Social Media Branding For People
How has social media branding changed all media? Think about your local television news and local newspaper. Go back in time and remember that just a few years ago, television producers and print publishers, viewed the internet as a direct competitor.
Social media isn’t going away. As long as there is an internet and electricity to feed it, people are hooked to the concept and the process of socializing online. For many the process began with wanting to connect with friends and family. Posting pictures and YouTubes of cute stuff that really didn’t have any significance to anyone other than the originator.
How you shop, what products will be available in the future and even what type of information and news will remain at your fingertips is being decided by those who are engaging in online social applications. Once upon a time, large Madison Avenue advertising firms and mega-corporations decided these things for you. But today, you’re in charge more than ever before. In fact, traditional media is ‘following you’ on Twitter just to see where you go and what you want. In the past these organizations may have told people what to buy and even how to think, but today it’s clearly the other way around.
Forever gone are the days when the only voice most people had was the hope that a newspaper may actually publish their Letter to the Editor. Forever gone are the days when only celebrities appear on television or radio. Social media changed the way people interact with their communities and broadened their scope to a global level.
Aside from its influence on traditional media, social media calls on individuals to get involved in the branding process as well. There is a social medium available that appeals to nearly everybody who feels the urge to join in.
There are two sides to the concept of social media branding. The media itself must have an organizational identity-brand and the people who make up the medium’s communities each have their own individualized brand. People who join in a social community to find a job or promote their business are far more aware of their need to develop a personal brand than those merely looking to connect online with friends and family.
Socialized individuals in an online world are becoming more aware that what’s posted to the internet usually never ‘goes away’. Those who brand themselves well from the outset, welcome this fact. Others who didn’t plan as well, often regret dismissing the need for an personal brand, later on. A large part of the individualized branding process is based on the need for individuals to develop a personal system that identifies what they will say online and how they will deliver their message. While social media has changed the way people communicate and interact, one of its largest impacts is yet to come. How will the world change as individuals continue to brand themselves as artfully as any Madison Avenue ad-campaign?
How will traditional media evolve to continually engage an audience who is busy socializing online? Social media branding remains a work in progress. Understanding what works and what doesn’t, is a process that continues to develop daily, if not hourly. Social media may have brought us to a turning point in the way people and businesses communicate, but what happens next is bound to be based more on what the collective online populations want versus what traditional media tells them to want.
Wondering just how has social media branding changed all media? Get the low down in our complete internet marketing overview.
Tags: branding, facebook, Internet marketing, linkedin, Social media, social media branding, social media branding plan, Twitter Marketing