Steve, a Pennsylvania native and Penn State grad with a BS in Information Sciences & Technology. Created the Social Branding Blog, which focuses on social media and brand management. You can find him on Twitter @Steve_Campbell.

I wish someone would have told me how important branding was when I was in college. It’s a great way to show your expertise and get ahead of all the other job seekers. With the rise of social networks, almost every Gen-Y’er has an online presence, which means a high GPA isn’t going to cut it when it comes to distinguishing yourself.

Managing your brand effectively levels the playing field and gives you an advantage over everyone else–being found more easily. I’m not saying you need to go out and hire yourself a publicist or go through a complete overhaul of your image.  In this article, I’ll provide and discuss the 3 most important things you can do today to get ahead of the game.

1. Claim Your Name

Even if you’re not ready to take your branding seriously, you at least need to claim your name. Right now there are people out there with the same name as you that are destroying your brand.

The first thing you should do is register your domain name (e.g. stevenjcampbell.com). It costs under ten dollars a year and is a crucial piece of real estate. If your name is taken try using your middle initial like I had to. You can also try implementing your future job title in the domain (e.g. stevethebrandbuilder.com).

You should also claim your name on any and every prominent site on the internet you can. When Facebook had their self-proclaimed land rush for personal domains, guess who snagged up stevenjcampbell? That’s right.

Use a service like namechk to quickly find out which sites have your username available.

2. Market Yourself

That’s right, market yourself. Once you have claimed your name across the web, start building your profiles. Sites like LinkedIn and Brazen Careerist are like online resumes and are becoming more widely used by today’s recruiters.

They allow you to upload your CV, link to your other sites (like your blog!), post your resume, and list your skills and aptitudes.

What a lot of people may not realize is that these sites tend to do really well in search engines. If you standardize your brand across the different networks and link everything back to your online portfolio (your claimed domain), you have a better chance of being found on sites like Google.

Companies do Google you, it’s a fact. Try Googling me.

3. Engage Your Communities

Another important step in getting noticed is engagement. If you try to stay active in online communities centered around your field or topic of interest, you will essentially brand yourself as a subject matter expert.

I blog, tweet, read, comment, and breathe branding and social media online. It’s what I’m passionate about. Find what you’re passionate about and spend a little time talking about it. The people who find your content interesting will find you and they will help you.

Conclusion

Social branding is still a fairly new concept, so the people who get out there first and do all the right things are going to benefit the most from it. Staying sharp and adapting to new trends is the best way to be successful in the online world, and it helps to have every advantage you can get.

Allow yourself to be found more easily online. It could make a difference in your life.

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please leave your thoughts, comments, and ideas below.