Follow Friday – What a Year Can Do
Happy Friday – let’s get right to it. These are the people I think you would get the most use out of following on Twitter or reading their blog. Each of these recommendations have spent about one year in the professional world working in the Internet Marketing Industry.
My first recommendation is a former classmate of mine. I believe he was the first person to introduce me to Twitter. To this day, he is still thinking at the forefront of the social media industry. He recognizes trends and loves to try new things. With a passion for reading and writing engaging content and telling the truth, conversations with @mikebilleter are never dull. Mike genuinely wants to help those around him. If thought-provoking conversation on Twitter isn’t enough, you can find more writing by Mike at the Deep Bench blog or on his personal blog – Mikebilleter.com. In just one year, Mike has positioned himself as a well-known professional in Sioux Falls with a knack for networking.
My second recommendation is part of a team that really showed me that social media marketing can be a successful career. At a time when I wasn’t sure what kind of careers would be available to somebody with a passion for social media, @kareemy was kind enough to take some time to offer some insight on his career. He even let me come in to his office, introduced me to others working in the social media field, and gave me a straight forward look into a career path I could see myself traveling. If there is anybody that can be described as a “go-getter” it is Kareem. I doubt I’ve met anybody with the same drive to get things done. Kareem’s straight-to-the-point posts can often be found in the Risdall Marketing Pie and a more personal twist can be found at Kareem’s personal blog – The Chemicals Between Us. In just one year, Kareem has become a familiar name in the Minneapolis area and he has built a strong reputation as a fun-loving, hard-working go-getter with the ability to implement ideas.
My final recommendation is actually somebody I have featured before in a Follow Friday on this blog. But when you consider the changes a first professional year can make, it would be silly to leave out @jasondouglas. In fact, Jason just wrote a “Social Media Now and Then” post at the Sypder Trap Blog today. By listening to Jason, it would be hard to assume he has only been optimizing websites for search engines for a single year. Jason recognizes opportunities and understands the value of hard work to achieve such opportunities. In just one year, Jason’s confidence as an Internet marketer has increased unimaginable amounts while maintaining a healthy dose of humility.
Where will you be by next year? I would be proud to accomplish what each of these three Internet marketing professionals have done in the first year of their career. Their potential is staggering, so do not expect them to slow down any time soon.
Although I must say that you were far too kind in this Follow Friday post, I appreciate your recommendation to others. I think the part about your post I liked most is the fact that, out of the 12-15 people I tried to explain Twitter to, you may have been the only person who didn’t openly scoff at the concept (or snicker at the word “twitter”). I’d say that’s a pretty good start for someone who, a year later, is already a driving force in the social media realm. I always appreciated having you on Twitter early on as you were one of the first Twitter friends I actually knew “IRL” and could still discuss ideas with on Twitter. Made Twitter much more interesting for those first few months and it’s great that we’re still able to share those same thoughts now.
Anyway, I sound like an old man on my front porch (well…old man on his front porch Twittering), so I’ll wrap this post up. You are force to be reckoned with in the social media and online world, and I’d add this quote from Hip-Hop/R&B artist Drake regarding your status as a professional in this industry:
“Just because you’re in my age bracket, you are not my peer.”
You are much more far along the path than not only your (or our) “peers” and, frankly, many of the “experts” and “professionals” I know, so keep on doing what you’re doing. The internet is a better place for it.
scott,
thanks so much for the mention in your blog. i feel like you described me to a t haha!
you are full of great ideas and definitely have the drive and passion to succeed and i’d love to work with you someday.
keep up the good work on the blog and hopefully i’ll see ya in minneapolis soon again