This week on The Lede …

• What really works on Twitter
• One thing social media copywriters should never do
• 9 productive social media hacks
• A reminder of the power of the original social media

If you just can’t wait for The Lede every Saturday, and you want even more practical, useable links than the seven we highlight here every week, follow @copyblogger on Twitter.

It’s painless. Really.

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9 Social Media Hacks You Need to Embrace Now
Mr. Baer makes a good case that though social media is inexpensive in monetary terms, it can get good and costly when it comes to spending your time and brain power. His 9 “hacks” can help keep you sane and productive in the fast, fast digital world we run in.

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100 Ways to Become a Twitter Power User
Mr. Patel is on a content tear lately, not just cranking it out, but cranking out the good stuff. The headline of his article says it all, and you’d do your Twitter efforts a service to give it the once over. From how to generate more retweets, to becoming a more interesting Twitter writer, this one is well worth an hour.

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The Basics of Pinterest for Content Marketers
Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. It’s on the tip of many tongues these days, for good reason: it’s driving quality traffic. If you’re a content marketer with a visual bent, you should get over there and start pinning. But first check out the infographic above …

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Copywriters Should Never Try to Change the Prospect’s Mind
Remember that person you used to date, how you tolerated certain personality quirks or behaviors because you were sure you could change them … eventually? Veteran copywriter Nick Usborne shows you why it didn’t work back then, and why you shouldn’t try to do it now, in your business. Hint: It’s impossible.

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What Works on Twitter: The Definitive, Data-Driven Guide
It’s official, people on Twitter don’t care what you ate for lunch. What works? If you’ve been reading Copyblogger for any amount of time, the answer to that question won’t come as a surprise. At all. We’ve been preaching this very thing for more than six years …

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Email Newsletters are a Serious Business
Email: the original social media. By collecting and briefly analyzing a few top email newsletters publishing today, Mr. Baptiste has given us an important reminder — sexy does not always sell (best). Do you publish an email newsletter? Are you reaching out to your customers and fans on a regular schedule via email? If not, you’re leaving money on the table, and why would you want to do that?

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How to Create a Powerful Password You Can Actually Remember
The greatest plague that Social Media hath wrought? Passwords. There are a few great password management tools out there (that you should definitely be using), but xkcd brings us back to the old school in this cartoon. As always, the old school is simple, and it confuses the hell out of hackers and their big, bad hacking machines. Yeah.

Did you miss anything on Copyblogger this week?

• How to Grow Your Freelance Writing Business by Working Less
• 5 Ways Writers Can Break Out of the Tired Old Social Media Box
• 10 Content Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing
• What Zappos Can Teach You About Becoming Irresistible to Customers
• Even if Blogging Drools, Online Content Rules

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s copywriter and resident recluse.

It’s time to teach that old dog some new tricks.

That old dog I’m referring to is social media.

Sure, you’re already blogging, and on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, and more. Great.

But I’m telling you — there’s more to social media than meets the eye. The final chapter on social media hasn’t been written.

When I kicked off my writing business in April, I decided to use social media my way.

I approached these overused networks as if I’d never heard of them. I made my own rules. I set different expectations. You could say I wrote my own chapter on social media marketing.

It made my website — and my business — better.

Here’s what I came up with, and how you can incorporate these features into your own marketing plan.

1. YouTube: For a bit of drama

YouTube’s not just for viral cat videos and covers of Justin Bieber songs.

I uploaded images of my best-looking writing clips, then stitched together a video portfolio on iMovie. (Take screen shots or scan documents if you don’t have original files.)

I like to think of it as my “me trailer” complete with sound effects, music, and dramatic editing.

Once I posted it to YouTube, I embedded it on my website and added a burst that says, “Click Here to See My Trailer!”

It’s super nerdy. It’s unconventional. It’s me.

Most importantly, it advertises my services in a fresh way and shows all of my specialties in less than three minutes. It’s not about getting the most YouTube views, it’s about getting business.

And it has Star Wars references. (Not required for success.)

Takeaway: Videos make your site more interesting and show your personality. A welcome video can introduce clients to your site. A video biography can turn you from a static picture into a new friend. Most computers, cameras, or phones provide all of the movie-making software you need.

2. Foursquare: For showing off

The location-based site and mobile app lets users “check-in” to venues like restaurants, famous landmarks, and their own homes in pursuit of badges and points.

Foursquare users can friend others and also follow their favorite brands’ pages. Upon unsuspectingly checking in to one of the brand’s favorite venues, a tip will pop up from said brand.

I took advantage of this feature and created my own brand page on Foursquare. But what kind of tips would I share with my followers? The best places to find free wi-fi around the world. Who doesn’t enjoy a free connection, plentiful plugs, and good coffee?

Now when people follow my page and check in to a location near one of my top wi-fi spots, a little pop-up box on their Foursquare app will remind them of my business and how helpful I am.

I even created a Foursquare venue for my writing business. So other nearby businesses — the original The Onion headquarters is steps away — know that I’m here. And I’m ready to rock.

Takeaway: Maybe you’re a movie critic who knows the best theaters around the country. Or a fashion blogger who knows all the top boutiques in New York City. Or a roaming travel writer who knows the best cheap eats from coast to coast. Share’em on your favorite social review site.

3. Pinterest: For going viral

Are you obsessed with Pinterest yet? Pin + interest = Pinterest. It’s a digital pin board site where users “pin” their favorite images to themed boards. You can follow other users’ boards and “re-pin” their content.

I run a little travel blog on the side because I’m working on breaking into travel writing. Pinterest and its cult following seemed like the perfect place to showcase my own travel photography in hopes of a little viral action.

So I created a Pinterest account for my travel blog and I pinned my images to boards like “Pretty Travel Pics” and “Must-Do Travel Experiences.”

I pinned other people’s images, too. This isn’t all about me — you gotta show some love to get some love.

My personal photography has been re-pinned oodles of times and every pic links back to my travel blog. Instant traffic.

If I’m lucky, my pins will appear on the Pinterest home page. Just another unusual way to get my name out there.

Takeaway: Image-based sites like Pinterest, Flickr, and Instagram aren’t just for photographers. If you’re a food blogger, showcase pics of your best recipes. If you’re a tech reporter, gather images of your favorite gadgets.

4. Facebook: For looking important

Every business has a Facebook page, but why did my business need one?

I decided to designate my official Facebook page as a newsfeed of all the things I’ve written.

It’s a vertical version of my portfolio and another way potential clients can see what I’ve been working on — especially what I’ve been working on this week.

Sure, the page won’t get a whole lot of ‘likes’ and my mom is the only person who ‘likes’ my posts regularly (thanks, Mom!), but that’s not the goal of my Facebook page.

It’s there to display my latest clients and clips. And to show that I know how to build Facebook pages – I’m a social media consultant after all.

Takeaway: There’s a cookie cutter social media plan that’s been set in front of us all. But if it doesn’t make sense for your business, don’t follow it.

5. Amazon Associates: for bragging

Amazon Associates is an affiliate program for Amazon.com products. Create an online store (complete with your own URL), fill it with hand-picked items, and you’ll get money for each completed purchase.

I decided to create my own “aStore” as they’re called, not to make money but to show off my latest books and the publications I’m featured in.

I’m simply taking advantage of Amazon’s free social shopping features for my own benefit. I don’t want the money.

I uploaded a branded header image similar to the image on my Foursquare page, Facebook page, and website.

I created a page called “Aubre Andrus Books” and included text explaining that I have five books coming out over the next two years.

I’m able to brag without looking like I’m bragging. And when my books come out, I’ll have a stocked store. Impressive, right?

Takeaway: There are a lot of free widgets and plug-ins out there that can make your business better. Don’t let a little html or an affiliate contract scare you.

Now, it’s your turn …

Choose the social networks that excite you, then throw the rules to the wayside.

This is all about doing it your way.

How do you use social media differently?

Do you use Google+ or Twitter in a way that make you stand out from the competition? Share your strategies in the comments below!

About the Author: Aubre Andrus writes for her favorite brands and publications as an author, creative copywriter, professional blogger, social media consultant, and roaming reporter. You can follow her on Twitter @aubreandrus or visit her website and portfolio.

If your memories of high school involve wedgies, broken hearts, and getting stuffed into your locker, you probably love Glee.

The musical comedy TV show — Ryan Murphy’s smash hit about the nerds, misfits, and social outcasts of McKinley High School’s glee club — is equal parts quirky, cheesy, heartbreaking, and surprisingly delightful.

Over its first two seasons, the show has also attracted millions of obsessive fans from all over the world.

Glee fans, or “Gleeks,” follow the moves of their favorite show with a passion once reserved for Cabbage Patch Kids or the Toyota Prius.

What is Glee’s secret formula for creating crazed fans who would rather die than miss an episode of the show?

And how can you use Glee’s techniques to market your business and turn your listless readers into raving groupies?

Here are a few ideas …

Harness the power of the underdog

The Glee kids are the underdogs at McKinley High.

They constantly have to battle not only the school’s evil cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester, but vicious classmates who taunt them in the halls and throw Slushies in their faces.

We cheer for these underdogs.

We want them to succeed, to show the world how truly talented they are. We want those bullying football players to see the light and drop the 7-11 cups.

Having someone to cheer for is essential.

If your customers can’t get behind you and support you, you’ll never turn them into raving fans. Show them what you’re up against — whether it’s battling writers block, standing up for mom-and-pop stores in a hostile corporate culture, or even stretching yourself to do something that scares you.

Show your audience what you’re fighting for. Share your biggest obstacles, even if those roadblocks are intangible, like fear of success or struggles with technology.

Once your customers know what you’re fighting for (and fighting against) they can rally behind you and become your biggest fans.

Be undeniably awesome

The kids of McKinley High may be underdogs, but they can sing.

They sing, they dance, they twirl, they shine. And when they perform, they put their hearts and souls into it.

Want to be like Glee? Be really, really good at what you do.

Social media is full of quirky people who aren’t very good at their jobs. The underdog and quirk factors only work if you have something remarkable to offer.

Put your absolute best writing on your site. Craft those autoresponder messages so they’re impressively well written and amazingly useful to your prospects, every single time. Make sure your products and services are remarkable and fan-worthy. Create an atmosphere of excellence.

Put your absolute best effort into every detail of your business. Remember that when you’re online, people are watching, so show ‘em your best side every day. Your customer will learn to expect the best from you every time you put something out in the world.

When they expect greatness and you give it to them consistently, they’ll become loyal. And loyal fans are the best fans to have.

Take risks

One of the most popular characters on the show is Kurt Hummel, played by actor Chris Colfer.

Ryan Murphy took a huge risk by casting Colfer in the show. Chris had no previous professional acting experience and was a complete unknown.

Murphy was so impressed with Colfer during his audition that the Glee creator actually wrote the role of Kurt specifically for him. Murphy thought Colfer had something special, and figured out a way to include him in the show.

Murphy listened to his heart, even though it was a risk.

The result of Murphy’s risk? Last year Chris Colfer won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for his brilliant portrayal. Kurt has become one of the show’s most-beloved and most-talked-about characters.

The upshot? Follow your gut.

If you think something needs to be said on your blog, say it. If you want to link to something on Twitter that might be a wee bit controversial? Tweet it. If you feel like going out on a limb and creating a bold new product for your customers, and your heart is telling you it’s the right thing to do, listen to your heart.

Don’t create controversy for its own sake, but don’t be afraid to stand out for doing the right thing either.

Think of Kurt, and be brave.

Let your freak flag fly

The characters on Glee are quirky. They’re odd.

In some cases, they’re downright bizarre. And that’s part of the reason we adore them.

Cheerleader Brittney is one of the most unusual kids in the group. Her dry observations have been known to stop lunchroom conversations cold.

Despite some strange looks and the tendency of her McKinley classmates to assume she’s dim-witted, Brittney’s not afraid to be herself. And the more we hear from Brittney and glimpse the world through her oddball observations, the more we cheer for her.

It’s Brittney’s oddness and naïveté, or Rachel’s songs about her headband, or Finn seeing the face of God in his grilled cheese sandwich, that make us love these characters. If they were all perfect, they’d be boring. And we’d be bored watching them.

What characteristics can you share with your customer that might show them a surprising new side of you?

Can you tell them you love show tunes?

Religiously follow Manchester United?

Have visited all seven continents?

Don’t be afraid to show a little personality. Your customers need to know you in order to like and trust you. So make sure they know some of your oddness, too.

Your customer will see your quirkiness as a part of you and will feel connected to you and your business. And then they will adore you and want to put up your Tiger Beat posters on their walls.

Encourage your fans to connect with you

Glee’s marketing team are absolute geniuses about social media.

Glee has a vibrant website with regularly updated content, including video sneak peeks, interviews with actors, quizzes, and photos. The site features discussion boards and a weekly Gleek newsletter.

The website even features an iPhone app called “Tap Tap Glee” for fans who want to go mobile with their McKinley spirit.

In social media circles, Gleeks are invited to participate in the Glee conversation in a myriad of ways, including:

• Glee’s Facebook page has attracted over 16 million fans. Glee posts at least twice a day with news, award announcements, special previews and regular reminders about upcoming episodes. Fans can comment on all the status updates and videos with encouragement, suggestions, and feedback.
• The Glee Twitter account is also constantly updated, and consistently links to the actors’ individual Twitter accounts, assuring Glee fans have access to their favorite stars, too. Almost a million fans follow the main Glee page and the Glee conversation is constant.
• Glee’s YouTube Channel features more than 120 videos, most of them of musical numbers and interviews. Their videos have received over 300 millions views. Fans can share their thoughts on any video, and each video is embeddable, so fans can share Glee news on their own websites and blogs.

By creating an online presence that gives fans scores of ways to interact with the makers of Glee and their fellow fans, they provide an extraordinary supplement to the experience of watching Glee at home.

They offer Gleeks the opportunity to talk about their favorite things — reliving this week’s show, and speculating on possibilities for the next episode.

Have you given your customers places to connect with you via social media?

Do you give them news, interviews, and fun behind-the-scenes previews of what you’re up to next? If you’re not, you’re missing a fantastic opportunity to turn your regular customers into crazy screaming fans.

Give them a place to show the love.

Your turn in the spotlight …

During sixty minutes of show tunes and Journey covers, Glee somehow pulls off a magic act.

It shows the world a bizarre, ragtag group of high school performers and manages to give each of us someone with whom we can relate. And while we’re relating to these kids, they touch our hearts and make us smile.

So whether you identify with Kurt, Mercedes, Artie, Rachel, or Finn, there is something in the Glee formula that can help you transform your business into an organization that people follow with fanatical loyalty.

Best way to get started? Stand up and sing it, people.

The stage is yours.

About the Author: Beth Hayden helps business owners make more money by helping them create fabulous websites, blogs, and social media campaigns. Get her best tips for achieving blogging nirvana by downloading her free report, From Blah to Hurrah: 25 Ways to Make Your Blog Bigger, Better and More Profitable.

So how about that new Facebook Timeline?

Love it? Hate it? Either way it’s here to stay (until it isn’t).

As always, Facebook loves to change things up and people love to kvetch about it. You can always use new Facebook Features to improve your marketing, so how can you use the Facebook Timeline to your advantage? Read on.

First, a few facts about the Facebook Timeline. The Timeline only affects personal profiles at the moment. Facebook has not announced when (or even if) they will roll the new Timeline look out to Facebook Pages.

Second, not everyone has the Timeline yet. If you don’t, you can visit Facebook’s Timeline page and click the gigantic green button to get started with it.

Third, whether we love it or hate it, Facebook’s going to be rolling the Timeline out to all personal pages in the coming weeks. Hey, it wouldn’t be Facebook if they didn’t turn everything upside-down on you every six months, right?

The Timeline essentially replaces what we called the “Wall,” and is accessed when you click on your name in the upper right corner of the page when you log into Facebook.

If your business strategy includes using your personal Facebook profile to connect to customers (and there are many good reasons why it should) then you need to use your Facebook Timeline to tell a story.

There are four key parts to the Timeline that will help you tell your story:

1. Using the Subscribe button,
2. Adding a great Cover photo,
3. Crafting your About page, and
4. Adding activity and Life Events to your Timeline.

Let’s take a look at each of these four more closely …

Simple Step #1: Understand the Subscribe button

The Subscribe Button on Facebook allows people to get your Facebook updates without actually friending you.

The Subscribe button is perfect for people who want to use Facebook and the Timeline to support becoming authorities in their topics.

Facebook Privacy settings have gotten better, so you can control who sees particular updates. Some of your customers want to connect with you personally on Facebook (not just via your Facebook Page) and the Subscribe button will help. It lets you keep a personal profile, without having to friend everyone.

If you get a friend request and you have your Subscribe feature turned on, then they will be subscribed to your Updates — but only the ones that you mark as Public. You can find out more about the Subscribe button right here.

Simple Step #2: Add a Cover image

OK, this is the fun part: deciding on your Cover photo.

The Cover photo is like your website header — one you can easily switch out whenever you like. You can use personal photos, something great from your graphic designer, arty shots of your fleet of Lamborghinis … whatever strikes your fancy. Here are some great examples of how people have had fun with their Cover images.

Have Fun:

Showcase business and life:

Inspire:

Be Creative:

To highlight your work, combine both work info and some information about your life in the photo.

Be creative, and remember you can rotate these photos based on your mood or things happening in your life. You can use any photo as your Timeline Cover, just hover over the lower right side to change it.

If you want to design something unique, the dimensions are 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high, and remember to leave a good spot in the lower left corner where your profile picture will go.

Simple Step #3: Spruce up your About Page

Just like on your blog or website, a well-crafted About Page can showcase your business and experience and let people know what you do and who you serve.

First, make sure your Facebook Page (or Pages) is linked to your “Employer” section in your profile, as shown in this picture.

To do this, start typing the Page name in your “Work” field and it should pop up in a drop-down menu. This ensures that people can easily connect to your Facebook Page by hyperlinking it in your profile.

Also make sure that this is public information by clicking on the little people icon next to the Work field.

Now edit the “About You” section on the right by adding all kinds of interesting goodness. You can add hyperlinks, testimonials, and go deeper into your business. But keep it real and fun.

Remember, your friends will see this. They know you.

Watch your privacy in all the sections of your About Page by clicking on the little Edit icon in the upper right corner of each box. Only share publicly what you intend to be public.

Simple Step #4: Decide what’s in your timeline

Go through your posts and decide what is going to be Public and what should remain more personal.

When you turn on your Subscribe button, everything defaults to be shown only to your Friends of Friends. Make some of your posts Public to highlight your business: your blog posts, articles you might share, business Events, etc.

To control who can see your post, click the icon next to the date. The world icon is Public as shown in this picture.

Make important posts longer and more prominent by clicking on the star icon in the upper right corner of the post that says Feature. That post will then span the whole page and not be collapsed by other posts nearby.

Add significant Life Events to your Timeline with the Life Events. Don’t add them all at once because they will post updates to all your friends and you will look like you are bragging. Add just one a week.

Life Events show up larger than, well … you know, life, if you have a picture with them.

Facebook’s intent with the Timeline is to tell your life story.

Obviously your life is richer and more complex than a few photos and status updates, but why not use this to your advantage and let people know more about you?

The world is spending more time online searching and learning. Use this tool to get to know your clients and have them get to know, like, and trust you.

Or just use it to find some good cat videos.

Either way you win.

About the Author: Are you ready to drink the Facebook Kool-aid? If so, Andrea Vahl has lots of handy tutorials on how to get started and how to effectively use Facebook, with the help of her alter ego, Grandma Mary. Get more from Andrea and Grandma here: AndreaVahl.com.

Hear that, content marketers?

That is the sound of inevitability.

It’s the sound of you creating a Google+ page for your business and working diligently to build up a network there with content, conversation, and the occasional cat photo.

Goodbye … free time.

Shameless (yet eerily fitting) references to Agent Smith of The Matrix aside, here’s why every online content marketer needs to be building a Google+ network.

I’ll also tell you why Google+ may just become more important than Facebook or Twitter when it comes to deciding where to focus your limited time and effort.

What’s new with Google+

Since I first wrote about Google+ shortly after it launched, the search giant’s “social network” has grown to 90 million users this month, closing fast on Twitter’s stated 100 million active users. This kind of growth should put to rest claims that Google+ is dead or dying, and yet isn’t as meteoric as it could be given Google’s huge existing user base.

But the real growth of Google+ could be just ahead.

The main points I stressed in my original article were that Google+ is an excellent content sharing platform, and that the data gleaned from sharing and other activity would have a direct influence on Google’s search results. I said:

Building an audience on Google+ may be the smartest thing you do as a content marketer when it comes to improved search rankings. You still need to understand the language of your audience and reflect it back in your content, but Google will now have direct indications that you’re putting out quality stuff.

As of last week, Google did more with Google+ and search results than I (and most everyone else) expected. Much more.

Google+ is Google … period

Toward the end of last year, it became clear that Google+ was much more than a “social networking product,” like the failed Buzz. So far, Google+ has been significantly integrated with Google Docs, Chrome, Google Reader, Gmail, and YouTube.

Google also redesigned the header across Search, News, Maps, Translate, Gmail and many other Google products to incorporate Google+. In short, Google+ has become the glue that unifies Google’s various offerings into a seamless whole.

As Mike Elgan smartly put it, Google took its various products and turned them into features of Google+, rather than treating Google+ as a standalone social network. But that was just a warm up for what was to come with Google’s bedrock function, search.

Google gets all up in Your World

Last week, Google announced Search, plus Your World, which is the merger of personalized search with social search, including the addition of relevant Google+ results.

In other words, Google search results now more than ever send you to … Google.

You’ll only see the Your World aspects when logged into Google, and not everyone can see them yet (you can also easily turn it off if you want). The Google+ results are drawn from the people you have “circled” in Google+ (and vice versa for others who have circled you).

Search sensei Danny Sullivan calls this the most radical transformation of Google search results ever, and with good reason. According to Google’s algorithmic guru Amit Singhal, Your World takes personalized and social search and combines it into one seamless experience:

The social search algorithm, and the personal search algorithm, and the personalized search algorithm are actually one algorithm now, and we are merging it in a way that is very pleasant and useful.

“Pleasant” and “useful” are open to debate, and there’s plenty of debate happening right now. But the one thing that’s for certain, like it or not, is that content marketers can’t choose to simply ignore Google+ and sleep well at night.

Does Google have you in a stranglehold?

My opening Agent Smith reference makes a little more sense now, huh? Do you feel that metaphorical arm around your neck, with the inevitable sound of the train bearing down on you?

Let’s not get overly dramatic, young Neo.

But it does feel somewhat like a take-it-or-leave it deal. We already knew that participating in Google+ would have some positive impact on our search results, but now it seems as if you have no Google+ presence and your competition does, you might lose existing search traffic going forward.

That’s only the beginning of the drama:

• Twitter issued a statement decrying the preferential treatment for Google+ results over Twitter. Google responded by revealing that it was Twitter, not Google, that chose not to renew the agreement with Google to use Twitter content for real-time search results.
• Jon Mitchell of ReadWriteWeb thinks Google+ is going to mess up the internet, because Google+ posts about his content were outranking the actual content itself when he searched, and this was even before the official announcement of Your World.
• Danny Sullivan points out that Google is violating what made Google so useful in the first place. Search engines provide value by sending you away to the best results, not keeping you trapped within a “sticky” web of their own making, no matter how expansive that web within the Web might be.
• Lee Odden is skeptical about the usefulness of the new socially-integrated results that he’s seen so far, but he nonetheless encourages online marketers to get involved with Google+, build out a quality content presence, and actively participate.
• John Battelle thinks it sucks for the web that Google and Facebook can’t play nice together. But as Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt points out, Facebook purposefully blocks Google, both with technology and terms of service, from indexing Facebook content and putting it on equal ground with Google+ results.
• And the rumblings regarding privacy, antitrust, and FTC action are well underway.

On the plus side, others see this development as inevitable in a good (or at least not evil) way:

• Stephan Shankland of CNET argues that Google had no choice but to make this move. The web is more social than ever, and the primary search engine on the planet must evolve along with the web, with or without the cooperation of Twitter and Facebook.
• John Henshaw of Raven Tools says Google knows exactly what they’re doing with Your World, and it’s not an act of desperation or necessarily devious. He recommends avoiding cheap SEO tricks that Google is already anticipating, and rather immerse yourself in the Google+ social ecosystem while continuing to create great content.
• On the anti-antitrust side, Eric Goldman of the Santa Clara University School of Law points out that when Google+ launched, it was welcomed by many as competition against the massive dominance of Facebook in social networking. Now that Google+ is actually getting competitive, everyone’s getting upset.

The only inevitability is change

Look, I’m as concerned about Google’s dominance and the potential for abuse as anyone. I have been for years, which is why I designed Copyblogger Media so that it would survive (and even thrive) if Google sent us zero traffic.

That said, I like getting targeted search traffic from Google. It doesn’t suck, not one bit.

And let’s face it … I also like Google+. It’s been a great experience to hang out over there the last 6 months or so, and I think it’s clearly superior to Facebook, while providing a truly different environment than our primary social networking / content distribution platform, Twitter.

Regardless of all the other potential issues laid out above, the fact is that we online marketers hate changes like this. But Google is constantly changing, and must change, as the Web itself changes.

Universal search (the last “most radical change ever“) arrived in 2007, and personalized search arrived across the board in 2009. Each time, people wrung hands, gnashed teeth, and wailed hysterically about how everything was different and wrong and awful, and they’re still doing it today.

As content marketers, we really have limited choice when it comes to what Google chooses to do.

One choice is to simply decide that we don’t really need search engine traffic.

Another choice is to observe, adapt, and conquer in ways that make the most sense for our businesses.

My guess is Google’s going to be tweaking things rapidly over the course of the year, rolling out more cool new features, and generally looking to strike a balance that rapidly grows Google+ without becoming cannon fodder for the Justice Department.

Circle me up on Google+ and we’ll observe, adapt, and conquer together.

About the Author: Brian Clark is founder of Copyblogger and CEO of Copyblogger Media. Get more from Brian on Google+.

Over the past few years, I’ve conducted a number of focus groups on subjects ranging from email marketing to blogging.

When I ask participants why they’ve chosen to receive emails from a particular source, read a specific blogger, or follow a certain Twitter user, they give me a variation on the same answer:

“Because I like their unique point of view.”

Readers will only listen to you if you’re giving them something they can’t find anywhere else.

Why would they pay attention to you if you’re saying the same things that everyone else is saying?

That’s common sense — but is there evidence that supports it? Actually, yes there is.

My numbers-based research has confirmed the importance of uniqueness and novelty. The data shows that novelty is contagious; ordinariness is not.

If you take a look at the graphic below, you’ll see that Retweets contain more unusual words than ordinary Tweets do.

No, that doesn’t mean the word commonness gets Retweeted less often. It means that Tweets with uncommon words get Retweeted more often than the usual things we see every day. Having a unique way of expressing yourself will earn you more Retweets.

Escape the echo chamber

Your readers don’t want you to say the same things everyone else is saying.

If you simply regurgitate information from the echo chamber, they won’t spread your content, and eventually they’ll get bored and stop listening.

Heeding this advice, it could then be easy to conclude that you should talk about yourself as much as possible. Because after all, what is a more unique perspective than what you’re doing, thinking, and feeling?

Well, that’s a little right, but mostly wrong.

First of all, when I’ve studied Twitter accounts, I’ve found a negative correlation between self-reference and number of followers.

In other words, the more you talk about yourself, the fewer people are interested in following you.

And when you’re talking about individual Tweets, Retweets tend to contain much less self-reference than ordinary non-contagious Tweets.

People don’t want to listen to you Tweet about yourself all day long, and they’re certainly not going to Retweet it either.

So where does all of this lead us?

People want to hear our unique perspectives and points of view. But they don’t want to listen to us talk about ourselves.

Talk as yourself, not about yourself

Your take on industry news is interesting. Your daily minutiae is not.

Your unique analysis of best practices is something I’d like to read. Your regurgitation of time-worn adages is not.

Whether it’s your personal brand or a corporate brand, you have a set of characteristics and perspectives that allow you to look at the world in a novel way. Use that.

About the Author: Dan Zarrella is HubSpot’s Social Media Scientist. For more social media science like this, buy Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness on Amazon. It’s $7.99 for the Kindle version (which will work on any computer or device) — and if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can even read it for free.

Twas the week between Christmas and New Year’s. There wasn’t much to read, not much going on other than the whole annoying “real life” thing.

Just when we were nearly reduced to checking out our weird cousin Lenny’s 120-part Facebook timeline of meringue sculpture, we were blessed with a stunning social media fail.

An irresistible account of arrogance, cluelessness, and incompetence described in a post on Penny Arcade — appropriately titled Just Wow.

If you didn’t see it, the post outlines an email exchange between an increasingly frustrated customer and a rude, belligerent company representative who isn’t much of a master of written English.

Now, you’re much too smart to actually act like Christoforo. But even for those who know how to spell both marketing and strategy, there are some lessons to be learned.

Here are my thoughts on five (with a bonus for you):

Lesson 1: There are a lot of stupid, incompetent people calling themselves social media marketing experts

Christoforo billed himself as a social media, SEO, and marketing expert. (His website also says he can handle reputation management for you. I would suggest you not use him for this.)

He sold those skills to the company N-Control, which makes the video game controller that was the subject of that ill-fated customer email exchange.

It’s tempting to think you can completely outsource your customer communication, from support to content to social media relationships … that you can “let someone else think about that.”

And it’s almost always an awful idea.

Which leads quite directly to lesson #2:

Lesson 2: You have to understand the basics

Yes, you can get help with social media. Yes, you might benefit from someone teaching your organization how to improve your real-time communication with customers.

Yes, there actually are some very smart, helpful social media consultants out there.

But you have to know how it works for yourself, so you can tell good advice from terrible advice.

You don’t have to learn how to update your timeline on Facebook or what the heck to use Pinterest for. You don’t necessarily have to know every specific tactic.

You do have to understand the overall strategy.

Hiding behind “I don’t have time to learn about social media” is like hiding behind “I don’t have time to learn how to use the telephone.” Social media is how your customers talk with one another (and with you) about your company.

You need to know enough to set effective policies, to know what to look for in an employee or consultant, and to integrate social media (as well as all the other ways you talk to customers) into your company’s way of doing business.

By the way? All of this goes for SEO as well. There are probably even more incompetent, unethical SEOs out there than there are bad social media consultants. They can destroy your reputation much more quickly than you can rebuild it.

Lesson 3: Oh yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity

Bad stories spread. Horrible stories spread really quickly.

And social media makes it so much easier to spread a juicy horrible story.

People used to say “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” Only very foolish people say that now.

Sure, Christoforo now has a Wikipedia page. You can read the full (dusty, dry version) account of the story there. Or you can get juicier versions on any of a dozen other high-ranking blogs.

In none of these does Christoforo sound like a person anyone should hire. For anything.

Dan Kennedy said a long time ago that if your business sucks, great marketing will get the word out really quickly about how wretched you are.

Some people think Dan doesn’t understand the internet, but I think he’s got it in a nutshell there.

Lesson 4: Bad service gets attention

Take a look at your own Facebook account or Twitter stream. On any given day, count how many people complain about a bad business experience.

Pay special attention to what gets people angry enough to start throwing social media mud:

• Uncaring customer service
• Customer service people who don’t know the product
• Customer service people who don’t have the authority to fix problems
• Rude service people
• Condescending service people
• Service people who lie

Notice something missing?

Most of the complaints you’ll find have nothing to do with products. If a product isn’t very good, customers will return it, but they don’t usually complain too bitterly about it.

They start shouting in social media over lousy service much more often than they shout about lousy products.

(Obviously I’m not saying you should have lousy products. But they won’t kill your business as quickly as bad service will.)

The gaming community has grumbled in the past about N-Control not hitting product deadlines, and that’s a challenge their company will need to address. But it wasn’t until a really good rude email “service” experience that the story went viral.

Lesson 5: 9 problems out of 10 can be solved by good manners

Because it was a slow week and because we’re talking about the computer gaming community, which is tightly networked and good at finding things on Google, all sorts of personal details emerged very quickly about Christoforo and his company.

As it so often does on the internet, things got out of hand, with personal information being published not only about Christoforo but also about his family.

No, that is not a cool thing to do, but you can’t count on everyone on the internet being cool. Any time you feel tempted to doubt this fact, go read some comments on YouTube.

If Christoforo had answered his customer’s request with normal good manners, the story would have died quietly. An annoyance, worthy of some twitter griping but basically within the boundaries of things we put up with every day.

Particularly with a small business, customers understand that problems come up. They understand that no one is perfect. And they’re surprisingly willing to forgive.

Treat people kindly and with respect. Good manners will buy you more than a million-dollar ad budget. And they’re free.

Bonus Lesson: If you’re going to be an ass, try not to be too entertaining about it

Social media attention spans are short, and most information addicts have already moved on to whether or not their football team embarrassed themselves this weekend.

But a lot of digital ink got spilled over Christoforo last week. It’s a bummer when hundreds of sites are publishing stories that combine your name with the phrase “train wreck.”

I think about 2/3 of these would have passed on the story as just another troll doing troll-like things if Christoforo hadn’t been using the userid @OceanMarketting. (He then abandoned that identity and grabbed @OceanStratagy instead.)

A social media expert who can’t spell his company’s name correctly in his twitter account. How often do you get to see that?

All of which points to the probable final word about Paul Christoforo.

He’s just too perfect, too magnificent a combination of elements. The bad spelling and insane grammar, the belligerence, the dating profile, the scraped business website content, the remarkable consistency of persona no matter what events unfold.

The words “I couldn’t make this up” come up again and again when people talk about Christoforo.

I’m stealing my friend Maureen’s explanation for that.

We couldn’t make him up — that would take the work of a masterful team of professionals working at the top of their game. Yes, I think Paul Christoforo is a character invented by The Onion.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is co-founder and CMO of Copyblogger Media. Share your favorite social media train wreck stories with her on twitter.

And it’s easy to see why. If a business is going to put the time, effort, and attention into social media marketing, it would be nice to think we’d actually get some sales out of it.

In other words, we want a return on our investment.

Sonia Simone talked recently with Sean Jackson, Copyblogger Media’s CFO, about the ROI of social media. She expected to hear one answer, but was surprised to get something very different.

Here’s how it went down.

Sonia: OK, so as you know, everyone is looking for how to improve the ROI of their social media marketing. What advice do you have for them?

Sean: Social media marketing is never going to produce an ROI. No marketing will.

Sonia: (Long pause) You’re not drunk right now, right?

Sean: No of course I’m not drunk right now, why would you ask that?

Sonia: Well, you did just unlock the “Wino” badge on FourSquare. Just saying.

Seriously, Sean, we can’t tell people there’s no ROI in marketing. What’s the point of even doing marketing if there’s not a return on the investment?

Sean: OK, can I be the money guy for a minute?

Sonia: Yes, if you absolutely have to.

Sean: All right. As you know, I talk with a lot of businesses. And I’m seeing ROI taking on a mythical status in marketing — a benchmark used to compare every decision to some financial metric of return.

So organizations create entire processes around the idea of measuring this performance index, all so that marketing professionals can “justify” their activity.

Marketing ROI has become so important that no one questions its validity

But the truth is, marketing will never produce an ROI.

Sonia: OK, you’re still sounding insane to me.

Sean: I’m not done yet.

Marketing will never produce an ROI because ROI is not what you think it is.

A pure definition of ROI is simple to quantify.

ROI = (Gain from the Investment – Cost of Investment)/Cost of the Investment

The problem for marketing professionals is that marketing activity is not an investment.

An investment is an asset that you purchase and place on your Balance Sheet. Like an office building or a computer system. It’s something you could sell later if you didn’t need it any more.

Marketing is an expense, and goes on the Profit & Loss statement.

Sonia: You’re going to ask me to understand accounting stuff again, aren’t you?

Sean: I have confidence in you, you can handle it.

Unless your organization uses Enron style accounting (circa 2001), every marketing effort you pursue is an expense in time, money, and resources … it’s not an accounting asset.

But the bigger question is why do so many people use the term ROI and marketing together? The answer to this question provides insight into how an organization views the role of marketing.

What is the ROI of email?

Quick, calculate the ROI of using email within your organization. Not email marketing, but just the emails you send back and forth to get things done.

Sure, you may know what it originally cost to install your email system, but how do you measure the gain achieved from it?

If you are like most, you don’t know. You probably don’t care.

But the absence of email in your organization would lead to more harm than good. Its “gain” is not so much a measurement of return but an implicit cost of being in business.

Unfortunately, this is not the same view shared by people who use the term ROI when they’re talking about marketing.

Marketing is not something you buy off the shelf

It’s like walking down to the local dealership and saying “I’ll take the 2012 online marketing model with the social media package” — a ludicrous analogy but not too far from truth.

People who use the term ROI see marketing as something to buy.

But smart companies see marketing as an integral part of doing business — a necessity no less important than the company email system, their computers, or their office lease.

Sonia: Sean, we’re a virtual company, strictly speaking we don’t need an office lease.

Sean: Don’t nit pick.

My point is, ROI is the wrong term.

The real measurement of marketing is comparing the net income (revenue minus expenses) by the total revenue generated — in other words, your Profit Margin.

Sonia: So we do get to tell people that marketing is going to make them some money, right?

Sean: Well obviously. Otherwise why would we do it?

Sonia: OK, that’s a relief.

Sean: Marketing is measured against profits, which is a far more meaningful standard than ROI.

But changing an organization’s attitude toward marketing from a measurement of ROI is difficult. It requires a fundamental alteration in the view of marketing’s role.

Marketing needs a new culture

Sonia: Can you talk a little more about what you call the “culture of marketing”?

Sean: Sure, of course.

As the CFO of Copyblogger, I am blessed to work with some of the smartest people in online marketing.

Sonia: Quit sucking up.

Sean: I wasn’t talking about you, I meant Brian.

Sonia: Hm, ok then.

Sean: Kidding aside, it may surprise a lot of readers that as a multi-million-dollar growth-oriented business, our advertising expense is negligible — it’s a rounding error on our P&L.

Sonia: Do I absolutely have to know what a P&L is?

Sean: It would be a good idea. It’s just Profit and Loss. How much we take in and how much we spend.

So anyway, that’s not to say that we don’t measure marketing (we do) or that we don’t spend money toward it.

Sonia: Right.

Sean: But for us, marketing is an inherent cost of doing business and measured against the profit we generate.

It starts with our CEO and permeates our thinking in how we spend our time, resources, and money.

And while we may be exceptional, we are by no means unique.

Most of the brands you love like Apple, Southwest Airlines, or Nordstrom inherently appreciate that marketing is a fundamental part of their business. It gets baked into the products and services — it’s not just a line item on a P&L like the heating bill.

Sonia: Virtual company. No heating bill.

Sean: OK, it’s a line item like the hosting account. Better?

Sonia: Yes, thank you.

Sean: So how do businesses go about creating a culture of marketing? It won’t be easy but this list will help you get started.

Embrace a new definition

Sales generate revenue. Marketing generates profits.

Marketing, including social media marketing, is about efficiency. Marketing is a process of decreasing the time, money, and resources required to communicate with customers and make it easy for them to buy products and services.

The more efficient your marketing is, the more profit you make. That’s what you want to optimize for.

By defining marketing as a function of profits, you create a new perception within your organization about the value of marketing.

Love Thy Customer

Sonia: Now we’re talking my language.

Sean: I thought so. Think of your customers as an audience. That’s not just true for a business like Copyblogger Media — it’s for every business.

Audiences want to be entertained, mesmerized, and enlightened. They want refuge from the status quo — they want to find some solace in the products and services you deliver.

They want a good show, and it’s your job to give it to them.

If you find yourself making decisions that benefit your organization at the customer’s expense, you probably will disappoint them.

So find the one or two things that make them feel special, and deliver those with the flair of an entertainer.

Use measurements that matter

Frequency, reach, and engagement are the modern measurements of marketing. But instead of contrasting them to revenue generated, focus instead on profits and efficiency.

Sonia: You lost me again.

Sean: OK, so if social media marketing is replacing a more traditional form of marketing, document the savings. If sales cycles are decreasing — in other words, it’s taking less time to go from stranger to paying customer, show that. If referrals are up, highlight it.

Measure the ways marketing is making your company more profitable by making the sales cycle more efficient.

Embrace discipline

Discipline is the secret ingredient of success. Disciplined organizations find what works and focus on improving it. They are not distracted by the “new and shiny.”

Sonia: Just so it’s clear for readers, “Organization” can mean a big company, but it can also be just one solo person with a blog and an ebook to sell.

Sean: Absolutely.

Now, a disciplined organization embraces change. But their approach to change reflects the discipline of what works for them.

They test, evaluate, learn, adapt, and modify.

That means you focus on improving what you know works and challenge yourself to make it better by testing new marketing ideas.

Small tweaks can make big changes

Sometimes small changes can generate huge results. Find ways to make small changes to existing processes and measure their impact.

Grand efforts take considerable time and resources. The savvy organization looks for ways to tweak existing processes in ways that benefit customers.

Effective marketing does not require a multi-million dollar ad spend.

Sonia: See, our people never use the expression “ad spend.”

Sean: The point stands, though. Great marketing can come out of small, subtle changes based on customer input and measured for improvement against the status quo.

Sonia: Are you saying we should watch what customers do and then test ways we can improve?

Sean: Yes, that’s what I’m saying.

Filter the fanatics and fools

Sonia: Ha, this ought to be good.

Sean: Well, I’ll do my best.

So we all know that especially in social media, everyone has opinions. Some of those are good and some are foolish.

In marketing, these opinions can be distracting, consuming time that could be applied to more profitable efforts.

This is not to say that opinions don’t count. But building processes that help filter this information may be more important than the opinions themselves.

When possible, respond. When not, ignore. Marketing must maintain a level of discipline to be successful, and filtered opinions can help more than a sea of un-solicited ideas.

Sonia: In other words, listening the wrong voices can tank your business.

Sean: Right.

Sonia: I feel like there’s a simpler way you could have said that.

Sean: That’s your job. OK, moving on.

Create measurable structures

Sonia: OK, I want to hijack this for a minute and talk about the marketing structures we actually use at Copyblogger Media to be able to measure the success of social media marketing.

Sean: That sounds like a good idea.

Sonia: The biggest mistake we see, and the one that makes people think they can’t measure social media results, is that businesses try to complete an entire transaction on a social media platform, like Facebook or Twitter.

Sean: Digital sharecropping.

Sonia: Right. Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and Google+ were never intended to be your virtual storefront. It’s not what they were built for and it’s not appropriate.

Instead, you use them as outposts to start talking with people who may eventually become customers.

Sean: You use them to maximize reach and build a case for increased share of wallet.

Sonia: You use them to make yourself interesting and show people you’re a good egg.

Sean: That’s what I said.

Sonia: Ah. Anyway, a lot of businesses use social outposts the same way they use trade show booths — badly. They collect a lot of so-called “leads,” which they either follow up on clumsily or they don’t follow up on at all. Then they wonder why there’s no return.

Sean: Improved profit, not return.

Sonia: Whatever. They don’t make money. Which is bad.

Using landing pages to focus social media attention

The answer is to use social media sites to get attention in the first place, and show people you’re likable and trustworthy. But when someone is ready to learn more about your business, bring them back to an asset you control — bring them back to your website.

More specifically, send them to a well-crafted landing page that’s optimized to get the result you want in that circumstance.

Everything that happens on a landing page can be measured. So you can know precisely how many people sign up to your email list from Facebook, or download a particular version of a white paper from LinkedIn.

Landing pages are the key to measuring the effectiveness of what you do with social media. If you’re having trouble figuring out whether your social media marketing is effective, it’s because you haven’t thought through your landing page strategy.

Sean: Are you going to tell them about Premise now?

Sonia: I wasn’t planning on it.

Sean: But Premise is all about creating strategic landing pages that get the business results you want.

Sonia: Well that’s true. OK, yes, if you want to build more effective landing pages, you should
go check out Premise.

Are you happy now?

Sean: Yes, yes I am. Thank you.

Baking marketing into the business

OK, I want to keep moving. The mistake I see people making is thinking about marketing like some kind of magic pixie dust sprinkled around when the need arises.

Marketing isn’t any less important than the products and services you deliver or the people who provide them.

Sonia: In other words, it’s not some kind of frosting you put on top of the business. It is the business.

Sean: Right. Appreciate that everything your organization does is marketing — from the invoices you send, to the way the phone is answered, to the method of fulfilling your customer’s needs.

Sonia: OK, what’s the one thing that you want people to take away?

Sean: Other than that Premise can help them create a well-optimized program of strategic, effective landing pages?

Sonia: Right, other than that.

Sean: It’s really this:

Forget ROI and concentrate on profits

Thinking about the ROI of social media marketing — or any marketing — makes business owners think that marketing is some kind of slot machine, where they put money in and hope more money comes out.

Instead, think about how you can generate greater profits with your social media marketing by using social media to reduce expenses and increase revenue.

So when you are asked “what is the ROI” on your marketing effort, answer honestly and tell them “zero.” The real measurement of return lies in the profits created from your culture of marketing.

About the Authors: Sean Jackson is Chief Financial Officer of Copyblogger Media, and Sonia Simone is Chief Marketing Officer. Somehow they manage to work quite nicely together, despite the fact that they sometimes seem to speak completely different languages.

Welcome to The Lede.

Every week I’ll be digging up and linking to stories, news, and opinion relevant to online marketing and copywriting.

Email, social media, innovation, SEO, productivity, mobile, conversion, publishing, and everything in between.

No commentary, just a fast, single page of headlines that you can grab, scan, and squeeze for all they may (or may not) be worth.

All right then, on with it …

About the Author: Robert Bruce is Copyblogger Media’s copywriter and resident recluse. Get him on Twitter.

During his career he was loved, hated, admired, dissed, fought over … but never ignored.

His name? Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y …

Picasso.

Anybody with a name like that was bound to lead a big, bold, messy life, and Picasso did exactly that.

I have to confess that I’ve had a creative crush on him ever since I first encountered his work in my college art history class.

But it wasn’t until I stood in front of piece after piece of his art that I learned the most important lesson Picasso ever taught me, and how it applies to getting business done online.

I’ll get to that.

First, let’s talk about a few simpler marketing lessons I’ve gleaned from the life of this amazing, torrential painter …

Change your game, because the game is always changing

If you know anything about Picasso, you might have heard of his “periods.”

There’s the Blue Period. The Rose Period. The Cubist and Surrealist periods.

He was always searching, never satisfied.

He’d start out creating works in one style. Those paintings would find a market and they’d sell. Then he’d drop that style and start experimenting with a new one.

The way we do business online is perpetually changing, and we’re all in the process of mastering new ways of working.

Experimenting with unfamiliar mediums like audio and video might send you straight into unknown territory.

Jumping into that new social media network may seem pointless and difficult.

That feeling of mastery you had about what you were doing?

Gone.

You’ll have to go through a learner’s phase all over again, and it won’t be fun.

But hang on, because the underlying standards don’t ever change, and on the other side of that phase might be the best work you’ve ever done.

How will you know unless you try? Do you even have a choice whether or not to change anymore?

Get a posse

Picasso and the painter Georges Braque had a famous friendship.

The two of them developed the cubist style together, through a series of paintings and collages that built off of the other’s ideas.

Braque would paint a scene. Picasso would paint the same scene, but it would be his own take on it.

Back and forth they’d go, with each painting pushing the envelope just a little more.

One of the best things you can do for yourself professionally — especially if you work by yourself, or run a small business — is to join a Mastermind group. 

Mastermind groups are business brainstorming groups that meet on a regular basis. They help you take your business ideas and push them further, to the point of viability, working with models you can use to grow your business.

If you can’t find a local or virtual Mastermind group, try creating an informal one.

The important thing is that each member is committed to seeing both themselves and everyone else in the group prosper.

Picasso knew this. His artistic friendships with Braque, Matisse, and Miró helped their collective art careers flourish.

Was it their talent or their friendship and support that made the difference?

Draw inspiration from the world around you

Picasso’s works were influenced by suicide, war, poverty, love, sex, nature, and cinema.

I think it’s safe to say he had a lust for life, and his work reflects it.

You get the impression he woke up every day and said, “bring it on!”

He absorbed everything happening around him, and his messy, complicated life made its way through his hands, into his brushes, and onto his canvasses.

When you’re running your business it’s easy to get caught up in the dreary details. 

Don’t forget to take time to be inspired by the world around you.

Sometimes the best business ideas come from places and situations that are far removed from your desk.

Let them inspire you and help you come up with creative solutions.

Bring life to your work.

Work. Work. Work. Work. Work. And work some more.

Now for the most important lesson Pablo taught me. 

Over the years, I’ve stood in front of a lot of Picassos: paintings, drawings, etchings, sculptures, ceramics and prints.

The man was prolific. He was a one-man art factory.

And you know what? Not all of it is great.

Most of it is amazing. But some pieces look like experiments that didn’t quite pan out.

That’s what’s fascinating: when you see enough of his work, you can see that sometimes he had bad days. 

But he kept going, year after year, until he’d produced 50,000 unique pieces of art over his lifetime. 

Let that sink in for a minute.

50,000 pieces means he created approximately 632 pieces every year of his career. 

And among the 50,000 or so pieces he produced, there are some timeless gems that will still resonate 500 years from now.

What Pablo taught me is that not every piece has to be a masterpiece. 

That the process is just as important as the end result. 

That I need to keep my eyes open to everything around me, absorb it and let it flow right into everything I do in my business online.

What do you get from his story? Let’s talk about it in the comments.

About the Author: Pamela Wilson teaches small businesses to grow using great design and marketing at Big Brand System. Brainstorm ideas, solve problems and achieve goals with other small business owners in Pamela’s Leap Year mastermind group.