To achieve any level of personal branding on the internet you are going to have to do some interacting with people there.
Personal branding is all about marketing yourself and standing out, building a reputation as a specialist in a niche, and becoming known as an authority.
And with the competition for attention you can't just put something up on the web and wait for people to find you; you have to draw attention to yourself, and interacting in the proper way should be a major part of your marketing plan.
If you were to walk into a room of two hundred people you don't know and spend your evening standing in a corner watching and never interacting with anyone you would be virtually invisible.
If you want to become known you have no choice but to risk rejection and introduce yourself to people.
Strategically the best way to quickly build recognition in this type of situation is to first identify the people who are the most charismatic.
They are easy to spot.
There will be people standing around them, listening to their every word.
That's where you start.
Listen to the content of their conversations.
If you feel the topic is one in which you could comfortably participate, get involved with the group.
Instead of blurting out your opinion, the best way to engage them is through intelligent questioning of the person who commands the most attention.
As you ask a question the leading person will give you a great amount of eye contact and that will allow you to move slowly closer, especially as you pose your next question.
Others in the room will recognize that you are interacting with these higher level folks and assume that you are their counterpart.
As the evening passes you should continue to mingle, always with the same basic approach.
There are a lot more fine points to making this kind of night a great success when it comes to socializing and becoming known, but I know you all have already been at an event like this so you certainly can relate.
It works exactly the same way on the internet.
Identify the people who are leaders in your niche and engage them in conversations.
Ask them questions.
Make intelligent comments on their blogs.
Don't just click 'like' on Facebook; say something.
If you make a comment on a YouTube channel and then send a friend request to that same person, it makes an impression.
If they approve your friend request, continue interacting.
The more you engage them, the more indelible their impression of you becomes.
And of course, others see these interactions too and you begin to build your personal brand.
Personal branding is a huge topic and so is interacting on the internet.
Specific strategies can be employed in each arena.
The point here is that interacting is a critical part of personal branding on the internet and ignoring the fine points is a path to anonymity.