OLD GUYS, Unbelievers, and Holdouts

Okay, for all you old guys, holdouts and unbelievers, it's time to give in and admit that social media is here to stay and that it has transformed the way we communicate and do marketing. Social media is a phenomenal tool for sharing. You can share insight, share resources, share tools, share tips, share news, share knowledge share experience, share talent...I think you get the point. Social media is the place where you can share your "brand" your message, your ideas, and even your products. It's the place where you become a voice for others to hear. Social media allows your stories to spread. We all have our audiences, but our audiences also have their audiences, their friends, their colleagues, their family, and their networks. That means they have the power to take our stories farther than we ever could. Our job is to invite and empower them to do so. It's time you jumped into the deep end of the pool and embraced the power to get your message, brand, and story out to the world. The possibilities are endless.

Reinvent Yourself

My marketing guru Seth Godin says that we have to reinvent ourselves because the system is bent on keeping us average, reliable, safe and just doing the easy stuff. Working for "the man" makes you just another clog in the wheel of the bland. His call--and I guess it's mine, as well--is that it's time to do the amazing and the outrageous, to create real art and change things. Here are his levers for reinventing yourself:

1. Connect: Digital media can offer you a chance to make real connections, to earn permission and gain insights from people you’d never have a chance to interact with any other way. 2. Be Generous: The generosity economy rewards people who create and participate in circles of gifts. 3. Make Art: If you interact with others, you have the platform to create something new—something that changes everything. I call that art. 4. Fight the Lizard Brain: It’s the part of our brain that worries about safety and dishes out anger. Being laughed at is the lizard brain’s worst nightmare. And so it shuts down our art. 5. Ship: If you can get something out the door while your competitors cringe in fear, you win. 6. Fail: The reinvention of the marketplace demands that one have the ability to fail, often and with grace—and in public! 7. Learn: School isn’t over. School is now. School is blogs and experiments and experiences and the constant failure of shipping and learning.