In a world with infinite distractions and competition to be unique, one sure fire way of standing out has emerged and spread, mainly due to the internet. This is the dawn of YOU Inc. In this article we look at how ordinary people have been elevated to celebrity status through self-branding and just being themselves and how you can too.

Companies spend millions trying to define and market their brands and web 2.0 has given us the power and tools to take the lessons learned from our consumer culture and spin our own personality and talents into a marketable brand. This is our chance to create our own Nike Swoosh, our own Starbucks or Coke and become free agents in an economy of free agents.

We needn’t look far for examples of this phenomenon. From Perez Hilton (unknown blogger turned celebrity), to Chris Perillo and Natalie Tran (YouTube), social media is full of passionate enthusiasts and tireless self-promoters who have built a huge following and an overflow of recognition in the world of business. Some do it just to spread the love, others have specific entrepreneurial goals and others have done it by accident.

The common factor in all this and perhaps the most important realisation is that we are our own greatest asset. Our individual personality and stories past and present are our unique selling point and most powerful attractor. The good news is we all have a chance to stand out by learning, improving and building on the skills we possess and the feedback received if we dare to put ourselves out there. We all have a chance to create our own brand.

So the question is where to start building our brand. How do we leverage the internet and the amazing technology at our disposal when everyone else, at least in the Western world, has access to this too? Anyone can have a website today and because of this…anyone does! The answer is niche branding. If you think about how you use the web, how you work out what sites are worth visiting, bookmarking, revisiting, subscribing too, linking too, the two common factors are trust and value. The sites you go back to were remarkable for something and they delivered value to you and enhanced your life in some way. The trust factor was developed over time as you revisited the site and the site kept giving you value and you therefore built an important relationship with that brand.

Using your knowledge of the sites you visit that influence you, you can start to think about what message you want to create. What are you passionate about? What skills and interests do you have that you can share with others for them to benefit from too? In this way you can begin to formulate a strategy and figure out how you will distinguish yourself.

There are an abundance of tools you can use to communicate your message and network with others. You probably know quite a few already but here are some examples. If you enjoy writing you might want to start a blog in WordPress, Blogger or Typepad. If you prefer video you could use YouTube, DailyMotion, MetaCafe, Google video or Yahoo video. Most people use a mix of writing and video platforms since people interact and learn more from different mediums than others. For social marketing you will probably use a mix of the following: FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn. For visitors to bookmark your content you will want to incorporate some of the following social bookmarking tools: StumbleUpon, Digg, RSS, AddThis, Del.icio.us and Technorati.

It can seem daunting at first but if you use multiple streams and different types of media, the feedback you receive will guide you as to what your audience is responding to. Your aim is to build relationships with your audience and find the social media system that aligns with the brand you are trying to create. By being yourself, providing valuable and entertaining content and letting your personality shine, you can create and define your brand and people will want to follow you.

From this article you can see that doing things companies do to build their brand like producing content, positioning and promotion, you too can build a brand that has an impact on those around you. Just by being yourself and sharing your passions in life, you can become an important contributor to society and spokesperson in your niche. Whatever your motivations, internet technology presents a unique opportunity for personal growth, contribution and monetisation of you’re most valuable asset, YOU!