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61% of survey respondents say their personal blog helped Them Win Their Latest Job. My personal blog launched my new career in digital marketing strategy and analytics.
My last post shares why our professional and digital identities shouldn’t be beholden to a single social media platform. Do more than the herd. A personal website or blog differentiates you from other job candidates by showing how you go the extra mile. (more…)
Photo Credit: Cubosh
These posts in the blogosphere and LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform showcase employment trends describing why a personal blog or website is a vital 2015 professional development goal:
Photo Credit: Gerard Stolk (vers Noël)
Thank YOU. Publishing and writing for Social Media ReInvention Community Members brings me immense joy and fulfillment. I can’t thank you enough for your amazing support and generosity to read and share my content. Thank you of sticking with me for five and half years! Time’s flown by.
If you missed some of these, you can check them out here:
1. Lesson 2 of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Shifting Your Behavior
2. Mark Zuckerberg’s 5 Point Plan for Facebook’s Future Growth and Mobile Domination
4. 3 Career Management Lessons for a Social Media Age I Learned From My Dad
5. Lesson 3A of 6: Reinventing You After Age 50 Case Study — Michael Ovitz and Developing Validators
6. Book Review: The New Rules of Sales and Service by David Meerman Scott
7. #FAIL: #AppleLive Debacle Exposes Apple’s Real-Time Marketing Weaknesses
8. 4 More Gifts to Support Others That Power Your After Age 50 Reinvention
9. 3 Tips on Writing and Storytelling from Twitter’s Investor Relations Team
10. Tim Cook’s Killer Innovation Hack: Diversity in Thought in Apple’s Ecosystem (with a Capital D)
That’s Kind of a Big Deal. I’m grateful because I reached that achievement through your support:
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. Please share my work with your friends.
You can unsubscribe any time you like. Many Thanks!
Photo Credit: Anton Diaz
I hope everyone had a good week and is enjoying Christmas parties and celebrations with friends and co-workers. Here are your share-worthy links. Enjoy your brunch!
1) Mitch Joel's Twist Image Podcast with Seth Godin: SPOS #439 – Seth Godin Doesn't Want You To Be Missed When You're Gone! My two favorite teachers recorded this brilliant podcast to share and discuss Seth Godin’s latest book: What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn),
Seth’s Latest book is Remarkable. It’s beautifully illustrated in color and has the look and feel of a slick, high-gloss, soft-cover magazine from the high-end fashion world. Visually, this book is unlike anything published by Seth Godin:
The podcast turns instructive between Mentor (Seth Godin) and Student (Mtich Joel) midway through their conversation. It’s a personal moment between two people sharing a mutually genuine respect and friendship. Hint: Even people like Mitch Joel feel the powerful self-doubt The Resistance imposes. How Seth Godin counsels and reassures Mitch Joel during this segment says it all about Seth’s character and class.
2) Apple Insider: Apple's Discontinued iPod Classic commands Hefty Premium on the Secondary Market. People are clamoring for 160 GB iPod Classics like they're going out of style. Wait a minute. They are! The 160 GB iPod Classics doubled in original retail value ($260). As of writing this post, eBay lists some 160 GB iPod Classic versions as high as $530. eBay says my 120 GB iPod Classic ranges in value from $65 (used) to $230 (new). I’ll never give up mine. I’m downloading more podcasts to my iPod Classic than ever for educational purposes. With my iPhone 5S, my hard drive maxes out quickly.
3) ReadWriteWeb: Mastering Apple’s Gigantic iPhone 6 Plus With Puny Hands. Adriana Lee’s informative and funny article describe some cool accessories available for the iPhone 6 Plus. The main criticism of the device iPhone 6 Plus “phablet" — it’s amazing as long as your hands are big enough. Adriana’s article is most insightful in its conclusion. I believe her foresight that the iPad Mini’s days are numbered:
But then I remind myself of one thing: With the 6 Plus—or, for that matter, a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Nexus 6—I don’t need a tablet anymore. If the 6 Plus can save a bit of money, why not dedicate a fraction of those savings to accessories?
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+.
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
Please let me know if you agree or disagree with my thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear from you. I’m here to read, listen, and learn from YOUR PERSPECTIVE. Comments are open. So let’er rip!
Ideas that spread win. You can unsubscribe any time you like.
Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
Photo Credit: Rob Boudon
LinkedIn Pulse selected my latest blog post, "Tim Cook’s Killer Innovation Hack: Diversity in Thought in Apple’s Ecosystem (with a Capital D)," for publication in its "Big Ideas and Innovation Category!” 8,780,062 LinkedIn members follower this category in their LinkedIn News Feed (as of December 3rd).
Wow!
Here’s the link to the Tim Cook post on LinkedIn Pulse. As of writing this blog post, the Tim Cook / Apple Ecosystem article earned:
BuzzSumo analysis showed these social shares late last night:
Fingers Crossed, It Won’t Be the Last. Social Media ReInvention Community Members know of my excitement when LinkedIn Pulse published two other blog posts in the LinkedIn Pulse Social Media Category:
Thank You for Your Continuing Support! I published my first Social Media ReInvention blog post more than five (5) years ago. Time flew by.
Thank you for granting me permission to share with you my love of technology, digital marketing, social media strategy, personal reinvention, and writing.
Here’s a screen shot one of my closest friends sent me from his iPhone. Thank you for taking time to read and support my art:
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+.
Share-worthy links Social Media ReInvention Community Members can enjoy during Sunday brunch:
1) Bloomberg Businessweek: Tim Cook Interview: The iPhone 6, the Apple Watch, and Remaking a Company's Culture. Brad Stone shows how Tim Cook transformed a post-Steve Jobs Apple:
2) Fortune: Peter Thiel Disagrees With You. Roger Parloff (Senior Editor of Legal Affairs, Fortune Magazine) interviews Silicon Valley's Peter Thiel. Parloff's article describes the philosophies and relationships influencing Thiel's business decisions:
3) Fast Company: The $3.2 Billion Man: Can Google's Newest Star Outsmart Apple? Austin Carr's profile of Tony Fadell (Founder and CEO of Nest) details Fadell's decision to join Google, his relationship with Steve Jobs (his former mentor), and Fadell's pursuit of perfection with Nest products. The article concludes with Fadell's comments on Larry Page as his "next mentor."
4) eMarketer: Millennials Respond to Brand Transparency—for Health and Other Products. Erin Byrne (Chief Engagement Officer, Grey Healthcare Group) shares her thoughts on how pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare companies can earn the trust of millennials:
5) The Paley Center for Media: Jerry Seinfeld and David Letterman (Full Program). Mitch Joel published a blog post about the link between Seinfeld's ideas for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and creating differentiating content:
Did you enjoy this post? If yes, please share it with your friends and subscribe to my blog. Many Thanks!
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+.
"Sooner or later the world will be interested in your area of expertise." — David Meerman Scott from The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.
But, will YOU (companies or individuals) be able to deliver YOUR expertise at PRECISELY the RIGHT time when the customer needs it?
That's just one of several game-changing concepts David Meerman Scott describes in hs latest book.
BOTTOM LINE: Buy and study it. The New Rules of Sales and Service (NRSS) ROCKS!! It's destined to become another Meerman Scott classic.
Social Media ReInvention Community Members know I'm a huge fan and student of David's teachings.
I own and constantly refer to these classic books:
As soon as I learned about this book, I pre-ordered the NRSS hardcover and Kindle versions. My review is based on an advance, draft copy of The New Rules of Sales and Service on which I'm basing this review.
The New Rules of Sales and Service is written in David's trademark style: challenging marketing strategy's status quo (with a rebel's heart). His thoughtful, entertaining, and case study-rich content applies to Fortune 100, small businesses, and individuals who genuinely desire to competitively differentiate themselves.
David Meerman Scott – Real-Time Sales and Marketing Speaker from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
Among the game changing arguments David makes in numerous case studies (~10 per chapter) is how marketing, sales, and service can no longer exist in functional silos. Every employee is (and should be) accountable for marketing, selling, and servicing new and existing customers because the social tools are available online to everyone.
The New Rules of Sales and Service extend beyond it's a "cross-functional" thing. It's now an "all-hands-on-deck" thing.
Executing and sustaining an NRSS-driven culture requires top-down, CEO-driven leadership. Successful New Rules of Sales and Service practitioners instill a participative and trusting company culture. These leaders enable all employees to capitalize in social, one-to-one, real-time, customer communications throughout the entire buying process. David interviewed company leaders who trust and expect their team members (regardless of departmental function) to:
1. Acquire NEW customers and MAINTAIN existing customer relationships using social tools in real-time interactions (e.g., concepts of AGILE selling and real-time speed & engagement; Case Study: Avaya)
2. Contribute and share valuable content to educate and inform customers in the pre- and post-sale process AT THE PRECISE TIME THE CUSTOMER NEEDS IT (e.g., CONTEXTUAL & consultative selling vs. hard-selling tactics; Case Study: Kendall PRess)
3. Collect and analyze real-time customer data to support real-time content delivery, service actions, and sales interactions (e.g., salesperson comes in later in buying process OR no salesperson; Case Study:GadCAD)
4. Convey stories about the company's products / services aligning with the customer's view of themselves (e.g., buyer persona research, newsjacking; Case Study: MultiCare Health Systems)
That opportunistic mindset drives competitive differentiation at both a tactical and strategic level.
By the way, David's research confirms blogging is far from dead. Long form content may be the best social tool in authentically demonstrating one company's "truth" to a competitor's public relations "spin."
Will more and future leaders trust their teams and David's rich teachings in NRSS? Time will tell. But, why wait? Gain the upper hand by buying and studying David's work. The hardcover book officially ships today, September 2nd.
Bonus #1: David published this free eBook on SlideShare, The New Rules of Selling: How Agile and Real-Time Sales Grow Your Business Now. It's 158 pages of New Rules Classic Goodness!
Bonus #2: David's Agile Marketing Presentation At the MCT 14th Marketing Summit in Istanbul, Turkey
Agile Marketing by David Meerman Scott from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.
Bonus #3: (STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS) Mind Maps of Chapters 1-7. The goal is to have the remaining Chapters 8-10 completed by the end of next weekend. I'm still experimenting w/ the XMind Mind Mapping Software to make the maps easier to read in slide show mode.
Please be patient, and I'll update this post as quickly as I can. Here's what they look like so far (I know I can't read'em either):
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+.
Last week Ryan Holmes, Hootsuite’s CEO, published “What’s (Really) Behind Gender Imbalance in Tech Careers” in the LinkedIn Publishing Platform. He also published an earlier version titled, “Culture or Nurture? Getting to the Bottom of Tech’s Gender Imbalance,” on the Hootsuite Blog.
So far, Ryan’s LinkedIn post earned:
Wow! I’d love to drive traffic and engagement levels for my own LinkedIn content!
Yes, Ryan holds LinkedIn INfluencer status. On a daily basis, he cultivates and promotes a prominent and trusted personal brand. He’s CEO of services utilized by scores of digital marketing practitioners (including myself).
Paraphrasing another media influencer, Ryan Holmes is kind of a big deal.
I’m not a big deal. I suspect most self-publishers in LinkedIn’s 313 million membership base aren’t either. But, LinkedIn inFluencers aren’t the only members with valuable writing, thoughts, and experiences to contribute to the LinkedIn Community.
Through disciplined practice and study, we can learn how to create great content (just like inFluencers like Ryan Holmes). Let’s examine Ryan’s post for clues on what to “steal.” In the words of Pablo Picasso …
Easier said then done. I changed my headline 20+ times. It’s an iterative process. Here are the headlines Ryan published for the Hootsuite blog and LinkedIn:
Notice the tight precision of both headlines. In Ryan’s LinkedIn post, “(Really)” caught my attention and caused me to click on his post. The Hootsuite blog example poses a question. If we want to learn Ryan’s conclusions, I have to read the post. Great link bait.
Check out the efficient number of characters (with spaces):
See how both headlines are Twitter-optimitized. Each leaves lots of room for retweets (RTs) and additional comments for Ryan’s ~52,000 followers.
Bonus: Buffer’s articles for writing compelling headlines:
The picture Ryan selected and credited cuts straight to his argument. It’s ironic, humorous, and to-the-point. An unforgettable lead-in to initiate an important discussion.
Bonus: flickr’s Creative Commons Photo Galleries. Talented, generous photographers share their art in return for proper attribution. When using their photos, do the right thing and link back to their flickr gallery.
The gender imbalance issue in tech gained news momentum in late May 2014 when Google released its workforce diversity numbers and accelerated when Facebook released its workforce diversity data in late June 2014:
Workforce diversity in tech is an important, high traction news subject. Ryan re-framed this situation by opportunistically:
His leadership in understanding of this particular situation is a case study in top-down, CEO-driven, real-time communications and newsjacking (the art of introducing your ideas into breaking news stories). It’s 21st century, CEO media savvy and tactics at its finest.
Pay attention to breaking news events. They may inspire your creativity for your next post.
Bonus: HubSpot Inbound Marketing Blog — The Inbound Marketer’s Complete Guide to Newsjacking
Ryan distinguishes his communication by writing a first-hand account acknowledging gender imbalance in both Hootsuite and the technology industry. His Hoosuite Blog and LinkedIn Publishing Platform posts cite his company’s diversity numbers among 600 employees:
In his words:
“This comes out a bit better—but certainly not much—than at the other companies**. What exactly are we doing differently and, more importantly, what we can we do better?”
**Note: “other companies” refers to Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Intel, and Twitter (mentioned in Ryan’s previous paragraph).
He follows his acknowledgement by proposing solutions at both industry and company levels:
Bonus: About The Next Big Thing Foundation’s YouTube Video —
Ryan concludes his Hootsuite Blog post with an inspiring CTA: Help Us Change Tech’s Gender Imbalance. Wow.
I understand why he wrote a different CTA in his LinkedIn Post. But, I believe he earned the right to publish that CTA in both posts.
Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn on the promise of network intelligence mutually benefiting a community at mass scale. We have to put ourselves out there and be vulnerable. Holding our knowledge, ideas, and writing hostage benefits no one.
Ryan Holmes does all of the above (and more).
More importantly, publishing his LinkedIn post and stating his call-to-action on the Hootsuite Blog may positively impact ONE woman’s professional career prospects (maybe her entire life).
Making a difference in one person’s professional life doesn’t require 33,000+ views. It takes ONE VIEW of ONE POST.
That post could be yours …
Ideas that spread win. You can unsubscribe any time you like.
Please share my work with your friends. Many Thanks!
After reading David Meerman Scott's blog post on Silver Oaks Cellars (it's also published here on LinkedIn), I checked out their website to learn which social media channels anchor their digital marketing strategy. I discovered a remarkable, content marketing strategy sharing three (3) types of visual stories emotionally connecting:
1. Special moments with amazing products (as described in David's post).
2. Remarkable people who craft amazing products.
3. Beautiful locations and special moments with amazing products and remarkable people.
Silver Oak Cellars unifies and tells these visual stories through multiple social channels:
Here's a look at how Silver Oak Cellars uses their visual, multi-channel social media strategy to emotionally connect special moments with their audience.
2. Describing Remarkable People Who Craft Amazing Products
3. Experiencing Special Moments in Beautiful Places with Amazing Products and Remarkable People
When I combed through Silver Oaks Cellars multiple social channels, these visual stories emotionally connected with me. That emotional connection differentiates a brand, a service, a product, or a company from its competition.
And, that emotional connection is unique for each of us. That unique, individual meaning defines special moments.
How do you emotionally connect with your audience? What works for you? Is it images, video, words, voice, or something else?
Please let me know in the comments. I want to connect too.
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+.