Spread your Influence by Reinventing Yourself

Most people online have a problem: They have their platform, but barely get traffic and/or people who comment. Now in order to fix that, they follow every advice they can get their hands on.

The problem is: millions are doing the same thing, and now you are a walking commodity, just like everyone else. People ignore you, so what do you do ?

Reinvent yourself…

Everyone says you should be authentic online. But what does it mean anyways ? Most people say: be yourself. But I disagree a 150% percent. Why ? Because you are mish-mash product of your environment ! You were formed by your culture, parents and friends. How much of that is the real you, and how much is programmed from the outside ? Nobody knows. So how do you become real ? By following your inner desire to become your greatest version.

Gary Vayncherchuk is a prime example. Gary, the crazy-fire-passionate wine lover with an obsession for personal branding. Check out his first videos – they are totally boring. Then check a few months later, and you get the passionate dynamite you know from today. What happened ?

He reinvented himself, because he knew: If you are not over-the-top in one way or another, people will ignore you.

1. Give yourself a simple mental story

You are the story you tell yourself everyday. I have a wicked story, and it’s packed with delusions of grandeur.

“When I wake up, I’m a man in his twenties who’s just like other people. And then I tell myself: Heck, you are Mars Dorian. Get up and rock your digital destiny”

Mars Dorian is a role I used to play. But now the line is blurred: Actor and role have become one. I consider myself an artwork in progress, and I challenge you to think the same.

Become the actor and director of a digital movie that happens to be your destiny. Then live and breath that story.

2. If it feels right, it’s right

Tons of tips out there. You should blog like this, tweet like that, and write like him. So much advice, what will you do ? Confusing ? Actually it’s not.

This is how I do it: If I find a tip, and it feels sunny in my tummy, I follow it. But if I find an advice, and it doesn’t touch my soul, I throw it out, even when it comes from an authority.

The things that work for you are things that feel right. I reframe that: When it feels right, it will work for you. If the advice is used successfully by thousand other bloggers, but it makes you cringe inside, it’s completely useless.

This is one of the biggest revelations I have experienced so far.

4. Lick your edges

You have many many tendencies and foibles. Maybe you are obsessed with Pink. Or you like to cuss. Or you are geek-crazy about a certain topic and you keep writing about it. Whatever is wrong with you, stretch it.

I luv coming up with odd word combos. I luv being electric dynamite in my videos. I luv colorful comics and oversized pics.

All of these little extremes helped me to spread my online influence. Embrace your foibles, and stretch them. Stretch them gooood.

5. Love your audience

I luv it when people comment. I luv it when they ask me. And I luv it even more when I can help them. Really luv your audience and make it a promise to give them the ultimate experience. Answer their question and make their life kick-ass, at least for the time being.

6. Forget about the rules

There’s not one way to do something successfully online. For every successful method there’s a counterpart that works equally well. Hold on, there’s actually one rule:

Be as valuable as possible.

Lucky for you, valuable means different things to different people. If you have a super-funny blog and all you do is bashing celebrities, you will bring value to someone’s life – in the form of pure entertainment.

Most people get ignored online because they are ignor-able. They think they can be successful by copying someone else’s style. Uh-oh !

Forget about being yourself: Instead, create your very own character, and live and breath that role, always playing by your rules. This will drastically increase your influence, and attract people like a tractor-beam. Go on, create your own digital destiny !

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Tagged as: blog, blogging, Branding, Influence, marketing, personal brand

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