If you're blogging, posting blog comments, tweeting, or networking via other social media sites, how are you defining your online personality? Do you do it for personal reasons or are you doing it to promote a product, service, business, or mission? Or, maybe both? The common element to all these online spaces is your personality.
Marketers often refer to this as your personal brand, but I believe your personality is but one component of that. It's the one that people will use to judge you, decide whether you are worth following, and whether you have credibility. They cannot, after all, look in your eyes and observe your body language, so your personality is all they have to go on. No pressure, right?
All these messages we see in our SPAM folders these days promoting methods to improve site/blog ranking, gain more Twitter followers, etc. are useless unless your online personality is attractive and you can bring value to the social media table. Gaining a following is a slow process when done organically. Patience and authenticity are the keys. No magic pills can bring that and these so-called booster programs, in my opinion, are basic scams.
So, how do you define your online personality? Here's the #1 way (according to little 'ole me).
BE YOURSELF. That's it.
So, if you are naturally a jerk, get counseling or a personality transplant. If you're narcissistic, it's all about you and you won't care about what people think anyway. If you're insecure and participating in social media with trepidation, it will come through. Gain some backbone.
If all you want to accomplish is selling something, you'll get "unfollowed" so fast, you won't know what hit you. And if you're, well, just a nice person who's willing to share your expertise, thoughts, concerns, and news with your friends, colleagues, and anyone else who shows up, then just be yourself. People will judge you on your content and the way you express yourself.
So forget the shortcuts and save your money. As Sammy Davis Jr. used to sing: "I've Got To Be Me."