Natasha Tynes
In
the era of job cuts and the digital overtake of traditional media
roles, it's becoming more important than ever for journalists to stand out. Branding
yourself as a journalist is one way of telling your prospective employers what
you can bring to the table.
Recognizing the
importance of branding for journalists, the International Center for
Journalists is currently running an online course entitled “Branding for media
professionals," developed by Steve Buttry, a digital media trainer
and a visiting scholar at the Manship School of Mass
Communication at Louisiana State University.
According
to Buttry, “branding is an umbrella term to apply to efforts to identify a
journalist with her work and distinguish her from others in the field."
The course lists profiles of journalists who are doing distinguished work in
branding themselves, including Mark S. Luckie, Greg Linch, Mandy Jenkins, Jeff Edelstein and others.
IJNet
sat down with Buttry to talk branding, tools and tips.
IJNet:
What are the five tips that you give to journalists who want to brand
themselves?
Buttry:
1.
A good brand starts with quality work. Branding is not a substitute for
quality, but a way to ensure you get credit for your good work.
2.
Use Twitter to join and contribute to the conversation about journalism and/or
your niche in journalism and/or the niche you cover.
3.
Consider a blog to contribute to the conversation about journalism and/or
your niche in journalism and/or the niche you cover.
4.
Google yourself (with keywords a prospective employer might use, especially if
you have a common name). Consider how the results reflect on you
professionally. If something that appears high in the results reflects poorly
on you, consider asking for an update (if it's out of date, be sure to ask
for an updated headline, too). Consider whether you can create new content
(with strong SEO) that might appear higher in searches for you.
5.
Be sure to provide accurate, updated, detailed accounts of your career on
LinkedIn, the "about" page of your blog, about.me and various social
media accounts. Link to the best account of your career from your Twitter,
Facebook and other social media profiles.
IJNet: What
are the common mistakes that journalists commit when they try to brand
themselves?
Buttry:
You might
perceive branding as talking about yourself, and sometimes it's important to
speak up for yourself. But don't make the mistake of thinking branding is just talking
about yourself. In other social settings (the workplace, parties, conferences,
etc.), no one enjoys someone who's always talking about himself or herself.
It's the same on social media. Share links to the interesting things you read.
Retweet interesting tweets. Reply to people and join interesting conversations.
Then when you share links to your own content, people will be more
interested in reading or viewing your work.
IJNet:
What are the digital tools that you recommend for branding?
Buttry: The tools may depend on your
skills: If you produce video journalism, tools such as YouTube, Vimeo, Tout,
Instagram and Vine are more important. If your job involves curation, tools
such as Storify, Spundge and RebelMouse are more important.
IJNet:
Can you give examples of journalists who are branding themselves really well?
Buttry: Andy Carvin is an excellent
example. His Twitter account when he was at NPR became must-reading during the
Arab Spring uprisings. He became one of the strongest brands in social media,
if not in all of journalism.
That Twitter brand led to an opportunity to write
a book, Distant Witness, which further strengthened the
brand. And when he tweeted
that NPR had offered him a buyout, he started fielding inquiries
immediately. My former Digital First Media colleagues in Thunderdome show
some great examples of branding too.
They had strong brands individually
and collectively, so when the company closed Thunderdome last spring, even though we were
cast into a tight job market, the Thunderdome staff moved on to some excellent jobs.
Photo
credit: The European Parliament. Flickr/Creative Commons.
Source: http://ijnet.org
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