I previously wrote an in-depth piece on entrepreneurial journalism and writers as brands. In it, I noted that in fact there has never been a better time to be a passionate writer, and I stick with that statement. A quick excerpt from that post:
The web enables anyone to create their own, personal brand of media and share their ideas with thousands or even millions. When you develop content for a publication that is all your own, you:
- Retain 100% of the rights to your work
- Maintain editorial control and total freedom to write on whatever you please
- Retain 100% of the advertising revenue brought in by your work
- Are working to build your own brand and web property
- Are creating something that works for you and makes revenue while you sleep
- Are free to work on your own timetable
- Are free to work from wherever you want, whenever you want
- Can create a group of people loyal to you who will work to promote your content (similar to what Kevin Kelly suggest with 1,000 True Fans, but for writers)
- Begin to build your own network and carve out influence in your writing niche
So it was exciting to see today to that professional blogging platform TypePad, owned by Six Apart, has created “The TypePad Journalist Bailout Program” as an easy path for journalists to step into the world of digital publishing with the ability to monetize their work already built-in. Continue reading...
Image Credit: Shapeshift
I’ve written previously on how your resume is meaningless, on building career security, not job security and on the rise of personal branding. To summarize the overarching themes of those three posts quickly:
- Your work should be working for you, building your reputation, not locked away in a resume.
- A resume proves nothing, a living case study proves everything.
- Creating a name for yourself in your industry provides you the ultimate freedom: career security.
- The tools exist for you to influence your industry in deep ways to make positive change and carve out a name for yourself.
- Building your personal network enables incredible connections with the world around you not previously possible.
On Wednesday, October 29th I presented one of my social media marketing case studies for Miami’s web and new media community, Refresh Miami at Yahoo! Hispanic Americas.
This study goes through two campaigns I implemented for Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Co. (a client): Joffrey’s Java Beta Test as well as Coffee 2.0. As promised, here is a version of the presentation for you to check out (click full screen button so you can read the slides with more detail):
Here are both case studies as blog posts as well, in case you missed them:
Joffrey’s Java Beta Test
Coffee 2.0
image credit: dbarefoot
Continuing my series on documenting social media power users and influencers, this week I’ve got five more wonderful people to share with you.
Again, these are in no particular order and I am taking the time to write on not only the big-name players, but perhaps even more interesting I will tell the stories of power users in the long tail also.
If you missed last week’s entry, start by checking out:
Social Media Power Users And Influencers: Part 1
Now that you’re caught up, let’s get into part 2: Continue reading...
image credit: adstream via flickr
Smart organizations and individuals across industries are building their brands through gathering organic audiences and encouraging dialogue.
By organic, I mean people who have opted-in to receive messages. And, encouraging dialogue not only between individuals and the organization, but also between fans of their brand as well. When you function as a connector, you become even more valuable to your audience than merely providing content.
Blogs function great as connectors because they publish not only a reader’s name but a link to their blog or website when they comment. So, when someone posts an interesting comment, it not only adds to the conversation on-site, but it allows the readers of that comment to potentially connect with the writer. Continue reading...
