Digital Marketing And Social Media PR – The Future Buzz

Image Credit: magia3e

If you are new to this blog and this series, please start by reading social media power users and influencers part 1, part 2 and part 3, as that will provide the full context for this post.

Just to refresh those of you who have been reading along, the main goal of this series is to help you find people using the web in creative and effective ways for positive influence — from the big names to those in the long tail. The real value for you is to subscribe and follow these people to learn how they successfully use social media to share their ideas.

I’ve written some detailed thoughts previously on the rise of personal branding, and the importance of building career security, not job security.

Jeremiah Owyang, Sr Analyst at Forrester Research: Social Computing recently brought up the topic again in a fantastic post: How Companies Respond to the Risks of Personal Brands. Go read it if you haven’t – both the post and ensuing discussion offer good insight from some incredibly intelligent people.

From the post:

Some companies are wary of personal brands
Last week, I spoke to a social media strategist as a very large consumer packaged goods company, he expressed to me over this client call (called an inquiry) that he was concerned about employees getting too popular due to their personal brands and as a result, getting pulled right out of the company.

The topic is worth thinking about further, as in the future more dedicated professionals, especially those in media, marketing and PR industries will gain greater interest in carving out a name for themselves using social communications tools as they discover the value and opportunity afforded.

image credit: zeuxis

There was a time not too long ago when a limited few had power of distribution. And with that power and zero competition, the media moguls built monolithic and faceless brands behind them. Sure, there were talented writers behind the publications, but the writers themselves were not directly intertwined with the brand beyond the extent that they merely supplied content.

Think of your local newspaper or even a traditional national media organization – I highly doubt there is one single writer or editor that immediately comes to mind and stands out as the person behind that brand of media.

All of that has changed.

Image Credit: Dion Hinchcliffe

Documenting power users and influencers in social media has been a lot of fun so far, and I am glad to be writing part 3 in this series.

What I am not trying to do is “rank” these people in numbered lists, as that is the antithesis of what I hope you will learn from these posts. Instead, these are people who are using social communications tools in exciting and positive ways – people who you should follow and study to learn how they share ideas and what makes them ultra-successful communicators.

Also, instead of compiling one comprehensive, tremendous list with just a line or two about each person, I am presenting just a few at a time and in greater detail to help introduce them to you in a more useful format.

If you’re new here, please start by reading the first two parts as they provide the full context for this series:

Social Media Power Users And Influencers: Part 1

Social Media Power Users And Influencers: Part 2

Now that you’re caught up, let’s get into part 3:

image credit: dbarefoot

Continuing my series on documenting social media power users and influencers, this week I’ve got five more wonderful people to share with you.

Again, these are in no particular order and I am taking the time to write on not only the big-name players, but perhaps even more interesting I will tell the stories of power users in the long tail also.

If you missed last week’s entry, start by checking out:

Social Media Power Users And Influencers: Part 1

Now that you’re caught up, let’s get into part 2:

image credit: fred cavazza (click image for high resolution version)

A major aim of The Future Buzz (as seen in the tag line at the top of this blog) is helping you create buzz on the web. If you’re reading this, certainly one of your goals is to become a power user of social media or high profile blogger, and/or learn how to bend the network to your advantage.

As such, it is prudent to learn what others have done/are doing successfully at the edge. Studying how social media power users (or influencers, same thing) create and share information, ideas and trends with the world and their interactions with their carefully built networks is vital to becoming one yourself.