That’s either the sound of nails being driven in my blogging coffin or it’s the sound of opportunity…Hopefully if Justyn Howard and his team have made it this far, it will be the latter…

And here’s why: As an experienced blogger, well versed in the worlds of both social media and old school marketing, I’ve come to the following conclusion:

The blog must complement the brand.

• Well, I would continue to write informative and entertaining articles about using social media for business.

• And I’d mix it up from time to time with articles that might not have an immediate association with the products but that are still consistent with the overall brand.

• I’d write a series of articles, written in easy to understand, non jargon English, that explain HOW TO USE THE PRODUCT to acheive the business goals alluded to in the rest of the blog.

And finally, I’d not only ‘broadcast’ my point of view, but I’d actively solicit the knowledge and experience of others in the wider social media community, like I allude to here in the prelude to my upcoming speaking engagement at Social Media Camp:

So, I took a big gamble with this post. I’m applying for a job by letting an employer know that their product needs to be better integrated with their target audience…

Well…maybe that’s not such a crazy approach after all.

But, if all else fails, I can always dive bomb the CEO in the hallways next week – we’re both speaking at Social Media Camp Victoria!

Well, the risky approach seems to have worked! Sprout Social contacted me today and I’m going to have a chat with them over the phone a little later today. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Interestingly, the company knew about this blog post before I even sent them the link – using their own brand monitoring platform. That’s what it’s all about…

I re-instated my free trial of the application to give it another college try. I’ll let you all know how that turned out as well!

Viva Le Social Media!

The call went exceptionally well! Their Director of Business Development is exceptionally bright, enthusiastic and experienced…

See my comment to Leo, below for more details…

Cheers!

Yes, I got the job!

And I have to say, it’s as close to a dream job as anyone could have! I’m now Managing Editor of Sprout Social Insights – the Official Blog of Sprout Social.

I get to blog, promote social media for business, grow a website property and all from a home office.

Kudos to Justyn Howard, the CEO of Sprout Social and Rachael Klemanski for having the faith in me to do the job even though I’m thousands of miles away from head office!*

*I’ll actually be visiting the head office and meeting the entire team in Chicago, coming up in December – can’t wait!

So – thanks to Sprout Social -and thanks to readers here who have sent encouragements and followed my quest to land this job!

Please come by Sprout Insights for a visit and follow @Sprout_Insights on Twitter to discover the newest information, tips and practical advice on effectively using social media
for your business.

Cheers!

- Don

PS: Sprout Social is an excellent social media monitoring and participation tool. Try it out by clicking the hyperlink in the last sentence! Cheers! – dp