15 Ways To Be HUMAN Online and Not A Screen Name

Jason Baer at Convince and Convert has an excellent post today on the 9 Ways to Humanize Your Brand (with real Humans). It got me to thinking about how we try and humanize ourselves as much as possible in the Internet landscape.

I know that I try on a daily basis to be as human as possible online. I don’t want to be seen as another social media marketer trying to sell his/her wares over the Internet. I’m just me and me is the best I’ve got. 🙂

Jason has 9 tips to Humanize your brand and I will add 11 more tips:

1. Build and optimize a blog
2. Reach out to other bloggers in the category for guest posts
3. Syndicate content to vertical aggregation sites
4. Publish white papers and ebooks, and/or conduct Webinars
5. Create a few killer presentations and get them on SlideShare
6. Do at least a little video blogging to make him/her three dimensional
7. Hustle for speaking engagements
8. Get on Twitter and make sure he/she sets aside time to really engage people
9. Make sure current company customers know all about the initiative and are invited to participate

These are great points and I wanted to add in some small business owner pointer to humanize your personal and professional brand online.

11. Join an offline networking organization: I am involved in a group called Rainmakers which allows me to network in the offline world and then connect it to the online environment or vice versa. This allows you to start connecting with more and more people over the course

12. Attend TweetUps and parties centered around social media. I would rather redirect you to an awesome post by Corvida of SheGeeks: Using Social Media To Get Our Of Your House.

13. Join Geographically Base Social Networks. Ning has a huge database of niche social networking that will allow you to meet and start conversations with professionals and other people in your area. I am a member of Smaller Indiana and it has given me a massive amount of exposure as a HUMAN and not a screen name.

14. Join a Network like Flickr or Facebook for Picture Galleries. This is not meant to say you should post every party or outing you have been involved in. This is just a way to post pictures or your family and friends. People buy into people and not products. In this emotionally charged world, a brand is the people behind it and not the billboard on the side of the highway.

15. Authenticity. Authenticity. Be Authentic. I preach about this non-stop. Authentic communication and content is key to humanizing yourself in social media. Talk about what you do and add personality into your posts and usage of social media. I can pick up the Wall Street journal every morning. I want to read REAL content.