1. @Thoughtsieve12- “Adapt or become irrelevant”
RT: Shane Jewett
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#SocialMediaMarketing
Fall 2012

2. #Introduction
Some might think that telling a story just encompasses regurgitating
information they already know but it requires much more than that. It requires
emotion, maybe a smile or a hand gesture; it needs movement and inflection. Most
importantly, it needs PASSION. What is life without passion? Who wants to delve
into anything if doesn’t spark that interest everyone is looking for? My name is
Shane Jewett and this story is about a young man who is striving for the opportunity
to succeed.
Have you ever heard the quote, “Luck is when preparation meets
opportunity?”
I say, “Opportunity is when hard work meets ambition” –Shane Jewett.
@Epiphany 1
Growing up in a town where every one waves to one another, it was hard to
imagine what else was out in the world. “Growing-up,” for me, meant nothing more
than becoming one year older every year for the rest of my life.I never thought
about what made people successful or wealthy. I just thought becoming successful
was a lot of luck and “some” work. I guess you could say I had an epiphany of sorts
when I turned 16. I started learning German and it left an eternal scar in my brain. I

3. was constantly learning new words, teaching my self the grammar, watching movies
in German and making friends with the German foreign exchange students. I had
passion. I had interest. I had ambition! I had finally figured out how people become
successful.
@Epiphany 2
4 years later I carried this energy over to the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
At this time, I had two majors: Marketing and German. I was doing well in school but
I realized I needed to start looking for the elusive internships and employment.
Aside from the traditional help wanted ads and my own business connections, I had
no idea where to start my career search. At this time, I knew of Linkedin and other
social media sources to look for jobs but I had no idea how powerful of a tool these
sites were. That’s exactly what they are in the day and age, tools. People like you and
I have the option of utilizing these sources to our advantage. This is when I had my
second major epiphany. I now knew that I was behind and needed to catch up in the
world of business. I needed to change, I needed… to “adapt.”
One of the quotes I live by states, “Adapt or become irrelevant.” When ever I
think that there is nothing more I can do to solve a problem, I always ask myself,
“How can I change? What can I do differently to make this situation work?”
RT: Decision Time

4. As for my job search/employment problem, I decided to start using social
media to make contacts and keep up to date with trends in the marketing world
today. Sites like: Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook are very user friendly but it took
me a while to start using them effectively in business. One of the worst things you
can do with Linkedin is not have a professional picture and also, not have a
complete profile. A great profile with this website also has a
creatively written summary of yourself. DO NOT, write a summary like this:
“My name is Shane Jewett and I go to the University of Minnesota- Duluth. I am 23
years old. My majors are blah blahblah.”
You need to write a summary that is not only going to put a choke-hold on
the attention of potential employers, but also one that will wrestle their memory
and make them remember who you are. I spent some time working on mine and
made adjustments along the way:
Follow: Shane Jewett
"The ability to adapt, is the best ability one can acquire." I believe this quote
to my core and intend on always learning new things as my life goes on. This
attribute goes hand-in-hand with having passion for what you do and why you do it.
I can't stress enough how much I want to do well in my career and also, how excited
I am to succeed in my interests; whether thesebe work related or in my free time.
Just Getting Started

5. I am currently in my last year of college up here at UMD and I continue to
adapt every day. I am always tailoring the way I approach issues, how I present my
self and most importantly, how I engage others. By that, I mean: make contacts,
meet new people, adapt to your surroundings and never be afraid to try something
new. There is a whole pool of opportunity out there and I intend on doing a lot of
swimming in the future. With that being said, I would like to introduce you to the
Personal Brand Social Media Plan I have created, in order to continue my growth as
a professional and also just as a person in general.
Industry Overview: Content Marketing/Marketing
Personal views on the opportunity in the real world based on the opinions of
#ShaneJewett.
So many of us stress out and have a lot of angst surrounding this idea of landing that
first “career” job right after graduation. Guess what, we should be having these
feelings! You think any of the many successful people out there get to relax all the
time and just enjoy the most fancy gratuities that life offers? This anxiety and
constant reminder that the real world is approaching plays an important role in why
we get up at 6:00 A.M. to do some last minute review for that test we have in a few
hours. It is the reason why us “students” place so much emphasis on developing the
proper skills and knowledge we need in order to get a head start in our career life.
Stress can either take over your life; and become a festering infection which will
eventually inhibit you from the greatness your trying to achieve or it can be that
energy drink you buy at 12 A.M. to keep plugging away at work. The field I currently

6. have the most interest in is German Language and Marketing; be it online marketing
or traditional. Marketing is an interesting field. It not only incorporates creativity,
persistence, and knowing your “market” but it is also ever changing. Marketing can
be applied to so many instances. From a company standpoint, I believe everyone is a
marketer. When dealing with a customer, no matter what position you are in, you
are your company and represent the overall image of your brand. I could sit here
and regurgitate an array of statistics about the marketing field and what experts
think but when it comes down to it, we personally, are the ones responsible for
doing the research and making our own judgment. I believe that there will always
be a demand for people who can make a certain brand/service appealing to the
consumer and provide a proper strategy to maintain a certain company’s image…
(insert rest of sentence as you please). However though, there are a few aspects of
marketing that I do see as a basic template for success and are where my focus
resides for this industry.
1. Communication: In order to be in marketing, one must be able to
communicate a message clearlyand concisely. A marketer needs to be
able to walk into a room of people, who have no idea what the product is
and make it blatantly apparent what the reasoning is behind it.
2. Content: “Creating content is easy. Consistency in great content for the
consumer is where it gets more difficult.” –Shane Jewett. Many
individuals think that by simply providing a lot of content, the consumer
will be impressed. What happens when this content is boring and no one
cares? Content Marketing is a relatively explosive term being used now a

7. days and in my opinion, is where marketing will live in the future. All this
means is that companies need to be prepared for providing quality:
images, messages, services and products to the consumer, in order to
obtain a lot of business. Just quantity is not enough. Best case scenario for
marketing is summed up in this simple equation: Successful Marketing=
(Quality Content)(Consistent Quality in Quantity).
3. Adaptability:“Adapt or become irrelevant.” –Shane Jewett. Humanity as a
whole has made leaps and bounds in the sector of technology. Marketing
has been adapting with it. It used to be acceptable to engage in just PR,
print, radio and television ads for marketing but NOT TODAY! Whether or
not you think this has changed, I do not care. The fact of the matter is,
marketing has started to encompass the Internet at an alarming pace. All
marketers should adapt accordingly and start looking at the other
alternatives out there, in order to get their message across. This entails
also using resources such as: SEO, Social Media, PPC, email and mobile
platforms. People are going to continue to socialize as time goes on, only
the platforms through which we do so are going to change. Shouldn’t us
marketers adjust accordingly?
Objectives for this plan:
Like I spoke about earlier, the whole reason we attend college is to obtain a specific
set of knowledge and skills in order to obtain a job. The objective I have for this
Social Media Marketing plan is to not only help me land that job but also

8. create/maintain business relationships. Hopefully also turn some of these
relationships into friendships.
That goal in the above paragraph is a little vague, so lets break it down into a few
more specific objectives.
1. Make contact/engage with thought leaders in the industry of marketing
and listen to what is being said about the atmosphere as a whole.
2. Build my own personal brand as a credible source for advice regarding
marketing and how to generate outstanding content.
3. By making a personal brand for my self, I hope to achieve an overall
image that will give me more clout in advancing my career. A lot of this
brand will be built online, and will give others a chance to see who I am;
without actually ever having spoken to me.
Now that I have stated my objectives, lets take out the magnifying class and delve
into why I decided these were the most important.
Contact/Engage with thought leaders: I have always been an opinionated person
but there is also much to learn from others. No one person can have all of the rights
answers and insights. By listening to and speaking with others who have differing
views on the world of marketing, I can better tailor my viewpoints and decide which
actions are best suited for certain situations.

9. Building a personal brand: By building a personal brand as a source of credible
information, I will start making many contacts which could potentially lead to
referrals and more business for whom ever I work for; whether this be my self or a
different company. This personal brand will also build a large network for my self;
of which, I can tap into.
Overall Image: This objective could also be construed as a sub-category for the last
objective but it is slightly different. By building a large pool of contacts and
knowledge, I will be able to have more influence in my field. An important aspect of
being found online will entail the use of “keywords” in order to increase SEO for my
self. This will allow me to advance my career faster and using social sites, also gives
me the opportunity to be discovered by potential employers.
Who am I targeting?
. “True learning only occurs when changes in behavior become relatively permanent
and are repeated over time.” –OBM textbook I once read. I couldn’t agree more with
this statement. There are many companies I would love to work for out in the
“professional world.” Many people who are the head of successful companies are
experts in their own right but not all of these experts have the unique ability to
teach. I realize that a majority of what I learn in school will not help me in my career.
I will have to learn as I go but it never hurts to have some one who can clearly guide
you in the right direction. A boss or company that I want to work for will have some
of the following personalities and traits:

10. Creativity: I want some one who can take something simple or
mundane and turn it into something people can’t stop gawking at. I
take pride in creating interest out of nothing and I want that in a
future employer.
Respectable: I know of many successful people who make a lot of
money and get things done but do they always treat people the way
they should? I am talking about the Golden Rule people! I want to
work with some one who I can have differing opinions with and
challenge me but at the end of the day, still respect/admire.
Open-Minded: I want some one who can have a set agenda of sorts but
also still be able to take time to listen to my ideas and take my insight
into account. I do not want to just be a drone that completes one thing
and moves on to the next.
Competitive: In order to stay on top of my game, I am always trying to
learn new things and size my self up against potential challenges;
whether these are people or situations. This is important to me
because if you’re not competing, you’re either a spectator or staying
cool on the bench. I am here to win and I am here to succeed. My boss
needs to be willing to do the same.
Curious: I have a great deal of respect for other cultures. This is why I
have spent so much time learning to speak German. Every time I visit
the country or speak German, I learn a new lesson or take something
from it. All of this comes from wanting to learn new things and see

11. what else is out there. My boss needs to have that inner child in
him/her and continue to search for new endeavors/excitements.
International: This is also tied to the last paragraph. I plan on moving
to Germany at some point in my life because I want to see what a
different culture/atmosphere would be like to live in. I also have
dreams of traveling and learning how others think. This makes for a
better-rounded mind and also gives people the opportunity to step
into some one else’s shoes.
I am sure as time goes on, I could continue to add more to this list but as for right
now, these will do. I feel all of these aspects foster a great birthplace for a
relationship to begin and continue to grow.
Ok guys… who specifically am I looking @?
In this section, I am going to identify and list which people I feel meet the
requirements I listed above. Not every person on this list will have all of the aspects
I listed but they all have enough to keep my eyes peeled. I already know some of
these people and others I plan on getting to know. These are alphabetized by
company name:
Marty Weintraub: #aimClear
Laura Litwinka: #aimClear
Dale Fuller: #Allianz
Andrew Rasch: #Cargill

12. Klaus Eck: #eckKommunikation
Tia Fisher: #eModeration
Kyle Lacy: #Exact Target
Jaime Strom: #Paradysz
Andrea Timmerman: #Paradysz
Christa Tiefenbacher-Hudson: #TripleInk
5 Pillars for success:
In class we had to decide early on which specific pillars we were going to use and
some were mandatory. My five pillars ended up entailing:
1. LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/shanejewett/)
2. Twitter (https://twitter.com/Thoughtsieve12)
3. Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/Thoughtsieve12)
4. Scoop.it! (http://scoop.it.com/Thoughtsieve12)
5. Personal BlogWordPress (http://shanejewett.mktg4795.com)
I feel all of these will allow me to properly achieve my objectives I stated earlier in
the paper. As a way to track my progress with these sites, I will use a 6-month time
span. I know this time span was used by former students but 6 months really is a
good time span. It allows enough time to go by in order to collect enough data about
my sites but it also isn’t too long, where I will forget to keep up with my progress.
LinkedIn: I once heard someone equate LinkedIn to Facebook but on steroids. It
really is a wonderful tool to make more “professional” contacts. In my opinion, this
is one of the most important pillars. It allows you to:make contacts(domestic or

13. international), search for jobs, join groups and allow other business opportunities to
find you! There are other aspects about this site that I love but I feel these are the
most important, as far as our Personal Brand is concerned.
Prior to taking this course, I had already achieved 100% profile completeness. If I
hadn’t, that would have been my number one goal for LinkedIn. My current page
looks like this-
Since I am tracking this site over a 6-month period, I need some aspects/goals to
track. These will be as follows:
1. Views of my profile
2. Group discussions joined and participated in.

14. 3. Making at least 3 new contacts a week.
4. Posting at least 1 interesting article a day to my profile.
5. Endorsements
6. Expanding my work history and activities.
By tracking all of these variables, I hope to gain a broader knowledge of what I need
to do in order to expand my contact base and also what content I generate, will
create the most traffic to my profile. After all, isn’t that what you want people to do?
You want people to be driven to your profile, because you want to show off your
talents and experience.
Twitter: This pillar is my overall favorite. It not only allows you to connect with so
many people but it also gives you a real time look at what is going on with your
interests. I use my account for only a few things: connect with thought leaders in the
field of marketing, curate content regarding my interests, express my
views/opinions on these interests, occasional humor and finally, listen to what is
going on in the field of marketing. I feel like Twitter is one of the best ways to
express your thoughts to many people, in concise and quick manner. The ability to
search hashtags (#’s) has become a hobby of mine because it allows you to see who
is talking about an exact topic and what people are saying about it. When setting up
your profile, I think it is of the utmost importance that you have: a clear picture of
yourself, interesting bio and an emotion-inducing title picture. All of these will drive
more traffic to your profile. “You are what you Tweet” is a saying I have heard
before and it is very true. If you want to use it in a business sense, tweet about and

15. read articles about that field of business. This will give you a consistent community
of people in which you are listening to and engaging with whatever atmosphere you
are trying to cultivate. I recently joined Twitter but in the three months I have been
a member, my profile has grown rapidly and looks a little something like this:
I will also use a 6-month tracking time for this website as well. Again, I am not trying
to copy anyone else but this amount of time just makes sense to me. Aspects I will
track are as follows:
1. Retweets

16. 2. Favorites
3. Posting minimum of 3 interesting articles a day.
4. Commenting on at least 3 other tweets a day.
5. Followers: Gain at least 5 new followers a week.
6. Following: Follow 10 new people a week.
7. Post at least 3 engaging pictures a week.
8. Make contact with 1 new thought leader a week.
9. Mentions
By using tools like TickrUS and Hootsuite, I will be able to see the progress of my
profile and how it grows. Both of these resources will allow me to view stats on all of
the following aspects I just spoke about. Being able to see all of these stats will give
me an overview of what tweets and content create the most positive results for my
profile. I will also get a chance to see when the best times to tweet are. I.E. 9:00 A.M.-
11:00 A.M. or 7:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M. I suspect that these two times will give me the
most influence and create the greatest chance for me to obtain followers. These are
the times when most people get a chance to look at their profile. Weekends will also
be an objective of mine because of all the free-time allotted for everyone. Even
before doing research, I could tell that these times were going to be my bread and
butter.
Pinterest: Pinterest is an interesting platform and one I love to use. It is one of the
fastest growing social media sites out there and it has recently started to leave its
mark on the business world. The real value in this site stems from the ability to pair

17. great written content with striking visuals. Most of the images I look at on Pinterest
are infographics regarding social media marketing or content marketing. By being
able to create what the company calls “boards,” you can curate a vast variety of
interesting/engaging content that pertains to where your interests lay. This site
literally gives you an image of what is going on in the area of your interests. I am
familiar with Pinterest but there are some things I need to do more research on. For
instance, I have not clicked the “follow” button 62 times, yet I am following 62
individuals. As of this moment, I only have two boards: Social Media Marketing and
Content Marketing. My profile is as follows:

18. I am going to be consistent and use 6 months again as my tracking time. I do not feel
that this site will allow me to collect as much data as Twitter or LinkedIn but there
are a few aspects I can think of:
1. People who RePin my content.
2. My RePins of other’s content.
3. Followers: Acquire 5 new followers a week.
4. Following: Follow 5 new people a week.
5. Create a new board once a month.
6. Comments on my boards.
By using Google Analytics or TickrUS, I could track these statistics on Pinterest but
from the research I have done, there are not many options for tracking information
on this particular platform. I will just have to gain more followers and follow more
people in order to broaden my community for this site. I do not believe that there is
a specific time in the day, in which my Pins will get most recognized but I do believe
that I need to keep my eye open for the best content and not just any old infographic
that I find. Pinning the best content is where my real goal is, in order to brand my
self as more of an expert in certain matters.
Scoop.It: I am a very new user of Scoop.It and have just in the last few days have
starting using this website.Scoop.Itis one of my pillars because I feel it gives you a
great way of sifting through all the “bull-shit” content in what ever you want more
information on. Being able to see how many views a person has and followers on

19. his/her page is a great way to determine who are seen as thought leaders/experts. I
try to look for pages that have the most views, because I believe this is where you
can start finding those hidden gems of information. I am interested in looking for
Scoops regarding Content Marketing and International Marketing (specifically in
Germany). Having a huge cookie jar of this information will allow me to really
“fatten up” my knowledge in these two areas. The one Scoop.It page I have right now
is labeled: “Content Marketing that doesn’t suck”. I will start by scooping the best
articles and infographics for content marketing and hopefully people will start
viewing my page as THE place to look for content marketing advice. Like I said, I just
very recently set up this account but my Scoop.It looks as follows:

20. Since I do not knowScoop.It as well as the other websites, I am going to track only a
small amount of data over a 6-month period for this website. They will be
categorized under the following:
1. Views per week for my pages.
2. Following: Start following at least 5 thought leaders in the topic of
Content Marketing a week.
3. Followers: Obtain at least 20 new followers a month.
4. Create one new page related to marketing a month.
Again, using resources like TickrUS or Google Analytics, one could track the
following aspects I have mentioned but there is not a lot out there in order to obtain
statistical information on your Scoop.It. I first want to focus on gaining more
followers and views, before I try to start trying to do analysis on my page. By
focusing on these two things, I think it will give me a great starting point for this
fantastic site and I can later decided how I will look at my stats.
Personal Blog (WordPress): During the duration of the semester, we created our
own blog using WordPress. The main purpose I have for my blog will be to drive
traffic to it through the use of all my other social media sites. Here, I will write posts
that are much more opinion based. All of these posts will pertain to my personal
experiences in the field of marketing and what lessons I am learning along the way.
By doing this, I hope to build more rapport with my online community and continue
to brand my self as a person of interest. I have added links to some of my social sites
such as: LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. Having only had this blog for a very short

21. amount of time, I haven’t been able to use it yet but after creating it, the design is as
follows:
By using a resource called MyBlogLog, I will be able to look at statistics regarding
my blog and what is going on with it. I will be using a 6-month time period. The few
aspects I want to focus on and track will be the following:
1. Views of my page.
2. Comments on my posts.
3. Mentions of my blog on other websites.
4. Followers of my blog. I want to gain at least 5 a month.

22. 5. Following: I want to start to get more involved in reading other blogs so I
will set the goal to follow at least 5 new blogs a month and at least 3 of
these will be thought leaders in the field of marketing.
6. I want to post at least 2 comments a week on other’s blogs.
7. Keep my blog up-to-date with my life by posting pictures as well. This will
bring more of a visual aspect to my page.
What to look forward to:
By the end of this spring, I will be a very recent college graduate. I do already have a
job lined up but chances are, I won’t stay there my whole career. This is why this
whole plan is so important! By building relationships online and expanding my pool
of contacts, I am creating an advantage for my self as time goes. Every person really
is unique in his or her own way but on paper what sets you apart from others in the
job market? For most of us, nothing does but implementing a plan like this will give
you that “extra something” our professors have been ranting about for the past 4
years and in my case, 5 years. Hey, two majors in 5 years isn’t the easiest thing to
accomplish. All I am trying to say is, if someone offered you an opportunity to get
your: name, experience, thoughts, opinions and insight out there to thousands of
people, wouldn’t you take it? I feel this is exactly what building a personal brand
online does for you. It gets you out there and will allow others to see what you’re
about.