Effective Presence Marketing in Social Media

“Presence Marketing” is a term that is being tossed around a lot more these days. Early Adopters (who remember, are useless) have known this for quite a bit now, and increasingly, we’re seeing later adopters catch that wave and jump on.

Presence Marketing is the recognition and exposure that a person or company gets simply by being there. Where is there? It is simply anywhere that people are.

In traditional advertising, it might be product placement in your favorite television show. An example of this is how Agent McGee uses the iPhone throughout NCIS. (It is unclear if this is actual Apple marketing or not - but any publicity is good publicity, in this case). Another example was the use of Cisco VoIP phones or Dell computers at CTU in 24.

In the online sense, it is nearly identical, but manifested differently. By being active on blogs, social networks or any other format that places a high dividend on visibility, companys and brands are engaging in Presence Marketing.

As an individual, you have more ability to be seen and engaged as any major brand anywhere in the world. In fact, due to Twitter, it is demonstrated repeatedly that simply being present and active on Twitter can create more brand recognition and marketing capital for individuals than companies engaging in the same space and not being “as present”.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about my friend Shashi Bellamkonda, who works for Network Solutions. NetSol, while they have a brand of their own and Shashi is providing tremendous credibility to their efforts, have a long way to go to eclipse, say, Chris Brogan, who has so much brand capital that we just call him The Brogan™.

In another day, or another age, this would not be possible because traditional marketing skews toward those who have money, time or historical depth.

With Twitter, or Brightkite, for instance, little to no effort is required to be present and “seen”. An application like Twhirl can sit in the background and alert you only when there is a tweet requiring your attention. This allows for a small footprint on your time and personal bandwidth, yet provides an easy way to spend time engaging throughout the day or evening. You exist, you engage, you benefit - with little to no impact on the rest of your day. Brightkite and Twitter both can be used over text message, so you can be present throughout the day, even when out and about.

My point is this - companies can complain all day long about the investment of time that goes into using some of these tools. However, I just don’t buy it. As an individual, and someone who has developed a significant personal brand of my own, it is all about being present. If people see you - a lot - they are going to be more comfortable with you and comfortable with what you’re selling, doing or engaging in.

It is the lowest of the low hanging fruit in the marketing industry. Do you do it?

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• Stumble it!

About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He is Business Development Manager for Lijit and he worked as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.