I have had the pleasure of being friends with Loic Le Meur for a number of years. While I may not always agree with his viewpoints, I admire his style and professionalism. When he sits down to give advice, people really should be listening. Loic knows what it takes to build up a brand in the age of Internet commerce and community. His Seesmic Twitter client is one of the most widely-used applications available.

When I heard that he is beginning a 30-day video journey to help teach others how to build up brand awareness, I sat a little straighter in my chair. You may not learn everything you need to know from his series. You may not even agree with all that you will hear. However, I guarantee you are going to learn something – and that something could make a huge difference in the way you do business.

Loic is promising to post one video per day on his for the next month. He is quick to point out that the content is not “aimed at experts but rather anyone who would like to learn from scratch how to make the best from social networking and building their brand.”

In this first video of the series, you will find yourself nodding in agreement right out of the gate. Loic states that “hundreds of thousands of social networking sites have changed the way you communicate online and build your brand.” Not so long ago, the main focus was simply your content and making sure it found its way onto Google. These days, you need to pay more attention to making your content searchable and shareable. You don’t only want to focus on networks such as Twitter and Facebook. There are a plethora of places you should be showing up in: YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and many, MANY more.

Keep in mind that it is still important to build followers and encourage interactions through comments. You need to be checking in on services such as Foursquare or Gowalla and make sure you’re seen interacting on questions sites such as Formspring and Quora. Putting yourself – and your brand – out there is what is going to make the difference between success and failure in the online world. Who will bother to give you a second glance if you aren’t on top of the social sector?

Keep your eyes on Loic’s blog and YouTube channel over the next 29 days as he delves deeper into businesses in the social space – in language that even a newcomer can understand.