Blog Your Brand

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Blog Your Brand
10 Steps to Building Your Brand by Blogging

• Trisha Okubo
• Disruptive Innovator, eBay
• tokubo_at_ebay.com

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Hi, Im Trisha Okubo. By day, Im a Disruptive
Innovator at eBay, where my work focuses on
social commerce.
(If anyone wants to chat about social networking
and eCommerce, lets dish after this session!)
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By night, Im the founder and editor of a Top 3
Fashion Blog Omiru Style for All
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I started Omiru in March of 2005, armed with a
desire to learn, a passion for fashion, and
persistence.
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And since Omirus founding,
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What to Wear for Girls Night Out at the Club How
to Wear Fishnet Stockings without Looking
Trashy How to Fit Jeans into Knee-High Boots How
to Fly in Style How to Wear a Short Sleeved
Blazer Professional Style 101 5 Questions with
Constance White, eBay Style Director Street
Style Boston Ready Made Outfit Trenchcoats for
Every Occasion Men's Trend Alert Summer
Plaids Fashion over Fifty Five Style Tips What
to Wear to a Casual No-Tie Wedding QA Whats
the Ideal Shirt Length for a Man? QA What to
Wear to the Company Holiday Party How to Stop
Static From Ruining Your Outfit
Weve written well over a thousand posts,
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What should I wear and where can I find clothes
for a summer, European Honeymoon?
Helped hundreds of readers who write in with
style questions,
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I just found out Im pregnant, and Im excited
about buying clothes to fit my growing belly.
Can you give me some inspiration? - Vickie
Target has a fabulous line of clothing from
designer Liz Lange. In fact, Im jealous - I wish
they made some of her designs for us non-pregnant
women! - Kate
and built a loyal community of readers who trade
fashion tips.
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Ive done style expert videos for Yahoo!
Health/Capessa and SheZoom, Talking about things
like
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(Great for Petites!)
Fashion for Figure Flattery
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How to Accessorize
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What to Wear to Work
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Through Omiru, Ive also been recognized by
mainstream media.
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(who gave us our Top 3 Fashion Blog distinction)
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Weve also done radio segments for a prominent
radio station in Richmond, VA. Random!
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Now, three years after founding Omiru, Im a
sought-after style expert, specializing in real
style for real people.
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Today, using Omiru as a case study, Im going to
share with you 10 Steps to Building Your
Brand through Blogging
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Im going to share the story of Omiru from
picking a topic, to creating and enhancing
content, to relationship building and
distribution, and finally to fostering community.
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But first, Id like to address the somewhat
negative connotation surrounding personal
branding (aka self-promotion).
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Self-promotion gets a bad reputation because its
often practiced at the expense of others.
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We call someone self promotional when their
message helps them but doesnt help others.
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But self-promotion doesnt have to be bad.
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In fact, it can be used for good.
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And you can use self-promotion for good when you
provide value to your audience.
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So lets do just that. Provide value and spread
the word. How do you do this?
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No. 1 Pick a Topic thats Uniquely You
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Back in the day, Microsoft asked Where do you
want to go today?
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If youre blogging to build your reputation, the
first step is to focus in on an area of expertise.
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Experience
Now
Think about where youve been in life. (aka your
experience)
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Future
Now
Think about where you want to go in life. (aka
your future)
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Think about your passion.
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For me, it made sense to focus on fashion.
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Ive always harbored a love of style,
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I went to fashion school in the evenings during
college,
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And Ive done a lot of fashion consulting. (so if
you want some style tips, find me after the
session)
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But fashion as a topic was way too broad.
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How broad or how narrow to go?
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This is the Goldilocks Question.
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You dont want a topic thats too broad (e.g.
technology companies)
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Or too narrow (e.g. technology companies in
Mountain View that love dogs at work)
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You want a topic thats just right. (e.g.
technology companies that are likely to ride out
the bust)
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If youre building reputation, the ideal topic
is broad enough to be interesting.
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But also focused enough so that youre the best
at something.
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Maybe its being the keeper of the Cutest Pet
Photos Online.
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Maybe its being the most distinguished chocolate
connoisseur.
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Maybe its being the sharpest LOST commentator.
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Whatever your topic is, you should aim to
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No. 2 Stand for Something Real
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A blog is easy to start, but its hard to
maintain.
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Somewhere between 60 and 80 percent of blogs
are abandoned within one month.
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Why is blogging so hard?
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In between all of your other commitments,
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Job
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Family
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Friends
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and life
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Youre going to have to find the time and energy
to maintain the blog.
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Plus, youre going to have to find new stuff to
write about every day.
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Long story short If you dont love it, dont
blog about it.
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Sidebar
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Where possible and where appropriate, create a
new category.
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But isnt it hard to create a new category?
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Sure it is.
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If it werent hard, everyone would be doing it.
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(But on the flip side, its easier to stand out
if youre in a category of one.)
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Tim Ferriss did this brilliantly.
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He wasnt quite in the career category
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Or in the work-life category.
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So he created a whole new category lifestyle
design.
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Not only was this a more accurate
description, But it also made him a creator
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Instead of an imitator.
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But back to the main point of standing for
something real.
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There are tons of blogs out there, with tons of
voices.
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So do your research to explore the other blogs
in your space.
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And then focus your topic so that youre the
best (or the only) blog in your area.
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At this point, you should be able to distill your
blog topic into a single short sentence.
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An elevator pitch, if you will.
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As for Omiru, I needed to narrow down the
fashion topic.
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At the time, I was a recent college grad, and I
didnt have a whole lot of cash.
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And regardless, I didnt want to spend my
entire paycheck on fashion.
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My other fashion challenge?
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Im short! (I really wanted to be 59)
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And to add insult to injury, I have no waist.
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But my financial situation and my figure
flattery issues gave me my blog topic.
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Real Style for Real People Great fashion for
everybody, regardless of financial situation, or
personal architecture.
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Once you have your topic, its time to start
writing great content.
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How do you do this?
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No. 3 Be Newsworthy
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I currently work at in ecommerce, but my
background is in media.
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Traditional media has its challenges ahead,
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But it knows something really important.
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They know what will get your attention and what
wont make you turn your head.
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In other words, whats newsworthy and whats not.
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What makes something newsworthy?
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1 Timing
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People dont want old news. They want new
news! (probably why its called news)
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They want the latest update in a story, a meme
thats particularly on-trend.
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Rogan Gregory for Target (May 18)
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2 Significance
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How many people does the story affect?
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Tons of people?
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Or just a few?
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Fashion for short ppl SS
(theres no shortage of guys who need to dress to
go out)
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3 Proximity
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The closer people are to a story, the more
interesting it is.
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San Francisco Fashion gtgt Boston Fashion
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But its not all about geography.
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Its about how much you can relate to the story.
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For me, petite fashion is more interesting than
regular fashion.
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4 Prominence
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When possible, and where appropriate, write
about well known personalities.
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Its more interesting for readers to hear about
the fashion from
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Than it is to hear about what I wore to work
yesterday.
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5 Human Interest
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Here, the key is to appeal to emotion.
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Think of things that are off the beaten path,
personal stories, and profiles.
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Omiru Example We published photos of a readers
casual wedding (v. trendy now).
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Timing, Significance, Proximity, Prominence,
and Human Interest are the standard criteria
for newsworthiness.
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But since you guys are so awesome, you get an
extra one.
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(6) News You Can Use
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This is where most of Omirus stories fall.
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We share how to mix and match patterns,
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What to wear to an engagement pool party,
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Everyday casual chic for men
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But there are tons of other newsworthy media
sources out there, both mainstream media and
blogs.
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Newsworthiness is part of the price of entrance
to building a personal brand via blogging.
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Its necessary, but not sufficient.
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You need to be more than newsworthy. You need
to
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No. 4 Be Awesome!
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But how do you be awesome?
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Photo Credit CBS
After all, we cant all be Barney.
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Ask yourself What Would Aretha Do? (WWAD)
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Give your audience R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
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Respect their intelligence by discussing whats
important to them.
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Respect their time by being concise.
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Respect their views by engaging them in dialogue.
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Respect them by going above and beyond the call
of duty.
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A few simple ways we try to be awesome at Omiru
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Giveaways
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Only Relevant Ads
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Readers Help Drive the Editorial Calendar
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In order to find the awesome things that work,
youll also find a lot of things that dont work
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What to do?
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No. 5 Create a Stoplist
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Its no secret that we live in a time-starved
society.
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We all have stuff to do.
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Jobs to go to.
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Friends and Family to see.
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No matter how passionate you are, you only have
a limited amount of time.
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So what do you do?
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Prioritize the stuff youre doing, and create a
stoplist.
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The stoplist is just what it sounds like. A
list of things you stop doing.
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(Not stuff youre doing less. Its stuff that
you cut out completely.)
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Stop doing the things that suck your time away
from meaningful, effective things.
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Easier said than done.
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But you can do it.
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1. 2. 3.
Write down all the things youre doing for your
blog on a piece of paper.
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ID the things that are actively helping you,
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And the things that arent.
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And then stop doing the things that arent
helping you.
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For Omiru, one of those things was actually
social bookmarking buttons.
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Bloggers (and other publishers) often add buttons
for social bookmarking sites like
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They provide an easy way for readers to
bookmark/share your posts so your content
spreads more easily online.
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I added these buttons to posts, but Omiru
readers didnt use them.
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This doesnt mean that social bookmarking
doesnt work.
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But it depends on your audience.
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(And if your audience doesnt like it, dont
force it.)
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Once youve created your stoplist (and stopped
doing things that dont matter), its time to
look outside your blog to
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No. 6 Build Real Relationships
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As bloggers, we dont exist in a vacuum.
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We can be competitive and closed off, or we can
choose to be open and friendly.
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Id advocate for open and friendly )
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If you did your homework and chose a topic
thats focused (and one that youre uniquely
suited to write about)
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Chances are, you and your fellow bloggers are
writing about different enough things.
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And even if you arent, I still think its
beneficial to be friendly.
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You have more to gain than you have to lose.
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Links from Blogrolls and Link Posts
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Someone to bounce ideas off of.
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Advice
other
from
bloggers
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Id like to you to meet.
Introductions to people in your field.
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f(give) get
Then again, what you get is a function of what
you give.
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So how do you build relationships? (i.e. how do
you start giving?)
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A couple of best practices
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Actively participate on other blogs. Especially
before asking for a link or any favors. (Oh, and
down with form letters.)
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Do other bloggers favors.
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If you know another blogger is looking to borrow
a set of Pantone swatches, let her borrow your
set.
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Once youve built those relationships, you can
share opportunities.
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If theres a paid gig I dont have the time for,
Ill refer one of my blog friends.
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And if Im doing press interviews, where
appropriate, Ill refer reporters to them.
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And they do the same.
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Thats how I got the WSJ interview. Elisa
Camahort (BlogHer) referred the reporter to me.
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OMG! I did not just see that...
But in order to build real relationships, you
need to do more than email and chat with them
online
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No. 7 Meet People in Person
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Why is it important to meet people in person?
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Well, who are you closer to?
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People you hang out with online
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Or people you see in real life.
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So whenever I get the chance, I meet up with my
blogger friends.
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During New York Fashion Week, we meet up
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Have drinks
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What do you think about Marcs Spring line?
Dish about fashion
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And blog together as the models come down the
runway. (Look, florals are back!)
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Shared experiences lead to closer relationships.
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So when it comes time to refer another blogger,
who am I going to call?
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Thats right. The people I hang out with in
person.
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But by meeting people in person, youre building
relationships 11, which isnt so scalable.
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How do you scale?
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No. 8 Make it easy to spread the word
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As a personal branding blogger, youre always
looking to grow your audience.
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You can do this in two main ways
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(1) Spreading the word yourself, or
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(2) Having your fans help you spread the word.
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For your fans to help spread the word, you need
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Awesomeness!
Something worth sharing, (but youre already
creating awesome, newsworthy content, right?)
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And an easy way for fans to share.
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What are some things that make content easy to
share?
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RSS
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RSS helps readers get your content wherever is
most convenient for them.
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And while were on the subject, theres a
debate between full text and partial text.
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Full text is more satisfying for the reader,
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But partial text encourages readers to come back
to your site.
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We chose full text so that readers can get Omiru
articles however it is most convenient.
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Why? Our philosophy is that were looking to
build an audience, not just traffic for Omiru.
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Email Newsletter
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Again, we like to empower readers to read Omiru
however they like to.
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Email newsletters still work well, especially
among communities that arent big on RSS (e.g.
fashion).
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I have to admit Omiru doesnt have an email
newsletter yet, but its the next thing were
adding.
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Hey, I love Omiru! Do you guys have an email
newsletter?
We get requests for email newsletters all the
time. Its the second most requested feature.
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A couple of Email Newsletter Best Practices
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(1) Let people know what theyre signing up for.
Show an example newsletter up front.
SAMPLE
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(2) Encourage signups by giving something away
free upon signup (e.g. an informational PDF).
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P.S. Social bookmarking also falls underneath
this category of tools to make content easy to
share.
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It didnt really work for Omirus audience.
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But the idea of social bookmarking is extremely
powerful for the right audience.
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Speaking of sharing content off of your site,
part of a sound blog strategy is to.
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No. 9 Create Community Wherever You Go
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Some bloggers are tweaked that community is
happening around their content on other sites.
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But IMHO, thats an old-school way of thinking.
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Sure, you dont want your content stolen.
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Or reposted without attribution.
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But if conversation is happening around your
attributed content on another site, Its better
than no conversation (or less) happening at all.
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Think about it this way. Wheres your potential
audience?
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Theyre a lot of different places.
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Theyre on your site.
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But theyre also on similar sites.
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And related sites.
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And really, all over the Internet.
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So, why force them to come to you?
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Why not help them out? By going to where they
are.
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How might you do this?
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(1) Guest write for other sites
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I do this on BlogHer, where I serve as a Fashion
Shopping Contributing Editor
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(And in fact, some of Omirus writers are guest
blogging to create more awareness for their own
sites.)
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(2) Build Your Social Network Presence
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Create a profile on the appropriate major social
networks.
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On Facebook, you can import your blog posts via
Facebook Notes.
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And while you cant edit your posts,
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You can share them easily with friends.
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And even tag people in your posts. (Dont spam!)
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As for your profile page, populate it with extra
content thats not on your site.
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After all, if there were no goodies there, why
would someone come visit your page?
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Its even more important for a personal branding
blogger to add this extra content.
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It gives you the opportunity to talk about
yourself and why youre passionate about your
topic.
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Its an opportunity to share stories.
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Like your quest to find the perfect pair of jeans.
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Or the crazy backstage interview you had at
Fashion Week where you witnessed a model
meltdown.
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But traditional social networks arent the only
places to build your presence.
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(3) Participate on other social sites
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A couple that I use personally are FriendFeed
and Polyvore. (who, incidentally, share a
workspace in Mountain View)
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On FriendFeed, you can automatically import your
blog posts to be shared with your friends.
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And the beauty of it is that conversations can
happen around this content.
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Added bonus? Theyre pretty high-quality
conversations (at least right now).
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Plus, you can gain new readers. not only
friends, but friends of friends, and friends of
those friends..
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Polyvore is another cool site that I use to
build community around Omiru.
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Its a web application that allows you to mashup
images from around the web.
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I use it for creating outfits, mixing and
matching clothes from different online stores.
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Its greatI get feedback on the outfits I create.
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And I can dish about fashion with the community,
sharing fashion advice and outfit ideas.
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You might be thinking, these tips are all well
and good (common sense, even) but will they work
for me right now?
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Chances are, yes. But you have to
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No. 10 Be Patient
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Overnight successes are very rare,
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And overnight success stories are often not
overnight at all.
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Ive been working on Omiru for three years.
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And for Omiru, community is still a work in
progress.
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We have a community of regulars who are really
passionate about affordable, feel-great fashion.
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Readers help each other out they dish about
fashion dilemmas, they share style tips, and they
talk about their experiences.
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How did this happen?
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Shared Passion
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This goes way back to the beginning Choosing a
blog topic.
If youre passionate about something, it shows.
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And other people, especially those who share your
views, are drawn to it.
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And passion breeds interactionand community.
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My main point about community?
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Community isnt something you do. Its
something that happens.
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Theres no secret recipe for community.
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And you dont go out and build a community
like you build a product.
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It just doesnt work like that.
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What you can do, though, is to lay the
foundations for community to grow.
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And you lay these foundations by
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No. 1 Pick a Topic thats Uniquely You
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No. 2 Stand for Something Real
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No. 3 Be Newsworthy
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No. 4 Be Awesome!
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No. 5 Create a Stoplist
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No. 6 Build Real Relationships
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No. 7 Meet People in Person
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No. 8 Make it Easy to Spread the Word
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No. 9 Create Community Wherever You Go
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No. 10 Be Patient
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What now?
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Do you have something youre passionate about?
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Something meaningful?
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Something worthwhile?
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(I bet you do!)
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So go on, start your own blog. Or take your
existing blog to the next level.
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And then, if you care to, tell me about it.
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Find me on Facebook http//www.facebook.com/peopl
e/Trisha_Okubo/201756
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FriendFeed http//www.friendfeed.com/trisha
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Polyvore http//www.polyvore.com/cgi/profile?id1
01223
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Omiru http//www.omiru.com
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Questions?
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Id love to hear from you Trisha
Okubo Disruptive Innovator, eBay tokubo_at_ebay.com
/ trishaokubo_at_gmail.com Liked this
presentation? Find me next at eBay Developers
Conference June 16-18 in Chicago www.ebay.com/dev
con