Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web

Chapter 16. Learning and Experimentation Lead to Experience

In new media, we're frequently challenged to venture outside our lair of solace, and the more we live outside it, the more we begin to actually redefine our center of judgment, transforming how we interpret, process, and act based on how new information reaches us.

Curiosity and experience can reveal new, more effective, and more efficient ways to get from here to the ever-elusive "there," all while venturing into the unknown. It's what we implement that converts theory into practice, and practice into education and innovation.

Caution, however, isn't something we ought to carelessly throw to the wind. Within social networks and the blogosphere, the rules of engagement are currently in the process of being defined, through its careful development, real-world testing, and continual modification. There's much to learn, but we can't grasp or master anything by sitting idly and watching the world pass us by. Nor can we jump in with both feet and engage without observing how we effectively contribute value and earn the relationships that spark communities, associations, and ultimately action and/or commerce.

BECOMING THE EXPERT

You've already acquired a great deal of knowledge about your industry, through seminars and conferences, blogs, articles, and newsletters.

This is your moment, and it starts with becoming the type of person you would want to listen to, watch, read, and otherwise seek guidance from. You are empowered to lead ...