September 23, 2010
Managing Your Career in the Social Media Era
John Bethune, B2BMemes.com
The Social Media Revolution and You
IndustrialMedia
Social Media
Career dynamics for B2B editors are changing
as B2B publishing evolves from an industrial medium to a social one.
Definition of Terms
Industrial Media
Traditional mediaPrint
Mainstream media
Social Media
New MediaDigital
Web 2.0
The Social Media Reality
“Tomorrow's companies will build empires based on
not on their ability to finance and manage scarce bandwidth
or expensive printing presses
or exclusive distribution networks.”
the value that they deliver to their users and advertisers
--Dave Morgan
Industrial Media
✤ Scarce resources in closed environment
✤ Content producer/distributor in privileged position
✤ Audience & advertisers are captives
Social Media
✤ Abundant resources in open environment
✤ Media becomes conversation rather than monologue
✤ All parties--producer, audience, advertisers--are equals
Information is a commodity
✤ The value of content is no longer determined by its scarcity
✤ Jeff Jarvis: “Even if the Wall Street Journal reports a scoop behind its paywall, once that information comes out--quoted, linked, blogged, aggregated, remixed, and e-mailed all over--it’s no longer exclusive and rare.”
✤ In social media, editorial value is based on context rather than content, on process rather than product.
Everyone’s a Publisher
Not just your company but . . .Your advertisers.
Your readers.You.
All media more accessible
So How Does Social Media Change Your Career?
✤ Nature of your skill set
✤ Nature of your employer
✤ Nature of media you work in
Successful Employee Traits
Industrial Media
ObedienceIntellectDiligence
Social Media
InitiativeCreativityPassion
Will Algorithms Replace Editors?
✤ Commodity editorial will be outsourced and automated
✤ Demand media
✤ StatsMonkey
Meet Your New Bosses
✤ Industrial hierarchies are giving way to social media networks
✤ You may still work for a publisher, but now . . .
✤ You also work for your audience . . .
✤ And for yourself
Are You an Editor Or . . .
✤ A production artist?
✤ A marketer?
✤ A publisher?
✤ A broadcaster?
✤ A curator?
✤ An aggregator?
9 Keys to Making the Most of Your Editorial Career
in Social Media
Be Media Agnostic
✤ Be prepared to use whatever media your audience uses
✤ If you aren’t familiar with audio or video technologies, start learning about them now
Be Employer Agnostic
✤ In a world where everyone’s a publisher, you don’t have to work for a traditional B2B publisher to be a B2B journalist.
✤ Paul Conley, December 2009: “Most of my income derived from traditional publishers practicing traditional B2B journalism.”
✤ Paul Conley, September 2010: “My working life is now completely consumed by content marketing.”
Be An Entrepreneur
✤ Bring initiative, creativity, and passion to your work, whether you work for yourself or someone else
✤ It’s in your employer’s interest to cultivate your entrepreneurship
Become a Brand
“Everyone—EVERYONE—
needs to start thinking of themselves as a brand. It is no longer an option; it is a necessity.”
--Gary Vaynerchuk
Be a Social Media Marketer
Your latest tweet and comment on Facebook and most recent blog post? That’s your résumé now.
--Gary
Vaynerchuk
Be a Social Networker
✤ Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media tools to
✤ network with other journalists and publishers
✤ network with at least one of the industries you cover
✤ Readers
✤ Advertisers
Be a Blogger
✤ “I don’t hire anyone that doesn’t blog” --Joe Pulizzi
✤ You should own at least one blog and twitter account.
✤ Blogging tools are easy to use and widely available, for little or no cost.
Become an Author
✤ When you write an article you’re a writer, but when you write a book, you’re an author.
✤ It’s not as difficult as it sounds.
✤ Consider a personal manifesto, like A Brief Guide to World Domination.
Be a Linchpin
✤ “Cogs see a job, linchpins see a platform. Every interaction, every assignment is a chance to make a change, a chance to delight or surprise or to touch someone.” -- Seth Godin, author of Linchpin
What Doesn’t Change
✤ Your values
✤ The joy you get from your work
✤ In fact, social media increases the opportunity to enhance both
Thank You
Sources cited in this presentation can be found online via www.b2bmemes.com/2010/09/22/asbpe-sources/