Samara Parker

Happy New Year’s Eve!

I love New Year’s, possibly more than Christmas, possibly more than chocolate… Okay, definitely not more than chocolate, but a lot.

I do not love it because of the parties and booze — I’m definitely more of a “stay home and watch a movie” kind of gal. I do not love it because I think of it as a fresh slate or have any delusions of becoming a better version of myself (although making resolutions is always fun). Nope, I just love all the “best of” and “predictions for the new year” lists that flood the blogosphere this time of year.

I love the best-of lists because they catch me up on all of the things I am behind on and I love the prediction lists because they are the lazy man’s way to look like you know what you’re talking about.

I do NOT make predictions, as I am too afraid of being completely wrong and my wrongness being forever etched into the public record.

But I have to write about the new year at least a little, or I’ll be cast out by the Bloggers Guild of the Netherlands and I have grown used to all the perks. Free pickled herring anyone?

I have definitely noticed some trends in social recruiting, HR and social media that I think will gain even more ground in the coming year. All of these trends have been blogged about by other people, and I will link to them, so if I’m wrong, I can point my finger accusingly. But, on the other hand, if any of these predictions turn out to be true or useful, do feel free to attribute all credit to yours truly.

Things to be super aware of, obsess over, and express frustration about for 2013:

Mobile!

Obviously. We’ve already talked a bunch about the importance of mobile and it’s only getting importanter (also trending for 2013 : making up words!). There’s still a surprising lack of focus on mobile as a social recruiting tool, even though in 2012 we saw the amount of mobile users shoot up to 1.2 billion. The importance of Facebook ads that directly target mobile will just keep on rising, especially considering that 55% of Facebook users log on with mobile and that number doesn’t look like it’s going to drop anytime soon. Sales of PCs are down and mobile devices are up up up!

I am a prime example of this trend. Gen Y’r and proud (actually not at all — rather ashamed in fact — mostly due to Garden State being considered our generation’s defining film)*, I do not use a PC, as I work pretty much exclusively with a tablet and other super smart mobile devices – I’m that cool. So, if you must make one social recruiting strategy resolution this year, make it mobile-related and you will not be sorry. If you are sorry, please blame ERE.net (not me!) as their article claiming that mobile recruiting is about to get very hot is far too convincing.

Social Proof

Social proof refers to the perceived popularity and acceptance of your online presence by others. This perception is affected by positive comments, Likes, re-tweets and other similar interactions. Social proof makes you more appealing and trustworthy, and as such makes visitors more likely to Like your Facebook page or feel comfortable signing up for your newsletter.

It’s basically like how having a decent friend group makes you seem more date-worthy and less like a potential psychopath. People are much more likely to do something if they know other people are doing it to, especially members of their own peer group. This is why Facebook sponsored stories work so well and why I, and many other social media bloggers, predict that ads and recruiting campaigns should try to increase and capitalize on social proof if they want to be more socially successful in 2013.

Gamification

HrExaminer has been talking about gamification for a while now, and I’m seeing more and more articles about its applications for HR, recruiting and social media in general. We all know that gen Y’rs grew up on a steady diet of video games and soft-drinks. This means we are only motivated by achievement badges that we can post on our Facebook pages (social proof!), leveling-up, and sugary treats.

Gamification has been used for ages in schools and the workforce to train new skills.  I still have fond memories of learning to type with the classic Mavis Beacon key-mashing game. More recently, it’s being used to increase employee engagement and offer the feeling of reward for a job well done, according to Forbes. Although I honestly think a good pep-talk is a better way of accomplishing these goals, I must admit I’m a sucker for Gameification when it comes to health and fitness. So, maybe it would easily manipulate my competitive nature in the workplace as well.

It’s a trend, it’s gaining in popularity and I’m super interested to see whether or not it’s successful, especially when it comes to recruitment. For a cool example of how companies are using it to recruit, check out My Marriott International’s Farmville-esque app.

Job Boards

Okay, this is less of a trend and more of a “hey, I told you so”.

Jobcast is a Facebook app, but we still cater to job board and their users because, well, the overwhelming majority of job seekers still use them and that’s not going to change in 2013. We wrote a few months back about how job boards are still very relevant for social recruiting, but if you don’t believe me, check out this rather blunt quote pulled from the Fistful of Talent blog:

“The Job Boards? Still not dead. Why? Because the majority of ‘job seekers’ still go to a job board to find a job and most corporate HR/Talent Pros still don’t know how to pick up a phone and actually recruit passive talent. As long as ‘Post and Pray’ is the primary recruiting strategy of corporate talent acquisition – the Job Boards will live.”

I think they just may live past the point of “Post and Pray”, mainly because they’re comfortable and useful – just like that old pair of jeans that you just can’t bear to part with. For more info about job boards check out what the Job Board Doctor Blog has to say.

Last but not least…

Facebook!

Mostly because it’s where the most important app of 2013 is located. Of course I am referring to the Jobcast app, and I know you’ll all agree. But I also mention this because of a growing amount of evidence that points to Facebook beating out other online networks for social recruiting clout in the coming year. Like this study that says job Seekers Choose Facebook over both LinkedIn and Twitter — awesome.

So, from all of us at Jobcast, have an amazing New Year’s!

The Dutch celebrate Christmas on both the 25th and the 26th. So, in keeping with tradition, instead of a whole bunch of informative links, I’m just going to post some cool stuff and this kitten picture!

Links!

This amazing Infographic shows how employee volunteering brings happiness into the workplace.

Need a new podcast to blow your socks off? Check out the New Yorker Fiction Podcast, it’s lovely, promise!

If you didn’t already do enough shopping, Apartment Therapy’s amazing best of 2012 store profiles should put you over the edge.

Think all Santa-related art has to be cheesy? Think again! Artist Creates 500 Santa Sand Sculptures — from DesignTAXI.com.

Apparently “No” is the most powerful word you can use in 2013, and here I thought it was cake — I stand corrected 🙂

She blinded me with science! 12 Obvious Science Findings of 2012. These are hilarious. HILARIOUS.

Happy holidays 😀

Oh! It's Christmas Eve. Already? How did this happen!?! Sooo ... happy holidays! I'm going to put on some Christmas oldies now. Much better! Living in the Netherlands, far from family and Canadian friends, it's been pretty easy to ignore what time of year it is. There's also a significant lack of reminders in my general surroundings : No mall Santa, no huge pre-Christmas sales and crazy shoppers, no holiday music blasting my ears or Starbucks employees tempting me with sugary pepperminty holiday beverages. When I first noticed this I asked my lovely friend K.J. what Dutch people did for Christmas. He responded by rolling his eyes and saying, voice dripping with mock disdain:

"We celebrate the birth of Jesus!"

They do this by feasting for two full days! It's amazing! I'm not entirely sure of the direct connection between Jesus' birth and food, but I'll take feasting over mall Santa any day. No fretting over finding the perfect gift, crazed last-minute shopping, or terrifyingly jolly fake-bearded men. Just family, friends and mulled wine.

It's pretty wonderful actually!

So, from all of us at Jobcast, have a wonderful holiday season. May it be as devoid of stress as possible! Skip the malls, and instead cuddle your friends and family with a mug of cocoa. Fijne kerst!

The year is ending. Time to go back over everything that you've accomplished and either pat yourself on the back, or do as I do, and freak out over all of the things you said you'd do that you didn't get around to. My Twitter account is still 90% rap lyrics, I still do not own a pair of high-heel shoes (nor could I walk in them if I did), and I still haven't made my own Infographic. I did, however, do a lot more writing than last year, complete a 12-mile mud-run in pretty decent time and move to Europe — so not all that bad! How about you? Did you accomplish all of your goals this year? Today's Link Love is a best-of-the-best list with links thrown in. All of the links are worth checking out. Some are silly, some are super useful, some are both, but all of them are awesome!

List/Links!

Most interesting social recruiting controversy:

Job Boards! Who doesn't love a good old fashioned throw-down? Forbes got a ton of backlash for publishing an article declaring Job Boards to be a thing of the past. In response, we wrote an article about how Job Boards are here to stay... Whadda you know — Forbes did too! For more info, check out what The Job Board Doctor has to say on the matter.

Most important social recruiting platform:

Facebook! Okay, obviously, we'd say Facebook is the most important social recruiting network — we are a Facebook app after all! But come on, Facebook is where the talent is, because, well, Facebook is where everyone is. Even my mom. And her entire bridge group. They are all very talented ladies! PROOF!

Best HR related Twitter account:

@UndercoverRec

I should have said @Jobcastnet, but I'd have been lying. Not that we don't tweet some good stuff, but we don't tweet anywhere near as often as The Undercover Recruiter does. Not only are their tweets frequent, well-timed and pertinent, they are also always high quality. If you don't follow them, get on it! Oh, and they are also one of my favorite recruiting/HR related blogs. Runner-up: Jim Dougherty @leaderswest. He posts great Social Media / HR related content and adorable photos. He also has my favorite profile pic — men of Twitter take note!

Best Twitter account not related to HR: @ArenaFlowers Actually, if you like terrible jokes, rap music and fitness, then my personal twitter account is really the one for you! Actually no. Unless you are my husband, you so don't want to follow me on Twitter. Honestly. I have a sneaking suspicion that even he doesn't want to follow me on Twitter. You do, however, want to follow @ArenaFlowers. Their new Twitter campaign is hugely successful, innovative and entertaining.

Best HR Infographic:

ALL OF THEM!!!

Evolution of the Recruitment Consultant FTW!

It's gorgeous and funny... It also has some great info, but that's just gravy!

Best social media Infographic:

The Social Media Zombie Apocalypse!

Nuff said.

Best web-site for staying up on the (social recruiting) trends:

I love Alltop.com. I use it to find new HR and social media related blogs to follow, see what kinds of posts are trending, and to research articles. It's awesome and super easy to use. Honorable mentions: LinkedIn Answers and Quora.

Best app for staying up on the (social recruiting) trends:

Google Currents. I love it. I open it up every morning to see all of my favorite blogs organized in a slick magazine-like format. Google Currents + coffee = perfect morning.

My personal favorite app discovery of 2012 (because it's all about me!)

Fitocracy!

It ticks all the boxes: gorgeous, funny, robot-graphics, fitness-related, gamification, tells me how awesome I am — what's not to like? It's also perfect for a team-building competition at your company.

That's it for me. Sam out!

Personal Branding. It's a buzzword, and people love to hate buzzwords. .. but, just because it's a buzzword doesn't mean it's not worth learning about. Most of the bloggers dissing it already have pretty solid personal brands themselves. Sure, they'll tell you that they're just being their authentic-selves, but isn't that just another way of saying they're being true to their personal brands? Not all of us are that comfortable being our authentic-selves on the interwebs. We need a little push, a plan — a brand strategy! — to keep us on track, and help us face our social networking demons. Curse you LinkedIn! Yup, LinkedIn terrifies me. It's the digital equivalent of resume-updating-phobia. Have I accomplished enough in my life? Why did I change my major so many times? Does my avatar photo make me look dorky? Yes -- to all three. If you haven't noticed, I'm using this blog as therapy. Like last week's post, about discovering your personal brand, which I used to update my bio and improve my LinkedIn profile. Hopefully it helped you too. Now we're going to lay out three easy (actually) steps to building a personal brand. 1 - Start Small You have a mission statement and bio all written up, have listed your goals, and know your target audience, now it's time to put this info to good use. You don't have to buy 10, 000 Facebook ads, connect with every single person LinkedIn recommends, or tweet your every move. Instead, start small and build up gradually (just please don't start posting pics of every cappuccino you order). Update your profile on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Click Like on one new page a day, comment on LinkedIn Answers at least once a week, and respond wittily to some tweets you find interesting. It's these types of interactions that grow your social network and personal brand in an incremental way. Hot Tip : LinkedIn Answers is a great place to connect with peers, see what topics are trending in your field, and show off your knowledge. Don't have any answers? Asking a thoughtful question is equally beneficial and — bonus! — you can learn something new. Keep your brand in mind for each of your new posts and your personal brand will grow automagically (I'm a word wizard!). See, I told you these steps were easy. 2 - Be Consistent This is a tricky one for a lot of people, but mostly because of shiny-new-toy-syndrome. New things are exciting! This is why when I first joined Instagram, I posted pictures of all of my snacks, my feet, and pretty much anything that I thought was remotely interesting (mostly snacks ... and my feet). Thank goodness I only interact with friends on Instagram — very, very forgiving friends. Posting or tweeting every random thing that pops into your head/in front of your iPhone is considered spamming and it is not well received by the general public. The desire to implement a new personal branding strategy may make you want to tweet about it every 15 minutes, but it's much more effective and respectful to tweet/post/share content consistently spaced throughout the day. That content should be varied, of high-quality and in line with your brand. It can be original content or not — a good mix is probably best.  If you find yourself running out of ideas for tweets, try following some interesting people to get inspired.

@ArenaFlowers is amazing! Hot Tip: If you need to take a break, tweeting on Fridays is often less effective than other business days. 3-day tweet weekend! 3 - Just Start (NOW!) There's no time like the present. Your bio may not be perfect —  perhaps your avatar is a little blurry, and  maybe you haven't yet figured out how to use hashtags. These are all pretty minor details that shouldn't derail you from putting yourself out there and getting social. Rome wasn't built in a day, but your Facebook Page sure can be. Buzzword or not, strong social recruiters succeed by harnessing the social networks they've built up with their personal brand. I believe in you.

Owning up to weaknesses is not fun. But we all have them. In order to become better we have to face them.

One of my heroes, and all around super successful dudes Dan John says:

“Mastery demands falling in love with the plateaus”

Plateaus point out where your weak points are, so instead of running from them, embrace them. Easier said than done! This is why writing about personal branding (yes, I know it’s a silly buzzword!) has been terrible awesome for me. Self-promotion is one of my sticky points, which is also true for so many people in HR and recruiting. This could possibly be because of the higher percentage of women in HR. Women, in general, kind of suck at bragging. We’re not even all that great at the humble brag, and it’s the easiest form of self promotion!

A great example of this is with female athletes. Elsbeth Vaino noticed, while coaching a co-ed ultimate team, that after tryouts even the very best female athletes were shocked that they had made the team, whereas the very worst of the male athletes could not understand why they hadn’t made the cut.

So, in order to help my sistahs out a bit, here are a few tips on self-promotion and personal branding for, and by, women.

Links!

Some theories about why self-promotion is so hard for women and four awesome ways to improve! This article is very informative and references the movie Election, so it’s pretty much the best thing ever.

According to Fistful of Talent, HR people have low self-esteem and it’s bad for business. This article made me feel kind of weepy – shhh don’t tell!

Advice on how to do business with men (if you’re a woman). Robin’s article is blunt, hilarious and informative.

5 Personal Branding Tips for Women by Dorothy Dalton. These tips are so obvious that they’re not – number four is one I really need to work on!

Stacy Zapar, the most connected woman on LinkedIn (the opposite of me, though my mom thinks I’m cool). This is a break with format – it’s not a link to a particular article, but to her entire website! She’s the Yoda. I’m Luke Skywalker… except she has a fantastic command of the English language and no idea who I am.

Okay ladies, enjoy these links and guys, remember, girls of the world ain’t nothin’ but trouble! And by ‘trouble’, I mean equally good at stuff.

I spend a lot of time working on my GPP. GPP, for those with a life outside the gym, means general physical preparedness. To me, it means the ability to protect friends and family if (when) the Zombie apocalypse happens. To those who haven't watched Resident Evil as many times as me, it means developing the physical abilities necessary to succeed at whatever tasks life may throw your way. Be it rescuing cats from trees, lifting heavy grocery bags or escaping freaky Zombie dogs, great GPP is the best tool in your belt. That's why I do pull-ups; honestly, the fear of zombies nipping at my ankles is about the only thing that could motivate me enough to do such a thing! Great social recruiters have something in common that I'd like to call GSMP, or General Social Media Preparedness. I'd like to call it that, but realize it would be very silly, considering there's already a much more common name for this type of preparedness : Personal Brand. These recruiters have worked hard to cultivate their personal brand and it's a huge part of what they bring to the table. They know that they can't simply tweet a job post and expect it to go viral without having first built up a network to receive their tweet. The best social recruiters have worked hard to find their own voice, build their online reputation, and create relationships. They come to the social networking game prepared, which, as with Zombie dogs, is the best way to come out ahead... or at least with your leg still firmly attached! I don't know about you, but my personal brand needs a little work. I wrote about this last Wednesday and linked some great articles and apps for improving personal branding. These links are awesome, but I thought it might help to lay out a few really important steps to creating and making use of an effective personal brand.

Step 0.5: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

Before you can start to build your personal brand you need to figure out what you want your brand to be. This decision should be based on your perception of yourself, other peoples perceptions of you, and the type of clients and candidates you are looking to attract. If you keep these three things in mind when building your brand you'll be able to brand in a way that attracts clients while staying honest to who you are. Your personal brand is what separates you from everyone else in your field. So it has to be different. It is also the face you present to colleagues and clients so it can't be so different that it freaks them out. It's a fine line, but really not that hard to navigate. If you want to find young, edgy talent, you want to attract trendy, design firms, and people other than your mom find you hilarious, then you're personal brand can include wry jokes, tweeting about punk rock, and cuss-words. Basically, you can strive to emulate That Cynical Girl , Laurie Ruettimann. I wish I was that cool and self-aware! If your client base is straight-laced and corporate, and you're hunting for experienced talent who would rather wear suits than sneakers to an interview, make like John Sumser of HR Examiner and establish yourself as a wise authority in your field. To discover how best to brand yourself, I recommend (1) writing down your brand mission statement, (2) goals, (3) which audience you're trying to reach and (4) what type of content / voice that audience responds to.

Example: Sam Parker Mission statement

- Write articles that are informative, helpful, and entertaining. Do ample research, create my own unique content and do everything in my power to warn people of the up-and-coming zombie apocalypse. Goals

- Provide content that will keep my readers interested. Expand readership. Promote Jobcast and help Jobcast users. Which audience?

- Employers, recruiters, other bloggers in my field and job seekers. What my audience responds to

- Respect, good information, using clear language (not buzz-words), a little humor and a lot of Facebook talk. Next week: Steps 1 - 3 and my love hate relationship with LinkedIn.

Happiness.

It’s the goal in relationships, the workplace, and, well …  in life.

Science says that happiness leads to successful businesses and boosts employee engagement and productivity. Employers, recruiters and job seekers alike can benefit from improving their own, and each other’s, smile-to-frown ratio.

So what makes people happy?

For me it’s chocolate, weight-lifting and hilarious podcasts … Oh yeah, and my friends and family (hey mom!).

Okay okay — this post is actually just a Christmas wish list. So, make like Santa and send me chocolate and Dan John’s latest book so I can get my pump on! (Podcasts are free on iTunes)

Now, just so I don’t lose my job, here are some links about candidate, employee and recruiter happiness:

Want to make those potential hires happy? Check out this article for easy ways to entice talent by improving candidate experience.

We all know how important it is to keep recruiters happy! Here are three things to avoid doing if you want recruiters to like you.

For happy employees, use Jessica Miller-Merrels advice to create an employee benefits and rewards system that your employees will actually like!

But, why bother? Well — employee disengagement is a serious drain on productivity and effectiveness.

Don’t worry, Brad Herbert offers three straightforward tips on how to improve employee engagement.

December has arrived and holiday bonuses are a great way to spread a little cheer. Suzanne Lucas reports on what employees actually want for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Sinter Klaas.

Last, but not least, here are 34 tips to make anyone happier. I’m especially fond of this article, as I can use it as an excuse to dance around like a maniac, and eat lots of chocolate. Awesome.

Facebook is huge. I am not. Weighing in at five feet, forty-eight kgs of raw power, most would even dare to classify me as small. This is fine, so long as they are also willing to the use of the “raw power” caveat when doing so.

Being small isn’t always detrimental, even when the playing field is massive (like Facebook). In fact there are often benefits to towering under the other competitors.

Last summer, I competed in an obstacle footrace that forced me to climb up and over walls more than three times my height, to run full-tilt at a towering quarter pipe, and to rely on long-armed strangers to catch me and hoist me up. But, there were areas where I had an advantage over those long-armed strangers! Being small meant that crawling under barbed-wire, squeezing through muddy ice-tunnels, and swinging over freezing water on a giant set of monkey bars was a breeze…

Okay, maybe not a breeze, but much easier! And, as I found with this challenge, being small can also have its bonuses in the online gauntlet that is Facebook. I would go so far as to argue that being small is an advantage. (Shorty pride!)

Small businesses can dominate Facebook in ways big businesses can’t, most significantly through engagement. Being small means engaging fans and finding talent in a much more personal fashion, which is what effective social media is really all about.

But how!?!

Here are a few simple tips on engagement that capitalize on small business status:

#1) Get specific!

Not having a million fans means it’s easier to create relationships with the ones you do have. Use your fan’s names, it makes them feel special and important. Cheesy, but true.

#2) Tailor your posts.

More specifically, tailor your posts to your fan-base. It’s so important to create interesting content. That means posting more than just business updates and job openings (although Facebook is great for that!). Your fans are much more likely to share and Like your content if it pertains to something that interests them, and as we’ve already established, small businesses are in a prime position to really get to know their fan-base. That means you should keep track of what your fans are into, the types of posts they like to share, and use that information to put out content in line with their tastes.

#3) Keep it simple, silly

(Hot Tip: NEVER call your readers stupid, no matter what cliche you are choosing to employ).

To increase engagement through Sponsored Stories and Facebook Ads, keep your call-to-action simple. When you ask a question, make it an easy one to answer. People are much more likely to respond if they can do so in one or two words. With call-to-actions, keep things short and punchy. “Want to work for a company with the best staff parties in all of Holland? Click Like!” Of course you do, that’s why simple, fun CTAs get more clicks.

#4) Create conversation.

Once you post on Facebook, don’t let that post simply drift off into the ether! Stay present to answer questions and respond to comments. Keeping a dialogue flowing makes your post more engaging, your company more personal, and can give you a greater understanding of the hearts and minds of your clients and potential hires.The best way to create conversation is to respond in real-time, or as close to it as possible. The back-and-forth of personal interactions are what people love about small businesses, at the brick and mortar level, and that intimacy needs to be cultivated in the land of Facebook as well. It may not be as personal as a good old-fashioned phone call, but this type of fan engagement is the most effective that social media has to offer.

If four tips just isn’t enough, here are nine more! That’s a lot of tips. For some solid advice on how to build an audience to engage with, check out Ryan’s awesome post. Oh and if you want to see what I look like after crawling through mud for a couple hours, here ya go… It’s NOT a pretty sight, you have been warned!

I recently took a walking tour of the Tate Modern. On the tour, our hilarious guide gave us the history of Henri Matisse’s famous work : The Snail.

This painting, actually a collage, is a perfect example of Matisse’s personal brand. It is one of his most famous works — so huge, bright, and effortless, you would never guess it was created by a sickly, bedridden 85-year-old man. No longer able to paint large canvasses, Matisse had directed his intern to paint large sheets of paper in primary and secondary colors, and he lay in bed cutting the paper down to size. He spent days explaining to his poor intern where precisely to pin each cut-out onto a massive white canvas. The final piece was outlined in pencil and sent off to Paris where the cut-outs were pasted down to the canvas, finishing the piece.

All this from a man whose health was so poor, that his doctor had ordered him to give up working with bright colors all-together. He compromised by wearing sunglasses while he worked! Matisse was The Color Man. His art and his livelihood was built on that reputation. Color was essential to his personal brand, and he was not about to let anything get in the way of that, even if it meant pulling a Corey Hart!

With the ever growing prominence of Social Media, personal branding has become more and more complicated, but no less important. Where Matisse branded himself with scissors, paint and paper, today we brand ourselves with Tweets, Gravatars, and logos. In the same way that I’ve advocated finding a unique voice for blogging, I advocate finding a unique personal brand. This is something I struggle with myself. Working in social media means I often neglect it in my personal life, a serious no-no as far as personal branding is concerned.

.. but, inspired by Matisse, I’ve decided to make a serious effort to turn this around. So, this week, our links are all about personal branding. From the importance of reputation, to a definitive guide for branding with Facebook, the articles linked today will help you refine, reevaluate or even recreate your personal brand.

In one of these articles, John Sumser states:

“The only brands that matter are the ones that people care about”

And when it comes to a personal brand, if you don’t care, why should anyone else?

Links!

Blogging4Jobs thinks “You Should Know” your reputation is on the line! Rayanne reminds us that in today’s world it is almost impossible to escape having everything we do being permanently documented. She also proves that it’s possible to look amazing in green face-paint!

The (Almost) Definitive Guide for Brands on Facebook. I don’t know about you, but I was very comforted by Kevin Allen’s writing : “Rest assure, there’s no such thing as a social media expert”. Phew!

Employment Branding. This article, from where that no-nonsense quote above was taken, deals with “Employment Branding” specifically, but the advice is easily applicable to personal branding.

How to Prevent Personal Brand Injury in Just Four Steps. Just four! Now that’s doable, even for the busiest of social media artists.

Words are for Suckers. A great assemblage of words on how actions shape reputation and the importance of authenticity. Warning, there are some “Almost swear-words”.

The Greatest Ted Talk Ever Sold. An oldie but a goodie! Morgan Spurlock on personal branding.