The Inevitable "Brandsmack"
One of the more popular posts at PR-Squared this year was the “Got Some Personal Branding I Can Borrow?” article, which talked about the respective responsibilities of the Company and of the Social Media Rockstars employed by the company.
But I left something out.
What happens when the Social Media Rockstar moves on? How does the Company analyze the potential impact? How should the Rockstar evaluate potential career moves, and how should they make their exit on the inevitable day?
After all, the brand of the company and the personal brand of the employee have been intermingled and mutually beneficial. These questions – fairly simple when dealing with behind-the-scenes employees – are made more complex by the public nature of the Employer/Employee relationship.
I should know. Cuz one of our rockstars recently informed me that he’s moving on.
Chris Lynn of SocialTNT made tremendous strides while at SHIFT. He went from “no-blog-at-all” to top-notch blogger in a matter of months. He wrote insightful posts on his own, and more impressively snared interviews with esteemed West Coast media/web personalities like Kara Swisher (WSJ), Sarah Lacy (BusinessWeek), Jon Swartz (USA TODAY), Marshall Kirkpatrick (RWW) and Loic Lemeur (Seesmic CEO), etc.
In other words, Chris lived up to the responsibility I described in my “Personal Branding” post:
While their brand is on-loan to the Company, it is the responsibility of the Personality to ensure that the Company derives substantial and long-lasting business benefits from the affiliation.
There’s no question that Chris was an asset for the time he was with us. And I’d like to think that SHIFT lived up to its part of the bargain, too: in addition to providing a supportive work environment where “Chris could be Chris,” I also linked to or tweeted about Chris’s posts frequently, alerting my own audience to the presence of a bright star.
Now, our collaboration is coming to an end. A monolithic PR agency with offices across the freakin’ planet made Chris an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Speaking as SHIFT’s “brand manager,” of course I was upset. Chris wasn’t even allowed to blog at his last gig; we encouraged and (literally) promoted his passions. Yes, this served his needs as well as ours – but in the end, it is the Personality who gets to decide where to put their personal brand to use. It doesn’t matter how much TLC the Company invested in helping to build that Rockstar’s brand. You’re still dealing with people. People who have desires & ambitions that very likely extend beyond what the Company can offer them.
If that TLC matters at all, I guess it’s shown in how the Company and the Rockstar part ways. If each side’s done their part; grappled honestly with the decisions and ramifications and angst; then, at the very end, you sever those final ties with fortitude and grace and a sincere benediction.
Good luck, Chris.
Subscribe by Email
View on mobile phone
Click here for my LinkedIn profile
Comments
Thanks for this post, Todd. Glad to see someone GETS IT. Sounds like SHIFT and Chris both handled this new frontier with dignity and grace.
Best of luck, Chris. I've never stumbled onto your blog, but if Todd says it's good stuff, I'll be sure to check it out. Go grab the world by the...uh, yeah....go get 'em.
Posted by: Scott Hepburn | August 14, 2008 05:06 PM
Congrats to Chris. I have enjoyed getting to know him and to read his blog. You are quite the gentleman Todd.
Posted by: Kami Huyse | August 14, 2008 06:09 PM
Kami, Scott: Thanks for the congrats! :)
Todd: You've been a great mentor before and during my time at SHIFT. I'm honored to have worked with you! I look forward to seeing SHIFT continue to bring innovation to the industry!
For more on my time at SHIFT and the friends I made there, please see this post: http://socialtnt.com/2008/08/13/make-new-friends-but-keep-the-old/
Best,
Chris
Posted by: Chris Lynn | August 14, 2008 08:44 PM
Speaking as someone who recently made a similar move, but to SHIFT rather than away;
I am also on-board with the mix of personal and professional branding, and the need to let go when needed (and not just when someone leaves. My blog lament this morning about a god-awful Beatles cover CD is not going to add much to the SHIFT legacy).
Letting go is the hardest part, and companies need to decide up-front where the lines between "your" and "ours" are drawn in case of a parting. For example, I would not take content I produced for the official Topaz Partners blog (www.techprgems.com) back to my blog without permission. some companies may have even more formal or strict policies, and it is up to them to communicate it.
The most important part is back to what Todd did with Chris: encourage, promote, let it grow-- and unfortunately, at times,. let it go.
Good luck Chris!
Posted by: Doug Haslam | August 15, 2008 10:46 AM
Congrats to Chris; on the bright side, I think Chris kept his blog and his work pretty separate, and that you guys will be okay.
DougH leaving his firm hurt.
Me leaving my firm hurt.
Others leaving their firms - it would hurt.
I think you guys will be fine (not that it's not going to hurt), but there was a good Chinese wall there for you.
Congrats to Chris - well, if I like the firm :) - and you have the good foundation at your firm to be fine.
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | August 15, 2008 11:03 AM
On a related note, a similar thing often happens with brand ambassadors who actively engage in social networking, social news sites, etc on behalf of a company.
Companies tend to put younger people in such roles, sometimes even people in their first career-level job. This is in part because the younger demographic tends to be more familiar with social media, and in part because many companies aren't yet willing to commit a lot of resources to such roles.
So for 1-2 years they get someone enthusiastically participating in social media on their behalf, but then inevitability that person takes a new job or even just decides they want to do something else.
This is causing companies to question who owns the profiles and relationships built up on company time, and if or how any of that is transferable to another employee. For example a Facebook profile is certainly not transferable, but what about a profile on a social news site with a general name like "SportsFan"?
However transferability is often in violation of a social news site's terms of service, not to mention the fact that all of SportsFan's "friends" have a right to know they are no longer interacting with the same person. But if the transfer wasn't a TOS violation and the handover was done transparently, would that be ok?
Whether it's your situation with Chris or the one I just described, maybe a long-term corporate social media strategy needs to be sort of like the farm system in baseball. Some superstars will always leave to free agency and others will eventually retire, so you have to keep a fresh crop of prospects coming through the system.
Posted by: Adam Sherk | August 15, 2008 11:49 AM
@Chris - good luck, again. (See how "bitterness" is not easily detected via the written word?) ;)
@Doug - so you know,I've learned my lesson. We'll be taking hideously embarrassing photos of you, and you will be held hostage in case a similar circumstance arises.
@Jeremy - no shit, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Thank you.
@Adam - you take the prize for mind-shattering comment. There's another blog post in there somewhere. Thanks for lending your smarts to this forum!
Posted by: Todd Defren | August 15, 2008 12:21 PM
@Doug Thanks! It can be hard for both parties to let go--those leaving aren't always gunning for the door and are, hopefully, grateful for what the company has done for them
@Jeremy Thanks! :) Chinese firewall (is that PC?) is def important. I think you won't have a problem with my new firm--that is, you haven't written anything (that I'm aware of) that is derogatory
@Adam I created all the accounts for SHIFT under my SHIFT email addy. When I left, I gave those to SHIFT. On most of the "social media assets" there was always someone also with log-in info. You do make points about saying goodbye. We will probably have more Community Managers who might have "Bennifer" break-ups--all in the public eye!
Posted by: Chris Lynn | August 15, 2008 12:44 PM
Ha - I have a thank you post that's in the queue that calls you out, Todd, for your tweets for Lisa.
Blows your freaking mind, doesn't it?
Posted by: Jeremy Pepper | August 15, 2008 02:37 PM
This is so so true. It is however not just a Social Media problem. It happens in all public facing roles. We had a marketing manager a few years ago, that unknowingly was basically selling himself as the brand and us on the side. Of course when he left we had to rebuild.
Our responsibility of course, but he does have a moral obligation to?
Thanks for the great story
Cheers
Stephen
Posted by: Stephen Baugh | August 25, 2008 10:43 PM