As I wrote in 5 Ways B2B Marketing Professionals Can Leverage Social Media , social media lets you publish your company’s best practices and expertise without the need to get past gatekeepers such as editors and traditional media. In social media, the gatekeepers are your peers, and the quality of your content and ideas determines what gets promoted. Yesterday, I described the important role that strong, risk-mitigating brands plays in inbound lead generation. Here are four key ways that social media builds brands. Social media can increase your awareness.