Do people know your name? They will when you start branding it.

Yesterday we talked about joining and playing in social networking communities (forums). I was thinking about all the benefits of playing in forums and I realized that “branding” is one of the major benefits you can receive from regularly playing in community.

What is branding?

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a “name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Put simply it means people recognize your name and associate it with what you do/sell/promote/teach.

Let me give you an example, then we’ll get on to how you can do this.

When I first got online, I kept seeing this lady called Marcy from Maui around the communities I was involved in. Everywhere I went I kept seeing Marcy from Maui. The more I saw her post, the more I knew what she was about. She is all about the law of attraction, and living it. I knew if I had a question about how the law of attraction worked, or if I got stuck I could ask Marcy from Maui and I would get an answer.

Here’s the thing about Marcy from Maui, she never signed her name Marcy, or Marcy and her last name, she was always Marcy from Maui. I never got her confused with any other Marcy online, because she was always Marcy from Maui. She also always uses the same picture as her avatar. It’s her swimming with the dolphins. When I saw this picture, even if her name was not with it, I knew it was Marcy. She not only branded her name, but the image she always uses in conjunction with her name.

People know Marcy, and know she is a leader in her area, and people now seek her out, not only for advice but to join her in whatever adventure she is playing with at the moment.

This is the power of branding.

How do I brand myself?

This is an important question to ask at the BEGINNING of your marketing journey. If you aren’t at the beginning it’s not too late, but it’s great to be able to start from the get-go.

• Choose an original name and stick to it!

Like Marcy from Maui, you need to choose a name that you can identify with. Something that makes you different from everyone else that may be involved in your business, or offer a similar service. You can use your name if you like or you can choose something else. When choosing your name to brand you want to think about availability. You are going to use this name everywhere so you want it to be original enough as not to have been taken and used by other people. I ran into this problem myself. I chose Jackie Lee, which is my name, and it is working, people know me. However, I have found it is already in use in a lot of places, so I had to go with another username. I have chosen MomtoHanna, which I use when JackieLee is taken. Using two names has diluted the branding for Jackie Lee though, so make sure the name you choose is original, so it can be yours and yours alone.

• Use your new name and that name only everywhere.

This is important. Once you decide on a name, it’s the only name you will use, so make sure it feels really good when you choose it. This is the reason you want to make sure it is original. You don’t want to go to say Myspace, for example and put your name in as a username and have it already in use.

Use this name on forum posts, as your username in all of the communities you join, as the name you sign in your emails, use this name, and this name alone everywhere you write your name online.

If you are posting quality content and helpful information online it will not take long before people begin to recognize your name. It won’t be long after recognition that people will begin to look forward to your posts. Not long after that people will begin to seek you out to answer questions and maybe, just maybe get into business with you.

Branding makes people feel like the “know” you, even if they have only read your posts, or seen you around a community. Because they recognize your name, they begin to trust you. It is this knowing, and trusting that leads to inquiries into your business/products. People buy from the people they know, like and trust.

Just remember, branding works both ways. If you are not writing good quality posts, or providing people with something of value branding will still work, but it won’t be the kind of branding you are trying to make. People can remember you as someone who they want to know or someone they want to stay away from! Be the one people come to.