This past weekend, I had the honor and privilege of teaching personal branding at Stanford Continuing Studies. I have been teaching at Stanford for about three years at this point, and I always relish the opportunity to work with the lively crowd. I get many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, as well as many wonderful small business people and marketers, plus a nice size gathering of international students. Amazingly, people from as far away as Mexico, Brazil, and India end up finding my classes on Internet marketing at Stanford University Continuing Studies and taking them.
Personal Branding Issues
Among the issues that we discussed were topics such as the following. First, we had a lively discussion about the current public personal brands that are in the news. For example, we discussed Donald Trump and his efforts to become President of the United States. Leaving politics aside, it was fascinating to reverse engineer Donald Trump’s marketing strategy. Not only does he have a brand identity that is pretty brash, but he has a clear strategy on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. Regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump, we realized you can learn a lot from reverse engineering Trump’s “genius” as a marketer.
Second, we discussed as a group each person’s personal branding statement. Before one can plunge into Facebook or Twitter, one must be able to succinctly state one’s personal branding statement. Easier said than done!
Third, we focused on search engine optimization. As someone who does a lot of consulting and training in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of search engine optimization, I emphasized to the group how high the return on investment is from optimizing one’s personal website or blog.
Fourth, we took a whirlwind tour through social media marketing. Starting with Facebook, we then proceeded to LinkedIn for marketers. We then looked at Twitter and YouTube, and ended up with a brief discussion of Instagram and Pinterest.
Awaiting their Personal Branding Plans
For those who took the course for a grade, I am eagerly awaiting their personal branding marketing plans. Truth be told, I learn as much from my students as I feel I give them as an instructor. Thank you Stanford!
Oh, I just gotta ad this: Go Bears! Just had a work that in, UC Berkeley!
