Think Before You Engage: 100 Questions to Ask Before Starting a Social Media Marketing Campaign

2. Brand or Online Presence—What's the Difference?

Determining the answer to “What is a brand?” can be a tough question to ask. Many companies cannot seem to answer the question in a straightforward manner.

Walter Landor, well known in the advertising industry, said, “Simply put, a brand is a promise. By identifying and authenticating a product or service, it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality.”

Walter summed it up nicely, but today it can mean so much more. Today, it can be also seen as “A collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer.” This is exactly what you want to create online.

In March 2010, I spoke at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas. The topic was “How to Score a Job” using social networking. The room was full of job recruiters. They shared that they put a heavy emphasis on applicants' online presence. By online presence, I am essentially referring to how active one is on the Web with personal websites, blogs, published articles, activities on programming forums, and so on. One recruiter went as far as to say that, when hiring for technical positions, he would ignore applicants who although fully qualified, lacked the online presence that someone with their skills should have. If you're a Ruby on Rails programmer, there's no better way to show your passion for the framework than by blogging about it, publishing tips ...