SEMPO surveys consistently show that “brand awareness” is the top objective of many paid search programs. Whenever online marketing pundits relay this point, you can all but hear their snickering through the text. Who would use PPC campaigns for branding?

The answer, of course, is ad agencies steeped in old traditions and misguided directives coming down from on high. This helps drive keyword prices through the roof. I’ve heard some marketers suggest (generously) that perhaps inflated keyword prices are because some are basing their bid strategies on the lifetime value of the customer and not on short term gains. Perhaps… but I believe this is the exception and not the rule.

There is a perception that a number one result in paid search equals brand leader in the customers mind. Many are willing to take a loss on ROI in order to be number one. In 2004, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) validated this with a claim that a number one paid search result raised brand awareness by 27 percent (this dropped precipitously for subsequent results). Yes, and whoever shouts the loudest in a public place is the one that gets remembered. This is not how branding works.

Despite rare and specious evidence to the contrary, paid search is not an ideal channel through which to perform branding exercises. This is axiomatic among most online marketers. Paid search, banner ads, and email campaigns are believed by most (sensibly) to be closer to direct marketing than branding in spirit -- two concepts that are polar opposites in offline media. Bob Stone and Ron Jacobs put it this way in their book Successful Direct Marketing Methods:

Brands are typically built on awareness, a created desire to be a part of a larger group, and emotional decisions. The Internet works with one-to-one, dialogue-enabling activities and rational, considered decisions.

So is the Internet just another direct marketing medium? I don’t think so. The transformation from one-to-one to many-to-many is occurring in the world of social media. Nothing on the internet fits the concept of branding quite like Web 2.0. Branding is a social phenomenon. Web 2.0 is social media. The desire to fit in is a huge part of branding. Web 2.0 is the sheer momentum of the bandwagon. It is group think, which is what moves t-shirts at the mall.

While viral marketing is all the rage, the means through which a message goes viral is social media. Social media is Internet word of mouth.

The poet W.H. Auden famously said:

The image of myself which I try to create in my own mind in order that I may love myself is very different from the image I try to create in the minds of others in order that they may love me.

If you want them to love you on the Internet, you won’t get there by shouting your name the loudest. You need to be heard, but your message also must resonate emotionally and socially with the consumer. If the message doesn’t resonate, it’s just noise and not signal. Those who make the best use of social media are the ones who will be most successful building their brands on the Internet. Social Media Optimization (SMO), not paid search, is the path to brand building online.