Personal branding as asset allocation

We've all been impacted by the global financial crisis in some shape or form.  As we uncover the reasons behind the current chaos (this is the one of the best related posts I've read), one theme that keeps repeating is investment in risky vehicles.  Many seemed solid at the time, based on constructs like the Gaussian copula function.  Or at a personal level, carrying a manageable balance from month-to-month on a couple credit cards (perhaps in addition to an adjustable-rate mortgage).  Now we know better...right?

Well, how are your personal brand investments doing?  Pretty well, I hope.

Let's pause for a second - you are tracking the activity of your personal brand, right? As Lord Kelvin said, if you want to manage it, you must be able to measure it. You can get started with this framework for measuring social media.

Where are you investing to grow your personal brand?  (Normally this would be a rather gauche question to ask, but with personal branding it's all out in the open anyway.)  Time equals money.  How are you spending yours?

Here's a brief description of personal brand investment classes:

• Aggressive. Sites that are hardly known, but offer a chance for you to reap big gains by being an early adopter.  People who were early on Twitter and FriendFeed have been able to make a name for themselves as guides.  On the downside, your investment may disappear if the site goes bankrupt, e.g. ma.gnolia or Pownce.
• Growth. Sites that have reached critical mass and close to mainstream adoption.  For example, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook.  These are closer to dividend plays - they offer value from the existing network and connections going forward.  On the downside, these assets can fall out of favor and lose value rapidly, e.g. Friendster.
• Conservative.  Tactics that don't benefit from network leverage, but generate solid returns.  For example, having your own domain and mapping it to your blog's URL.  On the downside, it takes a lot of hard work to build these positions.

What would you do if Twitter suddenly shut down? Or Facebook and LinkedIn?  Or Six Apart, Wordpress, Blogger?  "Hey, remember me?  I had that Typepad blog."  or "You might not remember, but I was following you on Twitter."  To mitigate this risk, it's important to reinforce the strength of your connections with direct personal contact.  That's doesn't mean sending auto-DMs; it means actually connecting.

Allocation is key and will be driven by your personal goals and objectives.  Only you can determine your personal branding asset allocation and at minimum you should review where you're invested.  If you're concentrating your efforts into a single area, you may be overexposed to risk or not allowing your brand to grow fast enough.