Tag: BRAND

Book Promotion

How Authors (and Others) Can Use Klout to Check Their BRAND

A few months ago, we discussed the importance of building a BRAND that has SWAG. We defined BRAND as:

B oldness (You have to be able to say things others are afraid to.)

R elevance (Are you talking about the things your audience wants to hear about?)

A nd

N otable (Are you saying things that are “newsworthy”?)

D edication (Are you dedicated to yourself and your audience?)

There are many tools available to check your BRAND. One of the most popular is Klout. You can use this to check your relevancy to your audience. Once you enter your Twitter account information, you will get a profile that will begin with something like this:

The top portion of your profile shows your Klout score (which is a number between 1 and 100). The higher the number, the greater influence you have on your audience. You are also able to see important information from your Twitter profile, top topics you in your realm of influence, and how many people you influence. You can learn even more about the Klout scoring system HERE.

As you scroll down the profile page, you are able to see your score broken down even further to show how many people have retweeted (or shared) your information, how many direct replies you get, etc. Ideally, it shows how much people care about what you say on Twitter. You can use this as a report card to see what areas you need to improve in social networking and can also add your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts for a more accurate score.

If you’re on Twitter, check your Klout score today (if you’re not on Twitter, you should sign up for the party). What’s your score? What does this say about how you interact with the online community? Could you improve?

If you aren’t satisfied with your score, it’s OK. Just make sure that you are adhering to “guidelines” for BRAND spelled out above. After a couple of weeks or so, re-check your score and see if you’ve improved.

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Why Should a Self-Publishing Author Build a BRAND that has SWAG?

As a self-publishing author, you have to constantly work on both building and maintaining a BRAND that has SWAG. If you’re missing the mark, you may not be tapping your audience. Success as an author depends not only on writing a quality book (which is VERY important) but also how you are able to connect with your audience.

What’s in a BRAND? It’s more than a name. It’s your identity. It’s how the public views you. It stands for:

B oldness (You have to be able to say things others are afraid to.)

R elevance (Are you talking about the things your audience wants to hear about?)

A nd

N otable (Are you saying things that are “newsworthy”?)

D edication (Are you dedicated to yourself and your audience?)

What is SWAG? This isn’t the SWAG that normally comes to mind. This is SWAG:

S ophisticated (Are you offering high-quality content? Big tip: proofreading is important.)

W orthy (Are you doing anything to deserve the notoriety you’re seeking?)

A nd

G rateful (Are you appreciative for your audience?)

The above checklist will likely prove helpful when determining if you are relevant to the community. As a self-publishing author, checking your BRAND for SWAG will be paramount to success — especially in the online space.