How I learn and stay up to date

I often get asked the following question: “How on earth do you learn and stay up to date in a field that is changing so quickly (i.e. digital engagement)”?

I thought I’d provide an answer on my blog so that I have a place to point people to that ask similar questions in the future.

First and foremost, it should be noted that I love what I do and am genuinely passionate about it. If this was not the case, I wouldn’t be taking the time to write this.

Understanding Social Media

I have added a new first step to my strategic social media engagement process. It involves educating key senior stakeholders within your organization as to what social media actually consists of. Without this, I am convinced that your journey towards successful use of the digital space will be unnecessarily difficult.

Put simply, you need to ensure that key senior stakeholders as well as everyone involved in the initiative that you’re about to undertake  have at least a high-level understanding of the current digital landscape, including statistics, trends, and implications of both engaging and not engaging.

Semantic confusion surrounding modern marketing

There are numerous marketing terms that are being misused so often these days that I often find it necessary to give a quick lecture on semantics before presenting, training or consulting with clients. If this is not done from the get-go, then consensus within a group is nearly impossible to attain. Even if two people fundamentally agree on something, they have no way of knowing due to the fact that their initial paradigms are different. A great visual example of this is the famous illustration of the old lady/young lady I have included in this post.