so now i’ve got this thing started. searching. what does it mean?
i decided to name my blog searching because it’s the very thing i’m constantly doing. i’m always searching for ways to better myself. searching for ways to better my work. searching for new friends, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. searching for the perfect day, night, vacation. searching for the best day at work, or for the best clients. and the search never ends.
that having been said, what am i searching for in social media? the obvious answer is to build a database of knowledge that will position me for future greatness. but i can learn a lot without publishing it in a blog for all to see. so what are my true intentions?
i’ve surrounded myself with social media pundants, all of whom think they are the best of what they do. for the most part, they’re right. my social network is built around the best in the pr industry. i read their blogs and their tweets and i learn. but it’s easy to get caught up in all the noise, an echo chamber if you will.
is the point of my social media plan to have the most people regurgitating my blog posts? is my purpose to become one of the many self-proclaimed social media experts? am i branding myself, and what is the point of self-branding? am i the expert who can tell hundreds, no thousands of followers which twitter applications of new social media news release sites to use? why would anyone listen to me, unless i’m the person with 20,000 twitter followers. that makes me an expert, right?
no. my mission is to find ways to bring my clients into today’s digital media spectrum. i want to deliver social media programs for enterprise technology clients. and for B2B clients, it isn’t always easy. hell, it doesn’t always make sense. and i have to be smart enough to let them know when it doesn’t make sense. but the point is that i have to know.
i’ve stopped reading blogs on how to attract followers. funny thing is that i was spending so much time reading these how-to blogs and i hadn’t even begun building my network. as i previously mentioned, this blog isn’t going to write itself. but i also don’t want to simple regurgitate what i’ve read from the experts. i read dennis howlett and matt dickman. i follow phil gomes and kevin dugan. i’m learning from todd defren and becky mcmichael (and ruder finn’s dot comms and dot orgs). i read everything and i draw my own conclusions. and this is the way it should be.
i read corp/tech pr blogs, social media blogs, etc., because i want to share this information with others. i read everything i can so that i can develop the best social media programs for my clients. i read everything so that i can be the best i can be. and i am thankful for this education.
so i am constantly searching, but that’s a good thing. i hope my relentless search will benefit you as much as i hope it benefits me. so please chime in. let’s go on this search together.
