Have you ever wondered or thought about how mutli-faceted you are?  You are one person yet many personalities.  A few months ago I wrote that social media isn’t a marketing tool, it’s a way of life.  Think about this for a moment.  You have a profile or a persona on every social platform you become a part of.  Why is social media a way of life?  Well, think about “you” for a moment.  Chances are you are an:

• employee
• husband/wife
• boyfriend/girlfriend
• friend
• son/daughter
• father/mother
• lover
• and more

It’s a bit of an abstract concept but in a way you are your own network.  You play many roles both online and offline and you have to represent yourself in many different ways to many different people.  It’s actually quite challenging to play so many different roles, but it’s also fun and rewarding.

Your whole life is a social network, an OFFLINE social network.  Instead of writing on someones “wall” you can have a quick conversation with them, instead of sending a link you can tell someon a story, instead of using skype to chat you can meet someone for coffee.  The online world has been designed to supplant many of the offline activities that we are familiar with.  This why I think it’s important for marketers, companies, and individuals to realize that social media marketing is far more than just putting out content, it’s like taking everyone out for coffee and getting to know them.  I think taking this approach to social media marketing will make things more personal and in the end, more rewarding for both the marketer and the user.

What do you think?  Have you been able to balance your many roles in life, both online and offline?

thanks for reading!

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We all have ideas and things we want to do, but for some reason we don’t do them.  Why?  The problem with ideas is that they are as only as good as the actions that follow them.  If you want to travel the world but you never do, then you’re idea is left unrealized.  If you want to start a company but never do, then again, your idea is left unrealized.  I think a lot of what stops us from doing the things we want to do is fear.  What if my company fails and I go broke?  Will I have fun if I go by myself on a trip around the world, what if I get lonely, what will I do?

Fear is important because it keeps our lives in check, fear makes us think and it makes us look at the options and possibilities that we are presented with.  Yes it’s important to overcome your fears but usually new ones will emerge.  A fear can save your life or keep you from realizing a dream.  The trick to dealing with fear is not to get rid of it but to control it.  Remember, fear is not a physical thing, it’s a construct of the human mind and thus it is your mind that is capable of controling it.

It’s funny how powerful fear is.  Think about what fear can do:

• Fear can keep you from trying a new food
• Fear can keep you from exploring the world
• Fear can keep you from meeting the love of your life
• Fear can keep you from getting your dream job
• Fear can keep you from trying a new sport

Perhaps one of the most dynamic and diverse things that humans feel is fear.  Fear touches everyone and keep people from achieving goals or tasks that range from the mundane to the extraordinary.  Some people fear public speaking more than death, others fear going in the ocean for fear of getting attacked by a shark.

I’ve been (and am) scared of several things in life, but one of the ways that I feel I have been able to overcome or control my fears is to ask myself  “what’s the worst that could happen?”  Tim Ferris recently did a presentation in which he shares his view on fear and he asks himself the same question.

Really take a moment and examine your fears.  Think of the little and big things that you are afraid of and ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen?  I think you will find that in most situations if things go downhill you will really not be that much worse off.

What are you afraid of?  How do you deal with fear?

Thanks for reading!

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Since we are beginning a new year I thought I would kick things off with a new site design.  Not everything is up and running yet and there are still a few bugs that need to be fixed; but for the most part this is the new site.  There are a couple of things that I wanted to accomplish with the new site design:

Share More of My Ideas

I had my designer add in a “have you read” section which randomly previews a new blog post that I have written every time the page is refreshed.  I have a lot of ideas and things I want to share (much of it was written before the blog really took off) and the random article is a great way for me to share more while allowing an increased level of discoverability for the user.

Branding

The old site was a standard wordpress template.  I had it set up pretty well but it wasn’t branded, it didn’t say “Jacob Morgan.”  This new site design is much more branded and customized.  As you can clearly tell I love chess, and the chess theme will be more clearly explained on the “about” page soon.  As the blog began to grow I also felt that all of you (and me) deserved to see a more branded and structured site which is what I think we have now

Connectedness

If you notice, the new site has a little section on the left hand side that says “connect with me.”  This section makes it easy for anyone to connect with me across various social media channels that I am a member of.  Now instead of having to search for me or my profiles you have access to all of my information with the click of a button.

Contact

I made my rss feed and email subscription choices clearly visible and easy to access.  Now users won’t have to search for that little orange icon on my screen.  I never had the email subscription option before which is something I wanted to add for those readers who wish to receive my posts via email.  I also added the “email me” button so that anyone can contact me quickly and easily.

Consulting and Services

I have an announcement coming out shortly but for the meantime I wanted people to know that I am indeed offering consulting and strategy services under social media or SEO.  People have been asking me what I’m doing and if I’m available, I will answer all of that soon.

Aesthetics

This goes hand in hand with branding but I really wanted to add some life and color to the site while also being able to convey my own personality.  Overall I think the site is:

• easier to navigate and use
• makes it easier for people to get ahold of me
• will provide more information regarding consulting and services
• more organized than it was before

I will announce more about what I’m doing soon, but the first step is this new site.  I hope you enjoy the new site design.  Please leave me your comments and below and let me know what you think.  I’m looking  forward to our continued discussions, debate, and interactions through 2009 and beyond.

I hope all of you had a happy new year and I wish all of you a fun, exciting, healthy, and prosperous 2009 (and beyond).

Thanks for reading  and welcome to our new site!

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In a recent study conducted by Junta 42, marketers said that they are going to be directing a good portion of their budgets towards content marketing and social media (other than blogs).  There are several ways to interpret the flow of money to content marketing and social media:  either more companies are “getting it” or companies are scared and panicking and think that social media is going to save them.  Remember economic times are tough and there is a lot of desperation out there.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that we are going to see more companies shifting money into content marketing and social media, but I think we should be cautious and responsible.  We’re all familiar with the “bubble” and the last thing I want to see is everyone turning to social media as a result of panicking and fear of uncertainty; this can be dangerous for the company and for the industry.

This is a graph from the Junta 42 study which shows what marketers believe to be the most important tactics for 2009.  I believe these responses were all focused around content marketing but I also want to add that I think SEO is going to be another vital tactic for 2009 and understanding the symbiosis and integration  between SEO and social media is going to be huge (I like to think I understand this).  A larger image can be found on the Junta 42 site.

As social media strategists and consultants it is going to be our job to manage expectations and results with clients.  As with any other successful client engagement it’s always crucial to start with a clear understanding of what to expect and what it would take to get there.  Managing expectations is going to be one of the most important things that a consultant is going to have to do (and should be doing now).

When we see a trend towards social media and content marketing we also see a lot consultants come out of the woodwork.  This happened with SEO and is still going on today.  Everyone is pitching themselves as an SEO consultant nowadays and a lot of people are getting burned, we have a term for this and it’s called “snake oil.”  This trend is also going on with social media, 18 year old kids are claiming that they are social media experts and pretty much anyone with a  facebook account and a twitter profile is claiming to be a social media consultant.

It’s important for everyone to realize that being a social media strategist or consultant is more than understanding how tools work.  Social media strategy is about understanding how to use social media to achieve business goals and objectives.  I will write another post in the near future about what I think makes up a good social media strategist/consultant but let’s leave it at this for now.

Next year is going to be exciting for the social media space but it’s also going to be a cautions and perhaps dangerous time, especially if we are going to see the social media space blow up with consultants (like the SEO industry did).  I think 2009 is going to see a lot of collaboration and partnership on the social media side, we all have a lot more to learn from each other and from our experiences with social media.

Thanks for reading!

what do you think social media will look like in 2009?  Do you see flow of money to content marketing and social media as a sign that companies are “getting” social media or that they are panicking?

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2008 has been a lot of thing to a lot of people.  For me 2008 has been very exciting yet unpredictable.  2008 is the year I left my full time steady job to start a company, create this blog, and focus on consulting.  I was nervous at first but then I started to love the excitement and unpredictable nature that has become my life.  Starting your own company or going off on your own is not easy, you have to work hard.  So far my endeavors have paid off and I have a lot of exciting opportunities going into 2009, this is why I consider 2008 to be exciting and unpredictable (for me).

I reached out to the twitterverse to see what one word other people would use to describe 2008 and I got some very interesting responses, here they are:

Now it’s your turn, what one word would you use to describe 2008?

Thanks for reading everyone!

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