A Brand Called You?As many of you will know, Tom Peters coined the terms personal branding and “Brand You” in 1997 and, according to Execunet, it is now the number one career management tool used by executives worldwide. How and why did this happen – and what does it mean to you as an expat overseas?As the nature work force has changed through globalization and the IT revolution, there is no longer a job-for-life, and competition is fierce and internationally pervasive. In China, for example, localization is rife: you are only as good as your last project or position. It’s not just who you know that counts, but who knows you and what unique value you are perceived to have that your client or employer feels they must have.What is Personal Branding?Just like branded goods, people have brand attributes. A personal brand is simply your unique promise of value, that which distinguishes you from competitors. Personal branding refers to the process by which this value proposition is communicated to your selected target audience (your “brand community”), using various on-brand platforms, clearly, consistently and constantly (3 Cs of branding) to achieve specific goals. We all (probably) think the same things when we think of Subway (eat fresh) and Disney (happy) and even Oprah and Madonna. Martha Stewart has widely acknowledged for many years that she is a brand. What do people think of when they think of you? To be successful, your brand has to be authentic; a personal brand is never created, rather it is unearthed, polished and put in the right setting, rather like a rough diamond.Why do we need it?Does this sound egotistical and vain? Consider, then that:Strong Brands:- Are more valuable assets and can thrive in recessions and downturns, potentially protecting you against localization and redundancy
- Make you more visible – to hiring managers and recruiters
- Can extend their product lines (think Starbucks, MacDonald’s)
- Set you apart – differentiate yourself from other vying for the same positions and opportunities – and more clearly communicate the unique value you can deliver
- Help you win opportunities you may not be the most obvious applicant for
- Can command a higher salaries or fees – people expect to pay more for premium brands – not commodities
- Increase their market valuation (90% of the top soft drink manufacturer’s market value is reported to be its brand)
- Ensure people will trust you more and judge you less harshly if you make a mistake (Oprah?)
- Can attract and also retain quality staff and partners
- DRIVE SALES AND PROMOTE NOT JUST A WANT, BUT A NEED TO BUYWho Needs Personal Branding?With over 22% of people worldwide using the internet globally, and more than 80% of users searching candidates and clients online, (and less than 20% of people actually “ego-surfing” – checking their online results), not cultivating, controlling and protecting your personal brand is not optional these days.If you want to be known for something and develop an area of thought leadership (CEOs, executives, entrepreneurs), build a following (authors, speakers, CEOs) or a reputation for your expertise (entrepreneurs and consultants), or even just be known as a high performer or potential in your industry or company (everyone?), then branding yourself and knowing how to market your authentic value proposition effectively and selectively is essential.How do we find our personal brands?You already are a packaged brand, like it or not. You have a personality and people perceive you in a certain way, but there is a lot you can do to identify and emphasize the positives of your brand, which will guarantee distinction in your career or business.Discover, Communicate and Build your Brand to Land Your JobThe three processes brand strategists use are extract, express and exude. Who you are (your authenticity), who needs to knows you (your selected target audience) and how you stand out from your peers (differentiation) is the extract phase, and your ‘personal brand’ is at the intersection of these three factors.Extract: Involves introspection (a clear understanding your own motivated strengths and weaknesses) and getting external feedback through references, assessments, 360 brand assessments, performing a detailed SWOT analysis and being clear on exactly what is the value you can deliver and to whom. Take into account your similarities and key differentiators from your competitors. You will also need to examine your values, passions, vision, purpose, and set clear and measurable goals.Combine this information into a compelling statement that communicates your unique and authentic value, says clearly who you serve and how you serve them, you will have a GPS for your brand. Weave all this information into a branded biography that tells a story and creates an emotional connection with your reader and build the foundation for your new personal branding marketing collateral.Express your brand: When you are clear about your personal brand and the top 5 attributes you need to emphasize to resonate with your target audience, you can communicate your brand message to your target audience making it visible and credible, using the appropriate vehicles. Strong brands are known for something, not many things, and they are sending a clear, consistent message constantly. Are you using channels that your selected audience use and appreciate to communicate a strong message?You must ensure you are managing your brand environment and exuding your brand with everything you do, buy and use. Examine all aspects of your life style: wardrobe, accessories, surroundings. What is the brand message they send to your brand community? Do they add or detract from your brand’s core message? If your primary attribute is ‘forward thinking’, for example, do you use an appropriate PDA to support this? If it’s ‘professional’ how does your appearance reflect this? What does your work or meeting space say about you? Should it be Starbucks or a particular (boutique?) hotel lobby? Is it tidy, corporate or trendy? More to the point, is it ‘on brand?”Bottom Line for Expat Entrepreneurs, Executives and Job Seekers?Identifying and clearly communicating your unique differentiation in the candidate or business market will help you be found by your target audience on and offline, boost your chances of landing a job you may not otherwise be considered for and help you stand out and be memorable so that you can increase your chances of winning or maintaining your target position in Asia’s war for talent.
Personal Brand Building – An Expat’s Secret Weapon in the War for Talent
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How Social Media Allies and Upsides Your SEO Efforts?
SMM and Search Engine Optimization are usually given a separate space in the digital marketing arena.
And, quite reasonably, they are the two most decisive factors in the online marketing sphere.
But what we fail to understand is why many businesses do not acknowledge social media marketing as one of SEO’s most influential allies.
Do we intend to say that social media directly encourages your Search engine rankings?
The simple answer could be NO!
You must recognize that social metrics like Facebook likes and Twitter followers indicate social profile authority but have no hand in directly circumscribing the search engine rankings.
Surely, our straightforward answer is confusing. However, we completely believe that SEO and smo are powerful collaborators whose association must be leveraged for digital marketing success.
Let’s dig deeper and express how SMM can merit and warrant your SEO strategy.
The Relationship Between Social Metrics & SEO
Let’s assume that there might have been experiments conducted in the past that determine the use of social-media metrics such as social mentions and engagement level for search engine rankings.
But due to the unpredictable and unstable nature of smo and the weak signals generated, professionals might have dropped the attempts.
This was well elaborated by Matt Cutts back in 2014 in a Webmasters video. He was the Head of Google’s Webspam Team back then, and he revealed that social media provided incomplete signals.
Also, search engine algorithms can’t ascertain the reliability and authority of the smo posts and the profile.
Nevertheless, is there an Indirect way that social media influences search engine rankings?
And, this was embellished in the Cutt’s video itself.
He said that Google treats all social media websites like any other website on the Internet, which means that the same rules apply to Facebook, Twitter and so on as it applies to other websites.
Benefits of Social Media for Business
A Linkable Opportunity
As most social media consists of links to other websites, site owners and content creators can use it to promote their content.
You can employ a particular mixture of organic and paid promotions strategy to maximize your audience base.
Here’s how this happens-
As you use social media, there might have been countless times that some articles impacted you.
The impression an article made is evident in the things you share and communicate on social media. You might often use the information from the article in your other works, giving the source article a reference.
Understand that people cannot relate to something unless they know about it. Social media gives the perfect opportunity to content creators to prompt the audience and share link-worthy content.
You might well concede that SMM has given attention to many websites and individuals who were not known before. Creating Brand Mentions
Now, suppose someone or something (brand, product, service, individual, business, etc.) that has not yet been identified by Google suddenly notices many remarks online. In that case, it will influence Google to categorize them as an “entity”.
These are some unique circumstances that can boost your search engine rankings. This is bound to the context you are being mentioned or how people are talking about you online.
Understand that you are not adjudicated for how high you rank for a thing but what you entail as an entity.
So your website might not be getting a mention for a specific thing right now, but seeing the number of people who put trust in you, they can well start recognizing your business for that particular piece.
This is called the power of positive mentions.
Nevertheless, you need to make sure that positive mentions are not just on social media but on all public forums.
You can spring your brand marketing with your true audience base and inspire positive reinforcement and communication on social media.
Social Media For Searches
You cannot miss the fact that people use social media to search for a particular product or brand, and your audience base is just not limited to Google or Bing.
As you operate Twitter, you will realize that the social media channel with its trends, hashtags, insights and other tools give you a perfect opportunity to collude with the potential customers, making your content visible to the users.
You will find similar responses to Pinterest and Instagram.
Also, if anyone wants to know more about your company, he/she will likely ascertain your presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter channels- do a quick search and decide upon if he/she wants to deal with your business or not.
In 2016 Mark Zuckerberg had mentioned that “Now people are doing more than 2 billion searches a day between looking up people, businesses, and other things they care about.”- source Techcrunch.
Facebook had earlier retreated on a semantic graph search engine and launched a true keyword search, which landed in more search queries for media channel.
Twitter, since its onset, has been the leading destination for the population to flock for searches, especially in the event of big global news. Full post search appeared to have worked for Facebook and have expedited query volume.
Changing The Idea Of SEO
We have reached the phase where SEO is not just centered till Google optimization. We need to realize that search engine optimization is extending and converging on smo.
Also, if Google has been unclear about its stand, Bing, on the other hand, has been quite positive in including social metrics in its search engine algorithms.
You may well agree that the audience that reaches the company website, lurking through digital media channels, has already interacted with the company in a very pragmatic sense.
Also, digital media gives users the capability to engage more powerfully and compellingly. Hence, it will be only effective to broaden your social, media capacities and elicit brand awareness and growth.
Coinbase Review
As the leading mainstream cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase has become a standard on-ramp for new crypto investors. Coinbase offers a wide variety of products including cryptocurrency investing, an advanced trading platform, custodial accounts for institutions, a wallet for retail investors, and its own U.S. dollar stable-coin.
Coinbase was founded in 2012 and is a fully regulated and licensed cryptocurrency exchange supporting all U.S. states except Hawaii. Coinbase initially only allowed for Bitcoin trading but quickly began adding cryptocurrencies that fit its decentralized criteria.
Its list expanded to include Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, and many others with the promise of more as long as its requirements are met.
Pros Explained
Solid variety of altcoin choices: Coinbase offers over 25 cryptocurrencies for investment, trading, and also staking.
Extremely simple user interface: Coinbase is perhaps one of the easiest on-ramps to crypto investing. It is easy to sign up and buy cryptocurrencies within a matter of minutes. It also has a learning program that pays users cryptocurrency to learn more about how cryptocurrency works.
High liquidity: Coinbase consistently ranks among highly liquid exchanges. This protects the investor from serious price slippage in an already volatile market.
Cons Explained
High fees when not using Coinbase Pro: Coinbase has high fees compared to some of its largest competitors. Many newcomers who use the standard Coinbase platform will be subject to these fees unless they use Coinbase Pro—free to switch to and with lower fees—which has more features that could be overwhelming to new crypto traders.
Users do not control their own wallet keys: This is consistent with many centralized exchanges but it still remains a con for all of them. When a user purchases cryptocurrency on an exchange, it is stored in a wallet that Coinbase has control over. This means that the user does not have autonomous control over their holdings, which, in essence, goes against the ethos of decentralized currency or finance. This can be avoided if the investor withdraws their currency to their own personal wallet, preferably a hard wallet.
Not a large enough variety of altcoins for altcoin traders: Coinbase has a good variety of altcoin options for newer investors to dabble in, but those interested in seriously trading of altcoins will not find a great selection here. That said, Coinbase plans to add more altcoins over time.
Cryptocurrencies Available on Coinbase
Coinbase has a solid number of options to invest and trade in and has plans to add more to the list. The following currencies are listed right now:
Aave (AAVE)
Algorand (ALGO)
Cosmos (ATOM)
EThe Balancer (BAL)
Band Protocol (BAND)
Basic Attention Token (BAT)
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
Bancor Network Token (BNT)
Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV) (Send Only)
Bitcoin (BTC)
Celo (CGLD)
Compound (COMP)
Civic (CVC)
Dai (DAI)
Dash (DASH)
districtOx (DNT)
EOS (EOS)
Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Ethereum (ETH)
Filecoin (FIL)
The Graph (GRT)
Golem (GNT)
Kyber Network (KNC)
Chainlink (LINK)
Loom Network (LOOM)
Loopring (LRC)
Litecoin (LTC)
Decentraland (MANA)
Maker (MKR)
Numeraire (NMR)
NuCypher (NU)
OMG Network (OMG)
Orchid (OXT)
Ren (REN)
Augur (REP)
Synthetix (SNX)
USD Coin (USDC)
Universal Market Access (UMA)
Uniswap (UNI)
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
Ripples (XRP)
Tezos (XTZ)
Yearn.finance (YFI)
Zcash (ZEC)
0x (ZRX)
Trade Experience
Trading on Coinbase is an extremely easy process and geared toward a beginner. The platform can also be accessed through your android or iOS devices. Coinbase does not offer any downloadable trading software and it is all browser-based, including its more advanced trading platform, Coinbase Pro.
When you log in you are immediately shown your portfolio balance and its performance in a selection of time frames like one hour, 24 hours, one week, and one year.
A banner above your portfolio balance has a “Buy crypto” button where you can enter a dollar value and place market orders for whichever crypto you choose that Coinbase has available. This button also brings up the options to sell or convert your crypto or even set up recurring orders—daily, weekly, on the 1st and 15th, once a month.
Buy crypto Coinbase
On the top right of the page, you will find the options to send and receive. This allows users to send crypto out of their Coinbase wallets or receive crypto from elsewhere into their Coinbase wallets. While most crypto-first exchanges do offer the ability for users to withdraw to their own private wallets, this is unfortunately not the case for some other brokers and exchanges out there. This ability is hugely important to investors who wish to make sure their holdings are safe and secure in their own offline wallets.
Coinbase Pro
While Coinbase is an incredibly simple on-ramp to crypto investment for those who are just starting out, Coinbase Pro offers a far larger and more robust charting and trade experience.
Coinbase users can purchase crypto using market orders that experience high fees compared to other exchange options out there. With that in mind, Coinbase wanted to create a free option for Coinbase users to graduate to when they were a bit more practiced. With Coinbase Pro, users can place market, limit, and stop orders with lower commission fees. Coinbase Pro also has the option of margin trading and has significantly fancier charting capabilities.
Traders using Coinbase Pro can see as short-term as 1-minute candle or line charts and can use overlays like exponential moving averages. Currently, the only 2 available overlays and indicators are EMA (12) and EMA (26). Coinbase Pro also has over 100 trading pairs available worldwide (nearly 40 trading with USD) and more than 40 crypto to crypto trading pairs in 42 regions. Compared to other serious trading tools out there, Coinbase Pro is still bare-bones with regard to indicators.
While the standard Coinbase platform is a great tool to help people understand how easy it is to purchase, store, and move cryptocurrency, Coinbase Pro is, by far, a better platform for those who wish to actively trade or invest with lower fees and more features.
Fees
Coinbase has an incredibly convoluted fee system that is also quite expensive if you are not using Coinbase Pro. The cost of trading on Coinbase’s standard platform is quite high in comparison to its competitors. Those who are new to crypto and are looking for ease of use may overlook this.
Coinbase’s fees vary across different countries and regions, but for the purposes of this review, we will focus on fees within the United States.
Payment Method Coinbase Fee
Bank Account 1.49%
Coinbase USD Wallet 1.49%
Debit/Credit Card 3.99%
ACH Transfer Free
Wire Transfer $10 ($25 outgoing)
Crypto Conversion 2.00%
In addition to these fees, Coinbase also charges variable spreads on purchases and trades. Coinbase says that they typically charge about 0.50% for the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency below $10,000 in value. This fee is significantly reduced for sums between $10,000 and $50,000 (0.35%) and continues to decrease with each pricing tier until maker-taker fees reach 0.00% and 0.04%, respectively, for sums of $500,000,000 and up. Market fluctuations can make this higher or lower.
There is also a “Coinbase Fee” in addition to the spread and the cost of depositing money mentioned above in the chart. This fee is dependent on the value of the purchase, payment type (debit/credit), and region you are purchasing from.
Coinbase gives the following examples of “Coinbase Fees” one might experience on its platform:
If the total transaction amount is less than or equal to $10, the fee is $0.99 | €0,99 | £0,99
If the total transaction amount is more than $10 but less than or equal to $25, the fee is $1.49 | €1,49 | £1,49
If the total transaction amount is more than $25 but less than or equal to $50, the fee is $1.99 | €1,99 | £1,99
If the total transaction amount is more than $50 but less than or equal to $200, the fee is $2.99 | €2,99 | £2,99
Coinbase Pro Fees
Coinbase Pro fees are significantly less expensive and less complicated. With Coinbase Pro, digital assets and ACH transfers are free to deposit and withdraw. Wire transfers are $10 to deposit and $25 to withdraw.
Pricing Tier Taker Fee Maker Fee
<$10K 0.50% 0.50%
$10 – 50K 0.35% 0.35%
$50 – 100K 0.25% 0.15%
$100K – 1M 0.20% 0.10%
$1- 10M 0.18% 0.08%
$10 -50M 0.15% 0.05%
$50 – 100M 0.10% 0.00%
$100 – 300M 0.07% 0.00%
$300 – 500M 0.06% 0.00%
$500M – 1B 0.05% 0.00%
$1B+ 0.04% 0.00%
Security
Coinbase uses a variety of safety measures for account holders. It is important to understand that any crypto on any exchange account is only as secure as the account holder makes them. It is imperative to use strong passwords and to utilize the available security features like 2-step verification.
Coinbase has 2-step verification, biometric fingerprint logins, insurance in the event that Coinbase itself is breached (this insurance does not apply if your account is breached due to your own lack of security measures), and also stores 98% of users’ funds in offline cold storage.
Digital currency is not considered legal tender and therefore is not backed by SIPC or FDIC. Coinbase provides insurance by pooling Coinbase balances and holding them in USD custodial accounts, USD denominated money market funds, or liquid U.S. Treasuries.
Coinbase provides a solid amount of security in comparison to a number of other leading exchanges. This is one of the reasons Coinbase is a great offering for those looking to safely get started investing in cryptocurrency.
That said, the premise of cryptocurrency is to remove intermediaries where possible and to be in total control of your own funds. While Coinbase does provide an easy entry to cryptocurrency investing, it is important to learn about proper cryptocurrency security and storage. Savvy crypto investors may use Coinbase Pro for its reduced fees and then withdraw their holdings to their own secure cold storage.
Opening a Coinbase Account
Signing up for Coinbase is a very straightforward and easy process. First, you enter your name, email, and the password you wish to use. You will then be asked to verify your email address. Next, Coinbase asks you to enter in your phone number to receive a verification code and enter it. Coinbase will later use this phone number to send 2-step verification codes. After this stage, it will prompt you to enter your identification information.
Just like any bank account or investment account, you must prove your identity via state identification. For users in the United States, this will require a social security number. At this point, your Coinbase account will have been created and you are able to add your bank account, credit card, or debit card information to enable deposits and withdrawals so that you can start trading or investing.
VERDICT
Coinbase is an ideal tool for new crypto investors who may not have any other investment experience. While the standard platform is overpriced, its features, like its learn program and the ability to easily set up recurring purchases, provide the inexperienced with a clear path to becoming invested and actually understanding cryptocurrency.
Those with more trading experience will find that Coinbase Pro is a cheaper and more robust option, but it is still lacking in terms of features. If you wish to trade seriously, you may find that Coinbase is not the right fit for you. Overall, Coinbase is designed with the beginner in mind.
Methodology
Investopedia is dedicated to helping those interested in cryptocurrency investing make informed and safe decisions. We are committed to providing our readers with unbiased reviews of the top cryptocurrency exchanges for investors of all levels.
Exchanges are only considered for review if they are safe, secure, liquid, and either regulated by a proper agency or entirely decentralized.