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Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members,
We've migrated Social Media ReInvention's website to a new WordPress site!
I made this move to improve my services to my readers. Please continue following, reading, and subscribing to my blog at our new location.
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Tony Faustino
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Farhad Manjoo of The New York Times published this thought-provoking article: Google’s Time At The Top May Be Nearing Its End. Manjoo discusses how Google’s current and past domination in desktop search advertising is leading to the source of its undoing as a technology leader.
Google’s Investor Relations Page proves Google has been an advertising company since October 2000. The company's $66 billion in 2014 revenues exceeds the respective, nominal GDPs of Luxembourg, Croatia, Uruguay, and Bulgaria.
Analysts express concern about future revenue sources driving Google’s growth:
I’m not a Google investor. But, these questions (and Google’s rising R&D and staffing expenditures) are a source of legitimate concern. Pouring tons of money into R&D doesn’t guarantee innovation.
Three Words via Deloitte’s Centre for Health Solutions: The Pharmaceutical Industry.
Facebook is not only investing in and deploying advertising tools like Conversion Lift Measurement and Facebook Atlas to measure, quantify, and validate how advertising ROI is better on its platform, but it's also increasing Facebook’s mobile advertising market share at Google’s expense.
Microsoft’s Office Suite commanded 90% of the enterprise desktop market. The problem is entreprise computing moved to mobile, cloud-based software.
So why didn’t Google Docs translate into a new and significant revenue stream (despite the fact that the stripped down version was and is still offered for free):
Google Docs had a 44-month headstart. That’s centuries in Internet time.
Why wasn’t this software invented in Google’s back yard and tailor-made for the enterprise market more than a mere blip in the Other Revenues line item of Google’s 2014 Financials?
Which brings us to this Wall Street Journal article about Memex: Sleuthing Search Engine — Even Better Than Google? Just as Steve Ballmer missed opportunities in the online and mobile market, how did Larry Page overlook a market tailor-made for an algorithm-driven, big data, technology company: Using Search to Track Down Criminals.
How did the US government create a search algorithm that’s equated to Google on steroids? Why can Memex expose 95% of what's on The Internet (while Google only shows us 5%)?
Is Google losing its edge? What’s your take on Google’s future and missed opportunities?
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Brrrr! It’s cold in The Midwest (East/West Coaster Translation: The Flyover States). Please keep warm and enjoy these share-worthy links during your Sunday brunch.
1. NYTimes.com: Whether Working or Job Seeking, The Algorithm is Watching. Natasha Singer of The New York Times profiles two upcoming books in 2015:
Both detail how our online actions shape our personal and professional opportunities. Fertik’s book describes how machines trumps humans in important stages of the hiring process: Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in resume screening.
21st century job-hunting demands a personal, digital marketing strategy. Here’s the article direct quote:
To better position oneself for such technology-aided hiring and workplace ranking systems, the authors suggest that people make their résumés “machine-readable.” For instance, they recommend that job seekers include concrete descriptions of their professional skills and competencies in their areas of expertise as well as signposts enumerating their career trajectories — all in language that algorithms could easily parse.
“A machine can figure out from your résumé how quickly you progressed from manager to senior manager to director — and whether your pace outstripped or lagged the typical pace,” said Michael Fertik, a co-author of “The Reputation Economy” and the chief executive of Reputation.com, a company that helps people and companies manage their online images.
So, before job candidates start worrying about whether they will be properly dressed for a job interview, he said, “it’s important for them to figure out if they’re dressed for the Internet.”
Dorie Clark, author of ReInventing YOU and the upcoming Stand Out, teaches traditional resumes are obsolete. There's a better way to acquire potential employers -- leave digital footprints via blogging, posting past project deliverables on Slideshare, updating our LinkedIn Profiles, etc.
Video via The Wall Street Journal: What Happens When You Submit Your Resume Online
Photo Credit: The Wall Street Journal — Your Resume Versus Oblivion
2. Entrepreneur.com: The 3 Ways Entrepreneurs Fail at Personal Branding and LinkedIn.com: Why You'd Better Start a Personal Website in 2015. Personal branding matters. Everyone participates in social media participation. Demonstrate to potential employers and clients you go the extra mile. Create and promote a personal blog or website to:
3. Bloomberg Businessweek: Tony Hsieh Is Building a Startup Paradise in Vegas. Bloomberg’s Susan Berfield describes the highs and lows of The Las Vegas Downtown Project. Tony Hsieh’s entrepreneurship and urban experiment to revitalize, reimagine, and reinvent downtown Las Vegas relies on 3C’s: Collisions, Co-learning, and Connectedness. His involvement consumes 50% of his day (the other 50%--- being Zappos CEO).
The "Return on Collisions” metric fascinates me:
Hsieh also came up with a way to calculate the value of people who “subscribe to downtown Las Vegas” but don’t want to live there. He’d tried to persuade Jake Bronstein to leave New York in 2012. Bronstein is the founder of Flint & Tinder, which makes the 10-Year Hoodie and other clothes. Hsieh invested in the retailer and says Bronstein comes to Vegas one week every month. “We did the math on Jake. When he’s here, he’s out about 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 12 weeks a year. So he’s worth 1,000 collisionable hours, too.”
Hsieh began to apply this metric to investments that might not make money for a while. “Say we want 100,000 collisionable hours a year from an investment. That works out to 2.3 hours per square foot per year,” he says, with a slight smile. “If we’re going to invest in a 3,000-square-foot restaurant, we can do the math and see if it yields that 2.3 hours per square foot per year. We’re kind of agnostic about what goes into a space. It’s ‘are you going to yield those collisionable hours?’ If not, we can say no without judging the quality of the idea.”
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. If you disagree, I would love to hear from you. I’m also here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE.
Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). Please share my work with your friends.
Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Abee5
I love reading books. They’re my secret weapon for accessing critical thinking. Here’s a short listing of my favorite books / authors who inspired me and exhausted my Kindle in 2014 (by the author’s last name in alphabetical order). Note: Some of these titles are pre-2014.
Mitch Joel described Seth Godin's 18th book as the most beautiful illustration of Seth’s teachings. You can’t buy Seth’s latest book on Amazon (or any mainstream book retailer). You can only buy it at http://www.yourturn.link/. Beautiful, glossy images explode with color on every page. If I were a Hollywood producer, I’d pitch it as Linchpin and The Icarus Deception collide in a 20-car pile up at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week.
Seth calls out our schadenreude, spectator sport culture, and it’s power in curbing intelligent risk taking (except in Silicon Valley). When It's Your Turn is an in-your-face, call-to-arms, entrepreneurship manifesto. The battle cry rallies around showing up everyday, to create and ship our art. Now’s the time to revel in that uncomfortable place of “this may or may not work."
I'm moving into a new career as an entrepreneur in an early stage startup, That’s a scary leap after corporate life. But, those simultaneous feelings and fear are the right place to be:
I’m late in reading this classic marketing book. I hope to meet Seth, shake his hand, and talk marketing strategy. That requires fluency in Ideavirus terminology (i.e., sneezers - both promiscuous and powerful, the hive, persistence — not the one related to effort, vector, vacuum, amplifier, smoothness, etc.).
Ideavirus parallels Malcolm Gladwell’s idea diffusion theories from The Tipping Point and Geoffrey Moore’s insights from Crossing the Chasm. Like the Beatles music catalog, Ideavirus remains simple, timeless, and relevant.
I’m a die-hard fan and friend to Ann Handley. Last year, I published a public fan letter expressing my appreciation and respect for her work and generosity. Two weeks later, Ann sent me a signed copy of Content Rules and other great marketing books. Her attitude to give versus receive says it all.
Writing Matters. Writing with Purpose Matters More. Ann is an important inspiration for my blog post about six (6) C-Suite traits among awesome female executives who stand out. The media’s endless joy in reporting our children lag their global counterparts in the STEM 100 meter dash ignores an important fact: writing and storytelling skills propel financing for ideas and inventions.
Technical prowess and technical insight aren't enough. Creative storytelling and written communication carry equal weight (direct quote from Everybody Writes, page eight):
What’s harder is to find a book that functions for marketers as part writing and story guide, part instructional manual on the ground rules of ethical publishing, and part straight talk on some muscle-building writing processes and habits.
What’s also hard to find is a book that distills some helpful ideas about the craft of content simply and (I hope) memorably, framed for the marketer and businessperson, as opposed to say, the novelist or essayist or journalist.
I wrote this book because I couldn’t find what I wanted—part writing guide, part handbook on the rules of good sportsmanship in content marketing, and all-around reliable desk companion for anyone creating or directing content on behalf of brands.
Everybody Writes teaches disciplined practice to elevate and sustain our writing skills. Ann’s book reads like cozy conversation with her while enjoying a great cup of coffee or a couple of frosty Sam Adams beers (keep in mind, she’s a Bostonian).
Ann poured her heart and soul into this work (or as she says “gave birth to a Volkswagen”). I guarantee you’ll benefit from her knowledge, talent, and heart.
Bonus 1: Mitch Joel’s Episode #426 Six Pixel of Separation Podcast: Everybody Writes With Ann Handley.
Bonus 2: Speakers Spotlight YouTube Video — Ann Handley - Chief Content Officer | Bestselling Author.
If I could time travel to 2009, I would grab two books and my MacBook Pro before jumping into a hot tub time machine:
1. Tribes by Seth Godin
2. Platform by Michael Hyatt
If Tribes is the strategic and conceptual framework for digital leadership, Platform is the tactical roadmap for its successful execution. Creating and managing a personal brand is imperative in a crowded marketplace and recovering economy. Michael’s book unpacks the why's and how’s of building a digital platform — i.e., the collective fans who subscribe to and follow your blog, email newsletter, podcast, Twitter feed, etc.
He explains step-by-step how he built his influential online presence and to power his career as a publisher, educator, and public speaker.
Read this Wall Street Journal article by Taylor Swift (yes, that Taylor Swift). Her anecdote about an actress friend losing a movie role to another actor with a higher Twitter following extends beyond the entertainment industry. It's the heart of Michael’s book: the reach and influence of our digital platforms (or lack thereof) either rockets (or torpedoes) opportunity.
Art takes many forms (e.g., words, pictures, spreadsheets, presentations, sculptures, music, photographs, process diagrams, or anything we create with pride). These remarkable books capture Austin Kleon's philosophies and experiences on creating and promoting art. These fun, short reads answer two common questions among artists, writers, entrepreneurs, or marketers:
David Meerman Scott influences my thoughts and writing about reinventing marketing strategy every day. I fell in love with digital marketing and inbound marketing strategy after reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR five years ago. I own all of his marketing strategy books, and envy his ability to write with a rebel's heart.
When David sent me an advance copy of his latest book, I was honored and thrilled. He's leading the pack in describing how diverse organizations (from the Fortune 500, SMBs, and individual practitioners) use social selling to engage customers throughout the buying process. He published social selling success stories long before LinkedIn Sales Solutions made “social selling” in vogue.
His latest work may finally make organizations pay attention to their most valuable customers---their existing ones. Loyalty, fandom, and connection matter are game changers when fickle consumers can leave with a glance and a tap of their smartphones.
What has changed in the world of selling from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
LinkedIn's Economic Graph Challenge generated tremendous hype. If Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn’s CEO), can morph How to Be a Power Connector’s core principles into simple, seamless, and intuitive features, he will create the world’s most valuable social network.
Inc. Magazine selected How to Be a Power Connector as the Number 1 Business Book of 2014. I’m twenty percent through it, and I’m convinced Judy's book and Seth Godin’s What to Do When It’s Your Turn (and It’s Always Your Turn) will prove indispensable in my new career as an entrepreneur.
I usually don’t publish reviews until I’ve finished reading the book. I made an exception with How to Be a Power Connector. Judy’s 25 years of wisdom and experiences are that important. I’ve arrived at the sobering realization my networking skills are deficient. I’ve done some things well. But, I lack consistency in adding value to my business network as well as strategically assessing, prioritizing, and systematizing it.
Thank goodness that's exactly what Judy teaches! Her book will change my life. Invest in yourself by buying and studying How to Be a Power Connector. It will change your life too.
Judy Robinett Speaker Reel from Creative Realm Entertainment on Vimeo.
Change the World. Every time I hear that overused cliche from another self-appointed, Silicon Valley genius, I wanna hurl (or please insert your own Wayne’s World reference).
Study Peter Thiel’s work (and his former Stanford Computer Science 183 Startup student, Blake Masters' notes) to learn and think like the real deal. The resounding themes throughout Thiel’s book: (1) think like a contrarian; (2) question and take action against conventional wisdom:
That courage to ask and act upon, "why does it have to be this way,” drove not only Thiel's entrepreneurial successes, but also the successful ventures of Elon Musk, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and other PayPal Mafia members.
As a parent, I’m making it my life’s mission to inspire the same thinking and action in my daughters.
Traction delivers a clear, how-to method supported by real-world, actionable insights. Gabriel's and Justin's interviews and case studies describe the successful execution of Traction’s Bulls Eye Methodology. Bulls Eye focuses on the second most important aspect of an early stage startup’s life cycle:
I’ve ultra-summarized the book’s thesis. Read the first three chapters of Traction for free by joining the Traction Book mailing list. If you’re a team member of an early stage startup (like myself), invest in your company’s development by studying Gabriel and Justin’s book.
Please share in the comments the digital marketing and entrepreneurship business books you read in 2014. What did you love about them? How did they inspire you?
I’m here to learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. Let’er rip!
You can subscribe to my blog via email (and can unsubscribe any time you like). I hope you’ll also share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
Hi Social Media ReInvention Community Members! Apologies for not consistently posting our Sunday Brunch Edition. External circumstances prevented me from keeping up. I promise to do better job. I hope you celebrated blessed and happy Thanksgiving Holidays with loved ones and friends.
Here are your share-worthy links. Enjoy your Sunday Brunch!
1) CNET: How-To Video: Upgrade Your RAM on Your MacBook Pro. I upgraded the RAM on my MacBook Pro 15 this week. I suck as a do-it-yourselfer (DIY). I researched required steps and tools to lessen my anxiety and increase my confidence. The Result: I successfully upgraded my MacBook Pro 15 (late 2011) from 4MB to 8 MB of RAM (and she performs like a champ)!
As I type, I’m running seven (7) applications: iTunes, Google Chrome (with 12 tabs open), Apple Preview, MarsEdit, Finder, Evernote, and Dashlane. Here’s the content I found most helpful:
2) Fast Company: What Every Young Designer Should Know, From Legendary Apple Designer Susan Kare. Kare has two (2) simple rules for designers: 1) Fake It Tlll You Make It and 2) Design Never Really Changes. I personally relate to Rule #1. When she applied applied for Apple’s graphic designer position, she worked at a furniture store. She prepared for her interview by studying graphic design books from the Palo Alto library (direct article quotes):
Having designed many of the Mac's early system fonts such as Chicago, the (original) San Francisco, Geneva, and Monaco, Kare is one of the pioneers of early digital typography. But when she first applied to Apple, she was pulling her type design qualifications out of thin air.
"I was working at a furniture store at the time, and I didn't know the first thing about designing a typeface," she told me. "But I'd studied graphic design, so I said, 'How hard can it be?'" So Kare went to the Palo Alto Library and took out a number of books on typography. "I even brought them to my interview to prove I knew something about type, if anyone asked!" she laughs. "I went into it totally green."
She's not so green now. Here's a great video of Susan Kare sharing her design expertise:
Susan Kare, Iconographer (EG8) from EG Conference on Vimeo.
If Susan Kare listened to The Resistance, she wouldn’t have achieved her Apple Legendary Designer status. So let’s fake it till we make it. Or, as Dorie Clark of Reinventing YOU, says: “Fake It Till You Become It.”
3) Fortune Magazine: GE CMO Comstock's New Job: Reinventing the Lightbulb. I’m a HUGE Beth Comstock fan. Her strategy to reinvent and power (pun intended) GE's 130-year old lighting business includes embedding social and digital media throughout the business. Comstock transformed GE into a creative, infuential and credible digital marketing player:
Here’s a direct quote from the Google Think article about Beth Comstock titled Market Maker:
The 52-year-old often describes her job as "connecting the dots"--between GE's seven segments (Power & Water, Oil & Gas, Energy Management, Aviation, Transportation, Healthcare, Home & Business Solutions), its many markets, and between the company and the outside world. It's something Comstock regularly does as head of GE's sales, marketing, and communications, and in her management of the company's multi-billion-dollar Ecomagination and Healthymagination initiatives, dedicated to environmental and health care innovation respectively.
In her travels and conversations with customers, she constantly scans for patterns. "When you're in this business, you see a lot of things," Comstock notes. "Marketers are in a great position to notice if something's happening in an industry like energy or healthcare."
Think About that Quote for a Moment. Beth Comstock explained how a great marketer’s expertise is a game changing asset in understanding and exploiting opportunity. Digital and social media marketing continues accepting the rap, “we can’t measure return on investment (ROI)!” Follow her advice and make the case of how not only your digital marketing efforts identify relevant opportunities but also how your expertise uniquely enables you (personally) to identify new business opportunities.
If that’s not a measurable ROI, I’ll be this guy’s uncle:
Photo Credit: Gemma Stiles
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Facebook released its 2014 Q2 earnings report on July 23rd. Here are some mind-boggling financial performance factoids from Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article:
Remember concerns about Facebook arriving late to the mobile advertising party two years ago? How quickly sentiments can change. Here's Reed Albergotti's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) video review of Facebook's Q2 2014 financial performance:
I've reviewed numerous articles explaining how and why Facebook continues transforming and reinventing itself under Mark Zuckerberg's visionary leadership (including but not limited to):
Noticeable patterns / themes in these articles give clues to Facebook's and Zuckerberg's long term corporate strategy.
Here's my take on the Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook 5-Point Plan for Future Growth and Mobile Dominance:
Zuckerberg described in his July 2014 WSJ article how roughly 2.7 billion people currently have Internet access. That sounds like a lot, but the majority of the world lacks connectivity. He knows Facebook's future growth is tied to increasing and sustainable investment in wireless infrastructure. The phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats" takes on significant implications not only for Facebook but also for its competitors.
Here are some key quotes from his article:
"Bringing the other two-thirds of the world online will enable them to invent and create new things that benefit us, too."
"Not only do the vast majority of people have no access to the Internet, but even more surprisingly, Internet adoption is growing by less than 9% each year. That's very slow considering how early we are in its development and that rate is only slowing further."
"The challenge for our industry will be to develop models for Internet access that make data more affordable while enabling mobile operators to continue growing and investing in a sustainable way. Efforts like Internet.org -- a global partnership founded by Facebook and other technology leaders --are already under way to solve this by working with operators to provide free basic Internet services to people."
Here's a great 2013 CNN interview with Zuckerberg describing Internet.org (my apologies for any commercials preceding the interview):
Flurry (the mobile ad and analytics firm Yahoo recently acquired for $200 - $300 million) says mobile users spend 17% of their time on their phones in Facebook's app. This metric shows Facebook's mobile app is the most popular app on iOS and Android devices. Facebook's Q2 2014 Quarterly Financial Reporting slides show a consistent, steady climb in daily and monthly mobile users:
Zuckerberg knows consumers live in a mobile, one-screen world. The only screen users care about is the one in front of them. That's why Facebook's mobile apps have to deliver simple, fast, and seamless user experiences.
Based on these mobile user numbers and the percentage of Q2 2014 revenues generated from mobile advertising, Zuckerberg and Facebook nailed it. And, speaking of killer, seamless, mobile apps ...
In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. They recently acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in February 2014. March 2014 marked the acquisition of Oculus VR (a virtual reality headset company) for $2 billion.
Zuckerberg views virtual reality as the next communication platform. It will be fun to track how Facebook leverages Oculus' technologies beyond gaming. Until then, here's a graphic from Austin Carr's Fast Company article showing the 700 million Instagram and WhatsApp users resulting from these acquisitions:
Zuckerberg's brainchild employees 7,000 people. Even at Facebook, creativity and innovation slowed under increasing bureaucracy and jockeying for resources (in both talent and money). Stringent metrics and timelines meant new products had little time to improve post-launch.
That's why Creative Labs is vital to Facebook's future innovations (and talent retention). Zuckerberg created it as a separate division in February 2014. It operates outside of Facebook's traditional product management processes with looser time constraints. That level of freedom and "small-team feeling" produced Paper, the mobile app for reading an responding to the News Feed.
Even Facebook "likes" innovations from skunkworks -- cool twist or reinvention of The Hacker Way.
Facebook's successful foray into Mobile App Install Ads, and the experiments it's running with the Facebook Buy Button show how simplifying the consumer buying process results in higher conversion (and that elusive digital marketing ROI).
It's mobile phone, 1-Click Shopping:
In Austin Carr's Fast Company article describing the resounding success of Facebook's mobile app install ads, developers love this advertising medium because:
This advertising medium has resulted in 350 million app installations (Carr estimates this equates to almost $1 billion in revenue). He cites one mobile gaming CEO who invests 75% of his marketing budget in Facebook mobile install app ads because they drive $70,000 in revenues per day.
If the experiments with the Buy Button prove fruitful, Facebook can validate the ROI value of digital marketing in not only building awareness, but also in converting eCommerce sales. Here are direct quotes from the experts:
Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer:
"With this step, Facebook is becoming even more firmly established as a major player in direct response advertising, and though this test is still only a test, it's a definite sign that Facebook wants to restart its efforts to become an e-commerce company as well."
"If the test is successful and rolls out, Facebook could eventually earn money on the feature by charging a fee or revenue share in exchange for processing payment and improving conversion rates. It could also use the purchases to prove return on investment to advertisers, encouraging them to buy bigger campaigns."
Mark Zuckerberg is the next Steve Jobs (along with Sergey Brin and Larry Page). I was publicly criticized for making that statement more than three years ago. He is a visionary leader. Remember how Facebook originally started out as a desktop application? That's what makes its reinvention as an industry leader and emerging pioneer in the mobile space so impressive.
And, it only took two (2) years! I can't wait to see what's next as Zuck & Company keep moving fast and breaking things.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
If Yes, Grab Some Coffee (Because This is a Long Post). Social Media ReInvention Community Members know of the tremendous respect I hold for Mitch Joel. His books and art have tremendous influence on my marketing strategy and creative perspective.
CTRL ALT Delete Is a Gift on 21st Century Career Leadership and Opportunity Management. Mitch frames and delivers his compelling arguments in two (2) sections:
1. Reboot: Business - The 5 Massive Movements
2. Reboot: You - The 7 Triggers
Yes, his book describes corporate and marketing strategy opportunities impacting organizations (big or small). Yes, his book contains important personal branding / personal reputation implications.
But, all twelve (12) principles focus on individually identifying and framing opportunity (and having the collective or individual courage to pursue it).
We All Have the Opportunity to Differentiate Ourselves and Lead. CTRL ALT Delete's resounding themes are to:
That's why our futures depend upon studying and practicing CTRL ALT Delete's teachings. Others with vaster audiences and authority than mine share that opinion.
Invest in Yourself and Buy CTRL ALT Delete. Here are four (4) important questions Mitch Joel asks about building competitive advantages to reboot our organizations and individual careers:
Creating a Unique Competitive Advantage. Direct relationships as a competitive advantage (versus price) is best described by these CTRL ALT Delete quotes (page 11) on how Apple executes its retail strategy:
The solution for Apple was to create a "cradle to the grave" business model where the customer is--at every touch point--directly speaking with Apple's brand. A true, direct relationship--in every sense of the word. Apple could not win on price (their computers and other devices are usually much more expensive than their competition's), so they had to win by being there for the consumer and by making these consumers a part of a more complete brand ecosystem.At the time that Apple first launched retail stores in 2001, the common practices among retailers was to cram each nook and cranny of space with merchandise to maximize the sales per square foot. Sadly most retailers (and businesses) still hold on to the traditional thinking. For Apple, it was less about every square foot of retail space and much more about evey square inch of the direct relationship. Apple didn't start in the retail business to compete with other consumer electronics stores; they went into retail for the direct relationship with their customers. Apple's attitude was: "Why give that power to Best Buy or anyone else?"
Apple Hired Angela Ahrendts Because of Her Ability to Build and Nurture Direct Consumer Relationships. Angela Ahrendts hiring as Senior Vice President of Retail is Apple's signal to re-engage its devoted following. Her retail philosophy is grounded on the ability to feel, empathize, and become a brilliant brand ambassador. That's the foundation for direct and strong consumer relationships (from Austin Carr's October 15, 2013 Fast Company article):
"My dad used to always to say that he could teach anything but he couldn't teach how to feel. That's the hardest part when you have 11,000 people: How do you teach them how we feel?""The thing is, I don't want to be sold when I walk into a store to be welcomed. The job is to be a brilliant brand ambasador. Everyone is welcome. Don't be judgmental whatsoever."
"Don't sell! NO! Because that is a turnoff."
Converse Directly With Your Connections and Followers. Don't just tweet out links and "like" stuff. Mitch's observations about building direct relationships highly applies to our personal social network connections. For example, participating in Twitter by sharing links your followers find helpful is a starting point for establishing authority and reputation.
But, if you want to "own and nurture" a long-term direct relationship, you have to directly converse with your followers. Mitch talks in depth about this concept throughout the book. These types of direct conversations are powerful and solidify lifelong loyalty and relationships:
Check Out Mitch's Video Sharing Several Factoids on Mobile Trends:
Real-World Case Example: Apple Acquires Topsy. The rationale for the Apple-Topsy acquisition comes straight from this section in CTRL ALT Delete: The One Screen World - The Shift From Four Screens Down to One (pages 90 -109).
The entire chapter describes how consumers operate in a mobile, one-screen world. The only screen consumers care about is "the one currently staring them in the face."
Mitch further makes a compelling argument: The most important consumer screen resides on our smartphones.
Twitter Is Mobile, Untethered, and One-Screen Savvy. It's a social media platform focused on telling Apple WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking It. This November 2013 Bloomberg-Businessweek article describes how the Twitter API, its meta data, and tweets provide rich consumer data.
Here are Mitch's thoughts on Twitter and the one-screen world (from page 99 of CTRL ALT Delete):
"Twitter's metoric rise and continued success have less to do with how many followers Lady Gaga has and much more to do with the fact that it was the first-ever online social network that worked better on mobile than it does on the Web. The sheer simplicity of those 140 characters of tweets makes it that much more workable and easy for consumers. Twitter's focus (from day one) was on connecting people as they were on the go. To this day, everything that Twitter does --- from acquisitions to business strategy --- is driven by a one-screen-world philosophy."
Consumers, Followers, and Connections Expect and Demand Immediate, Real-Time Responsiveness. Communicating and responding with our respective audiences with real-time immediacy is now a competitive differentiator (in both our professional and private lives). According to the eMarketer article: Key Trends for 2014: Always On Means Always Social, mobile, social networking via our smartphones and tablets will continue driving our "real-time" communications:
Whether we like it or not, consumers (and personal connections) expect us to be there in real-time with the right message, at the right time, in the right place.
A Personal Blog = Personal Competitive Advantage. The Internet affords anyone with a laptop and broadband access an opportunity to stand out. But, we often allow ourselves to be defined by our current job titles and bullet points on our resumes. That's a mistake.
Mitch thinks strategically and critically. In a social media age, when most tweets or Facebook status updates provide diminishing returns on our attention, the opportunity to differentiate ourselves as entrepreneurial, credible, forward-looking strategic, critical thinkers has never been higher.
Writing a personal blog allows you to maintain an identity separate from your employer (i.e., it's a portable asset). Dorie Clark, in her great book, Reinventing You, defines a personal blog as valuable, intellectual property showcasing individual expertise by:
1. Showing how you think
2. Demonstrating your individual creativity
3. Making it easy for a potential employer / great connection to find you (e.g., SEO benefits)
4. Giving you practice in an important and portable business skill set -- writing
5. Proving you're technology and Internet savvy
6. Informing people first-hand how you're driven to learn new skills
Isn't Blogging Supposed to be Dead? Hardly. As Mitch points out in the section, "Your Life in Startup Mode," a personal blog describes important aspects about ourselves that a resume fails to represent:
(page 227) "You're writing to exercise your critical thinking skills."(page 225) "But for the purpose of this book, I'll define a blog as an online journal of your work. The spirit of the blog is to create a living and breathing resume and portfolio of how you think and work."
(page 224) "I still believe that a blog is a canvas that allows you to think, share, and connect with an audience."
(page 228) "Because if you care enough to blog, it means that you have something to say. If you have something to say and you're blogging it, it means that you want to share and connect. Ultimately, the world needs more people like that."
Seth Godin and Tom Peters on Why We Should Blog. This classic video from two great marketing teachers on why blogging matters deserves viewing:
Pages 190 and 193 from The Marketing of You explain the ultimate goal for connecting (online or face-to-face):
(page 190) "There's nothing wrong with asking for help, but you will always see a more positive result if you start by delivering value first---by being valuable to others before asking them for favors. Give abundantly and be helpful."
(page 193) "True influence comes from connecting to individuals, nurturing those relationships, adding real value to other people's lives, and doing anything and everything to serve them, so that when the time comes for you to make a request, there is someone there to lend a hand. Worry less about how many people you are connected to, and worry a whole lot more about who you are connected to---who they are and what you are doing to value and honor them (in their spaces)."
That sounds like a great philosophy towards achieving professional and personal fulfillment.
If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He thinks and writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy in his personal blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
How CONFIDENT are YOU in LANDING a JOB After Graduation?
Low Confidence? Most college students would say things look bleak for finding full-time work after graduating. According to the CNBC article, Job Picture Looks Bleak for 2013, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), plans to hire only 2.1% more graduates from the class of 2013 than from the class of 2012.
A Significant Gap Between Student and Employer Expectations. Furthermore, a recent Business Insider article shares survey results from the academic services company, Chegg describing skills assessments by both college students and potential entry-level employers. In multiple skills areas (especially those relating to writing and critical thinking), college students are overestimating their skill levels and preparedness for business success in the following areas:
57 Resources to Land that First Marketing Job
There's Hope, If You're Willing to Put in the Work. These various resources are categorized to aid recent college graduates who majored in marketing and communications (or current students majoring in these fields) during their full-time job search (or an internship search for current students).
These resources (along with resources from previous posts in this series) can give recent graduates ideas, strategies, and tactics providing a competitive advantage not only in the job search but also in developing several of the requisite skills and knowledge employers say recent graduates lack.
The categories are listed below with a make-shift table of contents:
Resources 2 - 57 are in no particular ranking or order. I included numbers to track the number of items and subsequently group them with some logic.
Plus, having a high number for list-type blog post titles is scientifically proven to attract more readers.
1. FolioMatch.com. FolioMatch.com is the Kansas City-based brainchild of its President and CEO Evan Kirsch. I met Evan during the 2012 UMKC Regnier Family Foundation Venture Creation Challenge. UMKC's Henry W. Bloch School Management honored him as its 2012 Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
Why Evan and FolioMatch.com are Number 1. Evan created this company for an honorable mission and intent: To Put America's Young People To Work by Helping College Graduates Land that Ever-Elusive First Job.
Addressing Unmet Needs. FolioMatch.com fulfills HUGE unmet needs for young people who may have recently graduated, will graduate in Spring 2014, or are current college students seeking internship opportunities while in school:
I Think the World of Evan Kirsch and FolioMatch.com. About a year and a half ago, I remember having lunch with him and listening to him passionately describe what drives him to make FolioMatch.com successful (at the time of our lunch the company was orignially named Folioboy.com):
Evan founded FolioMatch.com because he genuinely believes:
Helping Others is THE HONORABLE WAY to Lead One's Life.
I'm admiringly jealous of his guts to accomplish so much at young age. 20+ years ago, I lacked Evan's unshakeable vision, heart, passion, and resolve. But, I'm working on that (because it's never too late to commit to becoming a remarkable artist).
Here's a video describing FolioMatch.com:
FolioMatch Introduction from FolioMatch Team on Vimeo.
FOLIO MATCH and MO CHALLENGE from FolioMatch Team on Vimeo.
From the Video. "We started FolioMatch to be a one-stop resource for a student to keep track of all the projects they've completed over the years. Since then we have started sponsoring educational challenges so that we could help boost the content of students' portfolios."
Required Full Disclosure / Am I Receiving Any Money / Am I Receiving Any Equity / Am I an Advisory Board Member and other Boilerplate B.S. I Have to Write For Speaking So Highly of Evan and FolioMatch.com. I receive zero, nada, nothing, and any other cliche, etc. in financial compensation for talking up Evan and FolioMatch.com.
I'm writing about Evan/his company because he leads a committed/dedicated tribe who rightfully deserves it. I'm spreading the word about Evan and FolioMatch.com because it's THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
And, that makes me feel good ...
... please spread the word about Evan, his company, and FolioMatch.com's honorable mission.
If you're a college student (or an ambitious high school student), go to the FolioMatch.com site and register.
If you're a parent who's worried your son/daughter who graduates from college in Spring 2014 may face difficulty in this brutal job market (because the odds are he/she will), go to the FolioMatch.com site and register.
If you're a Spring 2013 college graduate and you're still actively looking for that first gig, go to the FolioMatch.com site and register. Learning how to leverage LinkedIn to your advantage during your job search is important. But, it takes more to win an interview slot AND stand out among thousands of applicants.
Common themes running through the resources 2 - 9 are entrepreneurial hustle and creativity. Standing out in an unfavorable economy within an ocean of candidates requires the courage and true grit to aggressively market yourself.
2. Tom Peters / Fast Company: The Brand Called YOU: This August 1997 article is the original classic highlighting the rising importance of personal branding. Mr. Peters was ahead of his time in publishing and describing these timeless career management principles.
3. Seth Godin: Graduate school for unemployed college students
4. Seth Godin and Inc.com: 5 Ways to be Known as a Groundbreaking Thinker
5. Mitch Joel: 8 Ways to Score that Elusive Entry Level Marketing Position
6. Mitch Joel: 20 Best Marketing Books of All Time: Mitch literally posted this article a few days ago. He's often asked what are the best marketing books he recommends studying. If you go to the comments section of his article, you'll see four (4) additional recommendations I suggested. I would also add Six Pixels of Separation and Ctrl Alt Delete to this list (because the author of these classics is a pretty cool dude).
7. David Meerman Scott: Lindsey shows how to market to millenials and how to get a first job: David's blog post describing how Lindsey Kirchoff aggressively and uniquely marketed herself personifies her entrepreneurial hustle an creativity.
Here's a great video David filmed with Lindsey Kirchoff (who started working full-time with HubSpot's Content Creation & Blogging Team in September 2012):
8. David Meerman Scott: Tough love for marketing & PR job seekers
9. David Meerman Scott: 5 ideas for marketing and communications professors' success in the classroom
Bonus. David Meerman Scott -- Inbound Job Search: David published this video on December 2nd. He shares five (5) inspiring stories about people publishing creative and remarkable content to win dream jobs. One of the stories is how his daughter, Allison Meerman Scott, leveraged her personal blog to differentiate herself from thousands of outstanding Columbia University undergraduate applicants to win admission!
No one understands more about personal branding for young people than Dan Schawbel. It's why I literally carved out a "Dan Section" highlighting his work. The man knows what he's talking about so take his advice seriously.
I do. And, even though he's 20 years younger, I believe his teachings apply to any age group or professional experience level. He's the epitome of entrepreneurial hustle
10. Dan Schawbel and Forbes.com: My 10 Best Pieces of Career Advice for Millenials
11. Dan Schawbel: Top 5 Job Search Tips for Millenials
14. Dan Schawbel and Time.com: How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Make Hiring Decisions Now
15. Dan Schawbel and Forbes.com: How Globalization and Social Media has Impacted the US Economy
16. Dan Schawbel: Millenial Branding and Student Employment Gap Study
17. Dan Schwabel and Forbes.com: 5 Reasons Why Your Online Presence Will Replace Your Resume in 10 Years
18. Dan Schawbel and Time.com: The End of the Full-Time Salaried Job
These Mashable articles do a great job in describing the basics AND the things to do to stand out. The common theme here is "put in the work." No magical formulas. Just get to work.
19. Mashable: 35 Surefire Ways to Stand Out During Your Job Search
20. Mashable: How to Nail Your Entry-Level Job Search
Interviewing 101 (and Beyond)
The common theme throughout these articles: Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. Do this and you'll eliminate 50% - 60% of your competition before walking in the room.
21. Fast Company: How to Nail Your Next Phone Interview
22. Lou Adler and LinkedIn Today: Moneyball for Job-seekers: How to Increase Your Interviewing Odds
24. James Caan and LinkedInToday: The 3 Questions People Always Forget to Ask During Job Interviews
25. James Caan and LinkedIn Today: 5 Ways to Avoid Losing Out on that Dream Job
26. Mashable: INFOGRAPHIC -- Top Job Search Mistakes Millenials Make and How to Fix Them
27. Mashable: 6 Job Interview Questions and Answers to Avoid
28. Lea McCleod, M.A.: 5 Big Reasons New College Grads are Failing the Job Search
When it comes to real-time news and responsiveness, there's Twitter and then there's everybody else. Leverage its real-time capabilities to your advantage. Finding out about that open, entry-level position before other candidates is a competitive advantage.
29. Mashable: How a 140-Character Twitter Resume Could Land Your Next Job
30. 20 Twitter Resources for Job Hunters
Talk the Talk Like Seasoned Marketing Pros. The interviewing team will deem you credible only if you "speak their language." Therefore, learn how to speak it. Learn about the movements impacting marketing now (and in the future).
You don't have to memorize vocabulary lists by rote. But, you have to credibly demonstrate your awareness of how marketing, communications, and public relations are constantly changing.
Walk the Walk Like Seasoned Marketing Pros. The following resources provide ideas and suggestions for developing skills in writing, storytelling, and critical thinking. Remember, the Internet turns every moment before, during, and after a job interview into a show-me you're different opportunity -- Take the Initiative and Take the Advantage.
31. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog: You Were Too Embarrassed to Google (But Should Definitely Know)
32. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog
33. HubSpot Academy
34. Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog
35. Content Marketing Institute Blog
36. The Mitch Joel Six Pixels of Separation Podcasts on iTunes (and their free)
38. Copyblogger Blog
39. Darren Rowse: PROBLOGGER Blog
Measurement and Analytics
40. Occam's Razor Blog By Avinash Kaushik
41. The Future Buzz Blog by Adam Singer
45. The MOZ Blog
46. Danny Sullivan's SearchEngineLand.com Blog
47. Forbes: 7 Ways to Make LinkedIn Help You Find a Job
48. Forbes: 5 LinkedIn Strategies You Haven't Thought of Before: the suggestion to use LinkedIn showing you've researched a company's competitors and the point of "sales reinforcement" has powerful applications in a job interview
50. Mashable: Why You Need Several Versions of Your Resume
51. LinkedIn Labs Resume Builder: This handy app transforms your LinkedIn Profile into a PDF resume. Therefore, fill out your LinkedIn profile with as much detail as you can.
52. to 55. LinkedIn Influencers -- My First Job Job Series: If you're getting down on yourself during the process, GO HERE IMMEDIATELY. Everyone had to start out somewhere. That includes some of the world's most influential movers & shakers in every industry.
Don't believe me? Here are some samples how:
My First Job. I started out as an unpaid, summer laboratory tech intern / dishwasher at The Washington University School of Medicine. Luckily for me, the department's head researcher paid me that fall because my boss said I was a good guy.
56. Jonathan Fields -- The Good Life Project: Jonathan is an A-List entrepreneur and a person driven to help others succeed personally and professionally via entrepreneurship. His video interviews are inspiring.
I subscribe to his free podcasts on iTunes and listen to them repeatedly.
Check out this video on overcoming and reframing risk and the fear of failure and judgment. Pure Gold.
57. Video: Best Day of My Life (Dog Version) by American Authors: Trust me, this video will make you feel soooooo good after watching it no matter how bad you feel. And, it's probably why American Authors are my new favorite band and why this song is now my all-time favorite.
This is post five (and the final one) in a series to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships.
Here are the respective links for posts 1 to 4:
If you're a college graduate looking for work, a concerned parent, a worried relative, or a current college student, please let me know in the comments if the content here helped (or if it didn't).
What should be kept on this list? What should be taken off? What resources did I miss? What should be added?
Please help me in continuously improving this page as a helpful resource to others.
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Every year, HubSpot publishes and conducts my two (2) favorite deliverables:
Here are the report and the webinar slides from HubSpot's Inbound Marketing Channel on Slideshare:
A HUGE shout-out and thank you to HubSpot Team Members Mike Volpe, Melissa Miller, and Maggie Georgieva, for a phenemonal webinar presentation last week!
Last year, I published a post on lessons I learned from HubSpot's 2011 State of Inbound Marketing Report. It became one of Social Media ReInvention Blog's most popular 2011 posts.
Blogs Are Not Dead. Long Live Blogs! Every year, we hear about blogging's continuing and expected demise in the social media universe. But, HubSpot's 2011 and 2012 research say otherwise.
Here's a direct quote and Key Conclusion #5 from the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report:
Businesses are increasingly aware their blog is highly valuable. 81% of businesses rated their company blogs as “useful,” “important” or “critical.” An impressive 25% rated their company blog as “critical” to their business.
And, there are more fact-based conclusions in the 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report. Here are seven (7) reasons from HubSpot's data supporting the continuing relevance of blogging.
1. Blogs Are and Remain the Most Important Marketing Channel
59% of Respondents Say Their Blog Is Either "Critical" or "Important" To Their Business. And, 25% say their blog is "Critical" in importance. Mike Volpe pointed out an important way to increase your blog's business effectiveness is to clearly specify the call-to-action (CTA). Remarkable content isn't enough. Clear and specific CTAs converts inbound leads into paying customers.
Blogs Improve Your SEO and Google Rankings. Another competitive advantage of blogs is the content marketing benefits blog deliver:
Read this Social Media Examiner post by Jim Lodico: The Fastest Way to Increase Your Google Ranking. It's a great resource describing why blogging is vital to any business.
2. The Value of Company Blogs Keeps Increasing
Look Who's The #1 Social Media Channel in Terms of Importance. It's Blogs! LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter all ranked in lesser importance. The hub-and-spoke social media strategy model works with a website or your blog as the center. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are short-from outposts guiding customers back to your website or blog (the long-form hub).
Adam Singer says it best: Social Media is More Than Facebook and Twitter.
3. Blogs Have the Lowest Cost-Per-Lead of Any Marketing Channel
52% of Respondents Say blogs are "Below Average" in Cost Per Lead. Blogs are the most cost efficient lead generation channel (inbound or outbound). Not surprisingly, trade shows are considered the most expensive.
Here's a direct quote from the respondent survey:
"The worst thing we did in marketing last year was attend several trade shows and events with low yield and ROI."
4. Blogs are Second Only to LinkedIn In Acquiring Customers
57% of Respondents Say Their Company Blog Acquired Customers. LinkedIn ranked first in customer acquistion. 62% of respondents validated its effectiveness. Interesting how "the two least sexy social media channels" ranked first and second respectively.
And, Speaking of Social Media Sexy - Blogs and LinkedIn Outdistanced Facebook and Twitter in Customer Acquisition. Don't believe the hype that long form content is dead. Or, consumer attention spans last only 140 characters or less.
Competitive advantage in converting leads to real customers doesn't have to be sexy and flashy. Blogs and social media are all part of the inbound marketing process called "closed-loop marketing."
But, making money by acquiring customers is sexy.
5. More Blog Posts Means More Customers
HubSpot's 2012 Data Shows a Direct Correlation Between Post Frequency and Customer Acquisition. At a minimum, post at least once-per-week. But, increasing post frequency from weekly to twice per month provides significant benefits:
Be SEO-Smart with your Blog Posts. Neil Patel recently published a must-read blog post in The Daily SEO Blog describing 12 Things That Will Kill Your Blog Post Everytime. Ignore these principles at your peril.
6. Blogs Are Consistently Effective for Either B2B or B2C Companies
At a Minimum, Your Social Media Strategy MUST Include a Blog. The data shows blogs rank second in customer acquisition for either B2B or B2C companies. Number 1 for customer acquisition depended on business-type:
A Killer Social Media Strategy Incorporates at Least Three Customer Acquisition Platforms. The companies succeeding in social media are the ones who view these channels as customer acquisition weapons. Based on this data, a three-channel approach geared to customer acquistion by business-type would look like the following:
7. Blogs Level the Playing Field for Small Companies
Small Companies Allocate Almost 4x the Marketing Budget to Blogs Versus Large Companies. Social media or inbound marketing channels are where small companies invest their marketing budget (i.e., social, SEO or organic search, and blogs). Large companies prefer outbound channels (i.e., trade shows, PPC or paid search, or direct mail).
This data isn't surprising especially in light of Seth Godin's explanation of "mass" consumerism and marketing in his book, We Are All Weird. Increasingly, companies pursue one of two strategies:
If you're a small company, your products or services are probably part of the niche market place. Use your blog as competitive advantage in the long tail of search.
Closing Thoughts
Please let me know with your comments!
Last week, I purchased/studied in Kindle format David Meerman Scott's latest book: Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas Into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage.
Newsjacking reinforces and expands the content from David's most recent book, Real Time Marketing and PR: How To Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Creat Products That Grow Your Business Now. Here's my review of Real Time Marketing and PR in this blog.
Bottom Line: I highly recommend studying Newsjacking. It's informative, quick-to-read, and filled with insightful how-to-examples. In fact, both books are required reading for any marketing/PR executive, business owner, or brand manager who wants to capitalize on media opportunities generated by the real-time Web.
1. Clever Newsjacking Generates Media Bonanza Opportunities
And, We All Can Do It! David defines "newsjacking" as publishing your personal angle, ideas, or perspective into a breaking news story / event to earn media coverage for your company, brand, or products / services.
Help Journalists Write Their Second Paragraphs. When hot news strikes, journalists scour the Internet via search engines (i.e., Google) and social media (i.e., Twitter, blogs, etc.). Why? They're seeking additional content (e.g., details, opinions, etc.) that can differentiate the point-of-view in their individual news stories.
That differentiating point-of-view or compelling content is the "second paragraph." Journalists seek second paragraph material that:
Credible Second Paragraphs Can Earn Massive Media Attention. Be fast, use targeted keywords, and provide valuable context in your Tweets and blog posts so journalists can find your contribution to a story with Google searches. Quickly writing an informative blog post and shrewdly publicizing it with Twitter may take an hour or less.
And, the impact can be huge:
"With a single hour's work many people manage to generate more media attention than a whole year's return on a substantial PR budget."
"I've been a marketer for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking."
2. Newsjacking Favors Faster, Smaller Players
Real-Time Speed is a Newsjacker's Bread and Butter. Speed, decisiveness, and execution drive successful newsjacking. And, you must respond within the hour of a breaking news story. That's why fast movers are great newsjackers.
David Can Trump Goliath. Plus, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors. The Fortune 500 has the same opportunity to successfully newsjack as any other organization or individual. But, their corporate hierarchies and approval processes are handicaps.
Therefore, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors:
"What's abundantly true is that newsjacking is easier for nimbler players than its is for the lumbering giants of the corporate world."
"To successfully newsjack or fend off a newsjack, you can't wait for approval. You just have to do it."
Newsjacking Lives and Dies by Speed. The graphic below describes the newsjacking process. Notice how speed drives the entire newsjacking process:
3. Chapter 6 - Ka-Ching: CEO Bags a Cool Million with a Single Blog Post
A Classic, Must-Read Newsjacking Blog Post. Joe Payne is the CEO of Eloqua, a company specializing in marketing-automation. When he learned and verified Oracle entered his industry space, he quickly wrote this blog post: Oracle Joins The Party.
There are multiple reasons why this blog post and the surrounding circumstances make it a classic, newsjacking case study:
Payne's Blog Post Earned Major Media Attention, Credibility, and $1 Million. When industry analysts and journalists searched Google for news about Oracle, they found Payne's content-rich blog post. And, they quoted it verbatim.
In the following examples, I attached the hyperlink to the actual media coverage if the page still exists:
The aforementioned media coverage (and other coverage) increased Eloqua's credibility. In addition, Payne and his team combined the blog post's media coverage with immediate, next-morning business development follow-up. These combined activities brought Eloqua software deals worth $1 million in new revenue among six (6) new clients.
That's a great outcome especially without the luxury of a multiple phase PR campaign or massive advertising budget.
4. Chapter 7: Become the Go-To Gal (or Guy) in Your Industry
Blogs Are Powerful Newsjacking Assets. Long form content achieves four (4) things:
Here's a direct quote from David: "If a blog develops a reputation for serving up informed, insightful, authoritative, articulate, quotable and timely commentary on issues in your industry, journalists will learn to seek you out when issues arise."
Knowing Your Issues / Topics Cold Leads to Long Term Credibility. Newsjack the issues and topics in which you are well-informed. That knowledge will make your newsjacking perspective valuable, credible, and authoritative.
Long term credibility is vital in building an authoritative reputation and relationships with journalists. Even more importantly, that credibility and reputation dictates why journalists may or may not seek your input in future news stories.
Why Amdocs and Jeff Barak Are Telecommunications Billing and Customer Care Industry Authorities. In Chapter 7, David describes how Amdocs and Jeff Barak used their company blog to comment on regulatory changes in their industry. Barak wrote this blog post, No Need to Be Bill Shocked, while the FCC conducted meetings in late 2010 to discuss legislation about bill shock.
Journalists searched Google for the latest news about this FCC legislation and found Barak's blog post. His post earned coverage from industry publications (like this one from Penton Media's Connected Planet blog post -- Not Being Shocked by Bill Shock).
5. Learn from Newsjacking Mistakes: The Golden Rules
The Kenneth Cole Twitter Blunder. Remember, this infamous tweet from Kenneth Cole during the 2011 Egyptian Revolution:
To prevent a social media blunder like this occurring at your organization, David provides these newsjacking objectives and guidelines:
The Golden Rule Objective (Direct Quote). "When intervening in a news story you should add value - information or insight that contributes to the public's understanding of the situation."
The Four (4) Golden Rules. Kenneth Cole didn't have the benefit of David's advice before sending out that tweet. We now have that luxury:
* Be dignified and statesmanlike. See the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Be positive and upbeat, never mean or vindictive. Again, see the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Write articulate text in full sentences without chatty slang, industry jargon, corporate-speak (i.e., mission-critical or cutting-edge) or social media shorthand (e.g., IMHO)
* Don't get too cute or clever -- especially where human suffering is involved. See aforementioned Kenneth Cole tweet
6. Newsjackers Monitor News 24/7 Via RSS Feeds
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds Are a Newsjacker's BFF. David describes how setting up RSS feeds to your favorite news sources, analysts, industry publications, and blogs enables real-time news monitoring. And, staying abreast of leading news events gives you the competitive advantage to respond fast. David mentions these RSS services in his book:
Fast Responders Earn Attention. Here's a how-to video I made two years ago on using RSS (e.g., your iGoogle Home Pages) to monitor postings of your favorite blogs to increase your chances of being an early commenter on new posts. Why? Early commenters earn the author's attention (especially if you're the first commenter).
The same principle applies when monitoring news sources in real-time and responding quickly to capitalize on a newsjacking opportunity:
7. Learn How to Maximize Twitter's Real-Time Capabilities
A Newsjacker' Must-Have Weapon For Monitoring News Flow. Twitter's real-time capabilities make it the ultimate rapid response, news monitoring tool. You can find great second paragraph content and breaking news stories by:
A Powerful Fast Response Distribution Channel. When it comes to publicizing and "pushing out" newsjacking blog posts quickly, Twitter rules. Remember, journalists search Twitter to find differentiating second paragraph content.
Use Twitter Hashtags (#). Therfore, include hashtags (the pound key - #) in your tweets to mark them with the unique identifier about a particular subject (i.e., #Cairo). Remember, the hashtag, makes it easier for journalists to instantly locate in Twitter all references to a particular topic. Plus, tweets with hashtags are curated in reverse chronological order (i.e., most recent first).
Twitter Can Help You Directly Contact a Journalist. Most journalists provide or publish their Twitter ID (i.e.@firstnamelastname). Verify their Twitter ID with a quick Google search. Then, include his/her Twitter ID in your tweet so you can directly point him/her to your blog post.
Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist. He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention. Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.
Inbound Marketing Certified Professional and Author, Social Media ReInvention Blog
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