Design-it-Yourself

“Success in life may have more to do with how you can accept and get started on the new game than with how good you got at playing any of the old ones.” David Allen

In the updated paperback version of Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail, he has added a chapter on marketing. In the world of social networking, blogs, and search engine optimization, most college marketing curricula are hopelessly out of date. Businesses, of course, are desperate for people who understand the new media and can use it to promote the organization. Until the universities catch up, Anderson suggests a curriculum for in-house social media coaching:
• Who’s influential in our space (and how we know)
• What/who influences them
• How to get Digged
• Effective blogging
• Using beta-test invite lists as marketing
• The art of begging for links
• Stunts, contests, gimmicks, memes, and other link bait
• Sharing versus oversharing; how to know when what you’re doing is ready to be talked about.
The increasing pace of change guarantees that the business world cannot rely on academic institutions to keep their employees current with the latest technologies, attitudes and models. The lesson is that those who wish to stay in the forefront of their industry must learn to seek out resources and design their own customized learning projects.