I\u2019ve always been curious about those who choose not to participate in conversations regarding their industry online. Especially those in\u00a0digital marketing\u00a0and PR (or any facet of the tech industry \u2013 which encompasses everyone in marketing and PR).<\/p>\n
Joining industry conversations has the obvious benefit of helping you build a network. As my friend Jeremiah Owyang\u00a0commented in 2008:<\/p>\n
Those who ignore the party\/conversation\/network when they are content and decide to drop in when they need the network may not succeed. It\u2019s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take \u2013not to give. Therefore, be part of the party\/conversation\/networkbefore\u00a0<\/em>you need anything from anyone. Start now, and continue to build relationships by giving now: share knowledge, help others, and become a trusted node and connector, not just an outlying \u2018dot\u2019 of a comet that swings in every 4 years or so.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But personally I don\u2019t think\u00a0this is the\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0reason to join, it\u2019s just a benefit. The real reason is you should\u00a0nurture a passion\u00a0for what you do and be curious enough about it to engage with your peers. It is such an amazing time and opportunity to input to the future of your field that to not do so really says \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d Even if it\u2019s not the case, that\u2019s what we might take away.<\/p>\n
Think about the last time you connected with someone to work on a project, then searched for them to see what they\u2019ve been up to online. And you come up short. No blog, no participation in social news or networks, silence other than perhaps a static resume or single quote in a media story.<\/p>\n
Now imagine you look and you\u2019re able to see their ideas, projects and contributions to the web and simple mechanisms to connect with them.<\/p>\n
Who do you prefer to work with? Someone accessible and interested or someone invisible and\u00a0passive. And while it wasn\u2019t always this way, we\u2019re at the point now there are enough passionate people contributing it\u2019s easy to choose to work with them.<\/p>\n
The physical world has completely blurred with the social web, and I think we\u2019ll soon get to the day we won\u2019t even consider it \u201cnot being online.\u201d You just won\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t find yourself on the wrong side of the social divide, or risk losing out to those who are findable and trusted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve always been curious about those who choose not to participate in conversations regarding their industry online. Especially those in\u00a0digital … <\/p>\n