Productizing Yourselfby vince baskerville

Growing a community + why blogging & social media are important

Vince BaskervilleCo.founder of TripLingo & Glancely@whoisvince

Multimedia DeveloperMorehouse College@morehouse_vb

“Do what you can, with what you have,

where you are.”- Theodore Roosevelt

soooo... what is productizing yourself?

You’re a brand,take ownership!

Market & sell yourself as if you’re a productEstablish yourself as a thought leader in your industry

Utilize every possible social media toolIncrease your visibility & validity as often as you can

However, REMEMBER to stay genuineDon’t spam; Cultivate relationships, don’t just push your thoughts

But i’m not into Business/Marketing,I’m a __________

You are now!

Share your expertiseWhatever your passionate about, it’s guaranteed other people are too. You need to be participating in those conversations.

Be everywhere at onceDon’t just post on your blog, post comments elsewhere too.

Remain personableNo one is perfect, so don’t over criticize yourself if you make &/or notice mistakes.

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=407432

It’s all about selling the product; You.

Great Salesmanship = *Success

*Obviously not guaranteed

Traditional Media

Professional

Workflow for news article:

Reporters gather information

Article is drafted

Reviewed

Published

Digital Media

Professional

also Personal

Workflow for Blog Post:

Think of a Topic

Write Post; Publish

What is a Blog?

The term ‘blog’ comes from “web log”

Coined to originally refer to web online journals

Displays Chronological ‘posts’ which can be accessed at any time

The term “news” is used loosely.

Online, anything is newsworthy.

A few types of Blogs

Blogger.com: Hosted; Free

Wordpress.com Hosted & Download; Free

Tumblr.com: Hosted; Restricted format; *Free

Twitter.com: Hosted; Restricted format; Free

& many more...

How many blogs are on WordPress.com

How many users are on Tumblr.com

“Quality is a tremendous filter.

Cream always rises...”

- Gary Vaynerchuk

Why are Blogs gaining popularity becoming

the norm?

They’re easy to create, use & maintain

Either free or cost efficient

Readily available to everyone

Why should this matter to you?

Case Study #1Bill Simmons currently writes a column for Page 2 on ESPN.com

Obtained the attention from ESPN from his website BostonSportsGuy.com

After joining ESPN in 2001, he’s been busy. 2 books, ESPN podcast, executive producer... etc

Case Study #2

Huffington Post is #1 on the list, and was just purchased by AOL for $315 million.

Founded by Arianna Huffington

Huffington Post was started only 5 1/2 years ago.

Case Study #3Mashable.com is #3 on the list, and is estimated at a value of over $50 million.

Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com also writes a weekly column for CNN.com

Mashable.com was started only 5 years ago.

Other examples

Walt Mossberg - writes 2 columns & edits another for the Wall Street Journal

Gary Vaynerchuk - WineLibrary.com, Wine Library TV & author of 2 books

Jason Fried - CEO of 37signals & author of 2 books

Before you begin

Understand what are your goals

Who is your audience?

What would be your schedule?

1 post per day/week/month

What is your budget

Blog posts framework

Title

Draws in users, but also is your URL

Post

= Industry news/articles

Comments

Allows for immediate correspondence

Tags

SEO keywords

“The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

Chinese proverb

Great sites to reviewBlackEnterprise.com

NewYorkTimes.com

Engadget.com

Mashable.com

HuffingtonPost.com

TheRoot.com

ClutchMagonline.com

8bitFeed.com

finvince baskerville

whoisvince.com