These three wizards of the web, Bill Sobel, Andrea Syrtash, and Ann Nyberg came together yesterday to discuss the opportunities social media offers in personal branding and growing your own personal community.  These online topics were discussed live in a very relaxed round table style of conversation.

Ann Nyberg, Connecticut’s self appointed “fairy godmother”, opened the discussion by introducing Bill Sobel.  Instantly, I knew we were not in Oz when Bill Sobel began speaking.  He is open, honest, and so immediately had my trust, that I would allow this “superconnector” to lead me down the yellow brick road or anywhere his conversation leads.  “Dating expert”, Andrea Syrtash, has so much going on for her between books, tours, coaching, and creating online content, that she truly is the leader of the brand. The personal brand that is. 

The conversation between the three of them was focused around connections, conversations, sharing content, people helping people, and the importance of developing your voice.  Authenticity, transparency, and the need to be real were woven throughout the dialogue.  Tools for getting into the online conversation were highlighted, as well.  The big three; Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin were unanimously agreed upon as being  the most important platforms to be engaged with for growing your personal communities.  The power of tweeting, retweeting, linking posts to tweets were topics that were raised by Nyberg, with both Sobel and Syrtash, in agreement about the importance of them. 

While they all agree that what’s coming next is anyone’s guess, the urgency to get onboard “the train”, as Ann says, has never been more important!  Everything has shifted and all of us are in “Oz” trying to figure out the new rules, the new way of the world.  The power is back in our hands, the hands of the people.  People like me. People like you.  Our voices need to raised, in concert, rising up above “the noise”, like a beautiful symphony.  In unison. Together we have the power change our world. Individually, it is up to each one of us to build our communities.

With such leaders sharing their visions with us, I think we have little to fear, and everything to gain, if we join them.  My plan is to connect, both online and offline, with Bill Sobel, the “human link”, Andrea Syrtash, the self coined “slasher”, and Ann Nyberg, Connecticut’s “Glinda, the good witch” as often as I can. 

My lesson here……follow, follow, follow, follow! Follow the clickable link!!