Welcome to the world of digital

These days, many upperclass millenials (celebrities) use blogging to distinguish themselves from their parents. In many cases blogging is their only job. How do you recommend the "average joe" blogger overcome stigmas accompanied with blogging including laziness, lack of skillset, ect? 

Obviously today the usage of traditional media sources has dramatically decreased as the numbers of people using new media to stay connected with their brands has increased. Whether using mobile devices, computers, or other forms of technology, the digital presence of brands is apparent through multiple mediums. I think it is extremely beneficial to brands to have a strong digital presence because so many consumers use it in their daily lives. What I am wondering is around when did the switch from traditional sources to digital sources become noticable? Also, what was the first major digital medium used by brands for marketing?

While doing research on my brand, I noticed that it didn't really have any key messages. However, the brand does have an image it would like to be seen by the public, particularly by its younger audiences. This made me curious about which is more important in being a successful brand: having clear key messages, or an obvious brand image? 

With how big social media is and how far technology has come, it is important for companies to digitaly market their brands. With that being said, a company must choose what social media platform will work best to market its brand and what platform will reach the right target audience. What strategic process does a company go through in order to digitaly market their product in an effective way? I was also curious about international digital marketing. Is digital marketing as prominent in other countries as it is in the United States? If so, what platforms do they use compared to the platforms we do?

I will agree with everyone and says that digital presence in today's world is essential to have brand exposure. My question is, for new brands that start to appear, would it be more benifical for them to just start with a digital presence, rather than traditional, as a way to gain popularity? Depending on the brand I understand that this would be different, say if the target market was for adults 50+, this may not be the best approach. On the flip side, if your product/brand was for young adults and teenagers, is it even worth it to use traditional media? Should they only be focusing on creating a digital presence? At least at first? 

Digital presance is a huge part of almost all brands media sharing, but because different brands target different consumers they have to establish a significant presance on the right platform.  For example clothing and lifestyle brands are more likely to use pinterest than a beer or sports brand.  What different analytic tools do companies use to find the most effective platform to share their brand to the consumers?

Digital presence is fundamental and expected nowadays for a company and brand to be relevant and recognizable. Seeing that there are very many different types of social media that a company can use to communicate to consumers online, which of these online social media channels provides the greatest benefits for the brand and company overall? Is one form of social media better at reaching out and presenting the company’s unique selling proposition to consumers than the others?

I know that software, like Radian6, is a valuable tool to have for monitoring and tracking your brand's impact on the web. Are there any other various tools/software that can be used for tracking your audience as well as any ways to monitor visitors without using a premium software like Radian6?

Digital presence is essential for a company to succeed and move forward. However, there are still some companies resistent to the change. In my experience, companies are scared of the vulnerability social media provides and lack of control over comments from users. How do you mitigate risk and vulnerability social media brings to companies and justify its use to these types of "old school" companies? 

It is now very uncommon for a company to not have a digital presence when it comes to advertising and promoting their company. In fact, most companies will take advantage of multiple forms of social media to do so. However, each digital network is run differently and attracts different viewers/consumers. With this taken into contex, is their any univeral advertisment a company can use that would be successful on multiple digital networks, i.e facebook and tumblr, for a starter company?

In addition, what are best networks to then start advertising digitally?

It's obvious that having a digital presence is crucial for a company and its brand. It's hard to find a brand that ISN'T on social media nowadays. However, with all that is involved with a brand's digital presence, what is absolutely key to have and establish first for the brand?

For example, will gaining likes/followers increase with available digital content that is established first?