This blog starts with an audience. Sort of.
A lot of people I work for, wanted to know how I do the things I do, and what exactly I know and can teach them about it. (Some don't even know what I do. I goof around on the Internet and since it works for them, why bother?)
On the lack of a better title to describe exactly what it is that I do, someone called me a "social media marketing specialist", because, well... I do work in marketing, and I am regularly using social media tools. I do however, despise the term "social media marketing specialist", and will never, I promise, refer to myself as a such.
See, I do laundry too, and I happen to be very good at it, but that hardly makes me a laundry specialist. All I did was use common sense and the available tools and products to come up with a few processes that, well... work. I transform old muddy socks in fluffy, sparkly white, as-good-as-new little pieces of foot cuddling goodness.
I confess I am not as good as a "social media specialist". Truth is that, unlike laundry, social media is a fairly dynamic, ever-changing environment. When you have one thing figured out, something else comes along and you are back on the ignorance couch, humbly trying to make sense of it all, fumbling blindly through the ruins of your former convictions too se if you can find anything that is still applicable.
I actually amuse myself watching the "social media specialists" assume that "I knew it all along" pose when discussing new technologies and platforms, when you know, by their demeanor and their approach, that they are just as clueless as you are at that point.
I feel it is as honest to call myself a "social media specialist" as it is for a smuggler to call himself an "international commerce specialist" or a "customs consultant". Although what I do for a living is honest and perfectly legal, just like him, my job is about testing and exploring opportunities to find one that works.
So this blog is basically a collection of the things I am learning as I go. Things that work and things that do not work. About what I figure social media can and can't do for different people. This is not a blog for "social media experts". It is for the people I work for, and for you, if you care to stick around, discuss and explore social media, marketing and random subjects like how to properly launder your socks.
A note to my dear social media marketing experts: don't even bother challenging the things I say. I will not answer. I will only opportunistically absorb your wisdom and make myself more enlightened, and so will my tiny but dear audience.
