Some years ago, I was riding down the elevator with the CEO of a large consulting firm I worked for at the time. New to consulting and intimidated by the happenstance of hitching an elevator ride with my CEO, I made idle chit-chat for the 15 floor descent. As we exited, my CEO thanked me for my hard work and reminded me that our firm's most valuable assets ride up the elevator every morning and down the same elevator every night.
Fast forward a bit and that very same asset is Facebook and Twitter's biggest secret:
You.
Your personal capital. Your talent, your intellect, your brand. Whether you means you, the person, or you means a multinational company. Your assets make Facebook and Twitter valuable.
Whether you run a small business or manage a large company's social media campaign - Facebook, Twitter, and whatever comes after them help you build your brand, expand your reach, and get found.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and WordPress are platforms. Platforms for what's in your head or what's in your company's product or service offering. Facebook and Twitter are the platforms of the moment. Your brand and your value proposition, however, should be platform agnostic.
Coke would still be Coke without Facebook and Twitter. And so would Chris Brogan, and Chris Penn.
Coke's brand is a function of the collective minds that position it. Chris Brogan and Chris Penn would find different vehicles, different megaphones to amplify, evangelize, educate, and seek feedback.
It's all about what's in your head or what's in your company's collective head.
So are you or your company using all the tools that you have at your disposal? What are you or your company doing to make yourself or your brand more valuable?
pic: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML
