Social Media Branding: How do you describe yourself?
Social Media Branding: How do you describe yourself?
A lot of social media revolves around two very basic keyword ideas:
- What words technically describe what you do?
- What words communicate what you do?
I have been pondering changing a variety of the terms used to describe several different client projects and I wanted to ask the question: How do you describe yourself?
As a “social media guy”;Â my industry is cluttered by technical, marketing, and social terminology. I know other business professionals have like-minded problems. I often have to be very simple with statements “I help businesses online” or “I increase bottom line profits with online business development” I often hear a lot of people lose connection by using fancy terms or industry jargon.
For a quick laugh, this is the most complex way I can describe what I do:
Cirumlocution: “autodidact social media bailiwick métier”
Circumlocution \sir-kuhm-loh-KYOO-shuhn\: The use of many words to express an idea that might be expressed by few; indirect or roundabout language.
Autodidact \aw-toh-DY-dakt\: One who is self-taught.
Bailiwick \BAY-luh-wik\: A person’s specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill, or work.
Metier \met-YAY; MET-yay\: An area in which one excels; an occupation for which one is especially well suited.
Thinking “out of the box” , any business needs to establish itself as a branded entity but not get lost in words that will not communicate a benefit to the consumer. Some questions that are further detailed by this problem:
- How do you best describe yourself without being lost in technical jargon?
- Do they even know the words you are using?
- Can the words communicate a benefit in precise statements?
- Are there phrases and words that you should avoid using?
A quick excercise to help with this topic is pretty simple: write down all the phrases/words and ask half a dozen employees or clients to define each one. If your own employees or existing clients cannot define the words you are using, it is probably a safe assumption that prospects will not be able to either.
So the question remains: how do you describe yourself?
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