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

john.bethune@b2bmemes.com1-818-584-6363

Sources cited in this presentation can be found online via www.b2bmemes.com/2010/09/22/asbpe-sources/