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This week, I’ve been reading Failure: The Secret to Success by friend Robby Slaughter. Robby has put together a great guide on failing successfully so that you can learn and grow from your failure. I can’t do the book justice – there are incredible anecdotes from some of the greatest leaders in industry.

However, I would like to share some of the failure quotes from the book to inspire you:

The knowledge gained from failures is often instrumental in achieving subsequent successes. In the simplest terms, failure is the ultimate teacher. David Garvin

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Michael Jordan

Failure underscores the need to take chances. The cliche is right: If you take no risks, there will be no rewards. And if you are taking risks, almost by definition, you are going to fail at some point. Jeff Wuorio

I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work. Thomas Edison

No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar. Donald Foster

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. Henry Ford

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field. Neils Bohr

We can only make fantastic advances in technology through many failures. Takeo Fukui

Those who succeed tend to be the ones who allow themselves to fail. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

Rule #1: you have to learn to fail, to win. David Sandler

Here’s a fantastic video from Honda with the same name, discussing Honda’s failures throughout the years.

Order a copy of Failure: The Secret to Success and be sure to check out Robby’s ongoing posts on his blogFailure.

This post was written by Douglas Karr

Douglas Karr is the founder of The Marketing Technology Blog. Doug is President and CEO of DK New Media, an online marketing company specializing in social media, blogging and search engine optimization. Their clients include Webtrends, ChaCha and many more. Douglas is also the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies. Follow him on Twitter @douglaskarr.

Corporate Blogging for Dummies is now available on Amazon and in book stores. Check out our new site, Corporate Blogging Tips, to find out what events that we'll be speaking at.

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Karen Klein asked a tough question of me at Social Media Club Seattle last week. Karen is the CEO of SilverPlanet.com, a website focused on helping boomers and elders with aging products and services, particularly home facilities. She expressed an interest (past or present) in hiring a consultant to help with her company’s social media marketing. But, like many small business owners, non-profit organizations or recession conscious companies might agree, Karen seemed to say that consultants are often too expensive.

Her question was a good one:

Would you consider incentive-based pricing, so I could afford you?

(For the record, I’m paraphrasing. She offered some other context. I just simplified it for the sake of argument.)

Not really knowing how to answer and having never thought of the possibility before, I said that I would consider it because if I don’t perform, I should be held accountable for that. But I also said the problem arises that you’re getting my time and counsel, which is worth something whether the projects and programs we develop work or not. I also can’t pay my bills on the possibility your social media marketing programs work.

But the question is an interesting one to consider, social media notwithstanding.

Chris Brogan’s now infamous pricing post got people talking about what a national social media consultant charges for his time and services. Peter Shankman, another elite PR and social media expert even posted this flippant (but perfectly valid point) tweet recently:

I can certainly attest that being someone who has built his reputation on sharing knowledge through blogs, tweets, conference talks and even responding to the occasional email asks, there are lots of people who mistakenly think you’ll just counsel them for free all the time.

My typical approach is that I provide general opinions and observations on my blog, Twitter stream, Facebook Page and even direct communications (in-person, email, phone call, etc.) free of charge. If you ask my opinion, I can’t help but give it. But when you ask me to consider your specific business challenges, the meter is running. So I can sympathize with Shankman’s tweet, even if Kami Huyse thinks its egotistical.

But even that general, free advice comes with a catch: I don’t have enough hours in the day to only do that. My time is valuable and a 30-minute lunch or a 15-minute phone call do answer your question is probably 30- or 15-minutes I’m unable to bill. No disrespect and I don’t want to be rude, but by asking for my nice guy helpfulness, you’re costing me money. No, money isn’t all that drives me. But I have kids to feed, friends. That’s just life.

And please know: I recognize daily how blessed I am to be able to make a living doing what I’m doing. To take something I did as a hobby for years on my own time and turn it into a viable job is like winning the lottery in a lot of ways. If you can’t sympathize with someone who is constantly asked for free advice, “10 minutes to pick your brain” and friendly lunches that are all about what their business should be doing on Facebook, I’m sorry. It’s the perspective I have. Every time someone approaches me with their somewhat-of-an-imposition ask for free advice, I’m not earning money that puts food on the table for the three people who matter most to me. No offense, but I choose them.

The premise of Brogan, Shankman and other consultant’s business model is that you’re paying for their time. The price of that time varies by consultant based on their experience, availability, ego (yeah … that plays into it, too) and opportunity. I typically charge $200-250 per hour for my time. It’s far less than some consultants I would consider at a similar level of experience and ability. But I’ve also had PR and marketing folks hear my rate and laugh, saying no one should ever pay that for my efforts.

My hours are typically booked at least 60-90 days out, so I’m not sure others agree with them.

And no, I don’t charge people to go to lunch with me like others may. Perhaps I’m leaving money on the table. But I just think that’s a dick move. If you think they’re trying to milk you for advice, just say “no” and offer them an hour of consulting at your standard rate.

Being asked to price my services on performance alone is terribly problematic. While I agree that if I don’t deliver, you deserve some form of discount, restitution or break, it’s not only the social media marketing program I’m giving you. It’s my time, energy and expertise. And we are working together on it. I don’t just wrap it up and hand it to you.

Social media marketing also doesn’t exist in a vacuum. How are we to know the promotion to drive Facebook fans didn’t work because your media company placed the ads in the wrong venue or your oil well ‘sploded the day before the launch? (Hypothetically. I have not worked with BP.)

You don’t buy traditional media on performance alone, either. An ad in the New York Times costs a ton of money whether it compels people to buy your stuff or not. Sure, Pay-Per-Click advertising is a step closer to a more efficient system, but all you’re paying for is the click. The performance should be judged on the lead or purchase capture.

Yes, I sympathize with Karen and businesses in similar circumstances when it comes to paying consultants. Small businesses get the raw end of the deal when hiring social media help. For what they can afford, they typically get inexperience or a limited perspective. And yes, I think social media marketing consultants are generally overpriced … at least the good ones. But capitalism teaches us interesting things, like when the market is ripe, you charge more.

I want to see the world from the incentive-based perspective. It’s the only true measure of a vendor’s worth in many ways. But even with a ton of capital and even more balls, I’m not just charging for productivity or success. I’m charging for my time, experience and wisdom.

And isn’t that worth something?

Am I an egotistical prick or fair-minded capitalist? Would you resent it if I said “no” to your lunch invite? If you’re the person who has emailed five times, called 10 and DM’d me on Twitter everyday for a month would you clue in and realize I’m not going to give you constructive feedback on your strategic plan, “when I have a moment?”

I’m here for the whoopin’. The comments are yours.

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You can learn a lot about social media without ever leaving your desk. There are a number of great blogs out there that can help you learn. Some companies have webinars that are pretty useful as well. Much of that content is free, even. Every now and then, however, a virtual event comes along that is so good and full of content you don’t have to go hunting for that it’s worth the investment.

How would you like to spend an hour each with the likes of Guy Kawasaki, Steve Rubel, Chris Brogan, Ann Handley, Darren Rowse, Mari Smith, Jay Baer, Brian Clark and even little ole me? Oh, and to boot you get an hour each with Ramon de Leon (Dominoes Pizza Chicago), Greg Jarboe and social media frolks from Best Buy, Whole Foods, Home Depot, Foursquare and more. And you can get all that without leaving your desk? Really?

Yep. Really.

The Social Media Success Summit 2010 has just that lineup. Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner puts it on and the virtual event (live events throughout the month of May that are archived and available to attendees after) is probably one of the best buys in the social media marketing space for those interested in learning more. Michael put the first Social Media Success Summit on last year and it was a huge success. I heard from several people who attended and never heard a frustration or complaint at all.

This event is perfect for small business owners, brand managers, marketing managers, public relations professionals and anyone interested in leveraging social media for their business. I highly recommend you consider attending. If you click through on any of the links on this page, I get credit for an affiliate sale. If you’d like to purchase without me profiting, you’re welcome to do so through the various links on Social Media Examiner.

I’m excited to be a part of this event and hope you will join me and the other speakers above. Think of it like getting a graduate level course in social media marketing in just a month, all without leaving your desk. See you at the Summit!

A couple years ago, I remember when a blogger took Scoble on. The blogger invited Scoble to his event and then balked when Scoble requested travel and expenses be paid. Scoble responded online as well, and did a great job of it.

This week has been a tough (but very fun) week. I have Chapters due for my book, I’m completing 2 projects, and I’m still working with prospective customers. I touch a lot of people each week by phone, email, Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo… etc., etc. I’ve been scolded twice this week by readers who I haven’t responded to and one prospect that I underestimated the urgency on.

The prospect was my fault – I should have been tracking the company tightly. The readers are another story, though. I received a call where the lady said,

What is it with you Internet people – you don’t answer the phone, don’t answer email… don’t respond!

I didn’t apologize. Instead, I told her the truth. I have at least 20,000 new visitors per month to my blog, perhaps 250 comments (most are SPAM), and well over 100 requests. The requests are not requests for services, though. They’re simply readers looking for additional advice or information. I try to handle these via blog posts. I don’t always respond. In fact, I don’t typically respond.

Here’s an email that I just received today on the topic after I wrote my network and asked for their support in the Top 50 Indiana Blogs poll:

I’ve written multiple messages within your blog and sent you a number of different DM’s on Twitter asking for your opinions, ideas and suggestions on different digital marketing strategies and never once have I gotten a response from you. Being understanding, I know that you are a very busy man, with starting your new company and everything, which is why I never took your lack of responses personally (despite the fact that Chris Brogan, Beth Harte, Erik Deckers etc. have always answered questions for me).

That’s awesome that Chris, Beth and Erik have been able to keep up like this! I was up until 3AM and only completed reviewing and responding to email. I look forward to Chris, Beth and Erik’s advice on how I could possibly keep up with the number of requests that I get.

Yesterday, I was at the Masters of Business Online (fantastic event) and was flanked by 3 people… one was an associate, one was my Sales coach, and one was a customer. The associate and sales coach joked about me never answering the phone or emails they sent me. I looked at my customer and said, “Do I answer your phone calls and emails?”. “Yes,” he said, “… always… sometimes in the middle of the night! I think you work 24 hours a day.”

At times I believe the web and folks like Chris Anderson have done me and my business a great disservice. My landlord, my creditors, my utility companies, and vendors aren’t free. As a result, I can’t work for free. I must concentrate on:

1. Customers – these are people who pay for my products and services.
2. Prospects – these are companies with budget who are ready to become customers.
3. Word of Mouth Prospects – these are companies who have been referred to me by my network and my customers who know that a company has budget and are ready to become customers.
4. Other Requests – these are everything else… emails, form requests, phone calls, etc. These typically fall off my list because I’m working on 1, 2 and 3.

Am I missing opportunities because of this approach? Perhaps – that’s why I’m getting sales coaching here in Indianapolis. I have no idea. All I know is that “other requests” could take me months to review and respond… and I can’t afford to spend months doing that.

Readers are not customers. Subscribers are not even customers. That may sound harsh, but readers and subscribers are not paying for their subscription nor the information from this blog. I don’t have any service level agreement with readers or subscribers.

This blog is not a profitable enterprise and I’m not an Internet millionaire… far from it. I am working hard, though, to get it profitable. As soon as the blog pays all my bills, I’ll be glad to sit around all week answering my readers’ and subscribers’ requests. Until then… I need to go service my customers.

If you’d like to become a customer, reword your request. I joked with someone last night that I need to change my work voicemail to state, “Press 1 if you have budget!”. So… if you’re a reader or subscriber and looking for some free advice, please don’t get upset when I don’t respond. I truly am busy trying to pay the bills!

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I’ve been getting a lot more books to read lately. Publishers and PR folks, and a few selected authors who are friends, must think reading and reviewing books is part of my job description. The good news is, I like reading the books. The bad news is that I don’t have time to do so at this volume.

However, I have recently finished a couple of books worth letting you know about. And I’m halfway through another I can tell you is worth the price of admission. Instead of writing everything down, I figured I’d talk about them and show them off in an episode of Social Media Explorer TV. Enjoy.

Four Books Worth Reading from Jason Falls on Vimeo.

The books I review in this episode include, 18 Rules of Community Engagement: A Guide for Building Relationships and Connecting With Customers Online by Angela Connor; Connection Generation by Iggy Pintado and Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel. Andy Sernovitz’s new addition to Word of Mouth Marketing isn’t out yet, but you can find out more when the new book hits shelves by visiting his blog at http://damniwish.com.

The previous book reviews I mentioned are for “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith and “The New Community Rules” by Tamar Weinberg.

Image by jdlasica via Flickr

I read “Trust Agents” this weekend. Before you read further, please know that both authors, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, are people I consider friends. Their publisher sent me a free copy of the book to read and review. I’m not unbiased here, nor do I intend to fake it.

But you can trust me when I tell you that even if these two guys weren’t my friends, this book is well worth reading. In fact, it’s well worth buying a few copies to give to friends, business associates, clients or potential clients and so on.

I can give you a synopsis of the book. I can tell you the five or six really good nuggets of thought and overall themes that Brogan and Smith illustrate and nail. I can promise you it will change the way you look at business and will give you a new perspective on the world. But a lot of other people will do that.

Here’s what I want you to know about this book more than anything:

It will empower you.

Regardless of whether you are a marketing or social media expert, a brand manager, an agency-side thinker, an independent consultant, a public relations person new to social media, a developer or programmer or just someone who wants to know more about this Internet marketing thing, this book will provide you with the tools needed to become a trust agent — someone trusted and influential on the web.

The empowerment comes not just in practical advice and street-level knowledge Brogan and Smith bring to the table, but from a perspective only these two can bring. Their message and explanation isn’t just rooted in marketing principles and brand work. It finds its evolution from game theory, psychology and even the inner confines of the lone comfort zone of most technologists: mom’s basement.

I won’t say it’s a blueprint. But it is. I won’t say it’s the best book to read to “get” social media. But it might be.

I just hope that you know me well enough to know if the book was crap, I would at least not say anything about it.

Buy it. Read it. Tell me if you disagree.

And to start your road to becoming a trust agent, help pass the word about the book.

IMAGE: Flickr Photo by J.D. Lasica.

“Now I know why you want to hate me!”, chanted Chris (ala Limp Bizkit) at one point in a panel discussion. The question was referring to what brings out the haters in the social media world. The fact is that, as online personas build their own brand and develop their own voice and expertise in the industries… some folks will hate them for it. I doubt anyone actually hates Chris Brogan… but if they did it’s because of his great talent.

Chris Brogan Rocked BlogIndiana.

Chris had a fantastic slide deck and personable presentation – including fantastic wacky pop culture references (including Fergy!), interaction with the crowd (berating us for only having a couple runners in the room!), and a polished presentation. There’s an incredible talent that I see in speakers like Chris that I see in Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin and others… the ability to take a very difficult and complex issue and explain it simply.

Brogan did this with his continuum of modern branding and how social media fits, from Awareness to Extended Action. Read through on the post for details, here’s my synopsis:

1. Awareness – Utilization of effective marketing to introduce you, your product, or your service.
2. Attention – Utilization of social mediums to provide people with a means to participate.
3. Engagement – Sustained interaction between you and your community.
4. Execution – The conversion… the download, the registration, the purchase, etc.
5. Extension – The opportunity after the execution to promote the event and the results.

Chris did the ingenious and difficult work here of defining the process, so I’ll just add my 2 cents. (I hate doing this… makes me sound like I’m just piggybacking… I guess I am!) In order to turn this from a continuum to a cycle, I would add Analysis.

I think Analysis is key… both at the beginning and the end of the process so that the business can jumpstart the process with a lot more horsepower – as well as refine and improve the process each time. Measurement of results is essential so businesses understand where to optimize their limited resources for the maximum impact.

Not having read Chris’ and Julian’s book yet – I’m looking forward to picking it up and seeing how development and measurement of the strategy plays into the continuum.

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Just wanted to invite everyone to Blog Indiana 2009! Noah and the team have graciously asked me to return – this year to lead a session on blogging for search! For those veterans of Blog Indiana’s first year (which was fantastic), this year appears to make this one of the best social media and blogging conferences in the country!

Here’s the Press Release for Blog Indiana 2009

Blog Indiana, founded last year by Noah Coffey and Shawn Plew, announced its second annual blogging and social media conference. The three-day event will be held August 13 through 15, 2009 from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm at the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex on the IUPUI Campus and will bring bloggers, marketers, and small business owners from across the state in an effort to promote education, innovation and collaboration. The conference is sponsored by the IU School of Informatics and Smaller Indiana.

“We want to help empower businesses and entreprenuers to take advantage of the latest in social media,” said Noah Coffey. “This conference will help do that by providing insights and best practices from local experts as well as help introduce novices to the whole concept.”

Blog Indiana 2009 is an all-day, three-day event for those seeking to capitalize on the financial benefits and brand exposure of blogging and social media. Topical sessions will be lead by successful social media experts such as Chris Brogan, Jason Falls, Chris Baggott, Brad Ward, Tom Britt, and many others.

Sessions will include discussions on hot trends such as Twitter, Facebook, and the social web. Other items such as blogging for beginners, using blogs & social media in your business, monetizing your blog, political blogging, and more advanced topics. Panel and group discussions will also be offered on Saturday.

Non-Profit Summit & Higher Education Summit

Due to popular request, this year will feature two 1-day summits with sessions geared specifically towards those in the non-profit and higher education worlds. The Higher Education summit will take place on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 and the Non-Profit Summit will take place on Friday, August 14th, 2009.

Ticket prices vary depending on which part of the conference you wish to attend. Early bird pricing ends the week of July 12th, 2009. Seating is limited. This conference is open to residents and businesses outside of Indiana. Tickets can be purchased online.

“In the past, most blogging and technology-related conferences have either been too expensive or too far out of state,” noted Shawn Plew. “Blog Indiana 2009 will bring a low-cost, high-value conference to Indiana.”

About Blog Indiana LLC
Noah Coffey is founder and president of Coffey Design. When not designing web sites, Coffey is blogging about it and the challenges of freelancing and being a first-time parent.

Shawn Plew is a web consultant for TGFI, Inc., based in Indianapolis. He blogs about his experiences as a first time father.

About IU School of Informatics
The Indiana University School of Informatics has set as its goal to be nationally recognized as the foremost in the country for excellence and leadership in Informatics programs, including undergraduate and graduate education, research, placement and outreach. These programs include opportunities for professionals trained in state-of-the-art information technology and science with an emphasis on creative human applications.

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Kat French

I called Chris Brogan a dirty word a while back.

Yup–Mr. Helpful Nice Guy himself, who along with Jason, is probably one of the most universally well-liked people in social media. And I was genuinely, really mad.

So what provoked my unladylike display of Brogan-aimed profanity? While it was a good indicator that my vacation last week was way overdue, mostly it was a sign that he hit a nerve. I had posted A Day in the Life of a Social Media Manager, a humorous rundown of my routine that included a lot of the actual tasks that make up my workday as an agency social media specialist. Later that day, Chris wrote a post that included the following:

“What are people doing taking titles like “Social Media Manager?” To me, this is a scary thing. Why? Because it’s like being the fax manager or the email manager. You’re naming yourself after a tool.”

It also didn’t help much that some of the tasks I’d listed were mentioned in Chris’ post in a way that seemed to imply they were fairly meaningless and lacking in business value. I didn’t take it well. On the positive side, Jason thought my emailed vent was hilarious. So hilarious that he forwarded it to Chris.

Which is the short way of explaining how it all worked out. Chris hadn’t seen my post, the topical overlap was coincidental, and on a second reading I realized that I actually agreed with a lot of what he’d written.

There’s a reason I’m bringing up the whole kerfuffle almost two months later (besides the intrinsic entertainment value of you folks picturing me cursing Brogan like a preschooler with Tourettes).

The two posts present a real, relevant issue for those who work (or want to work) in social media. On one side, you’ve got a vision of social media as a way of making business communication more human and more effective, while making the bottom-line results more measurable. In that vision, social media is integrated fully into existing business disciplines. It’s obsolete as a specialization in itself.

On the other side, you’ve got the day-to-day life of someone paid to help clients use social media tools to their advantage—within their comfort zone, within their restrictions, and within their existing business paradigms.

The distance between the two, on some days, seems like an enormous gaping canyon.

My anger at Chris was less about what he wrote, and more about the fact that it reminded me painfully of the wall that I beat my head against daily. I want to do high-value work for my clients. I’d love to be able to tie my work more directly to their overall profitability. Much of the time, reality fails to live up to that ideal.

I can’t often do all the things I’d like to do for my clients. They’re just not there yet. They trust that the advertising agency I work for understands their marketing and business goals. They trust that I understand social media. They don’t yet trust the value of social media. (And for the record, this is still largely true of search engine marketing as well.) We work in a very idealistic, futurist focus area (social media), in an industry (marketing and advertising) that is often jaded, cynical and married to past processes and conventions.

Skepticism (often born of failed efforts), risk-aversion, legal restrictions for their industry, corporate culture issues, and the sometimes complicated morass of different interested parties get in the way of being able to push the needles that would prove that value.

I provide the value I can, with all the honesty and integrity that I can. I make sure that the low-hanging fruit is harvested. When a client gets excited about a shiny new social media toy, I investigate the potential value and try not to quash their budding enthusiasm. I measure whatever I can, hoping that it will demonstrate enough value to get clients to a comfort level that will let them take the next step. I come up with strategic recommendations, editorial calendars, and content ideas, and hope that they decide to move forward with them. I prod and poke and cluck as much as I can to move them forward. It’s not ideal, and for an idealist like me, that can be hard.

There are still many clients for whom having a Facebook page where –Oh, my God—the public can post what they think, is a huge leap of faith. And I can’t say I much appreciate gurus and innovators who continually devalue the fact that I’ve actually gotten the client over their fear enough to publish the damn thing and see what happens. When a client musters the boldness to interact, I applaud their authentic first efforts (even if those efforts are authentically awkward). I give guidance and advice but I try to restrain myself from polishing or reworking things too much, in the same way a parent has to restrain herself from just tying her kid’s shoes for them because it’ll be faster and easier. That’s how they learn.

Can I enjoy that little victory a bit? Without getting slapped in the face and told I’ve accomplished nothing of value there? It’s a step, for heaven’s sake. It’s often the first tiny crack in a corporate wall that has separated “us” (the company) from “them” (those lousy customers) for decades. Can I not celebrate my crack a little?

[Waiting patiently while the Beavises and Buttheads in the audience get over their giggle fit at that last sentence. Okay, moving on.]

Most companies are at least starting to see the potential. They understand word of mouth, and they understand that this is word of mouth in 2009. They’ve still got a lot of ground to cover between a willingness to experiment and a willingness to embrace social media. That’s my role most of the time: finding the path of least resistance between my clients’ willingness to explore social media and the results that will hopefully move them towards embracing it in a way that can transform their business. This is the present, for me.

That said, I live with the understanding that this isn’t a business relationship that can continue indefinitely. For some, social media will end up being something they tried once. For others, they’ll eventually embrace it, own it, and integrate it into those existing disciplines, as Chris’ post described. Both scenarios leave me with no real role left to play.

Which makes me wonder where I’m headed next. That isn’t to say that I’m going to leave social media. Or that I’m convinced that a traditional advertising agency, with mostly traditional clients, has no room for social media related services.

But things are going to have to change at some point.

Maybe the change needs to be in how we refer to the services we provide. Advertising, web marketing and PR professionals have slapped the “social media” label on so many diverse strategic and executional disciplines and services, I’m not sure we even know what it means anymore. We did it for the same reason people were slapping “widgets” or “viral” or “web 2.0″ on everything for a while: because that’s what clients are asking from us.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of having to prove the value of “social media” when for so much of the actual work I perform that falls under that giant umbrella, the value is head-slappingly obvious. Maybe it would be better to just talk about all that obviously valuable stuff instead.

Content strategy, online public relations, brand enthusiast cultivation, and blogger outreach are terms that are meaningful, and whose business value is pretty self-evident. Creating specialized online tools to connect interest groups is a clear service set description with an implied business value.

This is where I think the future lies for today’s social media managers/strategists/specialists—in developing new roles based on clear service sets whose value is self-evident and which are grounded in our core vocational competencies, our social media fluency, and any other handy skills we’re picking up.

Most social media people I know are consummate jacks-of-all-trades. Being a jack-of-all-trades is a horrible specialty, but it does provide you with a lot of options to develop into a real specialty.

In our case, it may be a specialty that doesn’t yet exist, or exists now in a nascent form. Because when social media fluency is integrated with traditional business disciplines and other skills, you often actually get something entirely new. Sort of like cross-breeds are a whole new species.

I believe what I’m doing now has value, in the present. I also recognize that I need to start weaving my parachute now for the day when clients aren’t knocking down the doors of agencies demanding “social media.”

Are you weaving yours?