Social Media can help significantly in building your brand. Different social media tools achieve different aspects of brand building, so you likely will have to use a mix of these tools. Select the ones that your customers are using as well and use them consistently, like any successful marketing activity it is what you do consistently that will have impact and not a one of activity.

In all aspects go easy on the selling, you are not trying to push a product rather you are building a virtual community of folks you like your point of view and if faced with a challenge in your area of expertise would approach you for a solution.

LinkedIn: Use to to target your business customers. Participate in the relevant groups, answer questions and engage in the discussions to highlight your point of view. To be seen as a brand leader you need to ensure you articulate your opinions clearly and support them when challenged.

Blog: Blog your ideas and opinions (include them in your newsletter if you have one), be open to receiving comments on your blog (actually encourage that). Respond to comments you receive.

Twitter: Use this medium to broadcast your activities (blogging, linkedin updates, newsletters etc), find your customers, prospects and engage with them. Again answer questions, add value to their experience.

Quora, Sprouter etc: Answer questions on these media as well to highlight your domain expertise, respond to questions on your brand and build your reputation.

YouTube: Leverage this to post your interview videos, alternatively if you have created vidoes presenting your brand, ideas post these as well. Create a channel for your videos so they are easy to find.

Social media is a great way to build your brand, combine that with presenting at conferences, webinars etc to further build your reputation.

About Author:

Along with a well published blogger (regularly featured on Alltop, Entrepreneur Community Online etc) Pooja specializes in developing and executing innovative marketing strategies. You can follow me on twitter @bluekneemarket and you can email questions at pooja@blueknee.com. You can also join the Linkedin group "Marketing for Startups" at http://linkd.in/ihNJmR.