Category Archives: Blogs

Posted on

57 Resources to Help College Graduates Land that First Marketing Job

by

 

The Number 57

57 Resources to Help College Graduates Land that First Marketing Job

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:

  • Writing to summarize results and convey information
  • Writing to communicate ideas or explain informaton clearly
  • Incorporating information to develop strategic insights


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:

  • Resource 1: Your Online Portfolio, Evan Kirsch and FolioMatch.com
  • Resources 2 – 9: Resources / Ideas from Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, and David Meerman Scott
  • Resources 10 – 18: Career Success Ideas from Dan Schawbel for Young People and Millenials  
  • Resources 19 – 20: Job Search 101
  • Resources 21 – 28: Interviewing 101 (and Beyond)
  • Resources 29 – 30: Using Twitter's Real-Time Capabilities to Power Your Job Search
  • Resources 31 – 46: 21st Century Marketing and Communications: Walk-the-Walk and Talk-the-Talk
  • Resources 47 – 49: LinkedIn
  • Resources 50 – 51: Preparing Your Resume
  • Resources 52 – 57: Inspiration on Demand

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.

 

Start Here — Number 1: Your Online Portfolio, Evan Kirsch and FolioMatch.com

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:

  • Providing a living/breathing, on-demand online portfolio capturing all relevant projects, class assigments, internship deliverables / work products, accomplishments, awards, etc. throughout a college student's four-year college career
  • Devoting a career-focused, portfolio-centric, social network for a narrow audience (college students AND ambitious high school students)

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):  

  • It isn't money
  • It isn't glory
  • It isn't fame

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.

Here's a video Evan and FolioMatch.com created to inspire talented, hungry, and go-getter millenials to embrace their call-to-action to create something remarkable via entrepreneurship:

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.

 

Resources / Ideas from the Best Marketing and Communications Teachers:  Tom Peters, Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, and David Meerman Scott

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!

 

Dan Schawbel: Have the Courage to Promote Yourself (Because It's a Good Thing)


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

12. Dan Schawbel and Time.com: Somebody's Gotta Get Hired, Right? 6 Tips to Help New Grads Land Job Offers  

13. Mitch Joel and Dan Schawbel (from Six Pixels of Separation – The Podcast): SPOS #379 — Dan Schawbel Wants You to Promote Yourself  

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

 

Job Search 101

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

23. Lou Adler and LinkedIn Today: Five Things You Must Not Do in an Interview and Five Things You Must Not

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

 

Creative Ways to Use Twitter in Your 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

 

21st Century Marketing, Communications, and Public Relations Knowledge

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.

21st Century Marketing and Communications Fundamentals Bootcamp


31. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog: You Were Too Embarrassed to Google (But Should Definitely Know)

32. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog

33. HubSpot Academy 

Content Marketing

34. Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog

35. Content Marketing Institute Blog


Online, Digital, eCommerce Future Trends and Patterns

36. The Mitch Joel Six Pixels of Separation Podcasts on iTunes (and their free)

37. eMarketer Articles

Blogging

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

42. Google Analytics Blog

43. Google Analytics Academy

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

44. Rand Fishkin's MOZ Blog

45. The MOZ Blog

46. Danny Sullivan's SearchEngineLand.com Blog

 

LinkedIn

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

49. Lou Adler and LinkedIn Today: Networking Rules for Job Seekers — The Good, The Bad, and The Almost Perfect

Preparing Your Resume 

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. 

Inspiration On Demand 

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.

 

 

Closing Thoughts

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:

Your Turn

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+. 

Photo Credit by STV Photos via flickr

Related articles
Part One: 4 Gurus with Books Helping New College Graduates Build a Professional Online Presence
Part Two: 4 More Gurus and Their Books Helping Marketing and Communications Graduates Land that First Job
Encouragement to UMKC's Inspiring Student Entrepreneurs in the Regnier Family Foundation 2012 Venture Creation Challenge
63% of Recent Grads Say They Need More Training to Get the Job They Want
New College Graduates Think They're Much Better Hires Than They Really Are
Recruiter Confidential Announces In-Depth Job Search and Interview Training for Recent College Graduates
Posted on

Part One: 4 Gurus with Books Helping New College Graduates Build a Professional Online Presence

by

 

Big Banner Asking What Are You Reading?

What Books Are You Reading to Land a Job After College?

 

How Confident are You in Finding a Job After Graduation?  


There are no guarantees of employment for new college graduates or current students in today's brutal economy.  A college diploma is now a minimum requirement.  This November 2011 New York Times direct quote describes the current situation:


"A bachelor's degree on its own no longer conveys intelligence or capability." 

A Professional Online Presence Provides Differentiation Among a Sea of College Graduates

A Resume and Diploma are NOT Enough.  Recent graduates (and current undergraduates) need more to catch a company recruiter's attention.  LinkedIn Grad Guide Video #2: Building Your Professional Brand revolves around this concept.   Here's a key fact about how company recruiters now evaluate future employees (particularly college graduates and current students):


"It's no longer enough to simply have a resume. Students now need a professional  online presence."    – Holly Paul, former US Recruiting Leader, PriceWaterHouse Coopers (now Chief Human Resources Officer, Vocus).

 
Do You have a Professional Online Presence?   Is Your Professional Online Presence Differentiating?  If you said no to either of these questions, I hope you'll continue reading a little longer.  Developing a professional brand / presence requires work, time, patience, and discipline.  If you make the commitment, this investment increases the probability a company recruiter (or your first boss) will:

  1. Find you online
  2. Select you for that crucial first interview  

Seeking a Job in Marketing, Public Relations, or Communications?  Majoring in these Fields)?  If you nodded "yes," the authors / books described in this two-part post are MUST READ content.  These gurus are driving the future landscape of digital marketing, public relations, and communications.  

Note: I am not an Amazon Affiliate Program Member.  I tremendously respect the following authors because of their invaluable guidance in developing a professional online presence.

Turn Your Non-Working Time Into a Competitive Advantage

Read. Read. Read.  The following suggested authors / books are not "cookie cutter" or "10 easy steps on how-to land your first job out of college / summer internship in a lousy economy" resources.  

These authors share creative ideas to show a potential employer "you're more than a resume and the grades on a college transcript".  Their teachings provide suggestions in maximizing the Internet's global reach and leveraging search engines to your advantage.
 
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Hoffmanreid_thestartupofyou

Read The Start-Up of YOU First.  

Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha wrote The Start-Up of You with the following principles in mind:  

1. You were born an entrepreneur.

2. Succeding professionally in today's economy means people of all ages need to adopt the same strategies of successful entrepreneurs.  

Why?  Successful entrepreneurs excel at:

  • Adapting all the time (e.g., permanent beta and pivoting)
  • Dealing with uncertainty and information gaps
  • Understanding their competitive advantage(s) (plus identifying quickly what is not)
  • Building and nurturing lifelong networks and relationships (both personal and professional)
  • Asking their lifelong networks and relationships for advice when confronting problems
  • Managing risks intelligently

Why The Start-Up of YOU Matters

So what does entrepreneurship have to do with building a professional presence (and ultimately in landing that first job out of college)?  Here are some direct quotes referencing Ronald Brownstein's NationalJournal.com article, "Children of the Great Recession:"

"For the last sixty or so years, the job market for educated workers worked like an escalator.  So long as you played nice and well, you moved steadily up the escalator, and each step brought with it more power, income, and job security."

"But now the escalator is jammed at every level.  Many young people even the most highly educated, are stuck at the bottom, underemployed, or jobless."

The Start-Up of YOU's principles describe the entrepreneurial strategies and career tactics traditional liberal arts undergraduate classes overlook.  Understanding and applying these entrepreneurial strategies and career tactics can guide you in the current job market.  

I published a series on The Start-Up of YOU when the book rolled out last year.  The second post, Start-Up of YOU Book Review, Part 2: Five Game Changers in Career Competitive Advantage highlights several key takeaways.   

Here are a few more helpful links to The Start-Up of YOU Resources Page to get started:

If you have difficulty with these links, please email me at tony[dot]faustino[at]gmail[dot]com, and I'll send you the PDFs.

The Start-Up of YOU Resources Page also contains this SlideShare presentation: Start-Up of YOU Visual Summary:

  

Dan Schawbel

Me 2.0 CoverDan Schawbel wrote Me 2.0 and Promote Yourself.  The New York Post selected Me 2.0 as 2009's Number 1 career book.  Promote Yourself (his latest book) is a current New York Times bestseller.  Dan's also the Managing Partner of Millenial Branding, a Gen Y research and consulting firm.  He is the personal branding authority for millenials.

Great Insights Relevant to All Professional Ages.  In my opinion, Dan's professional branding teachings apply to ALL professionals and job seekers.  I studied the 2009 first edition in my early-forties. 


Why Me 2.0 Matters  

Me 2.0 provides easy-to-understand suggestions for creating a professional brand online by:

  • Evaluating blog hosting options (if I could go back, I would select WordPress)
  • Starting, writing, and marketing a personal blog 
  • Participating wisely in social networks
  • Developing relationships with influential bloggers in your targeted industries
  • Understanding search engine optimization's (SEO) impact on your professional career

Dan published this free PDF presentation, Blogging Your Brand: A Complete Guide to Your Success, to support the book's launch.  It's a great primer for seriously publishing a personal blog and creating a professional brand.

Stay tuned for a future review of Promote Yourself (it's on my reading to-do list).  Here's Dan's blog post, Promote Yourself Excerpt – Chapter 10: Start Your Own Business While on the Job, if you'd like to learn more.
 


Mitch Joel

Six Pixels CoverI am a HUGE Mitch Joel Fan.  Mitch is President of Twist Image – one of the largest independent Digital Marketing Agencies in North America. When Google educates the top global brands about digital marketing, they call Mitch to speak at the Googleplex.

Why Six Pixels of Separation Matters


Chapter 7: You Are Media and Chapter 10: From Mass Media to "Me" Media.  These Six Pixels of Separation chapters, along with Tom Peters' classic Fast Company article, The Brand Called YOU, explain best why cultivating a professional online presence should be a career priority.

Key content generously shared in these chapters include: 

  • A Personal Brand Questionnaire (for evaluating your personal brand and how well you are digitally communicating it)
  • The Essential Components in Building a 3D Personal Brand: Giving Abundantly, Helping Others, and Building Relationships
  • A Personal Brand Audit of Online Tools (such as a personal blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Search, and Google Alerts)
  • Building and Targeting a Niche for Your Professional Online Presence

A Bonafide Visionary.  Here's a direct quote from Mitch Joel in Six Pixels of Separation "predicting" why a professional online presence matters more than ever for new college graduates (this was in 2009).  

Mitch framed his insight within the context of the following quote cited in Six Pixels of Separation from Michael S. Malone's May 2008 Wall Street Journal article, "The Next American Frontier:"

 "The most compelling statistic of all?  Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job.  Today, 80% of the colleges and universities in the U.S. now offer courses on entrepreneurship; 60% of Gen Y business owners consider themselves to be serial entrepreneurs, according to Inc. magazine.  Tellingly, 18 to 24-year-olds are starting companies at a faster rate than 35 to 44-year-olds.  And 70% of today's high schoolers intend to start their own company, according to a Gallup poll."

(from Mitch a few paragraphs later):  

"Here's what he's really saying (e.g., Mr. Malone): Without noticing it, we have once again discovered, and then raced off to settle, a new frontier. Not land, not innovation, but ourselves and a growing control over our own lives and careers.

Mitch Joel's Latest Book is Ctrl Alt Delete.  My biggest personal mistakes/regrets in understanding and building a professional online presence are:

  1. Not publishing this personal blog at least 10 years earlier.
  2. Not reading Six Pixels of Separation upon its initial release.

Mitch recently published Ctrl Alt Delete.  I'm studying it now (and I love it).  The lifelong career advice is invaluable.  To preview Ctrl Alt Delete, please watch this thoughtful conversation between Jonathan Fields and the humble maestro: 


 

Closing Thoughts

This concludes post three on helping recent college graduates and current undergraduates build a professonal online presence.  I hope you'll return for post four (e.g., Part 2) sharing six (6) more authors and their respective books.  Post 4 should be published in two weeks. 

Your Turn: Have you read any of these books?  If so, how useful do you think they are to recent college graduates and current undergraduates.  Are there other books you think would be helpful? Please let me know in the comments.


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+.  

 

Note: This is post three in a series sharing resources to help new college graduates and current students land full-time jobs or internships.  If interested, here are links to other posts in this series:

 



Photo Credit: by Pop Culture Geek via flickr

Related articles
Start-Up of You Book Review, Part 4: A Note to the Critics
Part 1: 10 Reasons on Why Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear
LinkedIn's Grad Guide Videos: 13 Pearls to Help Recent College Graduates Find Jobs
Start-Up of You Book Review, Part 3: Five Smart People In A Special LinkedIn Community
Should College Graduates and Current Undergraduates Learn LinkedIn?
Part Two: 4 More Gurus and Their Books Helping Marketing and Communications Graduates Land that First Job
Posted on

2012 Fortune 500 Companies Increase Use of Corporate Blogging

by

Blogging Wordle

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research annually publishes two of my favorite social media industry reports:

Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D. and her team do a phenomenal job in publishing this annual content. I often refer to their website for their social media research.

The January 2012 Inc. 500 report showed how 37% of these companies published blogs in 2011. This represented a 13% decrease in Inc. 500 company blogs from 2010's figure of 50%.

2011 Inc 500 Blogging Use
Naturally, the blogosphere weighed in on whether or not this decrease represented blogging's declining relevance as a social platform.

But Blogging Isn't Dying, Especially Among The Fortune 500

Fortune 500 Corporate Blogging Increased in 2012.

28% of the Fortune 500 (e.g. 139 companies) published a corporate blog in 2012. That percentage marked the largest increase in blogging since 2008:

Fortune 500 Blogs 2008 - 2012
Telecommunications, commercial banks, utilities, and specialty retailers are the leading users of blogs among Fortune 500 companies. The industry breakdown for use of corporate blogs in the Fortune 500 is portrayed in the table below:

Fortune 500 Industries Blogging in 2012


The Higher Ranked Fortune 500 Companies Blog

The Top 200 Publish Blogs More Than The Bottom 200.

Since this study's inception in 2008, it looks like Fortune 500 rank influences blogging adoption. 54% of all Fortune 500 corporate blogs are published by the top 200 firms. 28% of the Fortune 500 blogs come from the firms ranked 300 – 500.

Here's an important direct quote from the study:

"With more than half of all F500 blogs coming from the top 200 corporations, rank continues to be a factor in the use of this tool."

Fortune 500 Companies Who Blog Well Take Comments

90% of the 2012 Fortune 500 Companies Allow Reader Comments.

This percentage actually surprised me. The study said these 90 percenters also have RSS feeds and take email subscriptions. Really! I'll have to check this out.

Perhaps, I'm a little jaded or cynical in there's that level of interactivity in America's 500 largest companies.


Conclusion

The findings from this study imply how "bigger is better" in implementing and maintaining corporate blogs.  According to information from Jeremiah Owyang and his Altimeter Group colleagues, organizations with 1000 employees or more have corporate social media staffs averaging around 11 team members.

Maintaining blog content and audience interaction takes a lot of time. And, the time constraints or resources needed for maintaining a blog or other social media-related activities are a never-ending challenge for small to medium sized businesses.

Your Turn: What do you think about Fortune 500 companies participating in social media with corporate blogs?  Is blogging a smart move for Fortune 500 companies?  Let me know your take in the comments.

 

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+.   

 

Link to Photo Credit by Kristina B via flickr

 

Related articles
Part 1: 10 Reasons on Why Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear
If You're An Over-50 Worker, Are You Too Old For Personal Branding?
STUDY: How Fortune 500 Companies Use Instagram
Fortune 500 are bullish on blogs : Study says
The Fortune 500 CEOs Social Media Score Card (Infographic)
CEOs Avoiding Social Media Are Missing Out | Domo | Blog
Posted on

The State of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2012 Shows Blogging Is Not Dead

by

Blog On

Rand Fishkin (CEO of SEOmoz) and Dharmesh Shah (CTO of HubSpot) gave a great presentation this past Monday titled: The State of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2012. The presentation is filled with numerous insights and tips from both speakers.

Here's a copy of the slides:


If you missed the webinar, here's a link to the on-demand recording from the HubSpot website.  You can also get an additional look at the data from this SEOmoz post: The 2012 SEO Industry Survey.    
Blogging Is Relevant to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The data shows blogging is still an important SEO tactic according to the 6,491+ global respondents participating in the survey.  This news contradicts an ongoing theme that blogging is losing relevance relative to other online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn (particularly among the Inc. 500).  
On slide 10, almost 90+% of the respondents reported that individual marketers or their teams work on writing / blogging:

The State of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2012 Pic 1

Slides 14 and 15 described "What Tactics Do Marketers Employ."  Of the 26 tactics measured, respondents cited these SEO tactics as the most employed:
  1. Social: Set up / ran a Facebook business profile
  2. Analytics: Analyzed / tracked site speed and page-load times
  3. Competitive: Analyzed competitors' back links
  4. Competiitive: Analyzed competitors' content
  5. Content: Started a new blog or invested heavily in blogging



The State of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2012 Pic 3

Blog Posts Are The Number One Type of Inbound Marketing Content Produced
On slide 15, "blog posts" received the highest % of responses as the type of inbound marketing content produced.  Social media (e.g., tweets, statuses, etc.) ranked second:

The State of SEO and Internet Marketing in 2012 Pic 2

Blogging Isn't Dead (Especially If You Love Writing)
Mitch Joel states it best (from his post, What's Next? It's You):
"We've come to a place where those who were never going to stick it out with blogging for the long haul are busy on Twitter and Facebook, where they can share without the burden of having a passion for writing. So, in the end, maybe what's new for blogging is a place where the real bloggers step in and create a new type of copy for the world to consume. A place where more and more creative thinkers get to tinker with words in new and interesting ways. It's a place where you (and everyone else who wants to write and have a voice) gets to be free to try it out and see what kind of audience their words, images and even video connects with. Blogging – as a platform – may never have anything new to show for itself. Blogging – as a creative white space – is still in its early days."

 

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+.   

 

 Link to Photo Credit: by futureshape via flickr

Related articles
Blog Because You Have Something to Say (Not SEO)
Part One: 4 Gurus with Books Helping New College Graduates Build a Professional Online Presence
Top 5 SEO and Internet Marketing Blogs you must follow to get professional Updates
Internet Marketing Ninjas' Chris Boggs Explains Reactive SEO
5 Things You Should Be Doing to Strengthen Your SEO
Internet Marketing Ninjas and Their Value to SEO
Posted on

Blog Because You Have Something to Say (Not SEO)

by

Heart in Coffee Cup

I've shared articles about about the online benefits of blogging (i.e., search engine optimization / SEO, inbound links, increasing number of indexed pages, improving Google search engine rankings). 

But, the real reason I love blogging is because I love writing.  Freedom in blogging inspires and informs my creativity (unlike any other hobby or passion).  I didn't understand its importance in my personal life until I stopped blogging for a brief time.  

That's why I stuck with the blogging and writing process for close to three (3) years.  It's why I do it for free.

Mitch Joel published this inspiring article: This Blog Sucks (And You're Probably Not Reading This).  It's one of Mitch's many responses to the pundits claiming blogging is dead (and is no longer relevant).

The Business of Blogging.  He describes many business-related reasons why individuals or agencies choose to publish a blog. Here are some:

  • Attracting clients
  • Search engine optimization benefits
  • Sharing links and advice

The Love of Blogging.  But, if you want to publish for the long haul, Mitch lists nine (9) reasons to pursue blogging.  Here are some of the "real" reasons described:

  • Because you love to write
  • Because you have to write
  • Because if you had more time, you would write even more
  • Because you have something to say

Mitch's advice comes from his almost decade-long experiences in blogging and writing.  

It's the right mindset for long term success and commitment in self-publishing a personal blog.  Those four (4) reasons capture why I become frustrated when I can't invest the time in writing.

Otherwise, why do it? 

I'm so happy Memorial Day Weekend is finally here.  Time to get back to writing ….

 

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+.   

Posted on

3 More Lessons In Writing and Blogging From Fast Company’s Leadership Hall of Fame

by

Eraser and Pencil

When Hugh Macleod launched his latest book: Freedom is Blogging in Your Underwear, I counted the days till Amazon delivered it.  Hugh's love letter to blogging describes:

Similar to how "writing for yourself" addresesses blogging self-sabotage, experimentation, the writing process, and writing's iterative nature are also important.

1. Experimentation Drives Improvements In Writing

A personal blog is an adult's sandbox for experimentation, learning, and sharing. William C. Taylor, author of Practically Radical and co-founder of Fast Company magazine shared these thoughts about writing:

"The third thing I did differently with this book, which I guess is not so different anymore, is that I used blogging and other social media to experiment with my ideas before I commited them to a book."

"For a writer, what's great about the Web is that it allows you to experiment with language, to tell stories, to tease out lessons, and to see quickly what material strikes a chord with readers, what really engages them."

Listen and Learn.  If the audience doesn't respond, you received a gift.  The readers taught you something valuable (just keep looking).  If they responded with criticism, open your mind and listen. 

Record the learnings in your idea notebook (so you can these lessons in your next blog post).  It's all part of your "permanent beta" to continue learning, iterating, and improving.

2. Writing Is About Action

Marshall Goldsmith (author of What Got You Here, Won't Get You There) describes an effective writing process as three key actions:

  • Focus
  • Simplify
  • Repeat

Showing up and doing the work is everything.  It's not glamorous.  It's about repetition and discipline.

3. Iterative Design RULES (Especially in Digital Media)

Dan and Chip Heath took a design approach to writing latest book, Switch:

"We were much more iterative in writing Switch–we went through many drafts and many cycles of feedback. Chip and I have both been inspired by the "design thinking" that's taught at Stanford's D-School and elsewhere, and the more iterative writing approach was our way of moving in that direction."

Ship Your Work — That's What Counts.  There's nothing wrong with tweaking and modifying after pressing "Publish." Take advantage of digital publishing's "permanent draft mode."

Get your work out there.  Get your art out the door.  Publish it.  And, don't look back …

 


 

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+.   

 

Link to Photo Credit by Shawn Campbell via flickr

Related articles
Does Malcolm Gladwell, Author of The Tipping Point and Outliers, Use Marketing Research?
Part 1: 10 Reasons on Why Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear
Fast Company Is Hiring Staff Writers
5 Ways to Cure Writer's Block (Besides Watching Twerking Videos)
15 Twitter Profiles Every Digital Marketer Should Follow
Second – Act Career Success Stories, From Those Who've Creatively Reinvented Themselves
Posted on

Part 2, Book Review: 3 Memorable Themes from Hugh MacLeod’s Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear

by

Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear Cartoon
Note: Part 1 of this two-part series can be found in Part 1: 10 Reasons Why Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear.  That post describes what blogging means to me.

I finished reading Hugh MacLeod's latest book, Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear.  It's his love letter to blogging describing how this influential medium changed the trajectory of his personal and professional life.

Highlighting a few key quotes:

"My blog gave me everything."

"My blog gave me my freedom."

I subscribe to Hugh's blog, gapingvoid.com, which is how I learned the book was released this past week.  Here's his video describing why he wrote the book:

 

I Love This Book.  I'm also going to order Hugh's previous books, Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity and Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination.  That's how much I enjoy studying his work.

Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear is filled with Hugh's motivational, irreverent,and rebellious point-of-view.  It's his call-to-arms "to create stuff" by using the Internet to transform and reinvent our personal and professional lives.  Because of the Internet, laptops, and broadband access, he reminds us we live in a world where "cheap, easy global media is here to stay."

The Book's Governing Question.  So, why not use this global phenomenon to our advantage?  It's the book's governing question linking personal and professional reinvention to blogging:

"So in my typical way, I'll ask you, are you a beacon?  If not, don't you think you should be."

So without further delay, here are the Three (3) Themes I enjoyed most from Freedom Is Blogging In Your Underwear.

 

1.  "Crofting" Is the New World of Work 

A Croft Is a Smallholding.  It's our digital identity (direct quote):

"Thanks to the Internet, we all have a little electronic "croft" — an electronic smallholding — to call our own: what is commonly referred to as our own digital identity, which we can cultivate, like a small farm, however we see fit."

It's Why Blogging Matters (More Than Ever).  It's why YOUR personal blog matters.  It's why YOUR personal blog can drive and enable career reinvention.  It's why maintaining a separate digital identity beyond your current job description extends your personal brand (take note if you work for a corporation). 

It's individual opportunity.

2.  Bring New Light to What Life Might Be

Our Individual Points-of-View ARE the New Light.  And, that fundamental theme cuts through all the typical how-to advice on developing a credible blog (i.e., post length, number of internal links versus external links, starting with a question, ending with a question, etc.).  

There's nothing wrong with being influenced and informed by:

But, trying to be a carbon copy or an imitator highlights how you're a pretender.  Those folks acheived their blogosphere status by bringing (and continuing to bring) new light. 

Our blogs can bring new light to what life might be by:

  • Writing about what individually moves us (what makes us want to write at 5 AM)
  • Recognizing there's room for all of us to cultivate and lead our own tribes
  • Having the courage to initiate and participate in digital conversations (blogging, commenting, tweeting, sharing, etc.)

Blogging Is a Conscious Choice.  You can't be a player unless in you're in the game. Hugh says it best on page 54:

"Not everybody believes this.  Not everybody acts on this.  That's fine; it's their life, their choice.  However, if you DO have that capacity within yourself and you DON'T act upon it, then everything around turns to desert."

 
3. The Internet Eats the "Ignorance Premium" for Breakfast

If You Can Google It, You Can Find It.  There's so much published online that we can use to our competitive advantage (both personally and professionally).  Hugh describes this concept as the end of The Ignorance Premium (direct quotes from pages 66 and 67):

"The Internet makes it harder for us to know more than the other guy."

"The Internet erodes the "Ignorance Premium."

"Because knowledge is now so much easier to share with the Internet, you're in trouble if the only reason you can make a living is because somebeody is too lazy to easily find out what you know with just a quick click of a mouse."

Our Opportunity With Blogging Is Promoting Our Individual "Intelligence Premium."  The Internet and blogging makes it easier than ever to self-publish "what you know."  Google makes it easier than ever for someone to find you.  That sounds like opportunity to me.

Why not turn this unique opportunity into a career advantage? 

My Take on The Internet's Ignorance Premium: Make Your Blog Your Intelligence Premium.  A personal blog demonstrates your individual, "Intelligence Premium" (e.g., what you bring to the table) by showcasing:

  • Your knowledge about a particular subject or industry
  • Your creativity in storytelling through multiple media (i.e., text, audio, images, video, etc.)
  • Your personal narrative about what makes you different
  • Your understanding of digital media's role in marketing, branding, and public relations strategy

Then, Why Don't More People Self-Publish a Blog?   Here are four reasons:

  1. Because it's hard (creating is not easy — at least, not for me)
  2. Because it's a long-term commitment
  3. Because building an audience and a credible reputation is a slow process (it's what Mitch Joel refers to as "in praise of slow")
  4. Because it requires putting yourself out there

Concluding Thoughts

It's Time To Find Our Freedom.  Those (4) aforementioned reasons are why blogging is more important than ever.  They're why blogging represents individual opportunity. 

That's the freedom blogging brings.  Whether we do it in our underwear (or while wearing something else).

It's a freedom Hugh summarizes better than I can:

"The Freedom to be who were born to be — the artist within us all."

 

 

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+.   

 

Link to Photo Credit via Hugh MacLeod