LAST LECTURE REVIEW: BRAND

“Create a BRAND for yourself.”

Steve Molks came in to do the last lecture of JOUR1111. He talked about creating a brand for ourselves as writers. How are we supposed to present ourselves as individuals?

This is especially important if we were to undertake the mammoth task of blogging. First and foremost, what is our style? Style here doesn’t mean fashion, of course. It refers to the way we write. If we carefully read blogs that we frequent, we should be able to tell two different bloggers apart. Firstly, in the writing style, this could encompass the tone, vocabulary, forms of expressions etc. Next, for every blog, it is clear that there is a certain demographic, or audience, that is targeted. This can be a general audience, or a very specific audience. For example, one can be writing for all women, or only for women between the ages of 20 – 30.

Of course, before blogging, we have to establish a platform – do I want to do video blogging? How about pure text posts? What mode or hosting site should I use? All these questions have to be answered before anything else. And from there, we start publishing our own stuff.

You see, the good thing about owning your own blog is that YOU are the publisher, the editor and the writer. YOU control your own blog. And of course, that is the downside as well but hey, truthfully? It’s all worth it.

Steve mentioned that when we have our own blog, we have to write constantly. This refers to the frequency of our posts, and also the topics we write about, for example, fashion, television or arts and crafts. This is to establish a rapport with your audience and also, it helps to make an impression in the “blogosphere”. Let’s be honest here, nobody wants to read a blog about nothing in particular that is updated like, what, once a month? No, people want a theme; they want to keep coming back because it is something they can relate to. Also, by updating regularly, this will promote a healthy flow of traffic to your site, and it helps that people are less likely to forget about your blog.

Lastly, in the lecture, Steve talked about sources. We have to verify our sources, who are they and what authority do they have. Also, words taken or quoted directly from a source is more powerful then the words written by the writer / journalist. That is, people will be more inclined to a direct quote as a quote paraphrased by the writer.

In short, you, as a writer,

WHAT IS YOUR BRAND?