7 Questions on Social Media With Kent Lewis

7 Questions on Social Media With Kent Lewis

1. How did you get your start in the industry?

I kicked off my career in digital marketing in 1996 after spending a few years in public relations. I was doing in-kind PR for a sister web development agency and they asked if I would be interested in a full-time marketing position. I jumped at the opportunity. Back then; there were no books or classes on digital marketing, so I had to learn from scratch.

2. What is the biggest challenge facing your industry?

The biggest challenge I see facing the industry, based on my experience, is the increased level of competition. As an agency owner, I’m competing with other agencies, in-house firms, technology vendors and partners for attention, clients and lasting relationships. While I do see more consolidation coming down the road, the noise levels are at an all-time high, which complicates the sales, marketing and service delivery complicated and difficult.

3. What is the method to your blogging success? What inspires your blogs?

I’ve been blogging since before blogs existed, as I had a newsletter/ezine back in 1996.  My philosophy has always been to add value. I strive to create compelling, unique and timely content that my constituents find valuable. I’m not sure how successful I’ve been, but I would say the visibility and credibility I’ve built for myself and my businesses has been worthwhile. My blog topics are typically inspired by my conversations with prospective clients and partners. Once I identify a trend, I try to take a fresh or in-depth position through my blog posts and articles. I’ve evolved my conversations from topics like online reputation management to social media, mobile marketing, video and marketing automation. My posts for B2C tend to focus on the business of running an agency as well as entrepreneurship.

4. What do you think is the future of social media?

I believe social media is continually evolving and integrating into our everyday lives. My prediction is that social media will become so embedded in our day-to-day activities that we will no longer separate it from marketing channels or other forms of digital communications and the term will eventually be dropped from our vernacular. For example, we may refer to a social media platform as simply a platform or channel, assuming they are not aggregated and lose differentiation.

5. What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out?

Through my time as an adjunct professor at Portland State University and as a career advisor through pdxMindShare, I’ve had the opportunity to provide a good deal of advice to those changing or starting new careers. In short, I typically recommend the following: 1) Do your research/homework to understand the industry and players. 2) Identify, connect and engage with industry influencers and network in general 3) Get useful and credible experience as quickly as possible by volunteering for industry associations, non-profits and friends and family to practice and hone your discipline. You can find more industry articles and career advice on www.pdxmindshare.com or www.anvilmediainc.com.

6. Where can we find you on the web/on Twitter/Facebook/etc.?

I can be found on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

7. What do you think is the most important takeaway from your session?

My session, which focuses on search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, is both informative and entertaining. I would hope the key takeaway from my presentation would be to do good marketing. Google always tries to reward great marketing and similarly penalizes bad marketing (deceitful, lazy, stupid, useless, etc.). I hope you enjoy it!

You can hear from Kent Lewis and other great presenters at our virtual event from November 11th – 22nd. Please visit the #LEARNDigital page for more information. Click here to read more interviews from our presenters.