Evolved Thinking

Friends, reader(s) and people who tolerate my rantings from time to time …

If you know anything about me, you’ll know that for better or worse, I’ve had my fair share of jobs. Trust me, it’s nothing I’ve ever wanted to be known for, but it’s an unfortunate truth borne out of a bad economy, bad choices or the dreaded “bad fit.”

So what the hell does all of this have to do with my headline?

My ability to feed my family and/or avoid crashing on one of your couches for any extended period of time is almost entirely due to social media engagement and networking … with a dash of reasonable skill in the areas of marketing strategy, social media engagement & content creation. And thus … the tie in to my headline.

Social Media Club PDX is bringing Social Stallion Joshua Waldman to town to show you how to discover those hidden job nuggets using social media tools and ways to pay it forward in true “You-Tweet-my-Back, I’ll-Tweet-Yours” fashion. Here’s the title and some eloquent prose from my social chum @unclenate, Prez of @SocialMediaPDX:

“Job Searching With Social Media For Dummies” author Joshua Waldman

“For anyone looking for a first job, exploring a career change, or just setting up for future success, social media is a proven platform for facilitating connections, demonstrating passions and interests, and ultimately landing the job. Joshua Waldman, author of “Job Searching with Social Media For Dummies” enables you to harness the power of the Internet to research and identify job opportunities, and create a strategy for securing a position.”

Other nuggets include:

• creating effective online profiles and resumes to sell your strengths
• maintaining your online reputation (and ensuring that employers who Google you like what they find)
• understanding electronic etiquette
• using the power of personal branding
• building your brand online
• avoiding common pitfalls, such as jumping into filling out a social media profile without a strategy
• getting to know Twitter, the only real-time job board with literally thousands of jobs posted daily
• using social media sites to uncover opportunities in the “hidden job market” ahead of the competition

This is your chance to meet some really cool and connected people as well as escape the job or the people you hate — for three whole hours! Just sign up already!

DETAILS
January 18, 2012 at 6:00 PM | $25 Online, $45 @Door | Limit: 100

Collective Agency
322 NW 6th Ave
#200
Portland, OR 97209

This post is inspired by the word “Flow” — in all of its glory. Get your flow on with Queens of the Stone Age’s Go With the Flow while you meet your new marketing savant — ConBroChill.

Every five years or so, marketing gurus repackage the discipline of garnering influence, attention and brand loyalty into something that drives new ways to engage people to take action. Look no further than the growing allegiance to social media tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and Foursquare as a sign that Big Idea marketing from the mountaintop is giving way to crowdsourcing your way to a Compelling Idea.

My friends, we are on the cusp of another such evolution in marketing. For lack of a better term, I’ll float one for consideration – Bro-cial Media. The pillars of Bro-cial Media are simple:

• Don’t just know your audience. Be your audience.
• Feed your audience with content that makes them hungry for more
• Deliver content in a medium your audience likes to consume

The big brains at Nonbox, an integrated marketing firm in Portland, Ore., recently introduced me to a sports marketing client of theirs that is letting it flow in more ways than one: Connor Martin and his alter ego ConBroChill. Nonbox partners were quick to point out that Martin is responsible for creating a  strong  reverse-mentoring relationship with the agency on bootstrap digital marketing efforts that attract active followers.  Nonbox, in turn, is delivering its deep reservoir of sports marketing connections to Martin as they advise him on the opportunities his gregarious personality and sun-drenched good looks are bringing to the surface.

This former pro lacrosse star born and raised in the Northwest is more than a flowing mane (aka The Flow), with a penchant for the bombastic and a persona that’s part MTV’s Puck Rainey and part Jason Mewes of Jay and Silent Bob fame. This wholesome kid next door is a bonafide digital media sensation.

With YouTube creations constructed using his dad’s video camera, Connor Martin/ConBroChill brings as many as 500,000 like-minded sports enthusiasts to him with every  three- to five-minute dispatch. This popularity has created a product-pitching hotbed for CBro and his sponsors, as well as opened the door to him as an arena anthem creator…
and a current spate of possible television projects that could propel him into being a household name.

So what does this Bro-make-good story have to do with you, Mr./Mrs. CMO?

It’s time to quit looking for ways to make a Facebook profile relevant for your company or clients. It’s time to quit pushing Twitter messages out that trumpet how cool you are. Retire big idea thinking for a moment and go Bro-cial.

Here are five tips for integrating Bro-cial Media into your marketing mix as a company or for your clients:

1. Develop a persona for your brand. You may not be ConBroChill, but you are somebody. If you don’t know who you are — Ask your coveted audience.
2. Live where your prospects, fans, and competitors live. Is it YouTube? Is it LinkedIn? Is it in technology or industry forums or trade pubs? Don’t waste time building communities from scratch. Find out where your Bros are already hanging out.
3. Don’t be a witness. Be an activist! Participate. Engage with your bros and give them reasons to want to hang with you.
4. Be fresh – in attitude and in your content. Have an edge that reflects your persona  in everything you deliver and bring things to your bros that elicit action. Don’t just create for the sake of freshness.
5. Encourage frequent  interaction with your bros to stay current. Don’t pontificate in a vacuum. Unvalidated clever ideas from you or your marketing cohorts may make you laugh or feel empowered, but if they miss the mark you could end up with something like this flop:  Motrin Moms Mishap from Johnson & Johnson.

It’s time to welcome your new marketing muse to the table. His name is Connor Martin.