The Best Education - Leverage Social Media and Marketing Influencers
The Influencer Sweet Spot
Those Successful Entrepreneurs Know a Lot
A few years ago, I would never have had a Twitter account, much less have joined in the Pinterest obsession. I had AIM but well, that was because at 14 I wanted to be cool. Even in college I refused to get a text-messaging plan. Why not just call? Apparently there were not a whole lot of others who felt the way I did; I grew tired of the endless text message fees and, finally, gave my self over to a whole new world of cell phones.
Over the next few years there was a cataclysmic shift in my own understanding of how much there is to learn and do with all this new media, how to create art. As Joseph Sugarman said, “The best [insert any marketing profession here] in the world are those who are curious about life, read a great deal, have many hobbies, like to travel, have a variety of skills, get bored and then look for other skills to master.” Once the skills became apparent, I was driven to learn them.
Deft man. Excellent insight.
I’m still bad about maintaining my own social media channels at times; I prefer to manage my clients'. But I’ve gone from someone who knew nothing beyond Facebook and Xanga (remember Xanga?) to a deeply entrenched professional in the Marketing and PR industry. The best part is, I love it. It took a while for me to fully understand what elements I enjoy so much about the work; I get bored easily, but each day has a new puzzle to be teased apart and packaged.
One of the biggest benefits of networking on a platform, such as LinkedIn, is that it streamlines the ability to connect with others and provides an amazing peer-based educational system. For the first time, we- both collectively and individually- can reach out to the best of the best, the smartest innovators, the newest entrepreneurs, and the long-seasoned executives, have a bit of a peek at what they know and a bit of a shock as to how much there is still to learn.
The average LinkedIn user is not even engaged in conversation with well-known experts; rather the connections happening are the ones which link multiple individuals who fall somewhere in between expert and beginner. Very few in any industry make it to stardom, but there are many who are equally brilliant. It's exciting to know that every connection is an opportunity to digest more expertise.
LinkedIn provides an opportunity for apprenticeship-style education. I have “met” a good many interesting, intelligent leaders of industry through using this platform as best as I know how. I have read the posts of women and men who have the power to teach me something that I lack. The only requirement to success is humility in knowing how much you do not know and allowing that knowledge to drive you forward as you absorb as much as you can.
Just a thought about how fast things can change and what knowledge will push you through the next storm, what skills will you need, and who will be there to teach you?
