Posts Tagged elevator pitch
Posted on November 10, 2009 by Miller
Hopefully Pt 1. of my Social Media Elevator Pitch was useful to you guys. Now, on to part 2. Here are 9 blogs that I check out daily that get me excited and teach me something new every day about online marketing, business, and how it works (or doesn’t) with Social Media. There are hundreds of great reads out there, but I wanted to focus on a few names that provide digestible, actionable content and also say thanks. These are people who have taken the time to care, to answer my questions and who have engaged with me as a newbie.
Don’t stop here. Ask around. Remember this is an elevator pitch. What are YOUR favorite sites for Social Media and blogging content? I wan to know. Please list them in the comments.
Recommended Reading (put these in your Google Reader):
Chris Brogan - www.chrisbrogan.com - One of the best resources for people who are participating and getting into social media. Tons of great posts, usually daily. Chris is super-accessible and lives for connecting people
Seth’s Blog - www.sethgodin.typepad.com - Seth is probably the smartest marketer I’ve ever heard. Period. Great bite-sized content everyday.
Gary Vaynerchuk - www.garyvaynerchuk.com -While I’m a huge fan of WineLibrary, Gary’s personal blog has some great info on business, Social Media and building your personal brand.
The Marketess - www.themarketess.com - Posts that are quick and to the point about marketing, social media and what it means for business. Written by the awesome KristaNeher.
The Viral Garden - www.moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com - Mack is always insightful when it comes to online marketing and has a lot of good how-to posts or ‘5 Steps To…’ posts.
PR Squared - www.todddefren.com - Todd Defren comes to social from more of an agency perspective but has been a great resource for me as I learn how businesses and organizations should be using Social Media.
Social Media Land - www.socialmedialand.net - Katie V provides some great insights on different SM tools and case studies to back up what she’s saying. She works for a kick-ass agency in AZ as a content manager and SM guru.
Beth’s Blog - www.beth.typepad.com - Beth is one of the best bloggers around when it comes to harnessing the power of online marketing and Social Media for non-profits.
Mashable - www.mashable.com - Great news site on all things tech and social. Consistently well-written articles that mix the latest news with some blog worthy and offbeat stories from around the web.
That’s just a handful of the blogs I check out daily. But the peeps above continuously put out great content, are accessible, and in my opinion have some of the best blogs out on the net. I know I’m missing a ton, but that will have to wait for another post. Maybe I’ll make a Best Blog series. So tell me, what does YOUR daily reading consist of? Leave a comment below!
Posted on November 4, 2009 by Miller
image by Joe Penniston
A friend of mine e-mailed me the other day who is interested in shifting careers into something that is more marketing-oriented and she recognized that she needs to get involved and understand Social Media to be a contender in the job market out there. She asked for a quick primer on what to do after you’ve started setting up your accounts. That seems to be a question that tons of people have.
“I’ve got a Twitter Account and a Facebook Account…NOW WHAT?” So this will be a two part blog. By NO MEANS is this meant to be a manifesto on Social Media (you want a manifesto? Pick up a copy of Trust Agents. Instead, it’s more like if I only had 5 minutes to explain how to really engage and participate in Social Media - what would I tell you? Here’s part 1
Materials? Glad you asked. Get a FB account, (check), Twitter Account, LinkedIn account, Google Account,and we’ll use Google Reader to aggregate all these news feeds into one place and it will update automatically so you don’t need to keep jumping around the web.
But before I get to the reading list here are a few best practices that I really believe in.
1 - Get a blog. Pick a Topic and write. Even if it’s something as simple as a Posterous or Wordpress account. Having a blog is kind of like home base for showing your chops. I think if you’re looking for a job that involves higher ed admissions (just for an example), one of the biggest assets you can have in an interview is to be able to point to your blog that you’ve been keeping for a year where you’re writing weekly or bi-weekly on that topic, lending expertise and becoming an expert. It shows you’re eating sleeping and breathing this stuff. Even if that blog is based around commenting on articles from other people’s blogs or publications (linking to them of course). It ill help you network and find your writing voice which is important in any job that involves marketing.
2 - Comment. Find other blogs about the areas you’re excited about. If you can add useful info into to a post or have a question - leave a comment (with a link back to your blog or twitter account). You’ll be surprised at how fast you’ll build a network and become part of those online communities.
3 - Twitter Search is your Friend. Hit up search.twitter.com and type in keywords for your topic of choice. You’ll get real-time results and see what people are saying about ‘admissions’ or ‘online marketing’ (though that’ll probably involve lots of junk), ‘dog grooming’ or ‘jet engines.’ You’ll have to weed through the crap but you’ll find some great stuff there. Follow these people and again, if you can add something to their conversation or a helpful link, don’t be afraid to engage with them.
4 - Promote Others. Chris Brogan has a rule that you should promote other people’s blogs 10x as much as your own. It’s a good rule. You learn more, you help people, and you’ll make friends faster than just posting out stuff that you’re writing (I’m guilty of not following this rule as much as I should… It’s something I’ll always be working on)
5 - Leverage LinkedIn. Definitely try to grow your LinkedIn network. Join groups, answer and ask questions, complete your profile, and dont’ be afraid of connecting with people who are the big dogs in your industry. You’ll find that many of them are very willing to talk or lend advice. If possible, use the ‘get introduced’ feature. It’s more personal.
Appendix 1: I wrote a post a while back called “10 Ways to Be Useful on Twitter” - You may find that helpful as well.
TOMORROW- Part II: 10 Recommended Blogs from awesome peeps that care and who will help you engage in the Social Media sphere.
Posted on April 6, 2009 by Miller
photo by Marco Wessel
I’m very excited to participate in ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. Each day, I’ll have teaching and theory as well as a challenge - whether that’s a specific kind of blog post or plugin, or social media component. And theoretically, after 31 days hopefully I’ll be pumping out more quality content and be more engaging than I currently am.
So today’s first challenge was to write an elevator pitch. An elevator pitch, according to Wikipedia, is - “an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride.”
So what’s my digital mission? I know that what I want you guys to take from my posts is some knowledge how to play in the social media sphere. How to contribute to conversations (I like to use #beuseful on some of my stuff on Twitter). How to engage your community, and participate in larger ones.
And I know - there’s a ton of people out there that want to tell you how to do that. Maybe they’re ‘experts’ or just have been in the game longer than I have. But that’s not the point. I’m still learning. You’ll hear what I’m doing - what works and what doesn’t - as I navigate this space.
That’s my mission anyway. So, here’s a couple of elevator pitches.
“Be Useful. Engage Others, and Earn Friends through Social Media.”
“Social Media Trial By Fire”
“My Journal as I navigate the Social Media Sphere by Being Useful and Building Community.”
What do you guys think? Care to leave a comment. I’m curious as to what your interpretations of this blog project are. Thanks for reading.
