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How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business: A Conversation with Chris Brogan

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Do you refuse to settle?
Do you want to do things your way?
Do you have a different way of looking at the world?
And, most importantly, are you looking for a way to make your weirdness an asset?
If you answered ‰ÛÏYes‰Û to any of the four questions above, then I‰Ûªve got a great book recommendation for you.
And the author of said book (you know him well) is this week‰Ûªs guest on The Lede:

Chris Brogan ‰ÛÓ New York Times best-seller and the founder of Owner Magazine.
In this episode, Chris and I discuss the following, all of which are central themes in his new book The Freaks Shall Inherit The Earth:

  • Who is a ‰ÛÏfreak‰Û?
  • Why are some freaks successful while others struggle?
  • What are some practical ways we can add more discipline to our daily lives?
  • What must a freak absolutely, positively master to succeed?
  • What is on Chris‰Ûª list of things to not do?
  • What is the difference between fitting in and belonging?
  • Why do so many of us not do the things we already know we should be doing?
  • How do you take the first step (and keep going)?
  • What action does Chris want users to take after they finish the book?

And that one time Chris and Brian Clark went rogue during a panel presentation ‰ÛÓ and the important lesson Chris learned from Brian (even if it took Chris many years to actually act on the advice).
Listen to The Lede ‰Û_
To listen, you can either hit the flash audio player below, or browse the links to find your preferred format ‰Û_

React to The Lede ‰Û_
As always, we appreciate your reaction to episodes of The Lede and feedback about how we‰Ûªre doing.
Send me a tweet with your thoughts anytime: @JerodMorris.
And please tell us the most important point you took away from this latest episode. Do so by joining the discussion over at Google-Plus.
The Show Notes

The Transcript
Click here to read the transcript
Please note that this transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
The Lede Podcast: How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business
Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Lede, a podcast about content marketing by Copyblogger Media. I‰Ûªm your host, Jerod Morris.
Are you a freak? By that I mean, do you have a different way of looking at the world? Do you want to do things your way? Are you not a fan of settling or compromise? Yeah? And are you looking for a way to make your weirdness an asset? Then I‰Ûªve got a great book recommendation for you.
It‰Ûªs the new one by Chris Brogan, entitled ‰ÛÏThe Freaks Shall Inherit The Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdoes, Misfits, and World Dominators.‰Û I ordered this book the day that it came out, I read it, and I got a lot out of it. So I asked Chris to come be a guest on The Lede, and he graciously agreed.
In this episode of The Lede, I will play for you my interview with Chris, in which we talk about a number of subjects including why some freaks are successful and others struggle, the difference between fitting in and belonging, and much, much more. It‰Ûªs really an action-packed 15 minutes.
Oh, and that one time he and Brian Clark went rogue during panel discussions.
Interview with Chris Brogan
Jerod Morris: Are you someone who really wants to blend in and be part of the background, or do you secretly have a wild side and are awaiting the battle cry? This is the question posed in the intro of the new book ‰ÛÏThe Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth‰Û written by a long-time friend of Copyblogger, Chris Brogan, who joins me on this episode of The Lede.
Chris, welcome to the show. How‰Ûªs the book release going?
Chris Brogan: It‰Ûªs fun. I‰Ûªm enjoying it. I just found out the day that we were recording this that we signed global rights for China, so that‰Ûªs kind of fun.
Jerod: Wow! Congratulations.
Chris: Thanks.
Jerod: Now, have you had books translated in China before?
Chris: I have. I‰Ûªm very lucky that people were kind enough to buy Trust Agents in China and Korea, and a few other countries that were kind of fun and interesting. And then strangely, Social Media 101 and Google Plus for Business, my very-specifically-about-social-media books, were translated everywhere. My books that are about business usually don‰Ûªt get as much of an opportunity.
Jerod: Well, very cool. Congratulations on that, and before we jump into some of the themes of the book, where‰Ûªs the best place for people to get their hands on a copy?
Chris: Just go to callingallfreaks.com. That‰Ûªs probably the easiest way to do it.
Who is a ‰ÛÏfreak‰Û?
Jerod: All right. So let‰Ûªs talk about a few themes, and it seems like the first thing we should do is define this book‰Ûªs audience. So who are the freaks that you‰Ûªre speaking to in this book?
Chris: These are people who want to take some kind of ownership of their life. They‰Ûªre the people who have almost a tattoo-level passion about something in their business or whatever, that they‰Ûªre just into this thing.
Sometimes they‰Ûªre the employee-preneur, they‰Ûªre the CEO of their own cubicle. Other times they run their own company. And it‰Ûªs just the kind of people that really want to do the kind of work they want to do with the people that they want to do it, and in the way that they want to do it. That‰Ûªs who I think a freak is.
What are some freaks successful and others not?
Jerod: I really enjoyed the book, so I definitely urge people to go read it. I really liked it. My favorite chapter was number 2, which is ‰ÛÏThe Wild Colors and the Solid Spine,‰Û which is a great chapter title, by the way. And this is the chapter where you explain why some freaks are successful, and why some others are not. What keeps a lot of freaks from achieving their goals?
Chris: I have to tell you. So first off, it‰Ûªs funny because I had to change the subtitle of that chapter because I had said something about what makes some freaks successful, and other freaks live in their mom‰Ûªs basement, or beggars ‰Û_
Jerod: (Laughs)
Chris: ‰Û_ or something like that. And my girlfriend Jacqueline said, ‰ÛÏYou know, that‰Ûªs not really polite.‰Û
Jerod: So you changed it to ‰ÛÏstrugglers.‰Û
Chris: Strugglers, because maybe you‰Ûªre a late bloomer or something. And it‰Ûªs funny. First off is that a lot of times people are kind of cuckoo but don‰Ûªt realize that it has to have some kind of end value, and that‰Ûªs one of the first mistakes that some freaks are having trouble with.
There‰Ûªs a difference between someone who‰Ûªs a freak about, I don‰Ûªt know, collecting pens. There could possibly be a business somewhere in there if you‰Ûªre the kind of person who really loves pens and wants to help other people find the right pen for the job, or something. It‰Ûªs a little less likely if you collect toenails. So you know, you‰Ûªve kind of got to find that. So there‰Ûªs sort of a ‰ÛÓ do you know something, or are you into something that someone else might possibly be into, and if so, is it the kind of thing where they might somewhere along the way pay you for it.
And then along the way, there are all these missing ingredients that cause us not to do what we‰Ûªre doing. Discipline. We worry about fear. There are all kinds of challenges with people saying that they don‰Ûªt know what to do, so that they don‰Ûªt know where to go next. There are a lot of things that get in the way, and so I just tried to knock as many of those down as I could.
What are some practical ways we can add more discipline to our daily lives?
Jerod: And you mention discipline, and I‰Ûªm glad you mentioned that, because that was the section of this chapter that I liked the most, probably just because it‰Ûªs been something I‰Ûªve been working on myself. So I wanted to tell you, one of your tips ‰ÛÓ you have that six-step framework for building discipline ‰ÛÓ it‰Ûªs start and keep a streak going. I‰Ûªm proud to say I‰Ûªve mostly succeeded doing that. I‰Ûªve been posting something I‰Ûªm grateful for every day since I read that section with the hashtag ‰ÛÏfreak streak‰Û on Google Plus, and I‰Ûªm up to 25 now.
Chris: Wow!
Jerod: So thank you for inspiring that. I think it really does help. Can you explain that really quickly ‰ÛÓ why that‰Ûªs important? Just to kind of start a streak and commit to it, and how that can help you kind of get that framework for discipline?
Chris: Well, discipline, if there was sort of a small, little piece of a formula for it, it would sort of be ‰ÛÏexperience + training + time‰Û or something like that. It‰Ûªs one of these deals where as you learn some stuff and you train yourself to learn how to do it a little bit better over time.
The plus time part of it, keeping a streak going, a lot of times somebody will say to me, ‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm really crappy at public speaking,‰Û and I‰Ûªll be like, ‰ÛÏWell, how often have you been on a stage?‰Û And they‰Ûªll be like, ‰ÛÏTwice, and both times were horrible.‰Û And I was like, ‰ÛÏWell, how many other things in your life have you done only twice that you were really damn good at?‰Û You know?
Everything that we do in life that we‰Ûªre pretty good at, we‰Ûªve done a bunch of times, whether or not there‰Ûªs practice of some kind in between. I mean, Yo-Yo Ma, quite famously ‰ÛÓ somebody said, ‰ÛÏYou still practice four hours a day? Why do you practice four hours a day? You‰Ûªre Yo-Yo Ma.‰Û And he said, ‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm Yo-Yo Ma because I practice four hours a day.‰Û And so to me, that‰Ûªs the deal. Keep something going. And if it‰Ûªs worth doing, it‰Ûªs worth doing daily.
What must a freak absolutely, positively master to succeed?
Jerod: And part of the problem, I think, people have with that is finding the time to do it. And so another quote you have from the book that I loved is:

Let me be clear. You will not inherit the earth, nor will you be successful at most anything, if you can‰Ûªt figure out and master time.

And you go on to provide some really great, essential time-mastery hacks. Which ones help you the most in your daily life?
Chris: Oh yeah. First off, there are a couple of things.
I‰Ûªll tell you one of the first things I always tell people that always blows their mind, is I only schedule my days 40 percent full. And people are always mind-blown by this. ‰ÛÏWhat? I mean, we‰Ûªre all so busy!‰Û And I always say, ‰ÛÏYou don‰Ûªt run your car at 100 percent all the time. You don‰Ûªt run your computer at 100 percent. There‰Ûªs no other system that you run in your life at 100 percent. So why would you run your day at 100 percent? That means one sick kid ruins everything. It crashes down. You forget your passport, so you‰Ûªve got to go back to your house before you go to the airport. I mean, if you don‰Ûªt have the time to do these kinds of things, this is why you make many more mistakes.
So another thing that people do is they waste their time. It‰Ûªs really funny. We treat money as if it‰Ûªs super-precious and we hoard it when we shouldn‰Ûªt, and we treat time as if it‰Ûªs absolutely something we‰Ûªve got an endless supply of and we waste it, when we don‰Ûªt have that kind of time.
So to me, I have a huge list of things I don‰Ûªt do. I have a huge list of things‰ÛÒI mean, even this podcast. You said, ‰ÛÏHey, I want to interview you for the thing,‰Û and I said, ‰ÛÏGreat, if you do it briefly.‰Û That was the first thing I said. I‰Ûªm protecting my time here. So I think those things are important.
I think always having some kind of a plan. Any time you go into anything without a plan it stinks, and it‰Ûªs not to say that you need to be sort of anal-retentive the whole of your life. But even going to the beach. If you have a small, little checklist it‰Ûªs going to save you from the ‰ÛÏOh yeah, I forgot sunscreen,‰Û moment. So I think that there are just a lot of opportunities to do a lot more with time.
Jerod: It‰Ûªs a good thing you said that, too, because I had about two hours‰Ûª worth of questions I could have asked.
Chris: Well, sure! That‰Ûªs the thing. I listen to a lot of podcasts which feel like they seem to have all the time in the world, and I feel like we don‰Ûªt even have all the time to listen in the world. How do we have all the time to do these interviews?
Jerod: No, it‰Ûªs a great point.
What is the difference between fitting in and belonging?
Jerod: So shifting gears really quickly. Early in the book you talk about the difference between fitting in and belonging, which I thought was really interesting. And it‰Ûªs an important distinction within this context of ‰ÛÏfreak.‰Û So what‰Ûªs the difference between fitting in and belonging?
Chris: To me, the whole thing about fitting in versus belonging is all about this whole sense of shaving off your unique edges and hiding what makes you who you are. That‰Ûªs what fitting in means.

  • Fitting in means ‰ÛÏstop doing those things that make you kind of a weirdo.‰Û
  • Belonging is when you find the weirdoes who totally get what you‰Ûªre into.

If I head out to a group of people and I say something about Burpees: ‰ÛÏEveryone loves them!‰Û ‰Û_ Cross-fitters and Spartan race people all totally get that joke, because Burpees are evil. And if I make a joke about ‰ÛÏroll your wendy-20 save against stupidity,‰Û the Dungeons and Dragons kids know what I‰Ûªm talking about. And we love that moment. We love that moment when we‰Ûªre kind of amongst people who know what we‰Ûªre doing.
Somebody recently was having trouble with their iPhone, and they just pulled the iPhone out of their pocket, turned it to one edge, and blew on it like they were trying to blow the dust out of the video game cartridge from the old 1980s video games, and I was like, ‰ÛÏWow.‰Û He was like, ‰ÛÏMy people here.‰Û And so it‰Ûªs in those moments when we find people that we belong. That‰Ûªs who we really want to do business with.
So what I really have deeply in my heart is that there‰Ûªs just a whole other way to look at everything that we‰Ûªre not doing right now, which is very much that we‰Ûªre worrying too much about fitting in, and we‰Ûªre not worrying enough about belonging with the people we want.
Why do so many of us not do the things we already know we should be doing?
Jerod: Another great quote of yours that I like because I think it‰Ûªs so practical is, ‰ÛÏYou‰Ûªll find that a lot of what I preach comes off as common sense, yet what‰Ûªs most magical about it is that so few people practice these skills.‰Û Which really echoes some advice that Darren Rowse gave at Authority Intensive recently, when he essentially said that he doesn‰Ûªt have any secrets to share, but it‰Ûªs that success was more about doing the things we already knew we should be doing. Which sounds so simple, but why do so many folks seem to struggle with that?
Chris: First off, we‰Ûªre addicted to distraction. We love thinking ‰ÛÏMaybe someone else knows a better way to do this, and I should learn that, because I‰Ûªm probably not smart enough to do it.‰Û That‰Ûªs a huge one.
Another is that we quite often have this feeling that we‰Ûªre not good enough. That‰Ûªs one for sure.
And another is just that we get lazy, and we‰Ûªre complacent. We think, ‰ÛÏOh yeah, this is good enough for right now,‰Û and we love ‰ÛÏgood enough.‰Û
‰ÛÏThe enemy of the great is the good,‰Û is one of those old quotes that‰Ûªs totally and utterly true. But what I find is that the things that I do daily, and the things that I do work on that are the least sexy things that I do, are what are yielding the most results. And that the more I do those things, the more I‰Ûªm seeing a great result from them. And I‰Ûªm getting into it.
The things that turn me on the most, kind of my new personal porn, are things that everyone else has done and dismissed years ago. I love e-mail marketing more than any other tool. I love Evernote and adding tags to things in Evernote that I‰Ûªm actually going to refer to, as opposed to these people who just store stuff like chipmunks with big mouths.
How do you take the first step (and keep going)?
Jerod: Now, you mentioned something interesting. You said one reason why people don‰Ûªt do what they already know they should be doing is they don‰Ûªt feel like they‰Ûªre good enough. And maybe that kind of goes along with this idea of ‰ÛÏfreaks‰Û and feeling like maybe you don‰Ûªt fit in. Having to find that belonging. How does someone who feels like that who isn‰Ûªt quite sure, but thinks differently, how do they take that first step to start doing those things? How do they start to believe that they are good enough?
Chris: One of them is to start thinking about where you feel most comfortable with people, and where can you see yourself letting go of some of your fear. That‰Ûªs a huge thing to think about. Where do you feel that when you talk to the people, you can actually exhale as well as talk? That‰Ûªs maybe a good starting point.
And from there, what can you do to be part of that community in a way that you can actually serve them? I actually got that advice from Brian Clark.
He and I were on the stage. We were in this horrible panel. I shouldn‰Ûªt be mean to people. But the person interviewing us was not especially good. She didn‰Ûªt know us very well. She didn‰Ûªt have any real questions of any great value. So we just decided to turn the answers. Everything she said, we just turned the answers into what we felt like talking to each other about.
And one of the things Brian said was, ‰ÛÏI see, ‰Û pointing to me, ‰ÛÏI see you kind of running all over the place, chasing every fly ball that‰Ûªs out in front of you,‰Û and at that time in my life the opportunities were coming at me faster than I could handle. And he said, ‰ÛÏYou know how I parse these? I just think, ‰ÛÏWhich one of these is the best for my community? Which one of these will give me the best opportunity to help the people that have given me their attention?‰Û And I thought, ‰ÛÏWow! That‰Ûªs a great sorting hat.‰Û
And then I proceeded to not do that for five years, because every bit of advice Brian gives me, it takes five years to actually execute. But I always do it.
The other thing too is if you‰Ûªre starving, it‰Ûªs not the right time to start thinking about what kind of garden to plant. You have to eat first. And so I always say to people, ‰ÛÏSeeds are for planting, and sometimes for eating.‰Û And if you‰Ûªre in the ‰ÛÏstarving‰Û mode, that‰Ûªs not when to make these decisions. At that point, just eat. Go get a job. Go do something. Go get some cash. Then figure out where you want to be when you grow up.
And that‰Ûªs kind of where it gets trickier. I tell people all the time, Take small bites. Try not to let your failures mess other people, but just get into failure. And the more you can get into failure, the more you can learn from it, and start to reset and build better stuff.‰Û
What action does Chris want users to take after they finish the book?
Jerod: Wow. That‰Ûªs great advice, Chris. My final question for you. This time has gone so fast.
Chris: Wow, Jerod!
Jerod: So the final section of the book is called ‰ÛÏTake Action! Fight Crime! Save the World!‰Û Complete with exclamation points, which I love. And that first phrase is really the crux of the section. Take action. What action do you want people to take after they finish your book?
Chris: I laid it right out. This is a frustration Julian Smith and I have had since the first book. We wrote ‰ÛÏTrust Agents‰Û together, and we wrote also ‰ÛÏImpact Equation‰Û together, and we‰Ûªve both written books since. And here‰Ûªs what happens. You can see because of Twitter.
I‰Ûªll see somebody and they‰Ûªll say, ‰ÛÏI just finished Trust Agents,‰Û now reading ‰ÛÏCrush It.‰Û ‰ÛÏJust finished ‰ÛÏCrush It,‰Û now on to this.‰Û They read books as if it‰Ûªs bingo. And they‰Ûªre not saying, ‰ÛÏNow taking an action based on the book.‰Û
So for years all the books that Julian and I have ever written, in any form or fashion except for my book of poetry, all have instruction in them. And so in this case, I went even crazier and said, ‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm going to make a chapter like, ‰Û÷do this damn stuff!‰Ûª‰Û and it kind of recounts what‰Ûªs in the rest of the book.
But I want people to declare that they‰Ûªre a freak. I want people to define what makes them successful. I want people to figure out some skills that are going to help them get there, and figure out the framework that goes in it. And then there are just all the other steps of what it takes to do the book.
And I think that really, the next to last thing in there is, I tell people, ‰ÛÏbe ready for the bad times,‰Û because that‰Ûªs the other thing that screws up everybody‰Ûªs attempt to be a freak. They somehow forget that maybe there‰Ûªs going to be a bad moment, and they somehow cash it all in when that bad moment hits.
Jerod: Excellent advice, Chris. I really, really did enjoy the book. Thank you for writing it, and I encourage everybody to get it. Thanks for your time, and sharing some of your thoughts with us on The Lede.
Chris: My utter pleasure, Jerod. Thank you.
Jerod: All right. I will talk to you soon, Chris.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Lede, and my thanks again to Chris Brogan for taking the time to join me. Once again, if you are enjoying these episodes, if you‰Ûªre getting a lot out of them, we sure would appreciate a rating or a review on ITunes. Tweet about us, e-mail the show to a friend. We would appreciate any way that you can help us spread the word. And don‰Ûªt forget, if you like Stitcher, you can now subscribe to The Lede on Stitcher. Just go to copyblogger.com/stitcher, and you can add us to your playlist.
All right. We‰Ûªll be back next week with another episode. Until then. Talk to you soon, everybody.
# # #

*Credits: Both the intro (‰ÛÏBridge to Nowhere‰Û by Sam Roberts Band) and outro songs (‰ÛÏDown in the Valley‰Û by The Head and the Heart) are graciously provided by express written consent from the rights owners.
About the authorJerod MorrisJerod Morris is the Director of Content for Copyblogger Media. Get more from him on Twitter, , or at JerodMorris.com.

The post How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business: A Conversation with Chris Brogan appeared first on Copyblogger.

Effective Social ‰ÛÒ Matt Daley ‰ÛÒ Podcast Episode #247

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In this week‰Ûªs internet marketing podcast Andy talks to Matt Daley, Paid Performance Account Manager at SiteVisibility, about the benefits and risks of social media use for small independent retailers, and whether such retailers can be successful both on and offline. Matt notes that central to effective social media usage is a strong business strategy, which will in turn dictate which social channels are best used. He talks about the potential risks of an online presence for all retailers and finishes by highlighting the strengths and differences between the range of social platforms.

Post from Apple Pie & Custard blog by SiteVisibility – An SEO AgencyEffective Social ‰ÛÒ Matt Daley ‰ÛÒ Podcast Episode #247

Why You Should Curate Content (And How to Do It Right)

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Why are we doing a four-part podcast series about content curation? Because it‰Ûªs a concept that is easy to understand, but not always easy to execute. It requires commitment, strategic thinking, and that most precious of resources: time.
But when you do it right, and do it right consistently, content curation can be a foundational building block of your authority.
And if you follow Copyblogger, you know how important developing and maintaining authority is.
In the first episode of this series, Demian and I discuss what content curation is, the benefits of doing it, and provide an overview of how to do it effectively.
Specifically, we tackle topics like:

  • What, exactly, is curation?
  • How newspapers have been curating for more than 300 years
  • The benefits of curation, including its role in getting in front of other people‰Ûªs audiences
  • Are people really reading as much as we think (hope) they are?
  • How reading turns you into an authority (and how that turns into revenue down the line)
  • Should you share a link you haven‰Ûªt read?
  • Is reading the ultimate cure for ‰ÛÏWriter‰Ûªs Block‰Û?
  • What are the biggest challenges to curating effectively? (And how do you overcome them?)
  • How ‰ÛÏcurating the curators‰Û can help you master time management
  • The importance of being process-oriented
  • What are the three types of curation?
  • What kind of content should you share? (And what should you not share?)
  • Should you mix business with pleasure when curating content?

And we give you a preview of what the next three episodes in this series will be about.
Listen to The Lede below …
React to The Lede ‰Û_
As always, we appreciate your reaction to episodes of The Lede and feedback about how we‰Ûªre doing.
Send me or Demian a tweet with your thoughts anytime: @JerodMorris and @DemianFarnworth.
Specifically, we want to know what your content curation process is. What tools do you use? How do you stay consistent?
Also, what do you struggle with? What are your biggest challenges when it comes to curation? Let us know so we can address these in the next three episodes.
Do so by joining the discussion over at Google-Plus.
The Show Notes

The Lede is brought to you by Authority Rainmaker, the live event that will help you accelerate your business with an integrated content, search, and social media marketing experience. The Transcript
Please note that this transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
The Lede Podcast: Why You Should Be Curating Content (And How to Do It Right)
Jerod Morris: Welcome back to The Lede, a podcast about content marketing by Copyblogger Media. I‰Ûªm your host, Jerod Morris.
This episode begins a four-part series about curation that will span the month of June, and I‰Ûªm happy to be joined by Demian Farnworth for the entire series.
Why a series about curation? Because it‰Ûªs a concept that is easy to understand, but not easy to execute. It requires commitment, strategic thinking, and that most precious of resources: time.
But when you do it right and do it right consistently, curation can be a foundational building block of your authority. And if you follow Copyblogger, you know how important developing and maintaining authority is.
In the first episode of this series, Demian and I discuss what curation is, the benefits of doing it, and provide an overview of how to do it effectively. Here we go.
What is curation?
Jerod: All right, Demian. So let‰Ûªs talk about curation here, as this is the first episode in our new series on curation.
Probably the first place to start is just really simply, before we get into the ‰ÛÏwhy‰Û and ‰ÛÏhow,‰Û what is curation? When we say ‰ÛÏcuration,‰Û what do we mean?
If you look at Wikipedia, they provide a couple of good, succinct definitions. Content curation, Wikipedia defines as simply ‰ÛÏcollecting and sorting content.‰Û You also have digital curation, which is defined as the preservation and maintenance of digital assets. I look at it simply as distilling information for myself and my audience.
When we think of curation, a lot of times we think of it from an audience perspective; but I do think this idea of personal curation is often overlooked, which we‰Ûªre going to highlight in some of the future episodes.
But for you, Demian, when you think about curation, how do you define it for yourself?
Demian Farnworth: Let me make an historical note here really quickly.
Newspapers in the beginning, American newspapers 300 years back, that was basically all that they did. There was no individual, independent reporting. A newspaper on the east coast would get a story, they would write the story, and it was pretty basic. ‰ÛÏSo-and-so committed a crime against somebody else.‰Û Or ‰ÛÏBritain declares war on the US,‰Û like that. Well, that information was then just basically transferred to other newspapers who curated this information. They looked for news like that, and just shared it with their audience. That‰Ûªs how that sort of information proliferated across the nation and the continent.

So this idea of curation is age old. It‰Ûªs always been around.

Why should an online content creator also curate?
Jerod: So why curate?
Demian: The bottom line is you are already reading, or at least you should be, and if you‰Ûªre reading, sharing that information with your audience is a great way to feed content that you don‰Ûªt have to create.
So if you have an audience on Twitter or Google+ or Facebook, everything that you read, whether it‰Ûªs online or even offline, you can turn into a post that you curate and you share. And that also builds relationships with the people who create the content you share. It‰Ûªs basically networking.
So when you come across an article about reading, for example: You like it, you read it, you sift through it, then you sit down and you write a quick post about it on Google+. But you also mention the author who wrote it, and you give a short commentary on it, possibly; and then you share it. So you‰Ûªre making a connection with somebody else, and you‰Ûªre showing somebody else that you‰Ûªre sharing with that you appreciate their work and their sharing it, and you‰Ûªre giving it to your audience.
This is basically what the web is built on: this idea of getting attention through other people‰Ûªs audiences. It‰Ûªs an idea that Eric Inge shared in an article on Copyblogger not too long ago, with this idea of getting in front of other people. So when you create good content, too, the hope is that it gets shared. So if you‰Ûªre already reading, you should be sharing.
Are people really reading as much as we think (hope) they are?
Jerod: And before we go any further, you say you‰Ûªre already reading. Are we taking that for granted, that people are already reading? Because I feel like‰Û_
Demian: (Laughs)
Jerod: ‰Û_ you see all these stats that literacy rates are down and people aren‰Ûªt spending as much time reading online. I just read a statistic about blog posts that people only actually read 28% of the words in your blog post. So make it scannable. Put big images, right?
I want to make sure that we don‰Ûªt just glaze over that and take it for granted that are reading, and if you aren‰Ûªt, you really need to read. Especially when we talk about curation, it‰Ûªs what online leaders do. Because doing so effectively makes you a person that people turn to for answers; and if we look down the line, what‰Ûªs the benefit of that? Well, eventually those answers can become so valuable they become solutions, products, or services that have price tags attached to them.
So it‰Ûªs very important, and there‰Ûªs an article that we‰Ûªll put in the show notes by The Harvard Business Review called ‰ÛÏFor Those Who Want to Lead, Read.‰Û It‰Ûªs a concept you see a lot of places. I‰Ûªve seen a blog post by Michael Hyatt about it, where if you really want to be a leader, online or off, you need to read. Whether it‰Ûªs blog posts, whether it‰Ûªs books. And there are a number of benefits that are cited:

  • Reading improves intelligence that leads to innovation and insight
  • Reading across fields improves creativity and increases verbal intelligence, which makes you a better communicator.
  • Reading novels can actually improve empathy and understanding social cues.

So there are so many different reasons to do it. And Demian, I want to let you go back. I didn‰Ûªt want to take for granted that idea that people are already reading‰Û_
Demian: No.
Jerod: ‰Û_because if they‰Ûªre not, it‰Ûªs really important to start if being a leader, whether in the online or offline version of that, is something that you want to do.
Should you share a link you haven‰Ûªt read?
Demian: Great point. Now, I‰Ûªm glad you interrupted because a quick little side-story: Not too long ago I was involved with an online study through Columbia University, and they were studying how people read long-form content. One of the requirements was that you had to read long form, long form being very long articles online: two, three, four, five, six-plus pages. And then they wanted to see how you shared that content.
It was a three-week study, and each day you read content. You‰Ûªd get an e-mail at about 4:00 in the afternoon that was a basic survey: What did you read? Share the link if you can. Did you share it with anybody? And one of the questions was, ‰ÛÏDid you share anything that you did not read,‰Û and we all have done that before, right?
And so I found myself‰ÛÒand this is sort of that Hawthorne effect ‰ÛÓ I found myself saying, ‰ÛÏI‰Ûªm not going to share anything unless I have read it.‰Û Because even though this survey was anonymous, I was embarrassed. It‰Ûªs kind of goofy that I would share something that I haven‰Ûªt read. And it‰Ûªs kind of a running joke, but yeah. You should be reading in that sense, and so I‰Ûªm assuming that people are, and just from some of the things that you stated, from a leadership standpoint, reading is huge.
Is reading the ultimate cure for ‰ÛÏWriter‰Ûªs Block‰Û?
Demian: But from a creativity standpoint reading is huge, too. I can‰Ûªt see how anybody could ever complain about writer‰Ûªs block who is reading consistently and constantly, because you should be always chock-full of those books.
And it‰Ûªs not just a sort of superficial fast blazing through, but it‰Ûªs actually the deep reading where you‰Ûªre making notes. You are summarizing chapters as you finish them. You are even blogging about it in some circumstance, and it helps you digest it. So a good thing to challenge that assumption.
If you are already reading, you‰Ûªre already reading online. One of my processes, when I actually do read something that I like, if I see something I can‰Ûªt read right away, I‰Ûªll save it to Readability. And then later in the afternoon or later when I have some time, I‰Ûªll go into the Readability app on my phone and start reading these articles. And then once I‰Ûªm finished with that, I may go back and share it online.
So that was my point. If you are already reading, then you can very easily just slip into sharing it and curating in that sense.
Jerod: So to summarize. To kind of put this in order, you need to be reading. And assuming that you‰Ûªre doing that, now that you‰Ûªre already reading, leverage that time. Leverage that knowledge now to establish yourself as an authority as that thought leader, and share that information with your audience. And you do this by curating sources and bits and pieces of information, and then dispensing them.
What are the biggest challenges to curating effectively?
Jerod: So that‰Ûªs the why, right? That‰Ûªs why you want to curate. Let‰Ûªs get into a little bit of the how, Demian, because I think people probably understand some of the ‰ÛÏwhy,‰Û but they look at it and they think, ‰ÛÏMan, that really takes some commitment, that takes some time, that takes some strategy.‰Û And anybody who‰Ûªs thinking that is 100% right. It takes all of those things. So how do you do it?
Well for me, and Demian, I‰Ûªll see if you agree with this. The single biggest challenge I think people face is this time element, right? How do you manage your day to do this? Well, to me, and I‰Ûªll give a little hat-tip to Chris Brogan‰Ûªs new book, ‰ÛÏThe Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth.‰Û Stop thinking of it so much as time management, and think of it as priority management, right?

So if becoming an online leader is a priority to you, then curating in some form or fashion needs to become a priority.

We‰Ûªre going to talk about the different forms of curation as this series goes along, because it‰Ûªs not just link curation. There are other kinds too, and we will get into them. So your have to get better at priority management, putting your most important priorities first. Because then your time management kind of flows from that. And that helps you master time.
But do you agree with that, just kind of the mindset that you have to put it in that category of ‰ÛÏhave to do‰Û things?
Demian: Again, I think it gives this idea that part of it, too, is as readers we should be reading, and so we should in some ways be on top of current trends, current demands, sort of ‰ÛÏwhat‰Ûªs the pulse?‰Û And there‰Ûªs that priority there, that pressure to do that there. And yeah, of course the time management piece is huge.
How ‰ÛÏcurating the curators‰Û can help you master time management
Demian: The one tip that I would say, ‰ÛÏThis is what you should walk away with,‰Û when it comes to curation, is find the resources that are aggregating the content that‰Ûªs out there.
Because the other side of the time management coin is the information overload. Each day there are so many respectable publications publishing content that it‰Ûªs impossible for you to go and check every single one of those, unless that was your job. But that‰Ûªs very few people‰Ûªs job. You have other things to do. So what I‰Ûªve found is trying to find the resources that are aggregating the best content, and subscribe and follow those.
Jerod: Kind of curate the curators?
Demian: Exactly. Curate the curators.
The importance of being process-oriented
Jerod: There are also tools that can help you become process-oriented, and this is something that we will hit on in probably every episode: the importance of being process oriented. That‰Ûªs strategic thinking.
And you want to have tools that help you do that. So I‰Ûªve become a big user of Evernote. Using Buffer to help schedule your social media posts is very big. Even a tool like FollowerWonk can help make you more efficient, because you can find out information like, ‰ÛÏWhen are my Twitter users the most active?‰Û So that you can schedule tweets at smarter times.
Demian, really quickly, do you have any specific tools like that? You mentioned Readability, but any other ones like that that you live by, that help you with your curation process?
Demian: I would say it‰Ûªs probably just a hand-held notebook, too, or actually marking in books. Because I think that‰Ûªs the thing, too: We look for information that‰Ûªs online and when we think about curation we think about online content, but I think there‰Ûªs a lot of information online or offline that you can actually share. So a pencil and being able to mark inside of a book, and having the little post-notes too, are super cool.
But like you mentioned too, Buffer for scheduling social media posts, and I also use Evernote.
Jerod: And I‰Ûªll give a little tease. In one of these episodes we‰Ûªre going to talk about knowledge curation, which is basically curating your own knowledge: when you read a book, how do you record and remember what you read? There‰Ûªs a blog post by you, Demian, that helped inspire me to become a better reader, and we‰Ûªre going to talk about some of those topics in those future episodes.
What are the three types of curation?
And those future episodes will include link curation. I think this is what people think of a lot when they think of curation. That Friday link post, or the links that you tweet out.
Then there is also idea curation. So as ideas come to you, as you find these great nuggets, or quotes, or ideas, how do you organize them? And then organize them in a way that they can be recalled efficiently later, when you‰Ûªre writing a blog post and you need that quote that you saw six months ago? How do you do that?
And then knowledge creation, like we just talked about. When you‰Ûªre reading books or longer-form content, how do you record, how do you remember that information and put it into some kind of format or organization that you can use later?
So that‰Ûªs what we‰Ûªll be talking about in the future in this series, over the next three episodes of The Lede. We‰Ûªre really excited about it.
With that said, Demian, any final thoughts just on this general topic of the ‰ÛÏhow and why‰Û of curation?
What kind of content should you share? (And what should you not share?)
Demian: When it comes to curation, what are you looking for when you curate content?
Jerod: What am I looking for, specifically?
Demian: What are you looking for? Do you have a set sort of idea in your mind, or ‰Û_ ?
Jerod: If I‰Ûªm curating a link or something to share with an audience member, it‰Ûªs usefulness. So again, it comes back to that idea of knowing your audience, knowing what they need. I don‰Ûªt just want to tweet out a repeat of something else. I think I‰Ûªd like to not contribute more to the echo chamber, but find a unique idea on a common topic that‰Ûªll be useful.
Demian: That‰Ûªs what I was after, this idea. Because I‰Ûªll come across things that I think are shareable, but then I think, ‰ÛÏNo, I‰Ûªm not going to do this.‰Û And it usually comes to the point where it‰Ûªs not useful, or it‰Ûªs just because I‰Ûªve learned things like, ‰ÛÏThis day was the day that 256 people were killed in St. Louis by a killer tornado,‰Û and a link to a post. That‰Ûªs regional, it‰Ûªs kind of informational, and those rarely get any kind of traction. But it‰Ûªs those ones that are useful that do it.
So is there content that you‰Ûªll actually say, ‰ÛÏthis is not shareable?‰Û
Jerod: Oh, sure. If it‰Ûªs not interesting, or even if it goes to the other end of being profane or inappropriate.
What it all comes down to is, what you share is a representation of you. And I think it‰Ûªs very important to remember that, and remember the responsibility that you have.

If you don‰Ûªt treat it like a responsibility, that will come through over time to your audience, and they won‰Ûªt know, like, and trust you.

And curation really is just another way to build know, like, and trust. And so if you don‰Ûªt take it as that responsibility, and if you‰Ûªre not really careful with what you share so that there‰Ûªs value from the click that you‰Ûªve suggested someone make, then you‰Ûªre just going to be wasting your time with it.
There‰Ûªs no one-size-fits-all answer to that question; I think everybody has to determine it for themselves. But it starts with knowing your audience. Knowing what your audience expects and how to help them.
Should you mix business with pleasure when curating content?
Demian: So you‰Ûªre talking about branding, and I think it‰Ûªs a great way to put it. Because we‰Ûªre all sort of crafting this perfect online social image. But does that mean that you share something personal on your professional? Do you mix business with pleasure when curating content? What do you think is a rule of thumb for that?
Jerod: It depends on the place. On copyblogger.com, no. I tend to keep personal stuff out of there for the most part. But on my personal Twitter or personal Google+ account, yes. Because I think those are places where you do want people to get a glimpse of you. Now I‰Ûªm not going to go complain there when I‰Ûªm having a relationship issue, or put some link that‰Ûªs really personal to me, but I might talk about a sports topic that‰Ûªs specific to a team I like.
I don‰Ûªt think there‰Ûªs anything wrong with letting people get to know a little bit about you, but you want to keep it to a minimum and make sure that it‰Ûªs mostly about them.
What about you? It‰Ûªs a tough question. Again, there are no real easy answers or one-size-fits-all answer to it.
Demian: There really isn‰Ûªt. Because again, thinking of crafting your online image and curating content is the way that you do that. Because really, that‰Ûªs what we‰Ûªre doing, right? We‰Ûªre saying that this is something that I enjoy, and this defines me in some sense, right? Whether we oppose it, whether we are for it.
And when I think about my, say, Twitter account or Google+ account as personal versus professional. I really think ‰ÛÏThis is a reflection of who I am.‰Û So the majority of the time I will share things that are professional, that are about writing, that are about content marketing. But there will be occasional things where I might mention something about football, or I might mention something about Christianity, to kind of help fill out that personal view that people have of me.
And I‰Ûªve found that that‰Ûªs been helpful, because you get people who come out of the woodwork and say things like, ‰ÛÏOh, I love football too,‰Û or who will be encouraged by that, not just in a sort of one-dimensional, professional standpoint. But there will be other things about you that people will recognize, and then give you, in a sense, more places where people can hang their hat.
Jerod: And curation is about relationship building, I think, at its essence. And so when you do that, and when you‰Ûªre building relationships effectively, some of those more personal things are going to come out. And I think that‰Ûªs good.
Demian: Just don‰Ûªt let those e-mails from the frat days get out.
Jerod: Ha! Yeah, exactly. By the way, how about this flip all of a sudden to you asking the questions here?
Demian: (Laughs)
Jerod: That was a nice little spontaneous change, I like it.
Demian: You bet. I had questions I needed to ask.
Jerod: That was good. All right. Cool. I think this is a good intro to the topic, Demian, and I‰Ûªm looking forward to these next three, because I think it‰Ûªll be a unique take and a unique way to break these three areas down. And we talked more philosophically today. I think there will be a lot more specific tips people can walk away with in these next three episodes, to really help you start curating if you haven‰Ûªt. And if you have, become more efficient, become better, become more effective at it.
Demian, I‰Ûªll talk to you next week and we‰Ûªll go on with episode #2.
Demian: Sounds good, Jerod. Thank you much.
Jerod: All right, man. Take care.
Demian: Bye.
Jerod: Thank you for listening to The Lede. If you‰Ûªre enjoying these episodes and finding them useful, please consider giving the show a rating or a review on ITunes. We greatly appreciate it. Or, if ITunes isn‰Ûªt quite your thing, you can listen on Stitcher. Go to copyblogger.com/stitcher, and if you‰Ûªd like to share it elsewhere, we‰Ûªd love it if you tweeted about the show, or just sent an e-mail to a friend and told them about it.
And again, make sure you go to the Google+ conversation, tweet us at @JerodMorris or @DemianFarnworth. Let us know some of your tips and tricks about curation. What sources do you use? What tools do you use? We‰Ûªd love to know some of what you‰Ûªre doing out there so that we can report back, share, and really crowd-source the most effective curation process possible.
Okay, everybody. We will be back next week with another episode of The Lede, the second episode in our series on curation, where we‰Ûªll talk specifically about link curation. To do it effectively you need to be very process oriented. We‰Ûªre going to take you through some of our processes, and show you some best practices for getting the most out of your link curation. Talk to you soon, everybody.
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*Credits: Both the intro (‰ÛÏBridge to Nowhere‰Û by Sam Roberts Band) and outro songs (‰ÛÏDown in the Valley‰Û by The Head and the Heart) are graciously provided by express written consent from the rights owners.
The post Why You Should Curate Content (And How to Do It Right) appeared first on The Digital Marketing Podcast Network.

Paid Social Media Advertising ‰ÛÒ Matt Daley ‰ÛÒ Podcast Episode #248

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In this week‰Ûªs internet marketing podcast Andy talks to Matt Daley, Paid Performance Account Manager at SiteVisibility, about the benefits of the recent update for paid advertising on Facebook. Matt agrees that the update is beneficial for users and end users alike, and explains details of the newly introduced ‰ÛÏAd Sets‰Û. In the second half of the podcast Matt reveals SiteVisibility‰Ûªs Top 5 Tips for new businesses venturing into the world of paid advertising on Facebook. He finishes by explaining the features of the Power Editor for paid and organic posting on Facebook.

Post from Apple Pie & Custard blog by SiteVisibility – An SEO AgencyPaid Social Media Advertising ‰ÛÒ Matt Daley ‰ÛÒ Podcast Episode #248