Building a Strong Online Brand: Commitment Is Not for the Weak

At First Your Commitment to Engagement Will Be Greater Than That Of Your Audience 

Let’s face it, it is human nature to avoid disrupting the status quo. Very few people are willing to put themselves out on a limb, for the fear of being judged as being too great. It is this simple reason that studies show people fear public speaking more than death.

Now, let’s take the idea of putting yourself out on a limb, and add in the fact that through social media you’re now doing this in a VERY public forum where anyone and everyone can judge you.
If you consider this, it makes all the sense in the world why your blog posts aren’t being commented on, or your questions on Facebook aren’t being

answered.

People are afraid to be the first to speak up.
Because of this, it is normal that your commitment to engaging your fans be far greater than their commitment to engaging with you.

It is only once you establish yourself with the trustworthy reputation that any ideas, comments and responses will be heard, validated and valued, that your audience will start to match your commitment to engagement.
As an example; I didn’t receive my first comment on my blog until about 6 months into my blogging.

However, once I started engaging with people through OTHER forums (i.e. other blogs where I had guest posted that already had an existing, engaged reader base), by responding to all comments, joining conversations that were good or bad about my ideas, and simply letting others be heard, the reputation started to build. It was this that lead to the same level of engagement I was achieving elsewhere to happen on my own blog, ultimately helping me to establish and providing credibility to my brand.

Building a Strong Online Brand: The Tipping Point

Often There Is No Discernible Tipping Point

However, all the small successes that are discussed previously will, as Malcolm Gladwell once again famously outlined, help you to reach your ‘Tipping Point’. That is, the point in which all of these small successes finally barrel over into your one major moment… in this case it would be the moment that your brand becomes established.


To use my own experience as the example; after a year or so of working day-in-and-day-out of blogging, tweeting consistently and building conversations, my personal brand as a blogger had developed.
I still had the same lingering doubt that I felt from the beginning.

It wasn’t until one day when I was secured to be a judge for Talent Quest Florida (held position for three years) that I realized my Brand was there and it had been experienced.

Building a Strong Online Brand: Doubtful Beginnings

You Will Doubt Yourself… And Then You’ll Doubt Yourself Again.

Doubt HAS to be the number one killer of brands. I can say from personal experience that this was the hardest obstacle to overcome. And yet, I had to work to over come my own doubt about my brand on a regular basis (if not more often).
Because building a brand is so abstract, and can take such a long time to establish, you’ll often feel like you’re just treading water.
This is normal!

The audience will usually trickle in: one-by-one or two-by-twos.
Your family and friends are not your true audience. Do not count them.
Because of this, it is important to find any successes, even if they are small, that you can not only rejoice in on a regular basis, but can use to keep you motivated:

• A couple of Facebook ‘likes’ on a status update
• A comment left on a blog post
• A Re-Tweet or an inclusion in a #FF (Follow Friday) tweet

These are all successes. Use them as indicators of your growth and realize that with each small success, you’re working towards your brand-goal of creating compelling content, a unique voice and a trustworthy reputation.