Every now and then I look away from my workaday RSS reader (also known as Twitter) and take a gander at my original Google Reader feeds.  There is so much good information in there (for free!); honestly, we should all view this as a veritable Golden Age for marketers who possess even an iota of curiosity about how-to do their jobs better.

For just one example, let’s say you’re a marketer who’s just now getting around to investigating the latest socnet craze, Pinterest.  You’ve been hearing about it for weeks but hey, jeez, c’mon, you’re busy!  But today your morning meeting gets canceled (hallelujah for “found time”) so you decide to dig in.  

Bingo. Thanks, TechCrunch, for this post titled “Everything You Need to Know About Pinterest” …

And that’s all well and good for basic stats (and yes, this Pinterest thingy sounds cool and important!), but, what are you supposed to DO with it? Bingo.  Thanks, Social Media Examiner, for this post on “26 Tips for Using Pinterest for Business.” 

That’s a good basic primer, but heck, this is fairly lite reading.  You’re only 15 minutes into your 60–minute set-aside of found time.  You want to go deeper?  Bingo.  Thank you, Scott Monty, for some in-depth perspectives on Pinterest, written in layman’s terms, and complete with additional (and invaluable) links to further reading.

You’re revving now. But you still question whether adding Pinterest to your already overburdened social strategy is the right call.  Well, a smart guy like Shel Holtz suggests giving it a whirl, though some guest writers at TechCrunch are willing to give you enough fodder to continue having second thoughts…in fact, they’ll give you 7 legitimate reasons why Pinterest isn’t ready for tech brands. 

Here’s my point: there are a jillion people out there who are willing to do your thinking for you.  That’s awesome.  But only you can pull the trigger.  Within minutes (literally), you can know enough about anything to know whether you want to try it out.

Do that basic research.  And understand that that’s probably all you need to know, to try. So try a lot.  Fail a lot.  Win a lot.  Learn a lot.  Then pay it forward.  That’s how this golden age will continue.

Comments