Please note: The essays and poems posted now are some of my personal favorites from FlowerDust.net. New essays and poems will begin soon. I hope you enjoy the “best of” my five years of blogging.
(*Originally posted October 16, 2010)
A couple of weeks ago, I was spending some time with a highly respected friend of mine. For contextual purposes, this person is someone who has sold a lot of books, has a very well-read blog, and travels all over the world to speak and consult. One of the things he talks about frequently is social media, and I consider him to be a true trailblazer in regard to such things.
During our conversation, he told me that he doesn’t keep Twitter searches going anymore for his name or his books. He deleted all of his Google Alerts. For the good or for the bad, he recognized how these things affected him.
I was shocked. Over the last few years, I knew him to be one of the few “famous” people who would still go and leave a comment on someone’s blog after they wrote something (again, good or bad) about him. He’d clear something up or apologize if he needed to or thank them for their kind words.
He doesn’t do that anymore.
Granted, none of us – myself completely included – are probably at a level of success where my friend is (if you define “success” by how much product is sold or brand recognition one receives.) If he didn’t thank people on their blogs, his book sales wouldn’t go down, and the percentage of his platform that would leave if they were upset for any reason would be so small you probably couldn’t measure it.
But this conversation got me thinking…
And for the last few weeks, I’ve rolled his actions around in my head and have wondered, “Do I need to do the same?”
Does the reputation management system need to die?
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE a personal touch. When someone shares a review of my book or even has a concern about it (as in, he or she is offended by its “adult” themes – cough, cough…), I do my best to leave a comment on their blog or thank them on Twitter. Why? Because I appreciate them taking the time to share, even if we disagree on if the word “crap” is foul language.
For companies, I think it’s wise to monitor such things. I’ve had amazing experiences with Zappos, American Airlines, MediaTemple, and FedEx to name a few (and not so great experiences with Hotel Indigo and USAir, I’ll add). Those touches absolutely make a difference in my brand loyalty.
Here’s the catch for looking at this in my context as an individual and looking at them in their context as companies.
I am not a brand.
They are.
Some would disagree. There are things about the way I communicate that are uniquely my voice or characteristic of me.
But I will say it again.
I am not a brand.
I am not a commodity.
I have to ask myself, “Is my identity is wrapped up in what others are saying about me?”…and “Is the only reason I’m responding like this is because it helps me build my own recognition or reputation?”
If the answer to either of those questions is yes, then for me, my reputation management system needs to die.
I am (slowly) learning that what others think of me or what I say, what I write, or what I do is not important at all.
The one question I need to know the answer to is, “Am I doing ________ with integrity?”
And if the answer to that question is yes, that’s the only thing with which I need to concern myself.
Is this a poor PR strategy? Bad marketing? Missing out on opportunities?
Probably.
But then I remind myself…
I am not (and nobody is) a product.
I am not (and nobody is) so important that we need to know what is said about us personally and react to it.
And most importantly, I don’t think any of this “reputation management” is as important as simply being who we are and doing it as honorably as we can.
