Never in a million years did I ever envision myself starting a blog such as this. I always saw myself as this idealistic rebel who would fight corporate America and never have a job that paid any real money because that would make me a sellout. I even sometimes had respect for people who lived outside the law and our safe organizational system, like pirates. Well, I tried being the idealist but never realized how impossible a notion that really was. I suppose you could say I entered a sort of forced realism. Or maybe I just grew up.
I recently started work in sales for a fantastic company named Vocus. I'm selling the most fascinating software that helps companies to effectively market themselves through social media, search engine rankings, online news releases, media publicity, and e-mail. I'm talking to companies of all shapes and sizes but my favorites are the small to medium businesses who want to be successful but find themselves dominated by the budgets of corporate competitors. Our software is cheap enough that an individual who has a great idea that could be really successful if people just knew about it can buy a subscription with us and create a buzz that will make his bigger competitors nervous. It doesn't require an endless budget for advertisements and billboards, it's about organically connecting and building relationship with your target audience to grow your business through earned marketing. It sometimes feels like I'm helping to restore some sort of balance and order to the world. So maybe I'm still a bit of an idealistic rebel after all.
Interested in buying yet?
Before I started this job, I really thought social media was the devil. Putting myself out there in such a public way did not make me feel at all safe and secure. It downright freaked me out. I heard on the news about how rebels in countries with oppressive regimes were using social media to organize protests and movements of resistance but I never fully understood it. Now I'm starting to get it.
Social media gives everyone a voice.
While some countries have obviously figured out ways to control this, at least to a certain extent, anyone can participate in this level of conversation. I don't have to have money, know the right people, or be famous to have a voice in this space. I can be a writer if I want (though no one may ever read it, but that's beside the point). I can comment in a very public way my opinion on a political candidates' policies or the business practices of a large corporation. I can tell Aaron Rodgers that he's my hero and is there any chance we can get a beer together sometime when you're in town? He may never answer, but I can still get that message to him. It's really quite amazing if you think about it.
Social media makes us equal.
I will write more on this idea and others in the near future. For now, welcome to a part of my world. I have found something that I love and I'm going to write about it and many other thoughts. Whether this ever gets attention or not is beside the point. I just want to put my two cents into the conversation.
For now, remember that we're all marketing something. Even rebels and pirates.
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