’s smart-phone totting hip and happening set (both young and old).
Go back 20 years and it was very rare to see anyone promoting themselves in a meaningful way. I imagine that because there were no easy to use, cheap and effective platforms, it wasn’t even on the thought-agenda? Today, of course, it’s a wide open and growing space, not only to think about but to play within.
The business response has been largely to clamp down with draconian finesse. But how long can this approach last? At what point will business embrace the opportunity that this new trend represents, not only for the individuals within their business, but for the business as a whole? I’ve watched this debate rage within a small and fairly edgy start up. And if it ‘rages’ there, then one can only imagine what’s going on in 50 000 strong monsters?
Personally I’ve seen the advantage of building a individual profile for me. I do confess that I’ve not been able to measure the economic value of this adventure, but I’ve significantly added to the number of people I am connected to, and who, from time to time, read my thoughts on this blog / web site. I do believe that this has been good for TomorrowToday, the business I call ‘work’ for me.
Recently I read a post on Seth Godin’s blog, ‘Self Marketing might by the most important kind’. He writes to the individual and not to business in this short post, but with the large cult-like following he has, this sort of thought-distribution is only going to add fuel to an already fast-paced-trend. The business timeline by which they need a relevant and creative response is getting shorter and shorter.
“What story do you tell yourself about yourself?
I know that marketers tell stories. We tell them to clients, prospects, bosses, suppliers, partners and voters. If the stories resonate and spread and seduce, then we succeed.
But what about the story you tell yourself?
Do you have an elevator pitch that reminds you that you’re a struggling fraud, certain to be caught and destined to fail? Are you marketing a perspective and an attitude of generosity? When you talk to yourself, what do you say? Is anyone listening?
You’ve learned through experience that frequency works. That minds can be changed. That powerful stories have impact.
I guess, then, the challenge is to use those very same tools on yourself.”