We need to make a distinction between powerlessness and owning our power. The first step in recovery is accepting powerlessness. There are some things we can’t do, no matter how long or hard we try. These things include changing other people, solving their problems, and controlling their behavior. Sometimes, we feel powerless over ourselves—what we feel or believe, or the effects of a particular situation or person on us. It’s important to surrender to powerlessness, but it’s equally important to own our power. We aren’t trapped. We aren’t helpless. Sometimes it may feel like we are, but we aren’t. We each have the God-given power, and the right, to take care of ourselves in any circumstance, and with any person. The middle ground of self-care lies between the two extremes of controlling others and allowing them to control us. We can walk that ground gently or assertively, but in confidence that it is our right and responsibility. Let the power come to walk that path. Today, I will remember that I can take care of myself. I have choices, and I can exercise the options I choose without guilt.
Beattie, Melody (2009-12-15). The Language of Letting Go (Hazelden Meditation Series) (p. 37). Hazelden. Kindle Edition.
This morning I had to travel 225 miles from Warrenville, IL to Algoma, WI at 5 in the morning. Needless to say it cut into my blogging time. I thought I’d use it as an opportunity to test SoundCloud for audio blogging. This was dictated to SoundCloud on my Google Nexus S while driving in the Chicago suburbs. Let me know what you think about the content and the format…
Blogging is fundamental to an effective content marketing campaign. In my humble opinion no other tool is more effective in driving people to your thought leadership position. Why?
Blogs are easy to update and can contain a wide variety of content
Most blogging platforms are open source [i.e., FREE]
When you consider that 2012 is the ‘year of content content marketing’ and that you can add a blog to your website for free, my question to you is what’s holding you back?
I see three reasons why people hold back…
Perception
Fear
Time
I think the answer for most people is simple. The words blogging and blogger bring up images of 40 year old white guys sitting in their pajamas in their parents’ basement spewing out politcal rants. While that demographic has clearly capitalized on the benefits of blogging, it doesn’t take away anything from the power of blogging for content marketing.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about that one either. You or your brand can become a thought leader in your space if you engage in a content management and content marketing campaign tailor made to demonstrate your expertise.
Blogging, on one level, isn’t much different than writing an ’email to the world’ — from that perspective, most people or organizations are already producing more than enough content to feed an interesting blog.
Comment or use the ‘connect’ form so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization. In the meantime, here are the best articles I found on blogs and blogging this past week. Enjoy!
Content marketing — posting relevant content to this blog — is the way I have done Search Engine Optimization [SEO] in the past. Thanks to my Search Engine Optimization [SEO] bff Ronnie Binser of Video Leads Online, I’m now focusing on doing Search Engine Optimization [SEO] ‘on purpose’ instead of by accident…
For a long time, I have depended on WordPress to do my Search Engine Optimization [SEO] organically without a lot of intentional effort on my part. Most bloggers know that WordPress has an excellent reputation for naturally producing great Search Engine Optimization [SEO] results. At the beginning of the year, however, I decided to become much more intentional about my brand online and decide what topics I really wanted to dominate online and go after them intentionally. That’s where Ronnie stepped in…
Ronnie helped me see how I could use keywords intentionally in my writing. He also gave me some insights into Panda — Google’s search engine algorithm — that really helped me get a grip on Search Engine Optimization [SEO] for content marketing.
Don’t get me wrong — WordPress is great — but in order to do Search Engine Optimization [SEO] on purpose instead of by accident, it needs some help. I found that WordPress is great, but if I want my content marketing to be effective and get me found for the things I want to be found for [wow, that was a tortured phrase] I’ve got to be more intentional.
Sooo. Here’s what I’m working on now…
Learning from a smart guy like Ronnie who knows Search Engine Optimization [SEO] cold
Using a plugin like InboundWriter that forces me to align my WordPress writing with my Search Engine Optimization [SEO] objectives
Evaluating a Search Engine Optimization [SEO] plugin like Yoast that will rock my Search Engine Optimization [SEO] and take it to the next level
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no expert in this area — I’m just a ‘seeker’ — but I’m happy to share the good stuff I found this week via Storify…
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Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
I stumbled upon this great post from Mastin Kipp. I hope he doesn’t mind, but I’m going to share it in its entirety…
Community is everything. If you want to see a preview of your future, look to who you are hanging out with. This isn’t some moral statement about your peer group, it’s more of a vibrational or elevational statement.
You see, we live in a literal Uni-verse. That means that we become what we think and what we think is greatly determined by who we spend the most amount of time with.
Do you spend time with people who are constantly trashing your dreams? If so, then after time, you begin to believe their doubt and their fear; not because their doubt and fear are true, but because we are creatures of habit and our subconscious mind begins to absorb what we hear, especially the feedback from people we love and spend a lot of time with. And if you start to believe their doubt, then soon you will begin to take action from that belief in doubt and BAM – the manifestation of the belief of doubt becomes real. Not because it’s true, but because the belief of doubt became your dominate thought pattern and that thought pattern influenced your actions and your actions produced the outcome.
The outcome of our lives begins within us. If we water our dreams with doubt, then we think doubtful thoughts; take doubtful action and our lives become a living testament and proof of our belief. Then, what many people do is take this “proof” and use it to further justify their initial belief. But you see, what they’re missing this whole time is the fact that their initial thoughts of doubt is what created the outcome of doubt. They unknowingly participate in their own demise.
But, this can be prevented by hanging with the proper community of people. Let us hang with people who uplift us, who encourage us towards our dreams and who challenge our thought patterns. Let us not surround ourselves with people who always agree with us, but rather people who support our growth by challenging our beliefs and helping us break through to new mental and spiritual ground so that our lives may be enriched as a by-product.
Look around. Who are you spending time with? And more importantly, who are you believing? If you have a dream, do you believe people who are living their dreams and thus know the TRUTH about what’s possible, or do you take advice from people who aren’t living their dreams and thus will tell you it’s not possible.
Who you spend time with and who you believe is a major factor that will determine whether you are successful or not. Our aim should be to hang with people who are loving, who believe in us, who challenge us to go to the next level and who inspire us. Life is far too short to hang with people who are always negative and who want you to stay bitter and pissed off like them. It takes a lot of humility to admit when we’re wrong and to grow past our limiting beliefs. Let’s surround ourselves with people who support our growth, not necessarily the way we want, but most certainly the way we need.
It will definitely have an impact on what I do and teach! It’s late and I’m kinda tired so I’m gonna stop here, but I’ll leave you with my LinkedIn roundup for the past week. Have a great weekend…
Twitter has not always been a starting player in my content management and content marketing lineup — in fact, for a long time I must confess I neglected Twitter. Oddly enough, it was Google’s changes to Google Reader and privacy issues with Facebook and Google that made me rethink my content management and content marketing strategy…
When I started to think about the fact that Twitter is pretty much ubiquitous — one of my favorite college words for ‘everywhere’ — I rethought Twitter’s role in my content management and content marketing world. I had a big of a revelation a couple of weeks ago as to how Twitter could play a central role in my content marketing strategy — you can view it here. Now I’ve gone from neglecting Twitter — thinking of it just as one of the bases I have to cover — to giving it a starring role!
I used Twitter in concert with Shareaholic — one of my ‘must use’ tools — in fact, I call it the ‘Swiss Army knife’ of social media. Thanks to Shareaholic I’m always ready to send any good thing I stumble upon to my Twitter account via HootSuite. Why via HootSuite? Well, there are a lot of reasons why I use HootSuite and I should go into that again sometime. In this case, though the reason is that HootSuite gives me great analytics on how my tweets are doing.
If you want to focus on Twitter for content management and content marketing like I do, try adding Shareaholic and HootSuite to your mix!
Here’s a summary of great Twitter articles I read this past week via @Storify…
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I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
I summarize the top Twitter news every Thursday at this time…
Google, Gmail, Google Reader, and now Google+ are all a vital part of a content management and marketing for thought leadership system. I use Gmail and Google Reader for content management and Google+ for content marketing. Gmail, and it’s business version Google Apps for Business, are critical for managing what I call ‘just in time’ information — information that affects relationships and revenue. Google Reader is what I use to handle ‘just in case’ information like news and industry trends. Applying this approach to your content management will go a long way toward lightening the load in your inbox, but Gmail features like Priority Inbox, keyboard shortcuts, etc. give Gmail a clear advantage over other email systems, too. Google Reader allows users to create a virtual newspaper that delivers up to the minute reports on the things that are important to your world. Together these Google products are like the peanut butter and chocolate combination of content management. The cherry on top of the sundae is that these Google tools, like so many others, are available as excellent android apps as well!
The best thing about these products is that they are free, or have the appearance of free. Even with news like this report from Mashable, I still think these tools are a good value…
Google+ is still an unknown variable in my content marketing world. I’m not happy with the way that Google is ‘forcing’ me to use it whether I want to or not, but I am gradually starting to use it as part of my content marketing plan. Sometimes I’m grateful that my social media certification course at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College forces me to be familiar with all these tools! btw, Google Reader is what I consider to be a ‘secret weapon’ for my work. I’ve done several posts on it — here’s a link to a series I did on getting content into and out of Google Reader that you might enjoy…
In the meantime, here’s a collection of the best content I’ve read on Gmail, Google Reader and Google+ in the past week:
Love it? Hate it? Facebook must be part of a complete social media tool kit. I originally started using Facebook five or six years ago to start keeping tabs on my high school boys — now I teach Facebook for Business as part of my social media certification class. I have to admit that while my love for Facebook is waning that is remains a social media tool that everyone must master…
You see tools are just that. Tools. You don’t have to love them. They don’t have to be fun. Some tools are just so important that you have to hold your nose and use them sometimes. Facebook has become sort of like that for me. It used to be one of my favorite places to hang out online — now every time they make an improvement, the improvement means Facebook has exposed more of your privacy. As long as you remember that you are not the customer, you’re the product — it is possible to have a fulfilling social media relationship with Facebook. Just be careful as to how you go about it and no one will get hurt…
Here’s my weekly summary of the best Facebook information I have found in this past week…
My readers know well my passion for Google Reader and the power it brings to content management. Last week I cracked the code on autoposting to Twitter with the help of ifft.com and I’ve prepped a Google Reader tips and tricks video that I’ll share with you later in the post. First, though, here’s something that made me smile…
Devon Heaton of Servant of Chaos made my day with his post on how social media mechanics like me are on the rise…
You need an individual uniquely suited to “getting s#@t done. You need the Social Media Mechanic.
This is the person who can implement your strategy, find the right bits and pieces and bolt them together. This person will know what needs to be done to make the right things work – and sometimes even do the wrong things (let’s face it, we’re still making mistakes and learning from them, right?).
But without the Social Media Mechanic, you’re just going to be left with a whole heap of unconnected parts. So once you’ve got your continuous digital strategy underway, start seeking your Social Media Mechanic. You’ll never get out of the trough of disillusion without one!
I have always referred to myself as an internet ‘plumber’ much to the chagrin of @lisenbury who pleaded with me to use the phrase internet ‘electrician’. For some reason, that didn’t suit me but social media mechanic fits just fine! So, if you’re looking for a social media mechanic, look no further…
As proof of my worthiness, I offer this ‘riff’ on Google Reader for content management. Google Reader is the most important tool in my content management workflow and here are just a few tips for using it well;
On Tuesday, I usually focus on tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. I had just prepared a post on Google Reader tips and tricks when my good friends at Zemanta shared a little tool from their labs they call Quotelove. Quotelove is a nifty tool for curation that allows me to highlight and grab any text I find with a minimal amount of fuss. Here’s an example of a quote that I curated using this content management tool…
I have written before on the rise of the Business Designer – a person uniquely adapted to optimise your business processes. But in line with the Hype Cycle, the Business Designer is most effective later in the cycle – as you climb out of the Trough of Disillusionment. Most businesses are not in this space as yet. And many are still facing the ascendant forces of the Peak of Inflated Expectations. It is in the way up this peak (and the way down the other side) that you need an individual uniquely suited to “getting s#@t done. You need the Social Media Mechanic. This is the person who can implement your strategy, find the right bits and pieces and bolt them together. This person will know what needs to be done to make the right things work – and sometimes even do the wrong things (let’s face it, we’re still making mistakes and learning from them, right?). But without the Social Media Mechanic, you’re just going to be left with a whole heap of unconnected parts. So once you’ve got your continuous digital strategy underway, start seeking your Social Media Mechanic. You’ll never get out of the trough of disillusion without one!
I plan to curate more of Gavin Heaton’s thoughts on ‘social media mechanics’ later on. For the time being, I wanted to give a shout out to the smart Slovenians at Zemanta that give me such great tools for content marketing…
The mother eagle teaches her little ones to fly by making their nest so uncomfortable that they are forced to leave it and commit themselves to the unknown world of air outside. And just so does our God to us.
— Hannah Whitall Smith
Sometimes, the pressure comes from within us. Sometimes, it’s external. That job folds. The relationship stops working. Alcohol and drugs stop working. What am I going to do?
Two years ago, I wrote an epic post called ‘From Thinker to Thought Leader in one easy workflow’. The original title was ‘By Jove, I think I’ve got it‘ [shows how little I knew about writing effective post titles, eh?]. Well, it took me a couple of years, but I’ve finally found it. It? That elusive personal niche that everyone keeps talking about. I call it ‘content management and marketing for thought leadership‘ and it is my passion and my purpose in life.
What is content management and marketing for thought leadership you might say? First some terms…
Content management?
“Content management, or CM, is the set of processes and technologies that support the collection, managing, and publishing of information in any form or medium. In recent times this information is typically referred to as content or, to be precise, digital content. Digital content may take the form of text, such as documents, multimedia files, such as audio or video files, or any other file type which follows a content lifecycle which requires management.” Source: Content management – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to engage current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.” Source: Content marketing – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I like the perspective Mindy Gibbins-Klein’s shares in her book 24 Carat Bold:
“What does a real thought leader look like? How would you go about finding one, or becoming one, if that is of interest? Well, let’s start with the Wikipedia definition stated earlier: ‘A futurist or person who is recognized among their peers and mentors for innovative ideas and demonstrates the confidence to promote or share those ideas as actionable distilled insights.’ Not bad, but there is one important word missing here: market. It’s not just about being recognized by your peers and mentors. To effect real change, you need a market, or followers, or fans or constituents or a congregation… you get the idea.
Gibbins-Klein, Mindy (2009-09-01). 24 Carat BOLD: The Standard for REAL Thought Leaders (Kindle Locations 309-313). Ecademy Press. Kindle Edition.
So to me, a thought leader is a person who…
Is an expert in their field
Has innovative ideas or perspectives
Promotes and shares those things using the “good, fast, and cheap” tools available on the internet
Becomes recognized
So then what is ‘content management and marketing for thought leadership‘? My simple definition goes like this: It is “becoming and being known as the expert“.
Here’s a little riff that I did last summer on the difference between thinking and thought leadership…
When I first rebooted e1evation, llc 3 years ago and shifted the focus from lead management to lead generation using inbound marketing tools, my tagline was ‘marketing, sales and technology for small business, non-profits and academic institutions’. I laugh now because that focus is so broad that not even Mashable! with their massive staff can cover it comprehensively. As time has gone on, I’ve continued to sharpen my focus so that I can increase my expertise in this emerging area. This is who I am and what e1evation, llc and this blog is about; content management and marketing for thought leadership.
When Michelangelo was asked how he created his classic work ‘David’, he said “”Ho iniziato con un blocco di marmo e scheggiato via tutto ciò che non aveva l’aspetto di David” [loosely translated: “I started with a block of marble and chipped away anything that did not look like David”]. I was inspired last week by Chris Brogan‘s comment “My blog is a piece of crap. Time to work harder.” If his blog is crap, what is mine? Why am I settling for less than sharp focus and clarified outcomes? In the month of February, my goal is to chip away from this blog everything that does not look like ‘content management and marketing for thought leadership‘.
Henceforth, this blog will be about the following topics:
Social Media [including blogging, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Twitter]
and the strategies, tools and tactics that make them available for every thinker who aspires to thought leadership
…and I will parse out my thinking in the following categories…
Thoughts
Tactics
Tools and technologies
Trends
I’m going to continue to perfect the ‘e1evation workflow’ — my ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ cycle for ‘thought leadership’ marketing — while applying the zenlike simplicity of ‘getting things done’ principles to content management and marketing for thought leadership.
If that’s what you’re looking for, stick around. Watch me. Interact with me. Let me know how I’m doing now that I’ve found my niche. If you want If you’re looking for something else let me recommend http://google.com…
Later today, I’ll be posting on some major changes that are happening in my business and on this site — you’ll want to be sure to check back later! In the meantime, every day I pull together the best of what I’ve read on one aspect of my focus. Mondays are all about content marketing and here are some of the best thought on the topic I’ve found in the past week…
I wouldn’t wanna be anybody else, hey
You made me insecure, to me I wasn’t good enough
But who are you to judge
When you’re a diamond in the rough
I’m sure you got some things
You’d like to change about yourself
But when it comes to me
I wouldn’t want to be anybody else
I’m no beauty queen, I’m just beautiful me
You got every right to a beautiful life, come on
Who says, who says you’re not perfect
Who says you’re not worth it
Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting
Trust me that’s the price of beauty
Who says you’re not pretty
Who says you’re not beautiful, who says?
It’s such a funny thing
How nothing’s funny when it’s you
You tell ’em what you mean
But they keep whitin’ out the the truth
It’s like the work of art
That never get to see the light
Keep you beneath the stars
Won’t let you touch the sky
I’m no beauty queen, I’m just beautiful me
You got every right to a beautiful life, come on
Who says, who says you’re not perfect
Who says you’re not worth it
Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting
Trust me that’s the price of beauty
Who says you’re not pretty
Who says you’re not beautiful, who says?
Who says you’re not star potential
Who says you’re not presidential
Who says you can’t be in movies
Listen to me, listen to me
Who says you don’t pass the test
Who says you can’t be the best
Who said, who said?
Would you tell me who said that, yeah
Who said
Who says, who says you’re not perfect
Who says you’re not worth it
Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting
Trust me that’s the price of beauty
Who says you’re not pretty
Who says you’re not beautiful, who says?
Who says you’re not perfect
Who says you’re not worth it
Who says you’re the only one that’s hurting
Trust me that’s the price of beauty
Who says you’re not pretty
Who says you’re not beautiful, who says?
Sundays are all about blogging here at e1evation. My fundamental belief is that blogging is foundational for content marketing success and that a blog should be at the center of everything you do online. Why? Here are a couple of reasons that come to mind at the moment…
You own your blog. You do not own Facebook. You wouldn’t build your dream home on rented land — why build your brand on something you don’t own and control?
Blogs give you more control over how you express yourself.
Websites that blog actively get 7x more traffic than static sites.
It would seem that big brands are starting to get the picture…
The big three social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, were the most widely used in 2011, followed by YouTube, and publishing a blog. Across the various platforms, brands cited the following adoption levels: Facebook (87%), Twitter (83%), LinkedIn (76%), YouTube (66%), and blogs (57%). In 2012, blogs are expected to gain the most ground: An additional 28% of brands that don’t currently publish a blog plan to do so in 2012—bringing the percentage of brands that publish a blog to 85%. Social Media – Blogs Top List of Social Media Investments for 2012 : MarketingProfs Article
To my mind, blogging is the ultimate ‘content marketing for thought leadership’ tool. Maybe it’s time you took a page from their playbook and started business blogging as well?! Contact me if you’re not sure where to start…
Here are some of the best blogging articles I found this week…
I stumbled upon this great post from 
Bright, shiny objects! 
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