I’ve always wondered…if big brands can brand themselves, why can’t individuals?
Sure, I know of a few who do – the one I know within my immediate network is Manuscrypts. He has a logo as a display picture on Twitter…and also on Facebook. Thankfully, he has a negative image (not figuratively, but photographically!) of himself along with the logo on LinkedIn. It’s interesting for many reasons – his ID on twitter is ‘manuscrypts’, while it remains his actual name, ‘Manu Prasad’ on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Another blogger, Gaurav Mishra, has a uniquely named blog, but unlike Manuscrypts, retains his actual mugshot wherever a photo is needed. But that is a serious effort in personal branding too – the recall, I have heard from people, is very high and they immediately associate Gaurav, the person and Gauravonomics, the blog.
Other examples,
- Mack Collier’s The Viral Garden – no generic words, no name in title. But no unique URL either!
- Beth Harte’s The Harte of Marketing – generic word (marketing), but with a unique, named-twist. Unique URL too!
- Jason Falls’ Social Media Explorer – completely generic set of words!!
- Chris Brogan’s…well, chrisbrogan.com! Total personal branding.
- Jay Baer’s Convince and Convert – Interesting choice of words that do not talk of the blog’s nature, but the header and sub-heads are explanatory.
- Rich Becker’s Copywrite, Ink. – Brilliant word play!
The above examples illustrate efforts online by people to create at least a blog persona, except in cases like Chris Brogan, where he has turned his name into a brand. The others, for whatever reason, use a unique brand name for their blogs – could be for recall value; for showcasing intelligence even in naming or any other reason. But, more than calling these as brand names, it would ideally be an effort to name a ‘line of thought’ or a ‘area of interest’.
Take my example – I’m a m-a-s-s-i-v-e fan of Douglas Adams. Almost anything I own online is named after something associated with Douglas Adams.
- My mail ID is 6times9@<mail provider.com>. What the F is 6times9? Yes, I hear you – take a look at the last paragraph, here. I should add here that, I also get a curious look from the more sexually aware folks 😉
- This blog you’re reading, is named after a fringe, but incredibly funny alien from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! No more links, just Google it!
- My other music blog is called Milliblog, named after The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, Milliways!
I was wondering if I should change my LinkedIn profile to ‘Beast of Traal’ too, for better continuity. Doesn’t it offer better recall and association than trying to assume that people visiting our LinkedIn profiles will also chance upon our blog/ twitter URLs and make that a-ha connection? For instance, on LinkedIn, you have an option to get a unique URL and the brand name could be that URL, while the real name stays on top of your profile so that it helps a name search.
But, on Facebook, I’m connecting with people who know me, the individual, and not necessarily the blogger – a brand name doesn’t possibly make sense in such cases.
In case of a company/organization, it requires a brand name because it is a collective entity. We individuals are single entities, but with not-so-unique names. Even then, our name is, I suppose, our brand. Given duplicity of names (a common problem), does it make sense to brand ourselves so that, at least by association of that brand, we stand apart and be known for the topics covered under that brand name (online)?
The ensuing problem is that we need to find ways to make a distinction between our personal name and our brand name, created for a purpose. For instance, my music-oriented personal online is usually associated with the name ‘Milliblog’, while my social media-oriented persona is associated with ‘Beast of Traal’. It’s all me, but this distinction helps from a target audience perspective, at least on blogs and twitter. The kind of things I blog and tweet through these names are vastly different and hence helps me in building a profile for each. I’m also addressed by these names and not ‘Karthik’ in the comments sections of these blogs (on twitter, it’s a given, anyway) – very few people, who know me personally address me by my name. So, I can safely assume that within these blog and tweet worlds I’ve created, my brand name is far better known, than my real name.
Is it just like selecting a pseudonym? Pseudonym is defined as ‘a fictitious name used when the person performs a particular social role’ and as a concept, has been in existence for eons. Given our multiple interests in the social media space, my case (at least) would be an example of multi-pseudonyms.
How you select the name also makes a difference – we didn’t have much of a choice when we were born, so we could make better use of the opportunity to brand ourselves based on our interests. When I started to cook up names for this blog, I had a choice. I can name it after myself – it is not that unique, anyway. Or my profession – but end up with common, generic words that would be buried in a search. Or call it something completely unique. The idea was to coin something that people should remember the first time they hear it. Beast of Traal fits the bill, as I have found, over the years.
It has also got me some friends from unusual corners – fellow PR and social media folks who also happen to like Douglas Adams or that kind of quirky humor. Not that reading Adams is some kind of cult – he’s mighty popular beyond cults anyway – but that association helps in many levels that I didn’t even plan!
Now, how should I make the connection between my name and my blog’s name/ twitter persona? Should I, at all – since it’d be implied anyway? Or is it all much ado about nothing, given the old adage(s), content is king….or, what’s in a name?