Archive for month: May, 2012

My apologies in advance, but I cannot help but reveal my love for TV in these blog posts. I’ve told you of my affection for “LOST” and “24” before, and recently I’ve been fascinated by the great new series “Person of Interest”, which just wrapped its first season. I like to turn my brain off with shows like this after a busy day, but inevitably, the distraction only lasts until I hear a quote that reminds me of a business or marketing analogy – then I’m back in the real world, sharing the thought with you…
It happened again during the season finale last week, when billionaire computer genius Harold Finch was talking to former CIA operative John Reese about the latest social security number that “The Machine” had identified as the next victim (or perpetrator) of an imminent crime. They immediately began to investigate the “Person of Interest” in an effort to learn all about them and determine how best to help protect (or stop) them. The first place Finch always looks is the subject’s online presence, and in an early episode, he even claimed that he invented all the social media networking sites for this very purpose – brilliant!
It reminded me that the social media marketing we do for ourselves and our clients really does matter. Your personality and your company’s brand are communicated every day through the messages compiled by search engines online. It’s like you’re painting a picture with every Facebook update, LinkedIn post, or Tweet that you send. Each mention or entry is like a stroke of the paint brush – adding to that great work of art known as your online presence.
How is your masterpiece looking these days? If we Google your name or the name of your company, will the results page be worthy of a place in a marketing museum or a preschool art class? Is your social media presence a Mona Lisa or a mess?
These ideas are not new ones. Marketers have been encouraging their clients to be deliberate about how they promote their brand across multiple platforms since the dawn of the advertising age. This article hits the nail on the head – it’s from four years ago, so the topic of social media is not even mentioned, but the principles apply now more than ever. Your online presence is communicating your personality to your clients and customers. Is the message a consistent one?
Social media marketing provides a wide-open canvas, giving us the chance to express our creativity and communicate our brand, both personal and corporate, to the world. So, if you become a “Person of Interest”, it’s nice to know that your customers (or John Reese) will be able to track you down quickly online. Because, as Harold Finch says in every episode: “You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up…we’ll find you.”

Mike Petrusky is an Account Executive for Kayrell Solutions.  He has been offering marketing products, services and solutions to clients for over twenty years.  If he is not watching his favorite TV show, he might be working on his “masterpiece” by posting photos or comments online somewhere.  Follow him @MikePetrusky on Twitter.