Many have been around Social Media back when it was User groups before hypertext language. There were early adopters who have managed to take blogs and make money by getting there first with books, speaking, and online presence.
What sparked this post was a twitter from Mashable
Love Mashable story about going in this direction because he knew he was unemployable in a traditional environment so he found what he could be good at from a remote location and made it happen. It is a fantastic story.
Another posting of Mashable tells how social media is costing business in distractions. Opposite side of the coin. There are a lot of those points.
Much of the information and learning you need and want can be found online or at the library. Twitter is your friend for finding groups. Finding free conferences where you still have the cost of travel and hotel helps to connect to people in Real Life. Free connections or meetings once a month was the topic at the SheCon conference I attended in Miami. Locally finding sponsors to host blogging and Tweeter meetings would be helpful to all for learning and growing in this field. @alexdc was most helpful in describing how they do this in South Florida where they have FREE meetings every month.
There are companies that just collect all the news into one place like Alltop or Social Media Examiner and make money off the ads or items they sell. Other sites like Huffington post used a lot of writers for free and then sold the company for a lot of money.
Marketing types who are good at what they do and know how to run groups or conferences are setting up gatherings at prices $500 and above for learning with promises of income or alluding to income. Many are selling ebooks at higher prices than we pay for hard cover books. I have a limit of $20 for an e-book and mostly $10 or under. There is no paper or publisher costs.
All the Blog, travel, and blogger Conferences that are making money off those aspiring to jump into the fray now and make money. Those who want to attend must have a day job to pay to go or have their company send them because their blogging or business may not be making the money needed to pay the fee to attend. Ask, if you go, how many attendees are currently making a living in any of these fields separate from their company. These conferences gather all those who are making money or want to speak and then charge for the conference. Examples of conferences Social Media Success Summit , Blogworld , Travel Blog Exchange, Blogger Camps, and many other conferences at prices corporations can afford but might be beyond the individual budget. Many conferences have a component on Social Media skills where speakers are needed. All fields need people with Social Media knowledge and tools skills.
Separating the Wheat from the Chaff is part of due diligence for the writer.
Selling books, e-books, memberships, tribes, special memberships, and affiliate products are part of the incomes. Speaker fees, free conference accommodations and free access are benefits for those who were in this field early. What are your values? Finding what you can do and live with is up to you to discern.
Some say you can’t make money and others say you can. Look at both, read what they are doing. Many blog just for a few products which is really paying less than piece work would pay but it is fun so they do it. Anything that you can do remotely can be done from anywhere in the World and therefore the competition and wages may be lower than you anticipated. What is driving this?
Big box stores, corporations have been driving wages lower and shipping jobs to lower wage areas of the world where they don’t have to pay attention to unions or workers rights. Many of the issues about sweat shops that were fought for and won at the turn of the century have returned throughout the world where there is no regulation. Some applaud this. Workers are not so happy who now make 1/3 or half of what they did 20 years ago. While others in these third world countries or low wage countries are making way more than they did until those jobs are shipped from their country to another lower wage country. Complaints rise when it happens to you.
Many new bloggers are buying up the books, the memberships, and the tools to get to the six figure salary others say they are earning. When it doesn’t come, they are told it is content, working hard, etc. Maybe it is. Maybe it is not.
Having all the skills for Social media will be useful in many jobs and are actually a plus if you know technology. Having the right combination helps. Being in the right place at the right time helps. Having good contacts is a BIG Plus.
Don’t quit your day job to blog until you are consistently making five figures at the mid-range level. Find writing jobs that pay for your level of skill. Guest blogging may get your name out there in the beginning. Building your own business might be a start. Finding bloggers who are making money without you buying a product to learn the skills needed. Buy products equivalent to the value you gain. Question spending more than $10 on a ebook put out by the author. What is Amazon or Barnes and Noble pricing ebooks?
There are many jobs listed on sites about social media jobs. Many jobs involve technical skills and programming. Read job descriptions to find out the WISH list of Human Resource Departments. Getting involved in online groups can help. Use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for building a network. Give. Help Others. Become known as an expert.
Definition of Social Media
Future Trends News Topics
Presentation by Aliza Sherman at the SheCon Conference in Miami Beach
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Eileen Ludwig of Social Media School brings to the world decades of computer experience with a desire to learn and share current technology multimedia tools for communication. She is owner of four sites: FreelanceTourist , Digital Photography, Web Design School, and Social Media School Each are in different stages of development and evolution.
![[Grand Grocery Co.], Lincoln, Neb. (LOC)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2022/2179931106_344c5984a7.jpg "Grocery Store Signs Photo courtesy of Library of Congress")
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Eileen Ludwig of Social Media School brings to the world decades of computer experience with a desire to learn and share current technology multimedia tools for communication. She is owner of four sites: FreelanceTourist , Digital Photography, Web Design School, and Social Media School Each are in different stages of development and evolution.