What’s the most efficient way that today’s job seekers, including recent grads, can get hired for jobs in today’s economy? I think every job seeker, particularly those in creative or tech fields, must have a digital portfolio.

Beyond the Fancy Education

A really eye-opening post on Medium, “Don’t go to art school,” argues that the nearly $250k you’d spend getting an undergrad degree in art, from a school like Rhode Island School of Design, is wasted money. Author Noah Bradley, a successful commercial artist, instead outlines a $10,000 education obtained online and in person, and partly accomplished using free resources. I think that’s incredibly smart.

Frankly, if I’m going to hire a designer to work on a web project, I don’t really care if they have a fancy art school education. Most importantly, I want to see their work. I also want to know that they’re going to be responsible, deliver work on time, and be communicative about their questions and progress. An art degree won’t tell me any of that.

If I’m going to hire a writer or community manager, I feel the same. I don’t necessarily need an English major or journalism major to do the work. Give me examples, back up your resume with actual work, and prove to me that you can write, or you can community manage.

Work Product in the Digital World

My bias in thinking about the jobs market is, naturally, for the digital world: not just designing and writing, but the coding and architecting of the websites, apps and operating systems which make the digital economy function. There will only be an increasing need for these skills, as a greater percentage of the world’s population gets online, and mostly via smartphones.

Even though these jobs are in digital media, they’re also all quite tangible, with specific work product; if you want someone to hire you to do any of those things, you again need to show, not tell. Save everything you work on, even if it’s student work, and create a portfolio of your work.

Bring your portfolio together on a website (which you can make password-protected, if you wish), or, at minimum, as links in an email. Your digital portfolio can be as simple as an about.me site, or as complex as your own website.

If you code, you’ve got code or finished products to show. If you design, you have websites, banners, print work or email templates. If you write, you’ve got marketing copy, blogs, white papers or other copy. You may have video, or podcasts, or links to your social media presences or that of companies you’ve worked with. Include as much as you can to tell the story of who you are and what kind of work you’ve done, and can do.

Build Your Digital Portfolio

Of course, someone just starting out in a digital or technical field (whether straight out of school or later in a career) may not yet have enough work to create a portfolio, so it’s important to do some work for friends, family, or local businesses at a reduced rate or even free. That’s really no different than a college student or recent grad working in an internship (paid or unpaid). While you’re building your portfolio, work another job to bring in the income you need, and, as your side job, create as much work product as you can in your desired field. This will help you to later attract the job you really want.

Hopefully, adding a digital portfolio to your job search will help you outrun the statistics: as of June 2013, 44% of young college grads are underemployed. I’d like to hope that a well-prepared young person with a portfolio in digital marketing or tech development would fare far better in their job search. If you know of a grad or job seeker for whom a digital portfolio has made the different, will you please drop me a line in the comments? I’d love to hear the stories.

The post Your Digital Portfolio appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

The nature of work itself has also changed. As my blogging colleague Nichole Kelly has said, technology is rapidly shifting the way the workforce is assembled and how companies are structured. Millennials and digital natives are looking for non-traditional work environments, and companies who are able to adapt to the new expectations seem to attract top young talent.

Standing Out in the Job Market

Given these challenges, it’s more important than ever for a job applicant to find a way to stand out to employers. But this is not about wearing your resume on your t-shirt, it’s about demonstrating to others that you have the experience, skills and passions they need for their business.
Just recently one enterprising young man blew me away by sending over his resume. Take a look.

As you can see, Daniel Scalco has a somewhat untraditional background – he was a legal clerk before getting into marketing, and may not present as much marketing experience on paper as he probably has. But Dan has managed to convince me that he’s got good marketing chops because he demonstrated them, beautifully, in his resume.

As Dan himself has told me,

“It’s not enough anymore to just have a properly formatted resume and cover letter, even if you have the skills and experience. You have to be creative. You can’t just tell them you’re good at something, you have to show them.”

It’s clear to me from his resume that Dan has some very good visual design capabilities, probably better than average communications skills, understands his own skills and experiences, and knows what he wants to do with his next job. If I were looking to hire someone full-time right now, I’d be interviewing Dan in a heartbeat. (If you are hiring for a marketing position – please contact Dan via email or via Twitter. He’d love to hear from you.)

Don’t Say It, Show It

In today’s economy, it’s going to be thinkers who get ahead, and you can use a non-traditional approach to show what kind of thinker you are.

If you’re a strategic thinker, approach the job hunt from a problem-solving point-of-view, and help potential employers understand what you can do to solve their pain points. Emiland De Cubber created customized resumes using Slideshare, describing in story form who he is and why his skillset would be great for the companies he applied to.

If you’re an analytical thinker or data intelligence type, use data or analytics to show off your skills. It may not be as fancy as the one that Simone Fortunini created, which looked like a Google Analytics account, but you can figure out a way to quantify your experience and show it off in tables, charts or graphs.

And if you’re a creative thinker, well, get creative. Alec Brownstein set up Google ads to target top creative directors at agencies; the ads appeared when they Googled themselves. No surprise, Alec got a job.

Social Media, Too

I recently read a post from a writer who hopes to make it freelancing without a social media presence. I wholeheartedly agree that it can be done; not everyone needs to be on Twitter, and Facebook really won’t do much for you, job-wise. But social media could also really help make you stand out amongst other job applicants, particularly in communications and marketing.

Start with LinkedIn, of course. If your LinkedIn profile isn’t up-to-date, and ideally pretty savvy (see my LinkedIn profile ninja tips for advice), you won’t get very far with anyone who themselves uses social media personally or professionally.

Make sure your Twitter presence is business-appropriate, put your Twitter handle on your resume, and keep up a steady stream of content about your desired industry.

Next, think about the platforms your desired employers are most likely to use. If they’re B2B, having a gorgeous Pinterest presence probably won’t matter. But B2B companies often use Twitter, and so if you can demonstrate that you at least understand the platform, it may give you a leg up. Make sure your Twitter presence is business-appropriate, put your Twitter handle on your resume, and keep up a steady stream of content about your desired industry.

If you are B2C, and can show off your knowledge of Instagram, Pinterest or a niche site like GoodReads, that may help you stand out amongst your fellow applicants. Don’t hesitate to follow brands you’d like to work for, and include your profile info in your communications to prospective employers.

And this may go without saying, especially to SME readers: use social media to network! You never know who you know online; make sure that if you’re in a public job search that everyone in your social networks knows it (in a nice, not to spammy way, of course). If you’re quietly looking for your next opportunity, consider using direct messages on Twitter or private Facebook messages to let a few people know that you’d love their help in finding your next job. Karma is a powerful force in social media, and most people want to do a good turn for people they like.

I hope more people will be doing what Dan did, figuring out ways to demonstrate proficiencies, rather than hoping that bullet points on a resume or LinkedIn do the trick. Of course, not every profession will benefit from a non-traditional resume or an exemplary Twitter presence; an academic may still need a curriculum vitae, and a doctor must pass their board exams. But for most digital, communications or marketing professions, a non-traditional resume, paired with a bit of social media savvy, may be just the ticket to your next job.

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Mom 2.0 Summit

The high was most certainly the Mom 2.0 Summit, a fantastic conference for moms (and others) who blog (there were many men in attendance, and many non-moms too – my husband joined me). This was my fourth annual Mom 2.0; 2013 was their fifth anniversary, so I’ve only missed one.

This year’s Mom 2.0 Summit was, as always, stellar. The very best thing about the conference was the quality of people there. Mom 2.0 never fails to bring the cream-of-the-crop of bloggers together to share, learn and grow.  These are bloggers who are amazing storytellers, beautiful writers, and really smart marketers. Quite a few of them make their living through their blogging and writing, and they are all wholly deserving of the success which has come to them.  Learning, schmoozing, dining and networking with this group is always energizing and insightful. And it didn’t hurt that the conference was at the Ritz-Carleton in gorgeous Laguna Beach, CA.

The Wall Street Journal Article

If more sponsors understand that blog conferences are a good way to reach digital influencers, we all win

However, in the lead up to Mom 2.0, the conference (and others) got some interesting press. The Wall Street Journal published an article about “The Mommy Business Trip,” which raised more than a few hackles as it portrayed blogging conferences as kid-free boondoggles for women. Many people, some of my good friends included, objected to the portrayal of moms and women in the piece, and I understand their concern.

But ever the contrarian, I didn’t completely agree with them. I found the WSJ piece, while certainly more than a bit condescending, good for the blogging conference industry overall. If more sponsors understand that blog conferences are a good way to reach digital influencers, we all win – the conference providers as well as the attendees.

It’s only recently that some parenting and lifestyle blog conference attendees are beginning to understand the reason that the cost of attending a blogging conference (as a blogger) is only $200-$450 for three days is because of the sponsors who are willing to pay to meet and talk to them.  Other digital industry conferences, from Affiliate Summit to AdTech to New Media Expo, cost between $800-$2,000, and provide far less for that cost than most blogging conferences provide. For the most part, blogger conferences have higher costs and lower margins than any other industry conferences (a fact which I’m intimately aware of).

There’s one big similarity between them: they’re all business-to-business (B2B) events.  Sponsors (businesses) come to blogging conferences to reach business people (bloggers) who will help them reach their target audience (typically, consumers).  This is the same as any other business-focused conference.

(Some) Bloggers Are Businesses

So ladies: stop acting like the Wall Street Journal says you’re acting. Because guess what? Some of you are.

So why do bloggers, at nearly all of the blogging conferences I’ve attended, not act like they’re businesses?  I do realize that if you started your blog as a personal blog or hobby blog, you may not know how to run your business, or even want to run a business, for your blog. But if you’ve spent the money and the time to come to a blogging event, it indicates that you’re looking to learn and grow in some way. (And apologies if you’re at the conference but do not want to grow your business – though given that much of the content at Mom 2.0 and other blogging conferences is related to “monetization” and “sponsorships,” I have to assume you likely do want to.)

So ladies: stop acting like the Wall Street Journal says you’re acting. Because guess what? Some of you are. Start acting like the business people you (mostly) seem to want to become.  Because if you’re not becoming business people by attending these conferences, then you really are doing it just to get out of the house. And then I don’t blame the WSJ for calling a spade a spade.

You need proof? At last summer’s mother of all blog conferences, BlogHer, I saw far too many women drunk off of their you-know-whats, barely able to get back to their hotel rooms. There are now-legendary stories of women pushing and shoving their way to grab sponsor swag at these events. And the social-network-based backchannel conversations before and after these events? Well…if you could see some of the name calling that happens when this person doesn’t get invited to a party but that one does; it’s not pretty.

Yes, of course, men do ridiculous things on the road too, and that’s what many people were reacting to as they read the WSJ article. Why doesn’t a major publication write an expose on the alcohol-filled parties at International CES or the intense city-wide party hopping that is SxSW? I’d love to see that article written, but of course it won’t be any time soon.

Up the Professionalism

If we women want to be taken seriously as business people, we’ve got to start acting like it.

I am certainly not saying that getting away for work to a beautiful location, with amazing content and the very best networking, shouldn’t a pleasurable thing. Whenever I go to any conference – blogging or otherwise – I go to plenty of parties; take time for myself at the beach, spa or touring the city; and often arrange fancy group dinners with friends. I bring swag home just like everyone else. But ultimately, I’m there on business, and I hope that my participation always reflects a high level of professionalism.

If we women want to be taken seriously as business people, we’ve got to start acting like it. Women bloggers need to treat their blog businesses like businesses, not as sometimes or part-time jobs (regardless of how much time they put into them). We must boost each other up, not become the worst versions of ourselves, when we go away to network and learn. And even if we stay home.

Disclosure: My conference, the Digital Family Summit, is loosely affiliated with Mom 2.0 Summit. I receive no direct compensation for my relationship with Mom 2.0 Summit.

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The primary reason for the disclosure requirement is to assist readers and viewers in determining whether a blogger or endorser has a material connection to the brand about which they’ve produced content. It seems pretty obvious (to me, at least) why this is important to know.

The notion of disclosure in product promotion is certainly not new and not without controversy; you may not realize that the radio payola scandals continued from the 1950s through the early 2000s. The FTC has been scrutinizing, and fining, brands that do not police their endorsers for decades, and the latest guidelines are meant to bring endorsers, and the brands that hire them, up-to-speed for the social media era.

What’s New in Disclosure-land?

The most relevant part of the update for those of us working in social media is the idea that endorsements and disclosures must be made in all media, including short-form media such as Twitter. As Twitter has risen in popularity there’s been some question about how and how much disclosure was required when tweeting about sponsored posts or other types of paid content, and these guidelines make it clear – Twitter is not exempt.

But this is not a Twitter-only update; there’s much more to the new guidelines. They provide in-depth explanation on the FTC’s “Clear and Conspicuous Requirement” – and although this in and of itself is not new, as media has changed so much, there are new ways that endorsers need to protect themselves and their brands to provide clear and conspicuous disclosures.

Of particular relevance to us, the new guidelines explain the FTCs opinion on:

• Proximity: Even in a space-constrained ad or promotion, the disclosure must be physically closely related to the statement or endorsement. An endorsement in one tweet followed by disclosure in the second tweet is not enough.
• Prominence: Disclosures must be prominent, viewable on any device, and not buried within a web page. Fine print may not cut it, and prominence is even required on a mobile web page.
• Multimedia: Disclosure is required even for audio or video claims and endorsements, with in the same clear and conspicuous way as expected for written media (with proximity and prominence).

Importantly, the FTC has also made it clear that all disclosures must be in “Understandable Language” – which means that using a hashtag #spon or #spons may not be readily understandable to all viewers. The FTC suggests using “#Ad” “Ad:” or “Sponsored” in tweets to be ultra-clear that a tweet or link within a tweet includes compensated content.

Christopher Penn provides some very good Twitter-specific examples of appropriate disclosure on the Shift Communications blog.

What Do the New Disclosure Requirements Mean for Brands?

The FTC has always maintained that the burden is on brands to ensure that their endorsers (in this discussion, primarily bloggers and other online influencers) are in compliance with their guidelines for disclosure.

For years, savvy PR and digital firms have been suggesting language to influencers to include with their brand-sponsored or influenced content. The updated guidelines provide even more specifics for brands to share with influencers, including the “#Ad” or “Ad:” and “Sponsored” suggestions as well as how to disclose in multimedia. The guidelines also provide a number of very helpful examples, which brands can adapt for their own use when working with digital endorsers.

I would hope that the revised guidelines spur brands and their agencies to take a good look at their policies and processes with regards to influencer endorsements. Now is the time to revisit how your firm reviews and polices endorsers; if the FTC is going to make an example of anyone, it’s more likely to be the brand than the endorser. Monitoring for brand mentions is not the same as monitoring for disclosure, so be sure you know what you’re looking for.

The FTC, in one of their blog posts, gave us a handy mnemonic to help us remember what we need to do here. It’s M.M.M.:

• Mandate a disclosure policy that complies with the law;
• Make sure people who work for you or with you know what the rules are; and
• Monitor what they’re doing on your behalf.

And beyond influencer outreach, brands are also beholden to the endorsement guidelines for their websites, advertisements, and celebrity endorsements. Given how broad-reaching these requirements are, brands should probably review the guidelines with their legal counsel.

What Do the New Disclosure Requirements Mean for Bloggers?

Many bloggers have been providing very solid disclosures for years, especially on their blogs, but as I said above, there has been some question of what’s required in short-form media such as Twitter.

Starting now, bloggers should be labeling all tweets, Facebook updates, and sponsored Pinterest pins or Instagram photos, as well as videos and Vines, with the appropriate clear-language disclosure designation: at the minimum, Ad or Sponsored.

There’s no question that these requirements will change the nature of what influencers will tweet and post in short form and possibly long form as well, and quite frankly, I think that’s fine. In my opinion, there’s too much low-quality, unengaging branded content out there anyway, so if fear of these requirements causes a few bloggers and tweeters to drop away, all I can say is yay.

How to Do Disclosures

As I said, the FTC’s Guidelines document provides a number of examples on how to meet the new disclosures requirement, but it does leave many questions unanswered.

So let’s look at a few posts that define when disclosure is required. The “when” hasn’t really changed since the FTC’s original 2009 document – the new doc mainly updates the “how.”

• Dianne Jacob from Will Write for Food explains what kinds of financial arrangements require a disclosure. This is a great breakdown which will be useful to brands and bloggers alike.
• Jeff Hurt writes on the Engage365 blog about what speakers and conference bloggers (those who liveblog or cover live event content) must disclose.
• New Media Expo has a very comprehensive guide to the FTC guidelines, written while the new guidelines were in public review.
• Nyerr Parham, at my client Appinions, an influence marketing platform, writes about the new regulations and what brand influencers must disclose. [Author note: Did you see that? Disclosure within the sentence!]

Tools to Help With Disclosures

To my knowledge, only one company has stepped up to fill what seems to me a glaring hole in helping brands (and also endorsers) create and manage more effective disclosures. That company is CMP.LY; they’ve just relaunched their service with a very cool set of new features and functionality, some of which directly facilitate the Understandable Language requirement.

To see how CMP.LY works, check out my friend Steve Garfield’s recent Vine about a Cadillac ATS he was given to drive.

Note that Steve was not compensated for the test drive, nor was he expected to write about the car – so he did not include an “Ad” or “Sponsored” in his Vine/Tweet – but he did feel compelled to disclose the relationship, hence the use of “disclosur.es.” CMP.LY also has a number of other Plain Language URLs, including “ter.ms,” “leg.al,” “paid-po.st” and “affiliate-po.st” – all of which could be extremely helpful to both brands and bloggers.

CMP.LY is free to individuals – anyone can sign up and use their plain language URLs and disclosure links. Their services for brands and agencies are quite comprehensive; beyond influencer/endorser disclosure tools, they also offer legal review and compliance software for social media. Current CMP.LY clients include Jamba Juice, Nissan and Hain Celestial.

Regardless of how you implement it, now’s the time for all brands and bloggers to get a firm grasp on the FTC regulations. The implementation of these standards will be beneficial to all, and especially readers.

DISCLOSURE: I have no material relationship to any brand or person mentioned in this post except for Appinions, which is a client.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. The information provided herin is not legal advice and is only based on my own experiences as a marketer. None of the above should be considered a substitute for you consulting your own legal counsel who will guide you and your company (or blog) in how to manage disclosures and endorsements.

Image source: Flickr.com (jeffanddayna)

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I’ll disclose up front that I don’t ever eat at KFC because I’m sensitive to MSG and they put it in much of their food. This fact generally puts me in the category of people who think that KFC is unhealthy: if it makes me sick, it must be unhealthy.

But I also live in reality enough to know that there are untold millions of people, including many who live in my low-income neighborhood, who have very few food choices in their lives (we have a dearth of fresh food options in my neighborhood – called a “food desert” – as do many other urban locales, and we do have a KFC nearby, along with a half-dozen other fast food choices). While KFC could never be considered healthy on the whole, they at least seem to be aware that their kids meals need to have some healthful aspects, and they’re taking small steps in that direction. I’d rather see the kids in my neighborhood eat applesauce than mashed potatoes, and baked chicken rather than fried.

And I unconditionally support KFC’s, or any other brands’, ability to choose how they market their products and to and through whom.

Look Who’s On the Playground

Yet, following the KFC event, the blogosphere erupted because a number of bloggers, none of whom were at the event, felt it was inappropriate and perhaps disingenuous for other bloggers to promote KFC, given that the company’s “healthy” choices are not really all that healthy.

A few of those bloggers bullied the bloggers who were present at the event (which was public information once the bloggers in attendance started sharing on social media about it) by attacking their food and brand relationship choices. The bullies also hijacked the hashtag with negative information about the brand, and generally made a mess of this brand’s marketing campaign. (I’m not going to link to the haters to give them any credit for bashing, so you can go search #KFCKidsMeals on Twitter yourself.)

Many of these bullying bloggers did those things while saying “it’s our job to correct misinformation out there.” Which I appreciate – truly I do – because thankfully, in our country, you have the right to protest against whatever you want, in social media or otherwise. But if you’re a “professional” in the blogging space (and by taking money for blogging, you have become a professional), and you’re going to launch a protest, you ought to do so respectfully, professionally and in a classy way.

My friend Robyn Wright did a beautiful job of summing up what I consider to be the right way to protest, in a tweet:

Rather than attacking about food choices, instead use your voice to simply promote what you believe in. #KFCKidsMeals

— Robyn Wright (@RobynsWorld) March 24, 2013

Robyn also wrote an excellent post about how to respectfully dissent, related to this controversy.

The Echo Chamber May Damp it Down

As a marketer first, my instinct here is to feel bad for KFC. As an agency person, I’ve put together my share of blogger programs, and boy would I be upset if my brand or clients were on the receiving end of this kind of vitriol and bullying. KFC is making an effort to improve their nutritional choices (however incrementally), and they invited well-regarded bloggers in to help them promote a product launch. If bloggers weren’t receptive to that message, I would hope that they weren’t in attendance at that event. (That would be disingenuous.)

Many of you who read me regularly know that I don’t have a lot of love for a certain tier of bloggers. I feel like the parenting/lifestyle blogosphere is overly junked up by reviews and giveaways, and a major echo chamber has developed whereby parenting bloggers are mainly writing for and being read by other parenting bloggers. As my friend George G. Smith, Jr. says,

“If you….talk to someone outside the community – they will look at you crazy like when you mention Motrin Moms, Maytag and Dooce, Walmart Moms [ed: previous blogger controversies]….They would just stare at you and you’ll realize – oh yeah. We’re kind of crazy in our own little bubble world.”

So on some level, maybe a bunch of playground bullies won’t really make an impact, and KFC and other brands will continue to work with quality bloggers and create blogger marketing programs even after this negative experience.

But If You Can’t Say Something Nice

You bashing, bullying bloggers: As with most other things, there’s a consequence to your actions. Many of you have had wonderful, and lucrative, brand opportunities come your way as a result of your blogging. Those of you who are fortunate enough to be presented with these opportunities get to choose which brands you work with. You use your own moral compass to decide with whom you partner up and which brands you decline. As do your fellow bloggers.

If you make it treacherous and scary for brands to create blogger marketing programs, they will eventually cease to do it – and you’ll see fewer and fewer paid opportunities available for you and all your friends. And that’s when I feel bad for the brands (certainly not for you), because it’s potentially going to close an interesting and creative marketing channel for them. And if you keep bashing brands you don’t like, even the brands you do like won’t want to work with you – the risk will be too great that you could turn and bash them.

Some of you bloggers have powerful platforms. Use them wisely and well. Be the professionals you become (whether you like it or not) when you accept payments for your work. Because otherwise, your profession (the paid part, that is) may someday go away.

The post Don’t Bite the Brand That Feeds You appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

As someone who is deeply entrenched in, and very much in love with, social media, it’s very hard to say “Don’t do social media.” But honestly – more and more, I find myself telling some of these entrepreneurs and business owners that social media may not be the most important thing for them to do (at the moment they’re asking me).

So how can a small business know when to not do social media, or which types of social media to use if they’re a very small or very new business?

For most, it comes down to a matter of time, money and priorities.

Do You Have a Website?

For most businesses, whether they’re neighborhood stores, bookkeepers or event planners, there’s no reason to do social media if there’s no online presence to back it up. Even if you only sell stuff at your store on 79^th Street, there’s really little reason to have a Twitter account if you can’t have a link back to something to describe your business to someone who discovers you.

“Now now,” you say, “what if I have a Google page or a Facebook page or something else? Isn’t that enough?”  I say no. Any business in 2013 should have at least a single-page website with some info about the business, contact information, and links to any other presences you have (including your Google page or social presences).

So the first thing you need to do is spend time (and some money) on building your website. I recently discovered Onepager, which looks like a great way to build a really simple, yet good-looking, website; if you’ve used it please tell us what you think in the comments!

And, it should probably go without saying, but I’ll say it just in case: Your website should reside on your own domain (URL) on the web. Not at mystore.wordpress.com or theaccountantsoffice.blogspot.com – it should live at mystore.net or theaccountantsoffice.com.

Are Other Key Marketing Pieces Covered?

Beyond your website, there are at least a few other marketing things you should do before you jump into social media.

• If you’re a local business, you need to cover off on everything Google. The world’s largest search engine is the front door to your business, and you must have a Local Google+ Page which includes a map, your contact info, and relevant links (like back to your website).
• Be sure you have decent business cards and other marketing materials. If you’re a small or new business, all the Twitter followers in the world won’t be of much use if you can’t hand someone you meet (particularly someone who doesn’t use Twitter) a nice-looking business card with the correct information.  You may also need a simple brochure or postcard with a bit more information about your business, to use at events and while networking.
• Your personal LinkedIn profile is also very important and very valuable. I don’t really consider a personal profile “social media” – it’s more like an online resume, highly searchable and totally key to making connections and generating referrals. Most small business owners feel that LinkedIn is their most valuable platform – so optimize your profile, and then don’t let your profile get out of date!

How To Focus Your Social Media Time

Now we’re into the hard part. If you’ve got all of the above and you’re ready to think about social media, you need to determine what you have time for, or what you have resources for. In order of overall value and return on time, here’s where I think a small business owner should focus.

1. A business blog

Yeah, you wanted me to say Facebook. But I’m not gonna. There’s no question in my mind that a blog, on your own website (that’s at blog.yourwebsite.com or yourwebsite.com/blog – again, not at wordpress or blogspot), will deliver the greatest value to most small businesses.  There are many reasons a blog is my #1 choice, including:

• The blog will bring search engine visibility to your website, making it easier for potential customers or clients to find you.
• The blog will provide personality to your business, making you stand out amongst all the other florists or accountants or babysitter matching services out there.
• The blog will make you stand out as a thought leader: someone who is an expert in your space and really understands the needs of your clients or customers.
• Once it’s setup (which does require a bit of time and money, unless you’re very tech savvy), your time in writing blog posts could be as little as an hour a week, or a couple of hours a week, and you don’t need to tend to it every day. You can schedule multiple posts in advance to send out over time, and you can get notifications by email if you receive any comments.

2. Facebook (but only if you’re a business-to-consumer (B2C) or local business)

If you are in the business of selling to consumers, a Facebook business Page may be valuable to you, and it doesn’t take that much time to setup and manage. Facebook’s instructions are quite simple; the only thing you may need help with is finding and sizing the necessary graphics for your cover image and logo image.

At its most basic, Facebook will take only a few minutes each day (or about an hour or 90 minutes per week), to create status updates (which you can preschedule through the Facebook Page interface).  You can receive notifications of comments or interactions on your page via email, so you’ll log in as necessary to respond to people, thank people, and keep the conversation going.

3. Pinterest (if you’re in a product-driven or visual business)

If you’re a product-driven business, or if you are in a highly visual business (florist, event planner, etc.), you may see a lot of value in having a Pinterest presence. This “inspiration board”-like platform allows your small business to build a beautiful, visual social presence and generate traffic back to your website; I’ve spoken to a number of businesses who are finding that Pinterest is one of their top web traffic drivers, and often a significant sales driver as well.

Your time on Pinterest will mostly be in pinning a few things from your site now and then (especially product, blog posts, and other content, including video), plus Liking and Repinning others’ content from Pinterest to your boards.  In total, this might be 2-3 hours a week….but be warned, it’s easy to get sucked in to Pinterest and spend much, much more time!

Also be sure that your website is optimized for Pinterest, to make it easy for other people to pin your stuff to their boards.

4. Twitter

I am a huge Twitter fan, so it pains me to say this: Twitter is not great for most small businesses.  Twitter takes a lot of time, sucks up a lot of content, and is far more real-time (meaning, you have to really stay on top of it) than any of the social platforms outlined above.

That said, there are a number of different small business categories for which Twitter is a great platform. Twitter can be great for restaurants, to promote specials or drive traffic at off-peak times; for anyone working in marketing or advertising, to keep abreast of news and developments and to prove your expertise in the socially-connected world; or for people who really like to network and develop new relationships.

However, to do Twitter well, you should plan on spending at least 30 minutes a day populating your Twitter stream with content, and reading and engaging with the people you’re following throughout the day.  Sure, you can spend less time, but as with almost anything, you get out of it what you put into it, and with Twitter, time is what you need to put into it.

5. Everything else

Sure, there are lots of other social media platforms out there. You can have a Google+ Page, or a LinkedIn company page, or you can create video for YouTube. There are plenty of small businesses who see a natural fit in these or any number of other social networks.  But the four platforms above are the most likely place for most businesses to start, and I recommend that you consider them in the order above. If you find any of these four not resonating with you, look for other outlets. But don’t bite off more than you can chew – as your mother once said, “do it right or don’t do it at all.”

Finish What You Start

There are few things that make a business look worse than finding a dormant social media presence, so try not to start things you can’t keep up.  Small businesses or solo entrepreneurs should prioritize and not feel like they need to participate in every social media platform, especially to the detriment of their other website and marketing efforts.

Do you have a small business story which supports or debunks my advice? I’d really love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

 Image source: Flickr (FD Richards)

The post When Small Businesses Shouldn’t Do Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

I’m so envious of the way some parenting bloggers, including many friends of mine, so beautifully document their lives and those of their children.  It takes a rare person to open up their lives at the level that the best parenting bloggers do – when they bare it all (or almost all) and tell amazing stories through their words and pictures.  These bloggers are chronicling their kids’ lives and they’ll have those stories forever; here I am, just another marketing blogger.  (P.S. Click the links in this paragraph for just a few of my favorite parenting bloggers.)

What makes the best parenting bloggers so great at what they do? Great lifestyle and parenting bloggers don’t just keep diaries, they really engage readers and provide a compelling experience, day in and day out, sometimes across many years.

I think there are a few lessons the average marketing blogger like me, and perhaps any business or corporate blogger, can take from these talented writers.

1. It all starts with storytelling

My favorite bloggers are all wonderful storytellers, first and foremost. The bloggers I’ve been following and reading for years, and the ones I’m most excited to meet in person, are not those with the largest readership or the best brand relationships. I really hang on the words of the bloggers who tell unique and thorough stories through their posts. Their stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end, even if they’re only 400 words or a mainly photographic recounting of their kids’ first day of school.

So it goes almost without saying that the best stories are almost always accompanied by (and told through) great photos.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that the best bloggers are also the best photographers, but they manage to capture the essence of the subject they’re writing about in their images, and their effective use of images enhances their stories.

Corporate bloggers should consider storytelling the foundation of their efforts, too.  It’s not enough to broadcast product information or announce the latest and greatest from HQ; great brand blogging should also be made up of stories, about people, events, ideas and maybe, only maybe, products.

2. Authenticity is key

The bloggers I read day in and day out are those who I know to be honest and true in their words.  I want to know that they struggle with parenting just like I do, and I want to hear how they face their fears as well as how they celebrate their successes.  And not all parenting bloggers write exclusively about their kids or their families; some also include stories from work, from other aspects of their lives, and if I’m attached to that blogger I’m usually happy to read about other subjects from them too.

I feel the same way about the corporate bloggers I read as much as I do about the parenting bloggers. I want to hear the “warts-and-all” side of the brand story, at least to the extent that the brand is willing and able to tell it. I feel like it’s important to know how messy the office is, to understand the planning process for their corporate event, and to meet the people who make the secret sauce in the back of the factory.

And let’s face it: it’s easier to write about everything in an honest way than to try and recolor some of it and then remember what you’ve written about.  That goes for corporate bloggers as well as lifestyle bloggers.

3. They’re compelling writers

Great bloggers need not be perfect writers.  Contrary to how much the Elements of Style were drilled in to most of us, we’ve learned that we do not need to have perfect grammar and syntax to get our point across. However, the best bloggers are indeed compelling writers: they understand how to turn a phrase, use punctuation to improve their words, and structure prose for greatest impact.

Your corporate or business blogging writing should be at least as good, if not better, than your favorite lifestyle or parenting bloggers. After all, you’re representing a company, and you do need to put your best foot forward for them.  If you aren’t the best writer but you are still an authentic and compelling storyteller, hire someone to help you polish your writing so that you don’t stumble on this important aspect of blogging.

Who are some of your favorite non-business bloggers? Why are they your favorites, and do you take any lessons from them into your corporate or business blogging efforts? I’d love to see some links and ideas in the comments.

Image courtesy of Digital Family Summit.

The post 3 Blogging Lessons from Parenting Bloggers appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Transmedia Storytelling

We’re starting out with a content-focused trend. I felt that 2012 was all about content marketing, and 2013 will be no less so, but it’s gonna get a bit more complicated. It’s not enough anymore to just put out great content in your blog. Brands (and individual bloggers) will need to start ramping it up and telling their stories across multiple platforms, from blog to video to Twitter and back around again.

Currently a hot topic amongst filmmakers and game developers, transmedia storytelling will start to enter the mainstream of marketing in 2013, as brands start to leverage multiple platforms and properties simultaneously in support of the same campaign or goals. In a practical sense, transmedia storytelling for brands will incorporate visual platforms such as Instagram and video into campaigns; more broadly, brands should start to think about gaming and augmented reality (see next trend).

The emergence of transmedia will be a big shift for many digital marketers, most of whom are only recently (and perhaps reluctantly) comfortable with the idea of telling the brand story through the written word of blogs, eBooks, Twitter and Facebook.  Add in photos, videos and possibly games, and the digital marketer’s job scope is going to change dramatically.

Augmented Reality

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard about Google’s entry into the world of Augmented Reality (AR) with their Project Glass effort. Google wants you to be able to wear glasses that annotate or gamify your world, and they’ve already got an app, which does just that.

Yeah, yeah, it all sounds so Star Trekky and futuristic, but is it meaningful for brands? It sure is.  Particularly for brands that need to drive real-world actions: purchase in a store, choose a restaurant, attend a movie, augmented reality (and their attendant mobile apps) may be what the C-suite is buzzing about throughout 2013. So marketers, wise up. If the C-suite already knows what this is, you need to too. They’re interested in it because many luxury brands are already using AR, and where luxury goes, the rest of consumers will typically follow.

For most digital marketers, AR is something to consider when developing mobile apps, creating new ad campaigns, or extending the brand through transmedia offerings.  A cool and clever AR app could be just the right thing to propel your brand ahead in 2013.

Influence (Again)

I wrote about Social Media Influence as a 2012 trend and I think I got that one dead-on. From changing Klout algorithms, to challenges to Klout from PeerIndex and Kred, and with the publication of Mark Schaefer’s Return on Influence, influence was undoubtedly a very hot topic throughout this past year.

But as I predicted last year, influence had to get beyond social, to incorporate offline factors.  While this is not yet perfect, some platforms, including Appinions (disclosure: they’re a client) and, theoretically, Klout, have managed to bring together social media metrics with other factors including whether or not their opinions manifest in major publications or if they have a presence on Wikipedia.

Then there’s the question of personal influence (Kred, PeerIndex, Klout) vs. contextual influence (Appinions and Traackr). The former assign an individual a score which supposedly represents their influence level – but I personally find it impossible to believe in any system which assigns a score to the hair of a fictional character. The latter, which rank influencers within a particular topic (and typically don’t allow influencers to see how they rank) feel more credible, but there’s still room for improvement across the influence marketing spectrum.

Digital marketers who want to work with influencers need to figure out which platform to rely on in order to determine who will be the best fit for their brand or campaign. And as my friend Paull Young has said (quoted here by Allyson Kapin): the most powerful analytics is the human brain.

Big Data

For digital marketers of the analytics and data persuasion, the growing corporate focus on Big Data won’t be much of a shift. SEO people and marketing analysts have been using internal and external data for years to help tell marketing and brand stories, and glean valuable insights out of numbers.  For the rest of us, who are “gut” or creative marketers, Big Data will represent a sea change in how we approach our work.

The ability to take sales, customer, or even Twitter data and turn it into patterns and segments is at the crux of what Big Data is and does. All of this data is no longer locked deep in the bowels of your corporate systems, and so now you need to figure out what you want to get out of it to inform your marketing efforts.

Your way through the thicket of Big Data: a smart data analyst or data scientist. Hire one now. Or become one. Because digital marketing based purely on your super-creative ideas may not get past the boss, once they know that you can back up your gut with cold, hard numbers.

Evolution of the Marketing Team

You may have noticed that I’ve gone away from calling these themes “social media” to “digital marketing” in this installment of my predictions. That shift is very deliberate, and relates to many of the things I’ve been writing about over the course of the past two years:

• Silos are going away – marketers need to individually have broader skillsets than just “PR” or “ads” or “SEO” and need to know a lot about many things – as do social media practitioners.
• Budgets are moving. Advertising no longer holds the big bucks. The convergence of earned, paid and owned media means that marketing budgets must get spread across many efforts.
• If you used to segment offline and online for spokespeople or events, those distinctions are gone. It’s all one big pool of people, events and opportunities, online and off. People who used to be just bloggers are now celebrities, and celebrities are bloggers. What is this world coming to?

A few years ago, at the advent of formalized social media marketing, it made sense to have someone with a title of “social media manager.” I predict that’s a title which won’t be in play much longer.  All marketers will be expected to at least understand social media, though specialists will continue to do the day-to-day heavy lifting of social media execution (as with SEO gurus).

And, as my colleague Nichole Kelly recently wrote, we’re also seeing a huge shift in how people work, how teams are formed and managed, and where and when they work. So your team may soon be distributed across time and space, and you’d better be ready for that shift too.

And that, friends, wraps up my predictions for the coming year. I’ll be checking on these throughout the year to see how they hold up, and I hope you will too. As always, if you feel like I missed the mark, or forgot a key theme, please let me know in the comments.  My best to all of you in 2013!

The post Five Social Media Trends for 2013 appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

So why is it so difficult for people to execute on blogger programs?  In part, it’s about identifying the right targets for these programs. I’m a marketing blogger, yet I get pitches in my inbox regularly from clueless marketers asking me to review baby products, women’s products, and non-marketing books.  My lifestyle blogger friends get daily pitches from marketers asking them to jump through extraordinary hoops to promote their brands – and most often for free.  Marketers who are sending out these scattershot pitches to broad lists of people must learn that engaging with a smaller number of highly targeted influencers will yield far better results in the long run.

Small is Beautiful

In my own agency, the only blogger programs work we do is for clients who understand the benefit of a highly focused “ambassador” or influencer program. We craft very specific outreach lists and engage a small number of bloggers for medium- to longer-term engagement with the brand.  We never “pitch” or send scattershot emails; each of our emails, Twitter DMs, Facebook messages or phone calls is to a blogger we either know personally or know a lot about, and we often craft special brand touchpoints for each of them.  These programs have value far beyond the “quick-hit” of a single product review or brief mention by an influential blogger.  I really believe that more and more marketers are starting to think this way, and both brands and bloggers will benefit as this becomes commonplace.

Get Creative

Another problem marketers have with blogger engagement is that they often don’t know what to ask of the blogger once they’ve identified them.

As we know (and as evidenced by my inbox) identifying an influencer and reaching out to them is far from a guarantee of success. Brands must move influencers carefully and deliberately through a process to help them get to know the brand, believe in the brand, forge a connection with the brand and become loyal to the brand.

A few non-pitchy ways to engage with influencers include:

• Asking them to be a special guest at a Twitter chat or webinar, to share their expertise
• Bringing them in to a focus group in their city or in your offices
• Inviting them to contribute content on your blog (vs. solely writing about you on theirs)
• Giving them a starring role in a corporate video or advertisement
• Sending them the latest issue of your internal corporate newsletter, so they know what’s really going on at your company

Note that in my world (I work primarily with lifestyle bloggers), most bloggers are looking to have their time spent with your brand compensated, so plan accordingly. In other areas of online influence, that is not necessarily the case.

Make a Roadmap

My client, Appinions, a leading influence marketing platform, is working to help marketers solve the problem of how to work with influencers and help them learn about, and become more involved with, the brand.  They’ve recently created a roadmap for influencer engagement, which they call the Influencer Continuum.  (Disclaimer: I’m quite proud of it because I helped to craft it!).

In the Influencer Continuum^TM, Appinions has laid out that process and corresponding engagement touchpoints in a pretty straight-forward way that could help nearly any person charged with influencer outreach.

Of course I’m being totally shameless by saying “go, download the darn eBook already.”  (P.S. It’s free, no registration required.)  But seriously – if you’re doing blogger outreach or working with influencers in any way, this framework may be helpful to you.

It’s high time that everyone stopped making blogger outreach equivalent to begging bloggers for a product plug, and started thinking about it as building long-lasting relationships with influencers who can really move the needle for brands. However you get there, roadmap or not, the time is now.

Disclosure: Appinions is a client of mine. They’re not a client of Social Media Explorer’s. Jason has written about them before here on SME but not because he has any relationship with them. 

Have You Registered For Explore Portland?

Don’t miss two days of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space. Join SME’s Jason Falls and Nichole Kelly, Unmarketing and The Book of Business Awesome author Scott Stratten, The Now Revolution co-author and leading strategist Jay Baer, Smart Business, Social Business author Michael Brito, allen+gerritsen strategist Tamsen Webster, Edison Research’s Tom Webster and more at one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, November 15-16 in Portland, Ore. DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER! Seats are filling fast! Reserve yours today!

The post The Influencer Continuum Model for Influencer Engagement appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Brands can spend tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars sponsoring BlogHer (and only slightly less for other events including Mom 2.0 Summit, Type A Parent, New Media Expo, and yes, my own Digital Family Summit conference). What they should hope to accomplish is strong relationship-building with the right influencers for their brands. What most of them seem to do, particularly at the larger conferences, is hand out swag and shake a lot of hands while collecting business cards that they later seem to ignore.

Here are four things that brands and agencies should consider in order to mount a successful blogger conference sponsorship or blogger event.

Have Appropriate Booth Staffing

It’s perfectly fine to staff your booth with PR people or other agency reps, but c’mon, people – they have to be able to talk about your brand. Intelligently. So many booths at BlogHer were staffed by people who could barely talk about their product, let alone explain how the company works with bloggers and what they hope to get from blogger relationships. Some booths even had “booth babes” (hired extras) – all with the same vapid stare as the ones with the tight t-shirts at the auto show, minus the tight t-shirts (thank goodness). It’s better to be slightly understaffed than have unqualified staffers who will really turn bloggers off.

Bring Your Brightest Personalities

The booths which stood out most for me at BlogHer this year were not the flashiest, biggest ones, but the tiny little ones which featured startups. BlogHer did a great job in creating more financially-accessible opportunities for small companies to exhibit, and a number of them did, often with their CEOs or founders in attendance. I had a great conversation with Aihui Ong, the founder of Love With Food, an early-stage startup who (smartly) created a promotion around the conference with a well-known food blogger, Stephanie Quilao to help get the word out about their service. And the Creative Director at Britely was delightful, funny, and completely in tune with what his brand was doing with bloggers. Conferences are the place for your most outgoing, articulate people, ideally those with a true connection to the brand.

Plan For In-Person Engagement

Think beyond the swag: what do you want to do with bloggers at your booth or event? The most creative presences I’ve seen at blogger conferences are interactive: they give bloggers something to create or take part in, right there in their booth. One of my favorite, and one of the most readily memorable, brand activations was the Oscar Mayer Good Mood Mission video booth at Mom 2.0 Summit 2010. Beyond their fancy-fancy video booth (below), it was a simple setup: ask bloggers to record a video talking about your “good mood moment.” The brand posted those videos to their Facebook site and suggested that bloggers also post them to their blog or Facebook, and for every video recorded they donated a pound of food to Feeding America. It was a slam-dunk: bloggers are often willing to join good causes, and they got bonus content for their website in the bargain. It’s not always practical to have a huge setup but at minimum, think of interesting activities which can help capture bloggers’ contact info (better than collecting a pile of business cards) and give something back to the bloggers.

Plan for Effective Follow-Up

Given that I was at BlogHer primarily as a blogger this time, I was absolutely shocked at the lack of follow-up from brands after the conference. At most conferences, I give out 50+ cards to brands, and I typically get three emails post-conference from them. This conference was no different. Follow-up is essential to a successful conference presence, and not planning for it in advance means that it will not happen in a timely manner. Follow-up need not be complicated; just make sure all the cards and info you’ve collected gets inputted into some kind of CRM system immediately after the conference (even better if you do it daily throughout the event), and send a quick thank-you to everyone after the event. Follow-up doesn’t need to include an “ask” from the blogger – a “nice to meet you, please keep in touch” kind of email is ideal. And it can’t hurt to follow them and tweet out a “nice to meet you” too!

It seems so simple and obvious to me that doing it right, vs. doing it halfway, is the way for brands to go with blogger events and conferences. With more and more blogger conferences to consider every year, it’s tempting to schedule a bunch and hope for the best. But turning off bloggers is far worse than not getting a chance to them in person, so find ways to make your presence exceptional and you’ll reap the relationship rewards.

The post Making the Most of In-Person Blogger Events appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

An example: My  cousin is about to become a Bat Mitzvah. She’s the last of our generation, and everyone wants to pitch in to help. My stepmom offered to take on the task of finding and ordering the invitations, and identified a seller on Etsy who says she has done invitations before. Her Etsy store looks nice, she doesn’t have any negative feedback (among the six feedbacks she has), and her style matches the Bat Mitzvah girl’s quite well.

So customized invitations are ordered, a few weeks pass, and they don’t arrive by the agreed-upon date. My aunt calls the seller and she says “Oh, I’m running a little late.” A few more days pass and some of the invitations arrive. Some, as in, all of the invitations. 2/3 of the envelopes. 1/2 of the reply cards. Oh, and the invitations don’t fit in the envelopes. Frantic phone calls ensue. The seller is absolutely unapologetic. “It’s not my fault the invitations don’t fit in the envelopes,” she says (as if there’s some invitation fairy who could have guaranteed that for her). And she can’t complete the order because she’s at a wedding for the next week.

With some creative engineering on my aunt’s part and a friendly neighborhood printer, the invitations get redone and out the door. But neither my aunt nor stepmom will be rushing back to Etsy any time soon.

The high potential for disconnect between the glossy veneer and the under-the-hood capabilities makes for two dilemmas: How do people who are looking for professional services determine who’s really capable of delivering, and how do those of us who really can deliver differentiate ourselves from those who really can’t?

My answer to those looking to hire is: Look for people who really walk the walk, not just talk the talk. For a professional service person such as a consultant, graphic designer or developer, ask tons of questions. Review their LinkedIn profile (there is absolutely zero excuse for not having a solid LinkedIn profile by now). Get references. Look at prior work. And when you do contract with someone, have — at the very least —  an email agreement spelling out the work to be done, the timeframe, and the compensation.

For those of us who have shingles of our own, we have to walk the walk too! If we’re selling blogs as a solution for our clients, we darn well better be blogging. If we’re designing websites – well, I’m sorry, the shoemaker’s children (no time, yadda yadda yadda) analogy doesn’t work for me. We ought to have at least a decent (if not full-bells-and-whistles) website of our own. If we say we’re social media experts – I don’t think it matters if our Klout score is 0 or 100, but I do think it matters that we’ve built up at least a modest Twitter following, tweet regularly (and that our Twitter followers were not obviously bought), that we have a good LinkedIn profile, and that we have presences on at least a few other social media platforms (Facebook, Pinterest, or more). We should also be able to show evidence of our past work.

My personal criteria when I hire social media freelancers (for my own agency) may apply to the hiring of nearly any service provider (marketing, design or other):

• Look for people with client-side or agency experience (and more than just a three-month internship).
• Some corporate experience also indicates that they can play well with others in a professional environment and they have been able to hold to deadlines and meet internal or external client expectations.
• In social media especially, there are a lot of brand-new social media “consultants” out there (young and old) who have never had a professional job and perhaps have never had to write a budget, a contract, a client report or even a meeting agenda. If all they know how to do is tweet – what value are they really bringing to the table? Look at their LinkedIn profile for a progressively upwards series of “real jobs” which indicates that they have skills beyond tweeting.
• Professional writing can be a very good indicator of someone’s professionalism and thoroughness. You’re not looking for the next Hemingway, but you do want to see  the person you might hire can spell (and accurately check their spell-check), write in complete sentences, and clearly express their thoughts.
• Don’t settle for looking at the work they’ve done for themselves. Always ask for examples of the paid work they’ve done for others. This is particularly important with designers (they will often show you portfolio pieces which were done on spec or for classes) and social media consultants (who may point to their own Twitter account but not be able to show you a client’s account they’ve managed).  Of course, it’s not always easy to confirm that a consultant has done all of the work they say they’ve done for a client, but seeing something is better than nothing.
• Which leads to references. And this is critical. Don’t hire someone unless they can provide, and you can at least verify, if not get a good reference from, a current or former client.

Most importantly, we should all look beyond the pretty coat of paint. Look past the Twitter followers, the sleek and well-organized storefront, the Klout score and the Facebook fans. Dig around. Ask questions. And be an involved client or an involved, reliable, and professional service provider.  We all thank you for it.

The post The Glossy Veneer of Professionalism appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

A few weeks ago I was privileged to host the first-ever conference for tween and teen bloggers and their families, the Digital Family Summit.  However immodest this may seem, I truly feel this event was a watershed moment in social media.  It was clear from listening to and meeting the 125 kids in attendance that content creation permeates every fiber of their being.

My conference co-organizer, Jennie Baird, said this in our conference program:

Gone are the days of kids being spoon-fed adult-created content like Saturday morning cartoons and  “After School Specials.“  The idea of creating media is as natural to today’s tweens and teens as flipping on the radio or the television was to their parents. And today’s tweens and teens are creating new formats, new ideas, and a new breed of information and entertainment that is relevant and meaningful to them. Social media and mobile devices ensure that they (and us) are always connected and that the ideas and information shared spread like wildfire.

We created the conference because we know that we’re in the midst of a fundamental shift in the way media is created and consumed: 14% of teens are blogging and 27% record and upload video. The numbers grow rapidly each year.  And for parents, educators and brands, listening to and learning from these digital creators is becoming increasingly important.

Hannah Alper is just one such creator. Within a few days of the Digital Family Summit, this smart and articulate 9-year-old re-platformed her blog to self-hosted WordPress based on a single morning’s workshop.  At the Summit, she also honed her digital photography skills.  She’s multi-platform, multi-talented, and doesn’t stop creating.  She recently complained to her mom that she’s worried about missing things because she won’t be able to blog or check her comments from sleepaway camp.

Digital Family Summit teen speaker Xander Hansen has 740 subscribers and 3 million views on his YouTube channel and is an avid Twitter and Foursquare user. He’s putting money away for college from the revenue on his YouTube channel.  He started creating videos when friends asked for his help with Minecraft, and now shares video on everything from mini skateboards to Legos. Just watch one of his videos: it’s clear the confidence he’s building through his on-screen endeavors will serve him well no matter what direction he takes in life.

Kids like Hannah and Xander are not just growing up digital, they are digital. They don’t know anything else but creating and sharing, because those tools are readily available and built-in to every device they own. Where are these digital kids headed and what should we know about them?

Facebook is So Last Year

While Facebook has a strong history of teen and college-age use, many teens are leaving Facebook or modifying their Facebook use as it’s become too public for them and they’re tired of sharing in the broad way that Facebook encourages. If their parents and aunts and friends’ parents are their friends, no amount of privacy settings will make them feel like they’re not being watched. And they’re realizing on their own that opening up their lives to every friend they’ve ever made might expose them to potential cyberbullying threats.

Twitter Comes on Strong

Many of the teens that are cutting down their Facebook use are finding refuge on Twitter, which offers a level of anonymity and privacy that Facebook does not. Now that one out of six teens uses Twitter, it’s become a serious platform for that demographic that marketers cannot afford to ignore. And since fewer parents are on Twitter than Facebook, Twitter is a refuge for many kids, even those younger than 13 (see next). The question is: How to reach them, if they’re anonymous and keeping their Twitter friends list small?

Those Kids Get Younger Every Year

Facebook is finding itself in a major dilemma as more and more parents allow kids younger than 13 (the age at which the COPPA act requires a parent’s permission in collecting data from a child) to set up a Facebook account (or the kids are doing it without their parents’ knowledge); in fact, studies show that 38% of kids on the network are under 13. Facebook is now considering allowing younger kids to have an official account, linked to their parents’ account, which would help to limit their increasing liability brought on by the growing number of underage users.

Kids are Hyper-Connected

With multiple devices, today’s teens and tweens have easy access to their social presences (and email and text) in a way that no generation has before. From waking up to lunchtime to lying in bed at night, many teens are online all the time and it’s completely natural for them.  Even my own four-year-old will ask Siri the weather long before he’ll open the door to look outside. But with ubiquity comes clutter – kids are processing so much information, they may not respond well to marketing messages or just ignore them altogether.

Video is Natural

While our generation wanted to watch MTV videos, this generation wants to create them. A recent Pew Internet study found that 37% of 12-17 year olds used video chat, and 27% of them record and upload video – girls as well as boys. Video is fast- becoming a primary way that kids communicate with each other and with the world. And the more socially-connected the kids are, the more likely they are to create and share video.

Hannah and Xander are only two of the millions of kid content creators who will be challenging us, teaching us, and yes, buying from us now and in the future.  They’re way ahead and thinking in ways most of us can’t (or don’t), so we’ve got a lot to figure out from them.

Have You Registered For Explore Minneapolis?

Don’t miss two days of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space. Join SME’s Jason Falls and Nichole Kelly, The Now Revolution co-author Jay Baer, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman, Scott Gulbransen, Kevin Hunt, Kipp Bodnar and more at one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, August 16-17 in Minneapolis, Minn. DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER! Seats are filling fast! Reserve yours today!

The post Kids Are The Future of Social Media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.