Call me if you have anything you’d like to discuss first: 1-800-951-1156

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It doesn’t matter whether you sell telephones, satellites, deodorant or tractors, Ed’s Social Media Talking Points apply to WHY you should be employing social media. Read Ed Bennett’s Social Media Talking Points now.

Here’s a real “sleeper” of a blogging platform that I sometimes recommend for its absolute and utter simplicity and ease of use. For a bare-bones but elegant blog, try posterous.com.

Posterous is an email-based blogging system. You just send “it” an email and you’ve created a blog. You don’t even have to “sign up” for it, just send it an email. Then, each email you send after that become your next blog “post.” The Subject line of your email becomes the Title of your post, and the text of your email becomes the text of the post! It’s really that easy.

You can include photos and videos, too – just add them as attachments to your email.

So if you’ve never blogged before, and don’t really want to learn any new program (even the supposedly “easy” ones like blogger.com or wordpress.com), try posterous.com for the simplest blogging experience there is.

This became very clear to me when I was working with one particular client in the automotive industry. Upon brainstorming potential niche areas, he was considering positioning himself as the “Vehicle Security Expert” or as the “Auto Dealership GPS Consultant” – either of which he is well-qualified to present himself in that role.

But after thinking some more about what he does, he mentioned that through the services he offers he “brings additional revenue streams” to automobile dealerships. Suddenly, his Personal Brand started to take on new meaning. Rather than limit himself to one or two product lines and positioning himself as that product line expert, he decided to broaden his brand to define his role as that of a revenue-stream-generator for the auto dealer industry.

Notice that my client is not changing what he does. He’s simply choosing how it is he wants to be seen. That’s the essence of Personal Branding. Because if you don’t define yourself, somebody else will do it for you. But by thinking about his business from a personal branding perspective, it caused my client to see his business a little differently – maybe a little more clearly, or maybe just in a new way that he hadn’t thought of before.

That’s what I’d call a little side-benefit of defining YOUR personal brand.

As I write this, the date is July 4th, 2008. My wife and daughter are still asleep as I type, but they’ll be up soon for the barbecue and the fireworks later tonight. Because here in the United States, July 4th is Independence Day. American independence was declared after the Revolutionary War. Here’s what I think: YOU should be a revolutionary and declare YOUR independence (if you haven’t already).

In a world of much mediocrity and “same-ness”, you must dare to stand out. Declare who you are.

If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

Just by doing so, you’ll be declaring your particular, personal “brand.” Even if you don’t do it online or use any of my strategies or those of other personal branding strategists, you must do it.

Brand YOU. Not your company. Not your boss. YOU.

Yes, just by actually taking a position, taking a stand, stating your opinion – even when it’s contrary to most of the opinions around you…in fact especially when it’s contrary to most of the opinions around you, you’ll be a revolutionary. And that’s a good thing.

Easier said than done? Let me know.

And check out the new membership site – it’s going to be a blast! The Charter Members who are coming onboard are great people. If you’d like to be considered for a free Charter Membership, drop me a line. Maybe I’ll do a contest or something. : )