This goes back to the root of any social media program. LISTEN first and learn what your group is thinking, what motivates them, where they spend their time and then and only then can an organization plan its engagement strategy.

For most of us, updating resumes is not something we do unless we're actively looking for a new job. At that point it always seems to be a struggle to remember how long you worked at a company, and to try to come up with fancy ways to make regular tasks seem exciting. Once completed and sent to a prospective company, your resume is just one in a sea of keyword-filled pieces of paper.

Seth goes on to say that "A resume is an excuse to reject you. Once you send me your resume, I can say, "oh, they're missing this or they're missing that," and boom, you're out." Like it or not, this is probably true--once you start listing your qualifications, if a skill is not on there, it is assumed that you do not possess it.

This is exactly a problem I had when I wanted to get into web work. My hobby was finding ways to write table-less, CSS-only code and configure blogs. This wasn't something I learned in school, and it most certainly wasn't anything I was doing for my day job. I wanted to be able to take my love of the internet and of blogs and somehow turn that into a viable occupation. I applied for jobs that I knew I was qualified for, but got little response because my resume's work history simply did not and could not show that I possessed the desired skillset, and putting "blogging" under hobbies hardly makes it sound like you are anything more than a dabbler.

As a way to rectify this problem I enrolled in a certificate program--even though I had already taught myself most of the things listed in the curriculum. I figured that a certificate was something concrete to put on a resume, and that it could provide good networking opportunities, as the classes were taught by local professionals in the field.

While the certificate MIGHT be useful, I didn't get my current job because of my resume--I got it because of networking and a demonstration of my skills. When this wonderful company I have the pleasure of working for needed someone with my skills, my name was passed along as someone who could provide exactly what was required. I was not hired because of what was listed on my resume--I was hired because I was known to have the desired skills and because I demonstrated my knowledge.

I consider this to be a great job, and as Seth concludes, "Great jobs, world class jobs, jobs people kill for... those jobs don't get filled by people emailing in resumes. Ever."

I couldn't agree more.

He's got a picture of a Mongol pencil and states - "Apparently, it's not not just a pencil, it's a lifestyle."

Seth, you've got to come out to Boulder, Colorado and witness the most amazing logo lifestyle ever - cycling jerseys.

Boulder has a huge road biking community, and what amazes me is that everyone gets all logo'd up to go for their bike rides. Cyclists are a bit of an elitist crowd - okay I called them elitist and maybe that's not nice but they are riding around on $2K bikes. So the funny thing is these cyclist wear the most obnoxious logo cycling jerseys you ever seen. Why is it that logo cycling jerseys are fashionable? Okay, I know that's what the professional teams wear, but I also know they make normal black cycling jerseys, because I've seen them hanging on the racks at the bike store. Strange thing is I rarely see them on people actually riding road bikes.

It's a running joke here in the Room 214 offices. When someone comes back from a walk to get lunch we report back on what companies the cyclists are representing. The other day I saw someone riding in a Fat Tire cycling jersey, followed by someone in a Subway jersey, followed by someone in a Frasca (local restaurant) jersey.

So in Boulder road cycling circles the logo must be worth being taken seriously. God forbid you show up in plain black cycling jersey and shorts. The guy in the full-blown Subway bib-shorts and jersey will laugh his ass off at you.

First, great way to get people interested in your new material - nice work Seth.

He starts with his premise about how most companies look at New Marketing as a something to "try", or they truly embrace it and what they find out is that it changes their organization. It takes a certain kind of organizational culture to be successful. This is true in our experience - success depends on a true embrace of the conversational opportunities New Marketing brings.

The successful organizations show three New Marketing traits:

1. Take criticism - if you don't others to hear the bad, there will be no good.

2. Respond quickly - get the lawyers out of the room.

3. Integrate - don't put New Marketing out on an Island. Bring it into the overall marketing mix.

New Marketing is not a program to throw the newbie in the organization at. Get your sharpest most interested players and give them the leeway to make decisions, and give the program the appropriate funding needed to be successful. Use the constructs you are familiar with in the offline world and drive visibility for your New Marketing efforts.

One look at this graph and I thought it looks like a Black Hole - where a bright star (Burton, Apple, Ford) attracts customers, runs out of fuel, reaches the end of its life, collapses into itself then explodes out sending its customers and ideas into every corner of the market.

So maybe marketing follows the laws of science. There's a bright new star in the industry that attracts customer at an astounding rate gaining tremendous mass, but eventually the fuel it lives on (innovation, authenticity, flexibility, customer loyalty) runs out and market forces (competition, customer service, cost of growth) cause instability that leads to a collapse and Supernova explosion.

What you have is death by success, and in this scenario the death of star is a Supernova - exploding everything out into the market creating new solar systems and new stars.

"The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Startdust and the Spiders From Mars"

I thought he brought up some important points about business people being brought up in a way that keeps them from thinking for themselves when it comes to marketing. If you work your way up in marketing by simply doing what you are told, then when you are the boss you don't really know what to do. This is in the context of the importance of thinking small. Thinking small means thinking like a business owner.

Other interesting points he touched on related to blog traffic not being a good metric for the success of a blog. The question is how attentive are people to your blog. Does it have the potential to be viral? Is it something that others want to look to as a valuable resource?

One of the comments from a participant in the seminar pertained to how Seth was using business to consumer examples in almost everything he was bringing up. Seth's response was that businesses are just like people, they are just spending somebody else's money. Businesses are prone to fashion, just like everyone else. So marketing to them doesn't have to be as different as people may think in many cases.