Work
Okay, So Maybe I Haven’t Really Written Anything Lately…
Watching Elizabeth Gilbert say, “It’s exceedingly likely that my greatest success is behind me” makes one think about where we stand in the world. Here I am, about a half year after my 30th birthday, pondering my future.
From a career perspective, my best days are in front of me. I join an innovative Fortune 50 company that are looking to tap my expertise and continue doing fun, exciting things for years to come. And the amazing thing is that I’m probably creating more things than I ever had before. I’m just in a different stage of creation than I ever was before. Instead of being the writer, I am more of a conductor. And while I still write from time to time – I spend more of my cognitive energies attempting to get others to compose things for me. It’s a new perspective; one that I attack with gusto even if I miss being down with pen and paper.
I guess that’s the sad part. My journals – like the one pictured above – spawned websites which begat this blog, and while many of my writers have been dispersed in to the ether of the internet – I can’t help but wonder what happened to that drive to journal. I haven’t written anything in a while. And while the reasons for that are a mixtures of excuses, ultimately they are all just conjugations of the word “busy.” And while I sit here on the internet imbibing content constantly, I feel paralyzed and unable to put pen to paper. To organize my thoughts in such a permanent way with ink. I used to tell people that I wanted to be a writer. I need to learn to be one again.
What’s Next for Me: Empire State of Mind
Last week, I announced on Twitter that I was leaving Crocs to pursue other opportunities. Today, I’m proud to announce what my actual plans are. I am leaving Boulder and the great state of Colorado to return back East to work for R/GA in New York City. This was a move that happened quickly, but when the opportunity came to join a firm with the reputation and status of R/GA – I couldn’t pass it up.
My time at Crocs was an eventful one. The last two and a half years of my life were perhaps the happiest I have ever had. I enjoyed the sun and fresh air of Colorado. I met some amazing friends. And I was able to create something I am very proud of for a company that I will always hold dear to my heart. I finally was able to work in Social Media and use my passion for this form of communication to build a true community around a very well known brand. It was something that I received great kudos for – whether through official channels or pats on the back at conferences – and for that, I am forever indebted. The opportunity I have at R/GA would probably not be here if it wasn’t for Crocs.
Photo by @greeblemonkey
Crocs, however, is bigger than I am and I leave behind a social media program that will be in very capable hands. It’s bittersweet to have to walk away from something I built – knowing that I will no longer have a say in how things are handled – but I feel that the passionate consumer base that I helped organize will be there for whomever takes the reigns. I’m excited to watch things from the sidelines, to simply be a member of the Crocs community, and to watch the brand, my colleagues and my friends grow.
The personal and professional pressures that I felt really made this decision an easy one. I simply felt the tug of the city – watching the Yankees win the World Series, listening to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys belt out ballads to the boroughs – I couldn’t help but want to return back to the only place that felt right for me. Professionally, I loved my time at Crocs but wanted new challenges – I wanted to apply my skill sets in new ways and R/GA provides a greater stage for me to shine. Agency life will be vastly different. It will test me in so many different ways. Yet, in this crucible, I feel I will become a better professional. I’m excited and I’m glad all of you will be around for the ride.
In the end, like with all social media, I couldn’t have done it without the crowd. With out all of you out there who read my tweets, my blog posts, who followed my every move on the social web – thank you so much. It was all of you that made the 12 hour days easy. It was all the smiles we made together that made this job fun. You were there for me through everything. It was your enthusiasm to listen to me that made me who I am. There is an African proverb that says that the path to greatness is paved by giving thanks to the great that came before you. You, all those readers and people that follow me, are the greatness that has come before me. Whether you’re a friend I made in Boulder, contacts I made through the industry, or random pixels of an avatar of someone I never met – I am truly thankful. Leave a comment below so I know who is out there and who made this past two and a half years the greatest of my short lifetime.
One in the Same: Multidisciplinarians and Millenials
My personality is something that is hard to describe. My bedroom is littered with books, magazines, pictures, and various other items that serve as anecdotal evidence to my hobbies and passions. When you walk in – you’ll notice something that reveals a part of who I am. What do you notice first? 
Perhaps it’s the picture of Bob Dylan on a motorcycle above my desk that illuminates my love for his work and singer/songwriters and musicians of similar aesthetic. Maybe it’s the silver framed pictures that line the walls by my bed that illustrate my love for the visual arts. Maybe it’s the picture of the Dalai Lama and the stylized Arabic writing on the other wall by my desk that captures my predisposition to alternatives to our western way of life. Whatever it is you notice – it’s simply a piece of the puzzle and even the collection of items in my room do not capture my complete personality.
I always felt that the jack of all trades personality that I had would not serve for much success in the world.
For a long time, I always felt my diverse passions were detrimental to a healthy life. After all, I saw friends who possessed more focused and finite skill sets that seemed to have their paths set from the get go. I always felt that the jack of all trades personality that I had would not serve for much success in the world. I don’t feel that way anymore, as my varied skill set and ability to master multiple disciplines seems to be paving the way for a successful career.
In fact, Ad Age recently wrote an article about that phenomena called “Hiring and Cultivating A New Kind of Talent.” In the article, the author Eduardo Braniff reveals a new business trend: “New talent is entering the marketplace innately programmed as multitaskers and academically trained as “multidisciplinarians.” They have grown up maximizing new tools and platforms to process information, creating new media and connecting through new communication forms — often simultaneously.”
I instantly relate to this “new talent.” He mentions various traits – including the fact that this new talent often seeks second and third careers in their spare time. In addition to my regular job – I do web design, consulting work, freelance writing, and various other things that in the background.
This seems to parallel many of the traits that of the Millenials – which makes sense since we’re at a Tipping Point as far as Millienial integration in the working world. As someone that skews to the millenial demographic, I am excited about the potential changes in business practices. I also like the fact that the Ad Age article gives suggestions at integrating both types of workers together. In the end, it’s a compromise and business needs to understand how to have different types work together.
As technology allows for us to pursue and refine a multitude of talents, how will the workplace and society adapt? The next few decades will be interesting to observe.
I Don’t Pitch Bloggers
With all the discussion on blogger’s relationships with brands, I wanted to talk about how I go about crafting relationships with bloggers. And, to start things out simply – I don’t pitch bloggers.
The reason is simple: why? I just don’t see the reason to ask someone to write about my product. To me, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive. Instead, I simply decided to do the first step that is always recommended in social media: I listened to find the people that were already talking about it.
Out there, I found our true believers – people who loved our products and were already acting on our behalf whether they knew it or not. We read their blog posts, saw their Flickr streams, and watched their videos as they extolled all the virtues that they found in the products we made. So instead of pitching bloggers – I simply just said “Hello” to our fans.
Not all brands can do that easily, obviously. Established brands have the luxury of being able to pluck from a large pool of their fans, who are constantly spreading their love of their products. But if you’re a company making revenue, you probably have fans out there. And when you do find your true fans – reward them. It’s an age-old marketing ploy – the fan club. Social media allows you to develop real relationships with your fans without spending that much effort or money. These free communication tools open up a world that allows any and all brands to empower their community to work for them.
So I don’t pitch bloggers – I empower fans.
The not-so-surprising thing is that your fans will start pitching people for you. They’ll tell their friend, who tells their friend, etc. etc. Social media is, after all, just word of mouth marketing. And it spreads easily – maybe you work with one of your hardcore fans to run a giveaway on their blog, and all of a sudden your inbox and DM’s are full of people who want to do something with their blogs. All of a sudden, you’ve turned the tables and your brand is getting pitched because you’re providing people with something they want. Now, your only task is that you have to manage your growing community. You have to work with the people that want you but also in ways that work on your terms. You’re creating true ambassadors of the brand while weeding out the people that are just there for a quick hit and run. Slowly, you’ll end up working with the bloggers that PR companies target to pitch – except you do it in an organic way. They’ll come to you to be a part of your community, which will only make it stronger because you’re not playing favorites or succumbing to any hierarchy. You’re merely empowering fans.
So, for everyone that is worried about pitching bloggers, my simple advice is: don’t. The best marketers will focus on their community, on their fans, and trust that the rest will fall in line. That’s what has worked for me, and it’s the best advice I can pass along.
Threatened at BlogHer
Someone tried to blackmail me at BlogHer. Seriously – I don’t even know how to summarize the story in complete detail as the past few days in Chicago have been quite the whirlwind. I understand that, as brands, we bring the “grabby” nature of swag bags out in people. I understand that people can feel cheated by paying for things and not receiving them. I get that – and while I don’t condone that behavior, I at least understand why it happens. What I don’t get is why someone would attempt to hold me hostage for a pair of shoes…
I’m sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton – where I spent much of my time. I was just hanging out, doing some work, and talking to the people who were coming up to me. Okay – I’ll be honest, I was talking to people and playing the “Tiles” game on Microsoft Surface because, (expletive deleted), that is possibly the most addicting game ever. Anyway, it was about mid-afternoon when someone came up to me. I’ll call her generic mommyblogger because I couldn’t pick her out of a lineup if I tried.
“Are you the Crocs guy?” she asks, timidly.
I look up and smile. After all, it’s nice to be recognize and it’s a sign that I’m doing my job right.
“Yes, I am.”
We continue with small talk. She says her name but, while I probably caught it at the time, it slipped out of my memory as the events of the next couple moments transpired. She asked how I was doing at BlogHer. If I was having fun. How it felt to be one of the only men there – all those typical questions that were being asked of me. Then her demeanor changed completely. She mentioned how she didn’t get any shoes at the SocialLuxe lounge. I apologized, saying that we provided what we could but it’s hard because we didn’t know everyone’s shoe size. She nodded but I could tell that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. Then she says something that I couldn’t believe.
“Ya know, if you don’t give me shoes – I could totally write something bad about you on my blog.”
“Excuse me?” I asked – hoping she would laugh or give me some indication that she was just joking around. Nope…
“It’s just a pair of shoes. It’s a lot easier to give them to me than deal with the negative press I could make.”
After hearing that, I start to laugh. First of all, I don’t recognize this woman at all. When she mentioned who she was at the beginning of the conversation, it didn’t ring a bell and I do a fairly good job at making sure I pay attention to the “players” in the sphere. Beyond that, I connect with hundreds of bloggers of all sizes and I am very good at treating them with the respect that they deserve as writers, photographers, artists, and people. This person was a nobody. So, I reacted in the only way that I saw fit.
“I could pick up my phone here and get in contact with so many people and tell them what just happened that you would be afraid to go near your computer, let alone attempt to blog again.”
She looked shocked – like she really thought her sad attempt to blackmail me would work. In a second, she walked away and, before I could really gather myself, disappeared into a sea of bloggers. I never saw her again and, if it didn’t effect me so much, I would have doubted as to whether it happened or not. Sadly, it did. I really hope it was an isolated incident but it’s something to watch out for. Brands aren’t the only people that have to learn how to work in this sphere. Bloggers do too. I know the BlogHer community would police behavior like that – so I just wish I could have remembered her name or grabbed a business card….
My whole experience at BlogHer was a positive one. I feel like Crocs nailed it, I got to meet some of my favorite people in person, and connected with a whole group of people I never met before. This incident was small and isolated. It was someone I never saw before and never saw again – the personification of an anomaly. I debated on whether I should even bring it up but then I realized that, while I may know enough people that I probably could have lived up to my response to her – other brands may not. I guess this is just a public service announcement that there are people out there that would do this, so as a community, we all need to watch out for it…
(Editor’s Note: Never thought this would become this big of a thing (I blame @jowyang haha) but, I did want to reinforce that this is NOT in any way indicative of behavior that I commonly see from Bloggers. BlogHer reinforced the fact that the bloggers I work with every day are some of the most intelligent, professional, and caring people in the world. As a man in a conference of women, I felt included and I am proud to call many people my friend. This incident was something I wanted to share with the 10 people that read my blog and a few people in the twitterverse. 7/27/09 6:16pm MT ~GS)
(Editor’s Note 2: The “nobody” comment was meant to be that she was a nobody because she threatened me. Not because she has no audience. My favorite bloggers to work with are the amazing writers that haven’t had a chance to be read. Most of the people that commented below would back me up with that, but I did want to clear it up 7/27/09 8:11pm MT ~GS)
Building Community
I am lucky because I have a really great job. Among my many tasks, I serve as a community manager for Crocs fans. Using Twitter, blogging, and the other social networking realms – I seek to organize and empassion our core consumer. There are many marketing seminars, books, webinars, and blogs dedicated to just this purpose. While I read them and seek them out, I’m lucky because my job has come down to one specific philosophy: Have Fun
. Here’s a personal case study. The other day on Twitter, Allison Worthington of Mrs. Fussypants and Blissfullydomestic sent out a tweet saying “It is official. Twitter has killed my ability to blog on my site, Ican’tquityou,Twitter!”
Being the pop culture connoseuir that I am, I immediately recalled the famous scene from Brokeback Mountain – “I just can’t quit you” (Is that how the real quote goes?) I quickly responded with a tweet requesting that SOMEONE make a photoshopped poster as soon as possible spoofing that Tweet.
Within minutes, Monica aka @Mommybrain responds and volunteers for the task. About an hour later, Monica’s masterpiece was unveiled: Tweetdeck Mountain!
So, what does this have to do with my work at Crocs? Well – nothing really and everything. I would have tweeted the same thing if I wasn’t working at Crocs. I would follow both Alli and Monica even if my job had nothing to do with “mommy bloggers” or bloggers in general. I did it because it was funny, it felt good, and it’s how my personality works. Yet, when Alli told the story on her blog – the picture of my tweet included the Crocs logo. It was branding. More importantly, it was a relationship – a real relationship based on having fun and communicating that doesn’t have anything to do with pushing personal agendas. The beauty of the social web is that relationships breed success. And the fact that I can spend my Thursday morning, in between my other job tasks, just having a laugh and being able to call that work – is priceless.
Corporate All Star?
Steve Rubel wrote in a piece entitled, “Marketing Authentically with Personal Brands as Corporate All-Stars.” I’ve been wanting to write a piece on this for some time, but I’ve somewhat struggled with the tone. First of all, I don’t believe I have a very strong “personal brand” yet my position at Crocs pushes me into the spotlight and many of our key consumers – especially influential online ones – see me as a “Corporate All Star.”
Rubel’s piece breaks down how to handle “Corporate All Stars” and I have to agree. I see my work having a great impact in the conversations – even if I have no specific metrics to back them up. Humanizing a company, as I am doing through Twitter, blog outreach, and other channels has created an interesting dynamic that is creating new opportunities for the marketing of our product. Our consumers reach out to me to celebrate our products – through tweets, emails, and even blog posts. It conjures up the observer effect – normal fans of our products ultimately get a boost in their enthusiasm by merely knowing that a person is watching them. By building personal relationships – albeit virtual ones – die hard enthusiasts are being synthesized right before my eyes. It’s truly a wonder to watch.
Yesterday’s Twitter contest was a lot of fun and looking through all the tweets (I used the PC based program “The Archivist” to pull Twitter search results) – there’s so much potential for these kind of interactions. There was the buzz generated – we were a trending topic on Twitter for like two seconds – the potential market research, the brand building – so much. I wonder how much traction I gained by being “GeorgeGSmithJr” instead of “Crocs.” Was it anything? This is a debate that I have with many people. I’m not sure anyone has the real answer, but until then – I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. It seems to work.
“Ya know” – my week of Podcasts
Last week – I participated in two podcasts. The first one was the podcast Millennio.us – a joint venture of my friends Alana Edmunds and Eric Hansen. It was the third episode but I already enjoy their podcast because it’s focus on tech in our lives – not just tech in general. As a millenial – even on the outskirts of the defined age range – it was a nice conversation about my work, my thoughts on social media and millenials in the work place. You can check it out here – millennio.us or subscribe to it via iTunes.
The second podcast was more work-centric. It was with Amber Naslund and David Alston of Radian6 for “The Engaged Brand” podcast featured on the Radian6 blog. Again – I enjoyed talking shop with two people I highly respect and it was quite the energizer for me for the rest of the week. I love taking the time out of my day to discuss what I am doing. It’s somewhat philosophical – allows me to take a step back and continually ask if what behaviors I am engaging in with Crocs are not only beneficial to the brand but to my personal philosophies on Social Media.
What I don’t like is the personal inflections I add to my speech. The “Um’s” or, my personal pet peeve “Ya know.’ I hope that these aren’t too distracting but they bother me and improving on my public speaking is already one of my top priorities. Practice makes perfect though, so I see this as a challenge to simply start doing more public speaking – whether it’s for professional use like the Radian6 interview or simply personal fun – like on this blog.
If anyone out there has tips on how to control those silly things we all add to our public speaking, let me know. I think learning to talk slower, to let my brain and mouth sync more – would be the best. Not sure if that fits with my personality though and that’s brought me a long way. We’ll see. Each day brings me something more I can learn.
