In the booming age of high tech social media 2.0, I had a big uh-ha moment this morning as I was walking past one of the many newspaper vendors at the local BART station.  This particular gentleman has a great marketing campaign going.  He is the only vendor for this rail station-captive market.  He sells 5 different newspapers.  He displays each newspaper vertically with the headlines facing incoming outgoing traffic.  Headlines sell.  I see him every morning talking with different patrons.  He is the wise sage of this BART station.  He is not only promoting newspapers, he is promoting himself.  He is an icon at this BART station.  I bet customers come to this station in lieu of a closer one to mingle with this vendor.

Remove this man and replace him with vending machine would be akin to shutting down the high volume of newspaper sales at this station.

My big ah-ha was to return to promoting the best me as possible.  All the gadgets in the world will not replace you in social marketing.  How about optimizing yourself?  Ah-hu.