Thinks I find along the way
…as much as I am an internet mechanic who helps thinkers become thought leaders! Here’s what I mean…
Yes, I do WordPress websites buy my emphasis is not on high maintenance sites that look pretty and deliver no traffic. I’d rather you think of me as an internet mechanic that can keep your content marketing engine running smoothly. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
…or how to be a thought leader in your industry without breaking the bank! Prepare yourself — I’ve been thinking about this one all weekend…
I had a chance to have lunch last week with Dana VanDen Heuvel, an internationally known ‘thought leadership‘ marketing expert who happens to live in nearby Green Bay. Dana and I travel in similar circles although his focus is more on strategy while mine is more on the mechanics of thought leadership marketing. Back in November I was trying to get my mind around content marketing and thought leadership and I asked Dana whether or not the two were synonymous. Either he didn’t have time to answer my question or you wanted me to figure it out on my own; in either case eventually I concluded that content marketing is a means toward thought leadership but the two are not the same. You can use content marketing to create share of voice on the internet but it’s the quality of your ideas that determine whether or not you ultimately become a leader by getting share of mind and share of market.
To me, thought leadership is the process of becoming and being known as the expert. In my oversimplified view of things that requires two activities; you have to deepen your expertise and detail your expertise or, get smarter and show people you’re getting smarter. IF you do that well they may actually follow your ideas…
Are you a wannabe thought leader? You can test the waters in this area for $17 per year using WordPress.com as your thought leadership marketing hub. The $17 will buy you a domain and the ability to map that domain to your free WordPress site. Then, all you gotta do is publish something…
Deepening your expertise
In in order to deepen your expertise I think there are three things you need to do
Detailing your expertise
In order to demonstrate to people that you are an expert
David Kanigan of davidkanigan.com is an example of someone who had done exactly what I recommended on his WordPress.com blog…
New to blogging — only 6 months in — and he is already rocking his site! His Alexa rank is currently 61,500 in the US — testimony to both the power of WordPress.com and his frequent posting [too bad that due to his work in the financial industry he can’t engage in business blogging]…
You could be a David, too, and take on the Goliath’s in your industry using the tools and tactics I mentioned above. Here are links to every tool and a few more…
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imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…
imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…
http://storify.com/e1evation/content-management-and-marketing-for-thought-leade.js”>%5B<a href="
imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…
imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…
http://storify.com/e1evation/content-management-and-marketing-for-thought-leade” target=”_blank”>View the story “Content management and marketing for thought leadership tools” on Storify]
Here is the way in which I use them…
Now, either you look at this and say “Ah, that makes perfect sense — why didn’t I think of that before?” for you look at this and say “What a fustercluck!?!?!?” In either case, I may be a resource for you. Either I can help you simplify your existing thought leadership marketing workflow or I can set it all up for you and teach you how to run it. It’s your call, but if you’re looking to establish a thought leadership position you have just run out of excuses…
In previous posts I’ve talked quite a bit about how Twitter has become much more important in my ‘thought leadership’ marketing workflow. I would be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to tell you about two tools; one not so new and one that that just popped up on my radar recently. They are Paper.li and Twylah. I’m sure I saw Paper.li pop up over a year ago — Guy Kawaskaki was the first person I saw using it well. Twylah is a different story — I stumbled across Nilofer Merchant’s Twylah page only about a month ago. Both are great tools, but in the final analysis I think if you’re looking to use your tweets as part of your Search Engine Optimization [SEO] strategy, you’ll decide like I did that Twylah is the tool for you. Here’s a little riff I did for you outlining the reasons why…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
What people are saying…
http://storify.com/e1evation/paper-li-and-twylah-the-roundup
Author Toby Murdock has some ‘curatable’ thoughts on the Content Marketing Institute blog…
As I meet with brands and agencies, I still come across people who are totally unfamiliar with the term “content marketing.” And as I begin to explain it, they often respond, “Oh, brands publishing content? You mean social media marketing.”
Indeed, content marketing heavily involves social media. And, of course, in social media, marketers use content to get their messages across. But although there is plenty of overlap between content marketing and social media marketing, they are actually two distinct entities, with different focal points, goals, and processes. To help clear the confusion, let’s look at the major ways in which they differ:
“Center of gravity”
In social media marketing, the center of gravity — the focus of the marketing activity — is located within the social networks themselves. When marketers operate social media campaigns, they are operating inside of Facebook, inside of Twitter, inside of Google+, etc. As they produce content, they place it inside of these networks.
In contrast, the center of gravity for content marketing is a brand website — whether it be a branded URL like AmericanExpress.com or a microsite for a brand’s specific product, like Amex’s Open Forum. Social networks are vital to the success of content marketing efforts, but here, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are used primarily as a distributor of links back to the content on the brand’s website — not as containers of the content itself.
Source: Content Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing: What’s the Difference?
I’m going to stop there, but by all means – go to the source and read the rest of the article as you might pull out something completely different. I want to camp on his phrase ‘center of gravity’. I’ve heard a blogsite described as a homebase, a hub, but I like the idea of a brand blogsite being a ‘center of gravity’ and I wanted to capture that here. Does this resonate with you?
Ann Handley who literally wrote the book on content marketing tweeted this article by Haydn Shaughnessy on how to do thought leadership right…
Like content strategy, thought leadership is a relatively new option for companies that want to improve their visibility and connections online in ways that prompt sales leads to come to you.
But thought leadership is, much more than content strategy, subject to the Bill Joy rule, which says that most smart people in the world don’t work for your company.
How, then, do you possibly develop a thought leadership strategy?
If you get your thought leadership strategy right, customers will see you as a go-to source of expertise, your new products or incremental improvements will find easier acceptance, you’ll stand a good chance of bolstering product price (which is critical in many industries where commoditization is at work), and you’ll attract talent more easily.
Inevitably, some companies will get it wrong, so in this article I will outline why that happens, how to avoid the major mistakes companies make, and what to do to excel in thought leadership.
I encourage you to go to the source and drill down on Haydn’s strategic recommendations. When you’re looking for the tools and tactics to make it work, come right back here and I’ll get you started! Comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…
An editorial focus and calendar that reinforces it may be the single most important thing you can do if you want to blog for thought leadership. In his ground breaking book ‘Brand Stand’, Craig Badings writes…
The more research you do on the topic [on which you choose to focus] the more you will understand the space you want to enter. Ask yourself: Who is already playing in that space? What they are saying? Are they achieving cut through? Does our company have substantially more to say or something unique to offer in that space or not? Your deciding question should be ‘Can we own that space?’ If you cannot own a space my advice would be do not go there.
Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 790-794). BookPal. Kindle Edition.
If you have decided you can ‘own the space’, here is an overly simplified formula for achieving alignment in your content marketing strategy and getting ownership:
If you do those things in that order, you will have alignment around solving your customer problems and you will be found when people are looking for your solution[s]. In order to effectively cover my space, for example, which is content management and marketing for thought leadership, I track the topics content management, content marketing and ‘thought leadership’ marketing as well as the following tools:
Thursday, for example, is Twitter day. Every Thursday I reflect on Twitter as part of a balanced content management and marketing for thought leadership strategy and ‘storify’ a summary of the best articles from the previous week. This tactical approach ‘forces’ me to not only review the best content from the previous week in Google Reader and Twitter, but be sure to cover it in my blog.
Questions? Feedback? Comment below or use the connect form. In the meantime, here’s a summary of the best of what I found in content marketing, LinkedIn and Twitter this past week…
http://storify.com/e1evation/content-marketing-linkedin-and-twitter-for-2-17-20
Happy Monday! Time to talk about trends in blogging and content marketing. First, though, a confession. I accidentally used decaf instead of regular and I’ve been dragging my butt around all day. This blog is fueled by coffee and now that I’ve had a good cup, life can start [at 3:27PM]!
Here’s my bias; blogging is a fundamental component of a successful content marketing campaign. I haven’t bought into the ‘siteless web’ model yet — I believe that a blog is the foundation of a successful online presence and I use a ‘homebase and outpost’ or ‘hub and spoke’ model for content marketing that I first heard articulated by Chris Brogan and Darren Rowse a few years ago.
There are three reasons that strike me as being important at the moment:
These all sound like great reasons to me! If you need someone who is smart and beautiful, however, to tell you the same thing in more detail I highly recommend content marketing genius Heidi Cohen. Heidi had an epic post last week called Blogging Is Dead – Long Live The Blog!. In it she said…
“Call me a contrarian but blogs should be a core aspect of any organization’s marketing strategy regardless of whether you’re a B2C, B2B, not-for-profit or a solopreneur.” Source: Blogging Is Dead – Long Live The Blog! [Research] | Heidi Cohen
I soooo recommend you go to the source and read her article in toto. People usually turn to me after reading an article like this and saying to themselves “Makes perfect sense. Where do I get started?” You see, I’m not a content marketing expert like Heidi — I just tell people how to implement what she advocates. I can help you create a successful blog that is the focal point of your content marketing campaign…
Here are some great articles I read this past week about blogging and content marketin trends:
http://storify.com/e1evation/blogging-and-content-management-trends-for-this-we
A friend who works with in construction industry is skeptical. He’s not convinced that ‘inbound marketing’ [blogging and other social media tools] can be applied to the construction industry. I respectfully disagree! I’ve seen content management and marketing for thought leadership applied to everything from Agriculture to Yoga and I believe it will work in the construction industry as well. Why?
Here are some of my beliefs:
First, though what is this ‘thought leadership’? A simple definition might be a public display of expertise that can be easily found by people who are searching for it. How does a brand accomplish this? Though effective content management and content marketing. Because of my core beliefs, I think any company — even a construction company — can use the content they have or can create to tell great stories that attract people to their brand.
In his thought leadership classic ‘Brand Stand‘, Craig Badings tells the story of Dick Dusseldorp, a thought leader in the Australian construction industry before the phrase ‘thought leader’ was cool…
During the 1970s and 1980s, when union action on most construction sites in Sydney were crippling the construction industry, the sites on which Lend Lease was building suffered no such misfortune. This was because Dusseldorp’s philosophy was to create a community of interest between Lend Lease’s key stakeholders. When other companies around him were banging heads with the unions, with resultant long delays and cost overruns on projects, Dusseldorp was sitting down with the workers and unions and discussing their issues. The results were agreements, jointly committed to by workers and management, and a share in the resulting rewards for buildings completed on time. He was a master at getting people to transcend their traditional conflicts and work towards mutually beneficial goals.
Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 237-243). BookPal. Kindle Edition.
How did he do it? In part he used content management and content marketing along with other communication skills to position his firm at the thought leadership center of his industry in his country. Speaking of Dusseldorp’s organization Lend Lease, Badings says…
It launched a website… along with a four-part DVD series, using a former TV journalist to interview a number of independent third parties about their views on the future workspace and its impacts across business, design, people and location. As a result, Lend Lease reached those who made decisions about office space and helped stimulate and frame the debate around the impacts and implications of future work environments in Australia. Through the series, the company engaged communities linked to its industry and positioned itself at the centre of this debate. It is the logical place to be as a leader in the construction industry, but Lend Lease has done it in a way that doesn’t push the company’s point of view. It took the approach that it would rather invite leading experts in this field across various disciplines to participate in and frame the discus-sion.
Badings, Craig (2009-07-08). BRAND STAND (Kindle Locations 224-231). BookPal. Kindle Edition.
Joy Davis, CSI, CCPR, of CSI in Albuquerque, says…
“In many ways, construction is a relationship-driven business, and at the root of every great relationship is trust. No single person can know everything about construction, so we need trustworthy experts we can turn to who can help us achieve our goals. Thought Leadership is a strategy based on the idea that you can be your clients’ preferred expert – a person they trust, and whom they think of first when they have a question, or a new project.” Source: Thought Leadership and Social Media in the Workplace
Every business — not just construction — is a people business, but because of the critical nature of construction projects trust may be even more important. How can that trust be most effectively engendered? Content management and marketing for thought leadership may be an answer that the construction industry has overlooked! Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
I’ve hit the Twitter wall! Apparently my ‘twitter ho‘ [warning! link NSFW] strategy of follow everyone is tragically flawed…
According to Twitter…
“We do not limit the number of people who can follow you, but we have put limits on how many other accounts you can follow. Every account can follow 2,000 users total. Once you’ve followed 2,000 users, there are limits to the number of additional users you can follow. This number is different for each account and is based on your ratio of followers to following; this ratio is not published. Follow limits cannot be lifted by Twitter and everyone is subject to follow limits, even high profile and API accounts.” Source: Twitter Help Center | I Can’t Follow People – Follow Limits
I have been using a cool new app called SocialBro [I don’t make these names up — I just report them] to aggressively follow more people. Even I didn’t realize there was a limit. Until now. I’ll have to consult with the great Twitter oracles in my network @tommytrc and @mmangen to see where I went wrong. This social media stuff can be tricky — even for an instructor that supposed to know it all [remember, all is a lot to know!]. I’ll report back on what I learn next Thursday — twitterday @ e1evation!
In the meantime, if you’re interested in Twitter trends, you might like this screencast I did a few weeks back on how I’m using Getting Things Done [GTD] principles for content marketing. Twitter has become an even more critical part of my social media strategy because of the way I use it now…
Here’s the roundup of the best Twitter articles I read in the past week…
http://storify.com/e1evation/twitter-roundup-for-2-9-2012
The words are different, but the concept is the same. Digital C4 days ‘gather, curate, write, publish & share’. I say ‘consume, curate, create, connect and converse’ – I’ll let you decide which one is easier to remember. The bottom line? You need a ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ [easy to use and repeat] content life cycle if you want to play in the content marketing space. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
Content Life Cycle [INFOGRAPHIC] – Infographic List
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?
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…
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.
Here’s another one:
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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!
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Good stuff I read this week…
Good stuff I read this week…
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Good stuff I read this week…
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Good stuff I read this week…
Good stuff I read this week…
Good stuff I read this week…
Good stuff I read this week…
http://storify.com/e1evation/blogging-trends-for-2-5-2012″ target=”_blank”>View the story “Blogging trends for 2/5/2012” on Storify]
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…
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…
<script src="
Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
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Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
Saturdays are about Search Engine Optimization [SEO] at e1evation, llc
http://storify.com/e1evation/search-engine-optimization-seo-trends-for-this-wee” target=”_blank”>View the story “Search Engine Optimization [SEO] trends for this week 2/4/2012” on Storify]
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…
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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…
http://storify.com/e1evation/trending-topics-in-twitter-for-this-week-on-2-2-20″ target=”_blank”>View the story “Trending topics in Twitter for this week on 2/2/2012” on Storify]
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…
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1
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:
[View the story “Trending topics in Google for this week” on Storify]
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 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…
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…
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:
…and I will parse out my thinking in the following categories…
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…
[View the story “Trending topics in content marketing for 1/30/2012” on Storify]
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…
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…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
Sundays are all about blogging…
http://storify.com/e1evation/trending-topics-for-1-29-2012
The highlights of my week included a couple of convos on blogging and Search Engine Optimization [SEO] with a brilliant guy named Ronnie Bincer that have my head spinning with the possibilities and cracking the code on autopublishing from Google Reader with the help of a tool called ‘If this then that’ or ifttt.com…
Using ifttt, I can direct content to several places at one simply by starring it or tagging it. This has great implications for my ‘content marketing for thought leadership’ workflow because it makes it easier for thought leaders to go from consuming content to producing content. I’ll have to so a screencast next week to show you what I’m talking about…
Here’s the wrap up…<script src="
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
http://storify.com/e1evation/my-week-in-review-for-1-28-2012.js”>%5B<a href="
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
The things I think I learned this week…
http://storify.com/e1evation/my-week-in-review-for-1-28-2012″ target=”_blank”>View the story “My week in review for 1/28/2012” on Storify]Questions? Feedback?
Bright, shiny objects! 
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