Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, delivered the commencement address at Smith College Sunday. I read it in passing out of curiosity and was so pleasantly surprised, that I had to re read it.

The reason why I was surprised is this: being a huge fan of American culture and history, there's one area of the american success story that does not sit well with me. Large corporations and how they have changed the way people view success. It might be somewhat hypocritical of me, because I indirectly benefit from their existence. It might just be the introvert creative in me, but I think that the «climbing the corporate ladder» version of success is the closest you can come to hell this side of our existence.

I am absolutely convinced that most people don't live out of a place of passion, and are therefore living unsatisfied lives. You can hardly blame them, in an post industrial world, it's much easier to fall in and get by with minimum resistance. There are many obstacles to living out of a place of passion. It's not practical, it's not what people expect of you, it might not make you rich and famous, it's scary and too new agy of an idea. And yet deep inside, most of us feel a deep need to live like that.

I just had lunch with a good friend, a remarkable professional, who was feeling the need to change things because his work, although well paid lacked significance and passion. Very few people even get to that place, as to question the status quo. Because, what if the questioning leads to a need to change things?  Scary.

The holy grail of online marketing  is the viral video ad. It is the request and desire of every business and artist.

The reason, of course, it's the gift that keeps on giving. The dream vehicle for any marketing campaign. Advertising that doesn't need you to pay for eyeballs because people share it with each other through social media.  

Here's a fantastic ad made by the Japanese ( of course ) and some of the principles that go into creating viral videos.

We  just launched our latest branding project for a remarkable Russian clothing line of handmade evening, cocktail and wedding dresses —  Iris Rose. We had the privilege of developing this project A-Z. This means: concepts, design, website, online store, narrative, commercial, corporate video and finally the online and social media marketing strategies. It has been really  fun and the brand is gaining lots of traction.

Whatever you do, create beautiful dresses, serve the poor in the third world, educate the youth or sell electronics — you are a brand. Your brand might not be of the Coca Cola caliber, but you need to know exactly what it is, how it looks, what it says, and most importantly, why.  So let's break it down to some of the basic things that can really boost the way your brand is viewed. 

Social Media is, sort of,  the Wild West of internet marketing. Brands and businesses know it's a huge opportunity, but it's also utter chaos. Results are mixed, there are plenty of opinions on how to use it effectively. During SXSW 2013, LinkedIn named the most exciting innovation of the year to be the maturity of Social Media for Business.

Results of social media marketing vary. This is mainly because so many approach social media like just every other marketing tool — to relentlessly push a service or product, which goes against the grain of the social media ethos. The environment of social media is all about people connecting with people, traditional marketing methods don't work the same way here.

Social Media have become so engrained in the the fabric of society, that a brand, business or public personality absolutely has to engage it, or risk becoming irrelevant. These are just some of the reasons why your brand needs to engage the social media marketing game: