HOW TO: Build Your Own Personal Brand on YouTube

There are thousands of different websites that you can leverage to build your own personal brand, but only a few that will give you both the reach and credibility to make a major impact. Here at Mashable (Mashable), we’ve provided you with a detailed look at how you can build your personal brand on Facebook (Facebook), Twitter (Twitter), and LinkedIn (LinkedIn).  Today, we’ll focus in on the largest video sharing site on the planet, more commonly referred to as YouTube (YouTube).

Google's Friend Connect, Now More Personalized

Often, the web can feel like that subway. There are probably people commuting to the places you regularly visit, but you don’t know who those people are, and your paths may never cross. With Google Friend Connect, we've been helping millions of website owners make their sites more like that guitar shop — a social place where visitors can get to know each other — and less like the anonymous subway ride.

With this in mind, we're thrilled to introduce a new set of Friend Connect features that let site owners help their visitors get to know each other and personalize their site's experience and content.

Social Media is a Vehicle for Interaction, Not Control

If you keep up with the social media conversation like I do, you’re familiar with the concept of “controlling the conversation.” It’s touted as one of the big benefits of corporate social media use. I’ve even written about it before. (Twice, actually.) Well, PR and social media blogger Lauren Fernandez recently taught me that I shouldn’t use the word “control” because all anyone can really do with social media is initiate and react to conversations. This reaction can try to steer a conversation, but, as Lauren says:

People aren’t robots. They are going to say what they want, how they want about your product.

7 Tips to Create Better Blog Posts

Great blog post’s don’t magically engage readers. But by applying a few good tactics, your blog can attract and retain your ideal readers.

Here are seven powerful blog posting habits...

I have had a few conversations with political candidates, campaign managers, and fellow politicos about Twitter. The conversation usually always turns to 'So, how many followers do you have?’ My response is always much lower then anyone else (currently at 177). Immediately I get a look like, 'Really, you only have 177 followers? My 4 year old nephew already has 1,298 followers and he just joined last week!'

As I try to quickly defend myself I begin to talk about how there are two types of people on twitter. There are those that are in it for the shameless self promotion of their own personal brand (i.e. they repost their blog entries, articles about themselves, the good things they have done, etc...) and then there are those that are in it for the conversation.

I am in it for the conversation so in turn I do not follow everyone that follows me nor do I follow 45 trillion people (which would in turn get me 35 Trillion followers). I choose to actually read each and every tweet from those that I follow. I know it sounds crazy and some will call me a jerk but if you follow me and all you are going to do is tweet your latest blog entry or when your next group meeting is then I will not follow you. Its not worth my time. Another thing I do regularly is trim my list of people I follow on a regular basis. When someone begins to tweet on a topic that I am not all that interested in (over the course of a few weeks) I will un-follow them.

By the time I am done with this rant most understand my point and start to think about Twitter in a different light or they just think I am a sore loser for only having 177 followers.

Michael Lopp has a great analogy on twitter that I think hits the nail on the head:

Think of your Twitter account as your house. This is my house. Your house is different. You're trying to figure out how to use Twitter to monetize eyeballs. Good luck with all that. For me, Twitter remains a place for casual information. For me, a tweet is still a note I tie to a balloon, which I let go and think, "Who is going to read that one?" Sometimes I look and see where it ended up, sometimes I don't.

In my house, I want to create an illusion of a two-way conversation, which means I continue to prune followers so that content flows at a consumable rate. If I get the sense that I've lost control over my Twitterspace, I'll stop going — the same way my fancy new mail rule files once important messages straight into the well-intentioned To Forget folder.

I say all of this to help you understand Twitter better but also for you to think about using it in a different way. Think if you had 100, 200, 300 or even 1000 followers that could respond to your quick poll on a potential ad. Or if they could help you beta test your new website. Or better yet would help you raise money for your cause. The advantages of a more friendly user driven following on twitter are endless.

I’m all in favor of candidates and the Republican Party collecting as many e-mail addresses from supporters as they can. Despite the rise of social networks e-mail is still the most powerful tool for connecting with online supporters. Ask the Obama campaign how e-mail is treating them.

Candidates and parties use gimmicks to get e-mail addresses. Sen. John McCain has an earmark petition
on his site. Another technique is the survey. I received an e-mail from the National Republican Congressional Committee asking to fill out a survey. They claim my opinion will “help [them] regain the majority in 2008.”

The questions are the same loaded ones I’ve gotten for years by snail mail from conservative/Republican groups asking for money. At least in the NRCC’s case they only want my e-mail address and zip code. No donate button in visual range.

Commenters at Michelle Malkin’s weblog noticed this too. Walterc wrote:

What a slanted questionnaire. I was expecting something a little less self serving that would actually get some valuable feedback from the constituancy (sic).

This was just asking me to sign off on their campaign rhetoric.

Pabarge is even more cynical:

I’m sorry but this survey is complete spin and a shill for donations. None of these people intend to follow through on the Republican agenda. They know our hot buttons and they’ll push those buttons when they want money, but once they get re-elected they’ll stab their very own published agenda in the back.

This survey does not even provide a place to give these RNCC mutts a piece of our minds.

Sad.

I give no $$ to the RNCC until I see some sign of real change.

I don’t blame them for their negative remarks. The questions treat the reader like he’s ignorant of current events. Look at Question #3: “Do you agree with the Nancy Pelosi Democrat Majority’s decision to impose massive tax hikes on the American people?”

What Republican would say, “yes?”

Look at Question #7: “Do you support the Democrats’ efforts to give federal government bureaucrats complete control of your health care costs and choices?”

What Republican would say, “no?”

This survey is full of these types of questions where the answer is obvious given the audience. There seems to be no point to this “survey” other than getting an e-mail address.

What could the NRCC do better? At the very least they could have a form for people to send comments or an e-mail link to an inbox that was actually looked at.

The NRCC has a weblog that allows comments so they’re not opposed to accepting feedback. They weblog and the survey could have linked to each other letting people give their feedback.

The best the NRCC could do is ditch these loaded questions and actually ask their supporters/donors how they can better serve them. To me talking about the online media as a conversation feels cliche and soft, but it fits. The GOP in general is in a rut. The conservative base feels alienated and ignored. They need to be engaged. On the internet it’s all about interactivity and participation. People aren’t passive when they’re chatting with friends or uploading photos or writing weblog posts or making YouTube videos. They don’t want to sit there and be shoveled campaign messages. They want to feel like they’re part of it.

I would advise the NRCC to dump this survey and start a real conversation between the chairman Rep. Tom Cole and the NRCC staff and supporters. They should talk about the most contested races. Where does the NRCC think they have the best shot at taking Democratic seats? What issues resonate most in what localities? What’s the status of the
investigation of the NRCC’s finances?

Have give and take. There’s bound to be negative comments. They should be welcomed. There’s sure to be more wisdom and good ideas outside the NRCC than inside.

The NRCC could set the standard of how Republican organizations engage with supporters in our highly-networked, highly-interactive age. Listening to your customers works for the most successful businesses. The GOP should do the same.

[Cross-posted to The American Mind.]