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| Steve Patrizi |
Ever since the Internet put the world on a stage, managing one’s online presence has become central to developing a brand and business.
“Today, it’s rare to go into a job interview where there isn’t searching and reference checking going on beforehand,” said Steve Patrizi, vice president of advertising sales and operations for LinkedIn, who is keynoting the San Diego Ad Club’s “Interactive Day” on June 18. “Technologylike search has brought personal branding up to the forefront.”
A poll by the online ad firm JumpStart Social Media showed that among hiring managers surveyed, 75 percent looked at a job applicant’s LinkedIn profile, 48 percent looked on Facebook and a quarter looked at Twitter before making a job offer.
Social media is not only affecting how we brand ourselves online, it’s changing how businesses present themselves and sell their products, says Patrizi.
“People are becoming the emphasis now,” he said. “It’s a real opportunity for businesses to get back to the idea of marketing to people versus consumers.”
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With social media, businesses can learn more about their customers’ tastes and interact with them in their “social spaces,” he says.
Building communities around a brand has become an important trend in online marketing, said Chad Robley, president of Mindgruve, a San Diego firm that helps business clients plan and execute e-commerce strategies.
“In the past, you were one or the other — either selling products or building a community (online),” says Robley, who is also president of the San Diego Ad Club. “I think people now realize if they can build a community, they can sell things to them.”
The challenge is that online communities are so fragmented. Even the task of sharing an article or Web site with a friend requires choosing among dozens of social media options — from social bookmarking services such as Digg and Technorati to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. By some estimates, there are as many as 400 social media platforms.
Robley says that businesses can easily get overwhelmed by the many outlets and lose sight of their fundamental strategy.
“There are so many different channels now to touch people, that it makes it very complex and confusing,” he said. “Just because you have a good Web site, good media and a good campaign doesn’t mean it’s going to work. You’ve got to have a good strategy and execute it.”
Businesses are surprised by the amount of money required to manage this frontier, says Robley.
