Getting a job with social media is about relationships, not content

One of my primary points on this blog and to clients is that relationship building should be a primary tenant while entering into and building out social media communications. Social media and the tools used to operate in the landscape are a means to building relationships, but that is often forgotten.

Social media presents a platform to build relationships with clients, consumers, influencers, competitors, recruits and more. The preamble to developing relationships is content. The content has to draw people in, but ultimately content won't deliver on new business or new partnerships.

There is a common phrase in the communications world, "content is king." I respectfully disagree with that adage no matter how entrenched it is in our industries mindset. Content is clearly important, but relationships are much more important. The time it takes to produce an abundance of content can be better spent developing meaningful relationships with people attracted to slightly more sparse content.

I know this to be true with brands and businesses, but it might be even more true when marketing oneself on the job market. Content alone may initially attract a would be employer, but he or she won't stick around long if their isn't a line of communication opened and harvested. Experts say that over 75% of jobs are filled when the employer has a personal connection of some kind to the applicant. Social media can be your tool to developing that personal connection, but content won't do it for you. A relationship has to be built in order for you to leave a lasting, meaningful impression on a person.

This means you have to cultivate conversations, reply to comments on a post, respond to @replies on Twitter, send a message back to people on LinkedIn or whatever other platform you use.

In the ever-growing world of social media, the way to get noticed will increasingly be going above and beyond in building relationships. It will be an exception to the rule when a person is noticed and benefits greatly just from their content.

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Are digital technologies changing how our kids learn?

I recently had a conversation with an English professor about the advent of new technology changing the way kids are learning basic skills. Her example was actually quite telling.

She talked to a mother in her community that is a very active, engaged parent. The mother explained to the English professor that her daughter, who was six-years-old, decided she no longer wanted to read books. The child was a very good reader, but only wanted to read books at or below her first grade reading level. She did not want to push beyond that level and begin reading more difficult material. The mother said the child became would only show any excitement about reading when the mother would read to her. Aside from that, the child could care less about reading.

The English professor asked the mother if she or her husband read books on their own, regardless of whether it was reading to their child or not. It turned out that the mother and father didn't read books for their own enjoyment. The mother would read news online and the father would read books through a Kindle. The English Professor had an interesting and highly plausible theory that if the parents read books themselves, the child would likely be more excited to read books as a result.

The English professor was drawing on the basic tenants of modeling. Children learn behaviors by observing and consequently modeling the people around them. In other words, "monkey see monkey do."

One question that arises from this example is whether we as a society think it is important for children to learn the way we did, by reading books and doing math by hand, or if we are comfortable adopting new teaching methods.

If we aren't comfortable adapting our teaching methods, should we be more conscious of our own behaviors around our children? Does our use of these digital technologies need to be minimized when teaching our children?

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A Love Poem To My Google Reader

With Valentines Day right around the corner, I thought I would get into the spirit. I sat down to think about the things I love the most with respect to social media, and sure enough Google Reader popped into my head. With that said, here is a love poem to my Google Reader:


Google Reader, Google Reader you begin my work day

You inform me, guide me and keep me in tune in every single way.

I can keep adding to you and you never get upset,

You send me to dozens of sites without breaking a sweat.

With you, it's not just listening and reading,

I can use your trends, notes and recommendations in a meeting.

Sure there are other readers out there,

But none come close to your ease or care.

I feel like you know me in every single way,

How else would you always know what to say?

Some might argue that I've created the list, so I shouldn't credit you,

But to them I say "My Google Readers thinks, loves, and feels too."

So just to summarize, I'll be loyal to you because you're the best,

But if a superior tool comes by I'll probably switch, just being honest.

Lets face it, you're great and helpful but really just a tool.

I'm always going to go with what helps me most because I ain't nobody's fool.

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The Seven Best Social Media Blogs Going Into 2010

There are number of very good blogs across the blogosphere that discuss social media in a variety of ways. The following seven blogs have done a particularly good job of talking about the ins and outs of social media throughout the last year and have brought real, unique insight to their readers. I expect big things out of these bloggers over the next year.

The Brand Builder Blog

The Brand Builder Blog is an amazing resource for marketers, especially if looking into ROI and how it relates to social media. Olivier Blanchard, the voice behind The Brand Build Blog is a leader in the conversation about ROI, which becomes immediately obvious after reading one of his posts or watching one of his videos. What I really enjoy about Olivier is that he isn't afraid to call out the snake oil marketers who call themselves "social media gurus" and offer misguided notions of ROI.

Social Media Explorer

Jason Falls writes Social Media Explorer and does a great job of educating his readers about the newest trends in social media. Jason is always in the know when it comes to the important social media technologies and the important figures across the industry. The best part of Social Media Explorer is that when a reader comments on a post he/she is more than likely going to get a response from Jason. He truly embraces the social aspect of social media and makes sure his readers get his attention.

Logic + Emotion

This is a blog that had tremendous insight into the social media landscape. Logic + Emotion is David Armano's personal blog. David is a great teacher and incorporates some of the better social media visuals you can find. My favorite part of the blog is David's willingness to share his personal story and business evolution. Over the last few months, readers have been taken through the journey from Dachis Group to Edelman, but all while learning about social media.

Marketing Pilgrim

Though not all posts are about social media, many of the posts at Marketing Pilgrim either focus on or have elements of social media. The stories often stretch beyond to all internet marketing and advertising. The market insights and trends that are discussed on Marketing Pilgrim are unparalleled. I can always count on them to keep me informed of the demographic information for various platforms.

PR 2.0

Brian Solis, the voice of PR 2.0 and principle at FutureWorks does an amazing job at providing readers with real wisdom about the social media landscape and how it applies to marketing or PR. Its clear after reading one of Brian's posts that he has amazingly experience and knowledge of the industry. He can speak about small business, large brands, b2b, b2c and much more. The best part about the blog is its willingness to predict the future trends of social media. Brian isn't afraid to go out on a limb and state what he believes is the wave of the future.

Instigator Blog

You'll find more than just discussion about social media at the Instigator Blog. Ben Yoskovitz talks about start-ups, general business and of coarse social media. He is always on top of the newest technologies and practices.

Britopian

Michael Brito is one of the more experience social media professionals out there. He has an impressive resume and brings that experience to his posting. What I enjoy most about Britopian is the ability to not only discuss social media technologies, but the culture of social media and digital marketing.

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How did Twitter grow so quickly?

Twitter has been on a meteoric rise since it's public inception in 2006. The minds behind Twitter, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, created a social media product that capitalized on the growing world of quick conversations and link sharing across the web.

From February 2008 to February 2009 Twitter grew 1382% according to Nielsen. Tech Crunch then reported that Twitter returned 58.4 million visitors in September, 2009, many of which came from abroad.

Twitter successfully incorporated components of other growing social media tools, like social networking from Facebook and link sharing from Digg. Maybe most importantly was Twitter's ability to easily operate the social tool though mobile devices. The mobile nature of Twitter caught on quickly, with multiple mobile applications being created for users on different networks and with different types of phones. Though the tool itself was exciting and new, Twitter didn't take off until celebrities moved onto the platform.

With the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Shaquille O'Neal and of coarse Barack Obama, Twitter shot into the mainstream of America. CNN and Ashton Kutcher even had a race to see which account could procure one million followers first. Twitter has been integrated into other media platforms, even making its way into full-length segments on the late night television shows of Jimmy Fallon and Conan O'Brien.

It was estimated that over half a million new user accounts were created in the two days following Oprah's announcement that she was joining the micro-blogging platform. This was an increase from the 5,000-10,000 new account created every day prior to that.

There is no question that Twitter created a fantastic tool that appeals to the current culture of communications, but I sincerely doubt it would be as popular as it is today in such a short period had it not been for celebrity involvement.

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