Wed 21 May 2008
A blogger’s branding problem
Posted by shelbinator under Geekery, Introspection, Job Hunt, Media, Netroots, Sci-Tech
So this is the internet, huh? Well who do I need to shag to get ahead around here?
Alright, I don’t think I need to go that far. But I wonder if I need a better brand. The last few weeks have been pretty good for me and the internet, but my successes also just seem to serve to highlight in stark relief how much further I have to go.
Last week I went to the Intel ISEF’08 to shoot some video and do some of that citizen journalism stuff, after being contacted by New Media Strategies. The big old-school PR firm Burson-Marsteller (a name it took me all week to remember) was doing the bulk of publicity for ISEF’08, but NMS got pulled in by Intel (as I understand it) to make sure all the web bases were covered as well. Now, I was thrilled that NMS thought I was one of the right people to talk to for the job (hi, rocket scientist). However, had they not been referred to me by our local media commentator SpaceyG, I might have missed out entirely. Many thanks to SpaceyG for the referral, but the puzzle for me is, at what point do I escape the risk of going totally undiscovered save for the favor of the well-connected?
Now that ISEF is over (though my video-editing work is not), there are the thanks and the pats on the back and the connecting with each other on LinkedIn after a project well executed. And on LinkedIn you have that whole Recommendation thing going on — something I’ve never enjoyed yet but is starting to look pretty handy. Say, I think, maybe if I can get a Recommendation from NMS on LinkedIn, the next time someone’s looking for an aerospace geek to shoot video (naturally), I might show up on their radar! And that’s when I realized I had this problem:
I need a brand.
Where might NMS put a recommendation for me on LinkedIn? In case you haven’t messed around with LinkedIn at all, their system likes to file recommendations under the associated job title that the recommendee was operating as at the time. So if I wanted to recommend my primary NMS contact as a new media PR firecracker, I would select that NMS job title on her profile as opposed to the one she’s got listed for her other job on the side, with jess3.com.
But on my end, the only remotely relevant job title I’ve got listed is the MTV Choose or Lose Street Team ‘08 gig. And frankly, I don’t really want to have any and every recommendation of my new media work filed under MTV. I was already doing this stuff and already had a style well before I ever encountered the sea of paperwork and red tape that is Viacom. The pieces that I produce for them are necessarily less creative and fun (for me and you) than I would naturally produce, so I went to ISEF primarily as shelbinator and not the guy from Choose or Lose with the stack of release forms and inability to turn on my microphone in the presence of ambient music.
That’d be an even bigger conundrum should my friend Emily want to promote my services. On a tight schedule and zero budget, I knocked out a basic but passable web presence — including video — for her campaign to be an Obama-pledged delegate to the DNC convention. She didn’t win the district-level race, but she’s in for an at-large position, due in part, it turns out, to the key guy at Obama’s HQ in Chicago being thoroughly impressed with her video and website. Yeah, that’s the kind of thing I’d like to start keeping track of, but again, there’s even less of a category on my LinkedIn profile for that to be filed under.
So why isn’t shelbinator.com on LinkedIn?
Tessa of DriveaFasterCar.com has her website listed on LinkedIn, with herself as Editor & Blogger, but that blog is in essence her business (after hours, anyway): it promotes local music and other artistic happenings. Similarly, Rusty and Amber list themselves as co-founders of the Georgia Podcast Network, so if they help you record an event, for instance, you know where to recommend their work. But shelbinator.com, well, it’s kind of a mess.
First of all, there’s my love-hate relationship with the name itself. Let’s face it: it’s kind of immature. It sounds kind of like that tool at the office, “makin’ some copies.” And I’m not entirely sure it’s all that appropriate — or that I even want — to be promoting it as a professional brand. I’d eventually like to do Very Serious Things with my career beyond online messaging, and if you have just as hard a time imagining Deputy Asst. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Shelbinator as I do, well, you know what I mean.
On the other hand, Robert Scoble is arguably among the most influential tech bloggers out there and Scobleizer is just as douchey a handle as Shelbinator. It’s also hard to just cast off the existing brand investment: I’ve been writing under this handle for almost nine years now, starting from badly hand-coded HTML on the defunct Xoom.com. It’s been cited by a presidential campaign, much to my shock and chagrin, and I think it’s finally picking up some currency.
Okay, not that much currency. I’m still incapable of standing on my own without the gatekeepers of internet greatness. That long, geeky tutorial on connecting an external mic to the N95 brought one of my biggest traffic spikes in ages, but I can still hardly take the credit for it. Not that there was much to take credit for: that Finnish Bloggerguy had the right approach in his video, but he wasn’t too clear on the particular connectors and apparently his Scandinavian cable used a different color-coding scheme. I just corrected and clarified his approach for the US market, something I can’t believe no one else managed to do the whole time they were clamoring for a fix from Nokia. (Like they say, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, but it helps.) Mobile Jones wrote a post about her long quest for a solution finally coming to and end at my blog, and what happens? MobileActive.org Twitters about how Mobile Jones has the answer on her blog, and a mobile-tech blog carnival does pretty much the same thing. Steve Garfield, the rather prolific videoblogger in Boston, republished the solution on his blog giving thanks and a link to my original post — and his commenters come along with kudos for him, “Great stuff, Steve!” Even the Nashua Telegraph, whose web team hopes to use the N95 for some mobile journalism, links to my post, MoJo’s, and Steve’s in quick succession as “a few tutorials on the web,” as if they are indeed a few tutorials and not one tutorial and two posts about it.
Pardon me while I have a brief Tracy Flick moment. I’m sorry, but it’s been four months since I took you live inside an Iowa caucus (and ten since the YouTube debate) and I’m still getting my internet ass kicked by a life-caster who didn’t realize that Super Tuesday had already happened when talking about the MTV-Flixwagon connection.
So, the word shelbinator doesn’t exactly conjure up anything, and maybe that’s part of the problem. ISEF was also covered by Geek Dad over at Wired.com, but right away you kind of know where he’s coming from. There’s also the “proper noun” problem: shelbinator is me more than it is the body of my work, and part of my branding issue is that I’m trying to pimp that work as much as (or more than) myself. A couple other MTV Street Teamers used to add their brand to the end of their stories, but they had studio names separate from themselves: Corduroy Media and a Xolografik Production. That model just doesn’t seem to work with my current eponymous brand, so maybe I need a studio, someplace you would think to go for video and related communications work.
I took a decent step in that direction, brand-wise, when I stepped down from the Communications post at Young Dems of Atlanta. I wanted to keep working in online communications for progressive candidates and nonprofits, but I made the mistake of thinking I could learn enough Drupal to launch a major multi-user community website while still working on grad school and having a life. Thus, smarterasses.org was aborted in the first trimester, but its logo lives on in the corner of my homemade business cards:
That’s a fairly self-explanatory brand name with a logo to match, wouldn’t you say? Unfortunately, it’s also not something I feel like saying if I’m calling someone important on the phone. “Uh, Senator, it’s some…uh… smartass person calling about your web video?” That was meant to be a site for scrappy bloggers, not someone who wants to work on presidential campaigns. Next idea!
I’ve already rambled on so long now that I’ve lost any semblance of a train of thought, but I have even more questions yet to consider.
- Is it really a content problem? Maybe I just cant get out of double-digit subscribers because I suck. I contemplate that likelihood a lot, but then some complimentary schmuck has to come along and say they really like my work. It’s been suggested, on the other hand, that it’s just too much for one site: is it politics, or is it technology? Unfortunately, I’m not willing to concede on that front just yet. There are plenty of tech bloggers and plenty of political bloggers; I happen to be a quasi-rocket scientist in politics doing citizen journalism and I’m going to try my best to stand at — and report on — the intersection of those paths.
- Is it just a container problem? Would I be well-served by creating a new, clean space for some kind of “portfolio” of the things I might be able to contribute to your project or campaign? This might, at the same time, be a way to create a fairly dedicated channel for the citizen journalism and/or campaign messaging product around here (i.e., mostly the videos) — like, say, shelbinator.tv, or shelbination.com — while leaving the rambly and ranty at shelbinator.com. Granted, this would do nothing to solve my problem of not being able to crack triple-digit authority or get under a 100K ranking at Technorati as far as this blog is concerned.
- So then is there a new brand that would package it all properly? Do I just need to clarify the point of what’s going on around here and give it a proper name that would lend itself better to brand identification? Is the whole shelbinator concept a dead horse?
- What the hell am I going on about? Is anyone still actually reading?
Fear not, I probably won’t subject you to a follow-up post along these lines. But if there’s anyone still here, please do chime in.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:52 pm
There are a lot of schools of thought on this, and you did a good job touching on many of them here.
The people who get a lot of traffic, IMHO, are very good about picking a topic and sticking to it (and updating it with unhealthy frequency). The blog I was running until recently got I think a little more traffic than it really deserved simply because it was branded pretty well as a politics blog. Even though at a certain point I got really bored with writing about politics.
If you think you want to focus narrowly on a topic like that and try to own a niche, then a brand like you’re talking about would be to your advantage. If you want the freedom to post off-topic occasionally and are motivated by catharsis more than by a desire for affirmation, a brand can feel like a prison cell.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I am actually going to jump in and say basically the opposite of what Rusty said!
Well, not the total opposite. I agree with him that many of the people who get a lot of traffic fit the description he wrote. But in my experience - and maybe we move in different circles - the opposite tends to be true. The more well-rounded you appear online, the more *humanity* you have, correlates to how much traffic you get. And it’s not just amount of traffic either… it’s the value of the traffic. Who are these people, why are they here, are they coming back regularly, are they commenting, etc.?
As everyone’s mother said in high school to much chagrine: “Just be yourself!”
May 21st, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Fear not! I read to the bottom. I like to read. Even after talking with you about it and knowing you have consulted with others, I think you should absolutely have this conversation on your blog as you have… it is a little on the long side, but now at least it is all out there and not contained in IM, DM or email back-and-forths with you and your brethren. Cathartic, I would imagine. You have made some declarative, problem-identifying statements. And that is half the battle.
As you know, I am a fan of ShelbiNation.com, but honestly, Shelbinator is not half bad either (Scoble is a great example as you point out).
I think it is more an issue of being comfortable in the skin [read: brand] you chose. The Shelbinator brand seems to cause you unrest and that might not go away, so shifting names may be your only solution. Then again, if you yourself come to peace with your brand and the fact that your coverage, thoughtfulness and media making is just playing kick ass (no matter who refers you or doesn’t do their due diligence enough to know to credit you for something), then the name is of less consequence.
Either way, when you resolve this identity crisis, let me know, as we at NMS are looking forward to writing a few LinkedIn recommendations :)
Lastly: If you go with the donkey, I still would like to see a rocket involved.
cheers,
Leslie
PS: For the record, it was Burson that brought NMS in and we have all been teaming up as a trifectalicious, triumvirate team ever since :-)
PPS: I like that I am a firecracker with no name and no link to my blog. Bloggerdiva sounding I know, but come on now! I have just added you to my blogroll as the olive branch in this situation. Your move, Shelbinator!
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:46 pm
gawdam that’s a cute logo! you can join my crafting group any time.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:53 pm
You know what Robert Scoble as a “brand” means to me now? The utter douche bag who once Tweeted that he was too busy to meet with Neil Young because he had “too much email.”
Sometimes I wonder about the whole branding thing. Is it even necessary nowadays? You keep doing good work; it’ll pay off for you on down the line. The world is your oyster; we’re just the horseradish and ketchup cocktail sauce.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:54 am
So you’re saying you agree “Shelbinator” might be a bit too douchey for professional purposes then? ;-)
I’m too impatient for “on down the line,” Grayson. I need that magic little pill they sell to bloggers at 3am on paid programming that will make my blog bigger and more powerful in just days the natural way! I don’t trust that the American Puritan ethic works properly on the internet.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
For me, the question of branding boils down to “Are you building your reputation/credentials, or building an asset to be sold later?”
Looking ahead, do you envision yourself hiring bloglings to provide updates while you’re doing something else?
Either way, I think an online portfolio (in a separate space) would be useful here.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Oooh, excellent refining question, Mike! Definitely the former, for the most part (depending on your point of view). I’m not really trying to “sell” anything other than myself. To the extent that I might be “hired” to put together some kind of package for somebody (like my friend’s DNC delegate campaign site/video), then maybe that’s an “asset” I’m selling, but mostly I just want to help. I want more people to be more likely to think of me when they’re getting ready to have an event or launch a campaign and they want some communications assistance.
And, of course, it’d also be nice if more people who were at all interested in poli/tech news coming out of Atlanta would subscribe to the feed/visit the site/link to good posts…which would in turn help the first issue organically. I get kudos for individual pieces of work, so I’m just trying to figure out if I’m not doing what it takes to cement the notion in people’s minds that you can get such things here on a regular basis.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Quite a conundrum you’ve got here, Shelby. I can’t provide much on the technical side, but I do have some experience with branding. As you know, Jerry and I have a small business here in Atlanta which we have worked hard to brand in a certain way. At some point along the way the our business changed, but our brand did not. We went from offering products to very limited market to expanding to other markets. But, we treat the new markets in the same way as the initial one. All the while we remain quite focused on the initial market.
So, what does this mean? I think keeping Shelbinator with its “smarterasses” personality while adding a portfolio-type collection of previous work is a good first step. I like Shelbination too. I’m envisioning Shelbination as a collection that includes Shelbinator (with it’s current tone and personality) plus a portfolio-type site; plus at least one other “thing” which I’m thinking could be a collection of “best practicies” type information (like your N95 thingamajig). I only suggest that you have three “things” because a collection really should be more than two…
Now, what does my first part about branding have to do with all this. Here’s the thing. However you brand something that you do every day, that hopes to be your livelihood (I presume) and that you want to be proud of, should be something you ARE proud of, that you enjoy, and that you are confident you can do (and do well) for long time (”a long time” is always open to interpretation, of course).
Ultimately your work and reputation will proceed you if all goes well. I do think that “Shelby from Shelbination is on the phone, Senator Biden” has a better ring than Shelbinator or SmarterAsses, but hell, I don’t know. I just heard about a new product called BatterBlaster - a pancake batter in a spray can - would you buy (and ultimately EAT) that? Or what about XPEDX? Kleenex?
Anyway, I don’t know if any of this is helpful. You know I think the world of what you do (even though don’t understand much of it) and I do think that focusing on doing good work and enjoying it will reap rewards, but perhaps not as quickly as you would like.
May 24th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I like the collection idea … It gives you room to grow.
Or does this blogging software let folks get rss by category?
The rss sepration might work but i like the trio idea best
I am debating many of the same things as I go more public. (I just took a buyout from media company) I will be interested in finding what you decide on
Take a look at Joe Grimm’s site which I think is joegrimm.com
then look at Shawn Smith’s Linked In site for some ideas (sorry I am stuck in bed and can only use iPhone where surprise I have not figured out how to copy and paste )
good luck
May 27th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Frankly, I find discussions of “branding” wrt people a bit creepy, and obnoxious. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but I agree w/ Grayson. The thought of a person as a *brand* skeeves me out.