There must be tens of thousand of people catching wind of the social media revolution on a daily basis and rightfully so.   When you see headlines like  “Facebook User Base Surpasses 500 million Users” you would probably feel crazy for not wanting to pay attention.   So you sign up for a Twitter and Facebook account because you hear you  can grow your business.  Now what?

In learning and experimenting on how to building my business through my own personal brand,  I’ve come across a great book called “Crush It” by Gary Vaynerchuk.  Gary is best known as the host of WineLibrary.TV and growing his family liquor store into a $50M/yr business with his passion and use of social media.   He has also been featured in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The New York Times and has even been seen on Late Night with Conan O’Brien because of his success.

His book “Crush It” was named one of the top books for business owners in 2009 by INC. Magazine and needless to say, I decided to find out what all the hype was about.  I purchased his audiobook (highly recommended by the way) and started listening right away. This guy is on FIRE!  It shines through in his voice and in the fact that he takes his audiobook off script every five minutes because he is soo pumped about what he is talking about.    His passion and authenticity are the secrets to his success as a social marketeer and I believe it can be ours too.

Here is Gary’s video explaining why he wrote the book along with his action checklist below:

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THE “CRUSH IT” CHECKLIST TO BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND:

1. Identify your PASSION

2. Make sure you can think of at least 50 awesome different blog topics to ensure “stickiness”

3. Answer the following questions:

Am I sure my passion is what I think it is?

Can I talk about it better than anyone else? (Or at least the top 10)

4. Name your personal brand.  Have a clear idea of what it is.

e.g. The no BS real estate agent, the connoisseur of cookware

5. Buy your username:  .com, .tv

6. Choose your medium: Video, Audio, Written word.

7. Start a WordPress, Tumblr blog, or a Six Apart or Blogger Product.

8. HIRE A WEB DESIGNER

9. Include a facebook connect link, call to action buttons, share functions and a button that invites people to do business with you in a prominent place on your blog.

10. Create a facebook fan page

11. Sign up for a Ping.fm or Tubemogul Account  and Select all the platforms  that you want to distribute your content.  Twitter and Facebook are a must.  the rest are selected according to your needs and preferences.

12. Post your content

13. Create your community by leaving comments on other people blogs and forums and replying to comments on your own blog (use blogsearch.google.com)

14. use twitter search:   www.search.twitter.com to find as many people as possible talking about your topic and communicate with them.

15. use blogsearch.google.com to find more blogs that are relevant to your subject matter.

16. Join as many active facebook fan pages and groups relating to your topic

17. Repeat steps 12-16 over, and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

18. Do it AGAIN.

19. And AGAIN!

20. When you feel your personal brand has gained sufficient attention and stickiness.  Start reaching out to advertisers and begin monetizing.

21. ENJOY THE RIDE!  – “The process is greater than the results. The process is greater the things you buy.”

Tags | Building Your Personal Brand, Gary Vaynerchuk, Social Media, social media for business