Social Media and Aging Marketing Veterans

As a 40-something middle-aged adult male, who has spent the last 20 years of his professional life in various marketing roles, the emergence and rapid growth in social media marketing (SMM) is indeed both refreshing and frightening.

As I write this first blog post, I am extending an invitation for those who may come along for the ride as I share my own experiences and insights for how seasoned professionals in their mid careers can quickly build a new knowledge base to capitalize on the shifting and growing change in how corporations and businesses of all sizes are re-writing the business and marketing playbook.

As a marketing veteran myself, my journey into social media marketing began in mid 2009. At that time, my own traditional marketing business was being greatly impacted by the downturn in the economy. As I reviewed new opportunities for sustaining the business, I couldn’t overlook how social media was maturing, gaining traction and being adopted across the business landscape.

The concept of social media was not new to me. It was just that I had been idle on the sidelines — observing, but not engaged. As I began to look into its adoption, I made a commitment to myself to begin to learn as much as I could so that I may apply it to client business. However, what I quickly found out was there is just too much information and too many self described experts and books, not to mention an insurmountable number of variants in social networking sites, tools and more, to make the learning process easy.

Therefore, I made a conscious decision to offer a central blog site that would capture key information, resources and links to help others shorten their learning curves as they too begin a similar journey. My goal for this blog is quite simple.

o Write and post specifically for the mid career professional
o Help like minded professionals with a central resource for tips and advice
o Share thoughts and learned best practices for the enrichment of all

Now six plus months into my journey, I am launching this blog site with the confidence that I have something of value to share with my fellow mid career professionals. If you happen to stumble upon this site and find it useful, please share the resource. In the spirit of the social Web, I encourage your community involvement, comments and discussions which will bring added value for the benefit of all who visit this site.

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Posted on December 28, 2009 at 1:12 pm by Daniel McKean · Permalink
In: Getting Started · Tagged with: ,
  • Daniel...nicely done and, as always, poetically expressed...

    Now, if this skeptic of social media and its true business value can be both educated and get rid of a few gray hairs at the same time, well, then I am game...onward!

    Heidi
  • Congrats on your new blog! I look forward to getting your insights on social media from a marketing veteran's perspective. Launching a blog is is a big commitment and a lot of work so kudos to you!
  • Varsha Peshavaria
    Thanks for starting this, many of us 'veterans' need help and guidance but also along the way have picked up experiences that can be shared to help others. This will definitely be a 'practical guide'.
  • Varsha, that's my hope re: practical guide. If I can build a community that spurs interesting conversation by pulling on collective experiences, I think we all win.
  • Hello Daniel,

    Great to see you taking this step. I'm meeting with a former colleague about this very topic tomorrow. He's in a similar position and wants to start engaging through social channels, so I'm having lunch with him and sharing some thoughts.

    I wish you the best in your endeavor. Hopefully this will prove to be a valuable resource for the countless marketers that are in your shoes. Thanks for pushing this thinking forward!

    @brandon101
  • Brandon, thanks for the best wishes. Appreciate it.
  • Nice to recognize you, fellow voyager. Great for us. I'm even older, but don't think it matters one iota. I find getting out of the PR rut and finding a more effective and measurable way to help clients differentiate, position themselves and build revenue using new web-enabled technology is like the fountain of youth. I haven't been so excited about what I'm bringing to the table for at least a decade -- maybe more. All of us flexible grey hairs embracing technology 'clairol' bring alot to the table that's always critical -- knowledge, experience, creativity. Call us. We can help.
  • Ellie, I too share your excitement for which has been missing in my career for a while. May we both have excellent journeys!
  • Daniel,

    Good luck with the blog. Despite being the fastest growing cohort in social media, this is a tough market to crack if you're over 40. I'm looking forward to seeing how you add to the conversation.

    Cheers!

    Tom Owens
    http://socialmediacrashsite.blogspot.com/
  • Tom, my friend. Let's take a ride together and make it rewarding. Thanks for visiting.
  • Hi Daniel,

    I would agree that there is dearth of information, sites (some which might not last) and that just getting started is the key you seem very adaptaptive and proactive in that the blog is routing and culling your knowledge.

    I wish be as honest as you and say that is lot of info. I am just picking the emerging stars and learning as I would have done in college.
  • Dara, like you I have been following some of the stars, but even then it can be daunting to stay up on the latest news, trends and practices. Although I have recently found some self-help sites, I feel the more sites for which I am proposing and which are starting to crop up will benefit us mid career pros as we tackle this landscape.
  • Hey Daniel,

    Congratulations on starting your blog! I'm in the process of creating content and marketing my own blog. Social media is evolving tremendously fast...it's almost scary. I'm also interested in the growth of social media, strategy and the true impact social media has on an organization other than the obvious, measurable monetary results.

    I look forward to seeing your site grow and gain traction.

    All the best!
  • Nehal, keep me updated on the launch of your site. Good luck to you.
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