The 100 Years Club Installment #69: Personal Branding & Quinfluencing™

I coined the term “quinfluence™” a while back.

What does it mean?

In short, it’s focusing on the QUALITY of your community rather than just on the SIZE.

Although mass eyeballs and earbuds are still critically important in our pop culture, reality TV, and fame ecosystem, I’d rather be considered steak rather than just sizzle.

Of course, I’d love millions of followers, but I’d rather have the right followers. And I want those people who want to see what I’m up to be the types of people I’d like in my circle.

As I amplified my podcast marketing and blogged more often and openly about my perspectives on aging, I was subjected to my first-ever troll attacks. I’m hardly famous. But once you put your opinions out there, all kinds of randos can step inside and start arguing with (and sometimes even yelling at or abusing) you.

Would you ever step onto someone’s front lawn and tell them you don’t like the color they painted their house? (Wait…don’t answer that. Nothing would surprise me these days.)

I’m totally open to new perspectives. Please be kind and respectful.

But let’s forget about the trolls and naysayers for a bit…

Let’s say you really want to establish yourself as an expert or just someone who is follow-able.

1. Be genuine and entertaining. We’re all living with enough fakery.
2. Have a USP, or unique selling proposition, which we brand marketers call it. What makes you different from other people in your space? Gimmicks can be great for making you easily recognizable. For example, when I did a stand-up comedy routine about aging, I stripped on stage from a housecoat to a sexy black outfit. But that doesn’t make me a stripper.
3. Stick to your brand. Just as Pepsi wouldn’t produce pink and green cans (unless it was part of a weird promotion), be consistent in how you present yourself.
4. Keep it tight. When people ask you what you do, make sure you can articulate it succinctly and in an entertaining or engaging way.
5. Above all, be helpful, educational, and/or inspirational to others. 

Remember that the brand’s soul is way more important than the media. I have never put all my eggs in one social media basket, so the potential loss of TikTok simply means I need to turn up the volume on another channel.

In keeping with #5, here is one of my fave charts. The full report has breakouts by age. Match your media to your target audience! Learn just enough about search engine rankings to help you craft captions and choose topics to tackle.

So, if you want to be “online famous…”

You can either work to get cast on a reality TV show, likely destroying your family, friend group, and day-to-day life (while getting lots of free stuff and party invitations), or you can dig deep and build a quality brand, audience, and media strategy.

I’m banking on the latter, but I wouldn’t say no if a casting director asked me to be on a show! Sometimes, quality and mindless quantity can be a good blend!

For more about my views on personal branding and other stuff related to self-image and aging, please check out my podcast!