A New Generation Marketer

For those of you that were regular readers and subscribers to this blog, you may have noticed a lack of posts here in the past two months. What’s up with that?!

Well, I’ve been very busy blogging on other sites (and I believe a few of you have found me there) for both work and as a contributing writer. As you may know, I now work at Backupify as a Marketing Analyst. Part of my job here is to blog several times a week. This involves a lot of research and planning on my part to get this done, as well as promotions after each post is published. In addition, every Thursday, I publish a post on BostInnovation in the New Marketing column. These posts require interviews with executives (many of which are hard to get in a timely manner).

So, this equates to me writing an average of 4-5 blog posts a week. Whewf! It started to become almost too routine to produce those posts every week and I (unfortunately) ended up neglecting this blog.

That is going to change. This blog is one of the main reasons why I landed the job at Backupify (story) and BostInnovation (story) in the first place. It’s not fair for me to abandon the platform and readers which helped me get to where I am today.

The Plan:

From now on, you can expect at least one blog post a week on here again. Also, since I write for my readers, I’d love nothing more than to hear you ideas about topics you’d like to read about on here. If you don’t know, I typically write on new marketing techniques, new apps and technologies, social media, and local entrepreneurs. If your ideas fit into those categories, I’d love to write about them!

Today, I was invited to be on a panel discussion at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The attendees were Museum Trustee members who managed their own museums across the country. Most were not active on social media, so were looking to find out more about social media, how it is changing, and how to implement it.

This PowerPoint presentation is fairly generic so it can apply to businesses and brands across the board. Feel free to share/use this at your will (with due credit, of course!)

I first heard of cloud computing when I purchased my iPhone about a year ago and signed up for the push-based cloud service “MobileMe.” Although this was a small-scale version of cloud computing, I began to slowly digest and understand the broader concept of cloud computing and storage.

About a month after signing up for MobileMe, I joined Twitter where I interacted with others that were experimenting and learning about cloud computing as well. During my interactions on Twitter, I came across a few business contacts who suggested I start writing a blog.

About three months after starting my blog, I landed my first and current career job at a cloud computing company, Backupify, focused on cloud to cloud social media and SaaS backup. My cloud computing knowledge began accelerating from there. Being the very curious and inquisitive person that I am, I took every opportunity to question, learn and understand everything I possibly could about the cloud industry from my colleagues.

From there, I was able to learn from our product development specialist, immerse myself in industry case studies and blogs and attended the Structure 2010 conference in San Francisco, an intensive two day event focused on new developments in cloud computing. The attendees of the conference realized that consumers are no longer wondering what cloud computing is. Consumers are now in the phase of deciding if and when they’ll adopt the leading edge technology. One of the sessions I found most valuable was titled ‘Hello, Cloud 2′ featuring Om Malik of GigaOM and Marc Benioff, CEO of salesforce.com. They gave a great overview of what the cloud means to SMBs today and how it will continue to evolve. Another fascinating part of the conference was the ‘Guru Panel’ which featured executives from Facebook, Yahoo!, PayPal, and Zynga. They all provided great overviews of how each of their corporations were pushing the boundaries of cloud computing. They discussed how to scale quickly in the cloud, real-time web experience considerations, and technologies they hope to see developed.

My expertise to date is cloud backup. At Backupify, we back up all types of online data including Google Apps (Docs, Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Sites), Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Blogger, Basecamp, and more. Backing up data is becoming more and more critical as people and business rely on online interactions. Businesses remain concerned over vital customer communications and social media compliance.

Cloud backup ensures you peace of mind that your online data will be there regardless of user error, account deletions, accidental deletions, web hacks, and more. Cloud computing in general provides companies with a cost-saving way to do the same processes they have always been doing but in a much more collaborative and inexpensive way.

Since cloud computing is fairly new, adoption has been slow due various concerns. Industry sectors like education and government for example, are worried that cloud services are not as secure as their legendary servers. This is a problem we are addressing for Backupify users and prospects today.

While I have found many challenges from working in this industry, it has also proven to be quite rewarding. There are many barriers that both individuals and companies are facing that require us to educate consumers on cloud computing on a daily basis. On the other hand, it is great to see our user base grow every day as people are moving from the phase of wondering what cloud computing is to considering which one to use. This alone has been a great consumer development as of late.

While cloud computing is still an early and somewhat unproven technology, its potential is immense. As cloud computing becomes more widespread, the need for providing secure backup will as well. All facets of our lives, from social networking to emails to photo sharing are moving online. Because the cloud is becoming an intrinsic part of our lives, backups are and will become more important than ever.

Bio: Backupify is a cloud to cloud social media and SaaS backup provider. We back up over 120 million emails, 78 million tweets, and 41 million pictures already. We have recently released a Google Apps backup solution for the enterprise sector. Find out more here, subscribe to our blog, follow us onTwitter, and ‘like’ us on Facebook.

Note: This post was originally written by me for cloudcommons.com

For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you may have noticed the decline in posting quantity in the past month and a half. It is not that I have been neglecting this blog at all since it is the pride of my work. I have simply been overwhelmed with starting a career and having a big move to Boston (as well as my site getting hit by the Pharma attack two months ago that disabled parts of my site.)

To be fair to my readers, I wanted to let you all know what I have been up to while away from my blog. I am now the Marketing Analyst for Backupify, a cloud backup service for social media, email and more. I am in charge of all their social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn so far), blog, and all inbound leads which is a pretty heavy responsiblity. Aside from that, I am a freelancer for a Real Estate company in Arizona as well as write one blog post a week for BostInnovation. Phewf!

That said, I have had less bandwidth to keep up with posts on a regular basis than I did before. However, I have ensured that the posts I do put up (about two a week now) are of extreme value to all of you. In that case, I would truly value all of your continued support and readership of this blog, as you are the reason why I write on a regular basis. Also, if you have any blog post ideas in relation to marketing, new technologies, start ups or anything else fun, please leave a comment below!

P.S. I’ll have a great blog post up here by Thursday, I promise!

Thanks again everyone for your loyal readership

Generation Y doesn’t remember a time without computers and the internet. They don’t know an age of being unable to find anything they want instantaneously. They’ve never used newspapers and magazines as a primary source for information. They scan through other programs the second what they’re watching on television goes to commercials. They burn mix tape CD’s instead of hoping to hear something we like on the radio.

Having used the internet their entire lives, Generation Y understands how it works and can make an immediate impact for companies marketing initiatives as employees or integral parts of outside marketing agencies. Generation Y’s entire life experience includes the internet, as if they were inherently born with the understanding of how to use it effectively.

Generation Y resumes should read “Well versed in the internet since age 9.” More importantly, Generation Y began closing their eyes and ears to traditional marketing mediums without having to just “deal with it” for decades before making that decision.

Being a part of Generation Y myself, I know this and you should too. We want the keys to the internet marketing car. We are not first time drivers. We’re experienced professionals, connecting with each other online since grade school with mediums such as AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and Facebook the second it was launched. We don’t search something, we “Google” it. We don’t need the training other employees might require to immediately make an impact in social media. We GET it.

Companies should be taking advantage of the wave of social media and search engine marketing by giving more responsibility to their Generation Y employees.

Younger employees are the key to a successful company. Help them grow and develop while keeping them involved in company decisions, especially those involving internet marketing and other areas they’ve grown up with. Employees that stay at companies for a long-time became more efficient and therefore valuable. We have the drive and determination to do a great job and make an impression. Many Generation Y employees just need the opportunity.

Billy MacDonald is the Co-founder and Inbound Marketing Specialist for Siphon Marketing Siphon helps get found by prospective customers through search engines and designs and builds website which sell their products and services. Billy specializes in search engine marketing and frequently speaks and presents for groups on social media for business and search marketing. He can be found on Twitter @BillyMacDonald.

Sometimes during the blogging journey it is good to reflect your favorite, best, most well-received blog posts and also give new readers a chance to read them possibly for the first time.

I have truly enjoyed all of the topics I have blogged about (61 so far) and want to share my top 5 favorites.

1. “The End of the Road“. This was my first post that I wrote for this blog and it reflects on the incredible journey that people go through in college and the realizations and developments that you make.

2. “Lets Get Social!“. This was one of my first posts on Generation Y consumers and how we LOVE to be socially connected 24/7. I incorporated some great research and insights.

3. “Meebo iPhone Application Review“. This was my first iPhone app review and was very well received in the smart phone OS world. If you don’t have Meebo and you have an iPhone, I HIGHLY recommend this awesome app!

4. “How to Create a KILLER Company Blog“. This was one of my favorite posts that I wrote, as I had learned so much about blogging tips and tricks, observed companies try different techniques, and read about ways to enhance a company blog to engage with the audience.

5. “A Guide to Getting Seen Online Using SEO” I have been learning more and more about SEO, especially in terms of my personal site. I have found it to be a very useful and fast-working tool, if done right. In this post I give tips and tricks gathered from top SEO experts and from my own observations.

YOU are the reason why I write a post almost every day. I am going to change things around for once and ask for YOUR feedback on what I am writing.

What do you like best about my blog? Worst?
What topic was your favorite?
What topic do you want to read about next?

Also, have we connected on Twitter?

I value your feedback so much, everyone! Your visits, comments, and retweets mean so much to me, and that is my motivation to write every day. I love researching trending topics and sharing my leanings and interpretations with you.

I initially started my blog geared towards Generation Y topics. However, I started to learn about so many cool technologies, techniques, and marketing changes that I felt the need to share with you what I was reading. Since the title of this blog is ‘A New Generation’ I have slightly altered my meaning for my blog as a new generation marketer. One day last month, Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot tweeted to me:

@dharmesh @KristinEDziadul My pleasure — and best wishes for the career search. You’re the new generation marketer. Make it happen!

From there, I decided I wanted to change the view of my blog to a new generation of marketing, technology, insight, employee, and everything encompassing what is new today. Some of it is from a Generation Y perspective, some of it is research on Generation Y consumers, and others are compilations of my research on new topics and trends. I really hope you all like the direction I have gone in! Based on my Google Analytics, it seem that you do!

If you have any other feedback, please tell me, I would really like to hear the voice of my readers!

Again, thanks so much!