Are you building your Social Brand?

Finally found time to write, after two very long full days in Arizona. I was there with our company to exhibit our product at the MarketingProfs Digital Mixer. The host company had invited companies to discuss three areas of B2B internet marketing; Email, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, and Social Media.
There were 300 people from North America, Mexico and Australia in attendance, representing all three areas.
We had many visitors to our booth, which by the way, almost never made it, due to a shipping foul up.
I was amazed by the change in perception to social media by the email and SEO crowd, as the event progressed.
Early on, as I spoke with these people, there was a clear lack of understanding about Social Media, and its relevance to customer reach. These were, after all, people who were grounded in the other two disaplines, sure of their ability to reach their customer and prospects in the best and most efficient manner.
Throughout the event, there were numuerous guest speakers who repeated the message we in SM live and breathe; your customers are having conversations about you and your products everyday...are you listening?
To see the realization of this truth in peoples’ eyes was incredible. They were coming to the realization that SEO and email reach programs are the internets’ mature business model.

The two Keynote speakers were impressive. Arianna Huffington spoke of her site, the Huffington Post, at length. While I don’t agree with everything she said, I respect that she is clear in conviction and opinion, and despite her obvious distaste for Sarah Palin, seems even-handed.
Gary Vaynerchuk, the keynote speaker for day two, was a completely different affair. If you don’t know Gary, he built an online brand called winelibrarytv.com. Taking an unconventional approach to a very traditional industry, he has built a $60M a year business, and is justifiably proud of his effort. A brash, sometimes foul mouthed New Jerseyite, he is nonetheless energizing and thought provoking.
If I were to take one thing away from his speech, it is this: you are your own brand, both as an individual, and a representative to your company. Having a great product (either as a company, or as your own abilities and strengths), is no longer enough. You must build you brand every day. You do this by reaching out to people you want to know, and repeating your brand message, as often as you can.This, dear reader, is the core message: if you want to monetize social media, build your brand. When you are done, build it again. Never miss an opportunity to introduce someone to you, because peoples’ natural instinct is to want to get to know others. Then, let them in turn tell others about you, and they will help you to build your brand stronger. Simple in theory, it takes daily effort. So, do you build your brand?