For those who may have concluded my lack of blogging meant I’d disappeared off the planet, I thought I’d draw your attention to just one of the things I’ve been beavering away at behind the scenes.

BrandNew was set up in response to the fact that brand management online seemed to be a bit of a dirty word. While some organisatons are awarded the digerati prize of having “got it“, others end up being marginalised and scorned for their obvious errors.

Yet, I don’t think it should be such a maligned profession. As long as you are open, honest and transparent about who you are; who you work for; what you’re doing and why and sensitive to other people then being in a space where customers can easily access you should be a great thing. Right?

But being someone who has (without realising it at first) helped to manage the identity of a brand online, I am all too aware of the soul-searching that this type of role can create.

Questions such as: Can I be myself? What should I write about? Can people distinguish between my organisation’s brand and my personal identity? How do I deal with putting myself in the front line of customer service? How will my bosses react to what I say online? What if I get it wrong?

Looking back to the wonderful, supportive atmosphere of the Birmingham Social Media Cafe, I hoped that I could recreate that atmosphere for those faced with such questions.

Hence, the BrandNew meetups. The first one isn’t until September 10 so there is plenty of time to let me know how I can make it better, and to tell your friends! Any feedback would be much appeciated.

Oh, and there’s a Facebook Group too!