SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/40933
Facility&Operations | Patrick Allen BUILDING YOUR BRAND LinkedIn in the discussion. Google+ is a very young platform, but likely will have some relevancy going forward, so keep an eye on it. All of these are very simple sites to join, usually only requiring an email address and name to get started. Being in the right social arena allows you to gather the most followers in your desired area (customers, friends, etc.) and provide them with the most relevant in- formation. Speaking of relevancy, ALWAYS BE RELEVANT! 500 companies pay vast sums of money to Peters to help their students and employees achieve new heights. Almost 14 years later, the basic tenet remains the same: take what major companies have been doing effectively for decades, and replace the company, logo, tagline, etc. with… YOU. With today's social media tools and other cost-effective methods, develop- ing and marketing Brand You has never been easier. R Just hearing the words "personal brand" turns most people off. What does a sports turf manager need a personal brand for any- way? Who actually has time to build a per- sonal brand? With all of the privacy concerns floating about, why would I put myself out there on social media sites like Twitter, Face- book, and LinkedIn? I can't answer those questions for any sports turf manager specifi- cally, but I can tell you this: social media is here to stay, and if you don't get started, you're simply delaying the inevitable. But you need to approach building your brand through social media with a plan. There are some excellent resources online that can be found by simply searching "building your personal brand" online. I have also provided a list of useful websites and links to check out. But here, I will try and give you a basic roadmap to building your brand via social media. First and foremost, you must get permis- sion from your employer. Everything I'm about to tell you requires you to be honest with those who take in your content, and if your employer isn't on board with it, do not proceed. However, you can make your em- ployer see that by writing a blog, tweeting about a challenge you're experiencing on the job, or simply passing on pertinent in- formation to an audience relevant to your organization, you are extending the reach of the company brand while doing the same with Brand You. In order to effectively do this, you must pick the social platforms relevant to your customers, clients or your business. The var- ied constituencies that you as a sports turf manager must deal with (parents, coaches, athletes, school boards, etc.) have to create your own audience, and do so proactively. For most sports turf managers, that would be Twitter and Facebook. Com- mercial companies likely would include enowned author and business speaker Tom Peters' article "The Brand Called You" for Fast Company from 1997 is a seminal piece in building your personal brand, and business schools. Fortune Speaking of relevancy, ALWAYS BE RELEVANT! This is how you keep an au- dience engaged and coming back to you for more information, in essence becoming the expert on a topic. By using Twitter and Facebook to post the field conditions after inclement weather, you're not only relevant to all of the parents trying to schedule their families' lives; you can become a resource for your employer outside of their own website or call-in line. Posting links to white papers on mowing, mean that you fertilizer or water use is pertinent to sports turf managers, but also are of interest to any- one who tends to their own lawn and now extends your brand beyond just your athletic field. Local reporters and other news medi- ums constantly monitor social media outlets for stories, so if you've got one to tell, share it. I can almost guarantee that your employer will not be unhappy with you garnering pos- itive press for your organization. This leads to becoming an asset for your organization. As an asset, both to the com- pany and to yourself, you increase your cross functional capabilities and your job stability. As Lisa Barone, Chief Brand Offi- cer for Outspoken Media says, "It's not about being there 9 to 5, it's about figuring out how you can bring the most value to the company you work for and then put- ting that idea into action." I'm not telling you to go blog about Search these terms for more information: Lisa Barone Get Over Yourself and Start Building Your Personal Brand Bruce Clay How to Build Your Brand While Working for Someone Else (also a Lisa Barone blog post) Fast Company Building the Brand Called You (also Tom Peters Building the Brand Called You) 20 SportsTurf | September 2011 www.sportsturfonline.com via By Image © istockphoto.com/porcorex