In the Social Web, We Are All Brand Managers

Via PR 2.0

Effectively organizing, curating, showcasing, and managing a strategically crafted online personal, professional, and corporate brand is critical to how our peers, those we already know and the others we have yet to meet, perceive us in the real world.

Everything we share online, the comments we leave, the posts we publish, the pictures and videos we upload, the updates we tweet, the statuses we broadcast in social networks and lifestreams, contribute to disparate digital recreations of how people perceive us – as an individual, representative of a company, or the corporate brand we manage. While we can’t control the filters of how people ultimately assemble these pieces and assess our personality, reputation, value proposition, and expertise, we can shape and steer perception by sharing tactical and complimentary content that contributes to the brand we wish to portray and represent.

We are all, at some level, becoming brand managers.

The Social Web is a vast universe.

But don’t let its expansiveness deter your goals for creating and cultivating a strategic presence. Whether you’re new to Social Media or an experienced veteran, we are collectively tied to the evolution of the social Web simply by who we know or want to know. To stay connected with friends, family, customers, and professional peers, we join the digital communities that facilitate meaningful and relevant conversations. Evolution is natural and our existing and future relationships will dictate in which communities we remain and those we will eventually embrace.

But how do you know where to establish your online presence and secure your associated brand before it’s either spoken for or hijacked?

A good place to start is by analyzing the Conversation Prism. It provides a visual map that will guide you through the process of identifying communities and conversations related to the brand you represent.

In the era of the socialized Web, we are all brand managers now. We are responsible for our personal brand as well as the corporate brand we represent. Securing that online brand is critical to establishing and maintaining a consistent and complementary presence from network to network.

There is a helpful dashboard now available for brand managers to streamline the process of obtaining and creating online identities.

UserNameCheck cross references every major social network for the availability of your desired username. The results are displayed in one master dashboard, providing you with the ability to determine which networks require your attention and also a direct link to secure the username.

Whether you’re a corporate brand manager or focusing on your personal brand, securing your identity and increasing your visibility in the online communities that are important to your world is constant.

Congratulations, you are now hired as the brand manager for the brand YOU and the corporate brand you may represent. Care for them well and they will pay dividends in the form of more fruitful, valuable, rewarding , and possibly monetizable, relationships online and in the real world.

For a deeper look at the Social Web and its impact on your online persona, please read:

The Socialization of Your Personal Brand- Part I
The Socialization of Your Personal Brand- Part II
The Socialization of Your Personal Brand- Part III