My Online Strategy: Deeper, Not Broader

When the self-described "marketing geniuses" and "social media gurus" say you need an "online strategy" what they usually mean is that you need to spam and annoy as many people as possible through as many social media platforms as possible. While they may have degrees in communications or marketing, they have managed to do so without gaining any empathy for other humans. There's nothing "social" about a strategy like that. It is, in fact, decidedly antisocial and even misanthropic.

My "online strategy" is to put the "social" in social media. I am using online media to identify and start a conversation with the people who share my beliefs, values and interests. These are the people with whom I am most likely to have actual friendships. People who share my beliefs, interests and values are the people most likely to read my blog, refer business to me, recommend me and introduce me to their friends.

As my friends and regular readers know, I belong to a lot of Linkedin groups and I use these groups to "take the pulse" of other users of social media. Many of my blog topics come from Linkedin groups discussions. I recently quit a lot of large Linkedin groups and went in search of groups whose members share my values, beliefs and interests. I even quit a Linkedin group called "Relationship Networking" - which I originally joined precisely because of its name - because the people I was meeting there didn't seem to have the foggiest idea what "relationship networking" means. I quit all groups whose members have little in common other than geography. Charleston Area Alliance. Generation Charleston. Create WV. Create Huntington. I quit some huge groups - groups with several hundred thousand members like "Linked:HR" and "Executive Suite" because, for the most part, members of those groups seemed to have scrubbed their profiles of all but the kind of information people put on their resumes. 

I joined smaller beliefs-based and values-based groups. I formed such a group (see my August 15 post on "How To Join Linking Liberally") and I am in negotiations to become the group owner of another beliefs-based group. 

The self-described marketing geniuses and social media gurus don't seem to know that their strategy of annoying as many people as possible as often as possible through as many social media platforms as possible would be a great way to sell the maximum number of cold beers on a hot day but isn't the best way to sell the kinds of services that most social media users are selling: professional services of one sort or another. Selling more Pepsi than Coke is largely a function of displaying Pepsi on the most end caps, getting Pepsi on the most shelf space, getting Pepsi in more vending machines and getting Pepsi syrup into more restaurants. When you're thirsty and you order a cold drink you aren't forming a relationship with the drink or the people who sell you the drink, you're simply quenching your thirst. You may never again see the waitress who brought you the drink, you may never meet the driver who delivered the syrup and you may never know the salesman who sold the account. At the "retail" level where thirsty customers order a drink, selling the drink isn't about relationships at all. But lawyers, architects, virtual assistants, website designers and even marketing gurus need to establish positive online relationships and positive online brands in order to use social media to build revenue and most of the social media marketers don't seem to understand that you don't sell a professional service or create an online brand the same way you sell cold drinks.

Make no mistake about it, when you need to hire a website designer, architect, lawyer, virtual assistant or marketing dude you are entering into a relationship and you have to like, respect and resonate with the person you hire. I don't resonate with, like or respect people whose social media strategy betrays an insensitivity and a lack of understanding of and empathy for other people. I don't want to be associated with them. I sure don't want them near my clients or friends.

And I'm not interested in having more shallow, superficial relationships. My online strategy is to use social media to identify and start a conversation with people with whom I am most likely to have a meaningful relationship, to get closer to the people who share my values and beliefs. 

How To Join Linking Liberally on Linkedin

Creating Linking Liberally on Linkedin is consistent with my belief that I should do what I can to get all liberals to “come out”, let their liberalism show and be easily found by other liberals who want to network with them. Creating Linking Liberally reflects my “online strategy”. See my August 14 post.

First, be recognizably liberal. As the only owner, moderator and manager of Linking Liberally, I personally approve each new member and if I don’t know you and cannot detect your liberalism on your Linkedin profile, I will either reject your membership request or ask you for some liberal bona fides.


Joining Linking Liberally is easy if (1) you and I are first-level direct Linkedin connections or if (2) You send me your email address. 

If I do not have your email address and we are not direct, first-level connections you can still join Linking Liberally on Linkedin by going to your “groups” field and typing “Linking Liberally” and clicking on  Linking Liberally.

Why Is It Called Higginbotham At Large? Why is It Called Drinking Liberally?

Like most of my posts, this one is meant to answer questions I've been asked enough times to warrant a public answer. Today I'm answering questions about the name of my blog and the name of the liberal social group I re-launched.

Question 1 : “Why Is Your Blog Called ‘Higginbotham At Large’? Are You Running For Office?”

Every once in a while somebody asks me if the name of my blog presages some future run for an at large office. No.

Higginbotham At Large was the name an editor once gave to a column I wrote for him. He couldn’t pay much so I suspect he gave my column a name he thought would appeal to my ego in lieu of, you know, something useful like cash. Anyway, I liked the name and kept it for my blog.

Question 2: “’Drinking Liberally’? What Do You Guys Do, Sit Around Getting Drunk?”

I didn’t think of the name, I just started (or more accurately re-started) the Charleston chapter. The Charleston chapter was actually begun by lawyer Jennifer Hughes but was inactive when I re-launched it (with her blessing) in Fall of 2009.

The name “Drinking Liberally” has been problematic. The Charleston Newspapers wouldn’t print my meeting announcements in the Bulletin Board section under the name “Drinking Liberally” so I started sending in announcements under the name of the umbrella org, Living Liberally.

I even get grief for the name “Drinking Liberally” from other liberals. All three times I’ve appeared as a guest on his Huntington radio show, Bobby Nelson has made hiccup noises and asked about the name so I had to explain to listeners that, no, we don’t just sit around and get drunk.

Some young dudes who, I suspect, may have thought of it in a New York bar at around 2AM started drinking Liberally 7 years ago in a place very, very different than Charleston, WV. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time but young New York dudes had no way of knowing “Drinking Liberally” might not sell out here in flyover country where people who drink beer don’t admit publicly that they drink beer because they go to Baptist churches where nobody else admits publicly that they drink beer.

So let me take this opportunity to say what Drinking Liberally / Living Liberally means to me. I think the mission and purpose of the Charleston chapter of Drinking Liberally is to provide lonely liberals who have no other tribe with a tribe. It’s no accident that 3 of our 4 hosts are transplants and that most of our “regulars” are not native West Virginians. Natives already have tribes. Transplants or new liberals don’t have liberal tribes so Drinking Liberally can be their tribe, that place where they’re not an outsider. At every meeting we give everybody plenty of opportunity to make a 3-minute introductory elevator speech to tell us about their issue, their political campaign, their organization, job openings at their organization or anything else they may want to tell us. After everybody has had a chance to introduce themselves and exchange business cards, we talk about whatever people want to talk about. These discussions lead to collaborations, employment, donations and fun liberal fellowship.

If you don't have a liberal tribe, come to a Drinking Liberally meeting. Most of us know what it feels like to have no tribe so we'll welcome and accept you.

Now, let me tell you what Higginbotham At Large means to me. Higginbotham At Large is simply a public place where I park my thoughts on the subjects that people ask me about. When the same question comes up a few times I write an answer, park it at Higginbotham At Large, and then send the link to people who ask that question in the future.

Occasionally, one of my posts gets unexpected attention and tempts me to start writing for a different audience and for a different purpose. Back in December of 2009 I wrote a couple of posts about "Referrals and Relationships" that SMPS.org decided were "outstanding business development advice" so they put a link to my blog on their site. While it was nice to get emails from SMPS members around the nation I was briefly tempted to make Higginbotham At Large a different kind of blog. Similar things have happened when I've written about gay rights and why I'm not a member of AARP and a few other topics, but these are just distractions. Higginbotham At Large is just a public place where I park my answers to recurring questions.

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If you would like to be a guest blogger, email me at JosephHigginbotham@gmail.com or call me at (304) 550-6710.

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Higginbotham At Large publishes reader comments, both positive and negative but Higginbotham At Large will publish no pseudonymous, anonymous or profane comments or comments from readers hiding behind those childish “CB handle” IDs or the names of businesses or organizations.

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Your Higginbotham At Large blogger is serving on a broad-based private / public task force whose mission is to reduce the disproportionately high unemployment rate of workers age 50 and up. In today’s job market, people in their late 40s and early 50s are the first fired and the last hired. When we have the right combination of private and public sector employers and employment experts at the table we will form a branded, org that performs public services and provides networking and educational events designed to help enlightened, self-interested employers connect with talented older workers.

Do you know someone who should serve with me on this task force? If so, please send them my way at (304) 550- 6710. We are especially interested in getting PRIVATE sector employers at the table.

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Charleston Chapter of Drinking Liberally Looking For A Permanent Venue

The Charleston chapter of Drinking Liberally needs to settle on a permanent meeting place so we can get our chapter listed on the Drinking Liberally website where we can be found by fellow liberals who may be passing through or relocating to Charleston.

We'll be meeting every 2 weeks on Thursday evenings at 5:30-ish. Once selected, the permanent meeting place will be mentioned as part of the chapter listing so we're hoping that somewhere in the Charleston area there's a liberal restaurant or bar owner who would be proud for his establishment's brand to be associated with the liberal-progressive politics of our members.

And, of course, we'd like to settle on a place that stays open until at least 7:30 or 8PM on Thursdays, has ample parking and comfortable seating.

Oh, and perhaps just as important as the seating and parking and the hours, we need a place that doesn't blast music so loud that we can't hear each other talk. Drinking Liberally is about liberals getting together to talk about the issues that matter to us so if we can't have a conversation, we may as well all go home and watch Hardball, Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman on TV.

By the way, I'd love to find a bar or tavern whose TVs are spot-welded to MSNBC.

I think it goes without saying that we aren't looking for the kind of place that caters to a "regular" crowd of Fox watchers.

Last night's meeting was briefly disrupted by a Corona-fired, self-described, Republican coal miner who proudly "blows up mountains for a living". I wonder if our mountain top removing coal apologist would have been drinking Coronas at our meeting place if he knew the owner is liberal. It would suit me fine if we could find a meeting place where there are no Corona-swilling, meeting disrupting, Republican coal miners.

Last year, before I moved back to West Virginia, my Lexington, KY, DL group met on a presidential debate night with assurances from the owner of the establishment that we could watch the debate, but when we arrived we found that several other groups were also meeting there and didn't want to hear the debate so many of us retired to our homes and watched the debate alone instead of in the company of our liberal friends.

I know that a restaurant or a bar is a business and needs to be run like a business but it's hard for me to believe that, somewhere in the Charleston area, there's not a bar, tavern or restaurant that would proud to be the home of MSNBC-watching, liberal-talking, patrons.

Oh, and there's a small group of liberals in St. Albans who can't meet in Charleston on Thursday evenings so, if there's enough interest and a friendly place to meet, I'm hoping to organize a St. Albans Drinking Liberally, too.

Incidentally, there are also opportunities for movie theaters to host Screening Liberally chapters, for restaurants to host Eating Liberally chapters, for bookstores to host Reading Liberally chapters and for comedy clubs to host Laughing Liberally chapters.

Living Liberally is about "progressive action through social interaction". Good things happen when people meet, tell each other their ideas, exchange business cards and then find a way to collaborate.

For more information, go to www.livingliberally.org.

And No Republicans Were Harmed In The Writing Of This Post

"A company that would discriminate on the basis of facial hair would probably also discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views - and I don't want to work for that kind of company."

I said this to a guy who offered me a job on the condition that I shave my beard. He claimed his company had a policy against facial hair. I declined. I had to decline.

I bring up this incident because I'm hearing a lot of discussion about how social media is changing the world of job search and recruitment. In the age of social media, injustice happens more swiftly and anonymously than it did when I had to turn down a job because the company didn't like facial hair. Today, they might just look candidates up on Facebook and rule out those with facial hair or any other characteristic they don't like.

"Is it ethical for me, an HR manager, to look up people on Facebook and LinkedIn before I decide to interview them?" someone asked rhetorically to nobody in particular the other day.

Whether or not it's ethical, we have to assume she and other HR people are doing it.

By now, you probably think you know where this is going. You probably think I'm about to tell you what I told a crowd of University of Kentucky grads about the dangers of posting your radical religious or political views or your drunken Spring Break photos on Facebook. Yeah, I told them they should Google themselves and see what employers are going to see and then clean up what they can.

But in the limited time we had available I didn't tell them what I'm about to tell my blog readers. I didn't tell them that they shouldn't be ashamed of what they haven't done wrong. I didn't tell them that if they have to pretend to be someone they aren't in order to get that dream job, then maybe it's not really a dream job.

That's why I proudly and unapologetically fly my liberal flag knowing full well that doing so may cost me consulting gigs or job offers.

But someone who would discriminate against me because I am a liberal Democrat would probably also discriminate against a lesbian or a black or a Rastafarian.

And I don't want to work for a company that would do that.

And, oh, while I'm flying my liberal flag, let me invite all my liberal, Charleston, WV readers to the second meeting of the re-launched, re-loaded Charleston chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet this Thursday, 19 November, at Tricky Fish, 1611 Washington Street East at about 5:30-ish. We welcome gays, minorities, animal rights activists, vegans, vegetarians, people with facial hair, people without facial hair and people who have the courage of their liberal convictions to turn down job offers from bad guys.

No knuckle-dragging conservatives or sentient beings were harmed in the formation of the Drinking Liberally chapter but we're not above making conservatives squirm.