“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” (Warren Buffet) Related:Protect Your Digital Reputation: 10 Useful Tips Great quote from a very wise and successful man, who has seen this play out in many different ways over many years! The questions I get asked most frequently when working with people on their brand marketing and social marketing strategy are, “How do I build a following and build my reputation?" and, “How do I get people to comment and re-tweet?" I have been a student of the social space and platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for about awhile now. I observe and pay attention to the people that have large followings and influence for the right reasons. There are people who have huge fans and followers, but they are not authentic to me and I have no interest in their "shtick." I wish 'em well, just don’t want them cluttering up my stream. The social media mentors I respect come from different arenas and all kind of say the same thing: Be authentic and real, create useful content, be consistent, engage in the conversation, and give more than you ask. This was easy for me to embrace, as my personality and personal philosophy aligned very well with this. So, spring of 2009, I dove off the board into the social media playground pool! I have always loved the park, pool and playground, so this was fun for me. Here I am, years later and I am still a student, but I’ve gone from junior high to high school! I loved high school, too. Did you?
