eleven start monetizing Up until now you’ve been focusing on building your brand by creating killer content and getting that content some traction by building your community one e-mail, one comment, one tweet, one status update at a time. Once you feel you’ve grown to a point where your brand is sticky and your audience has made your content a regular, even necessary, part of their community and their online experience, you can start to actively create revenue streams. Unlike in the beginning, when you threw out a big net into a big pond to capture in as many members of the social media school of fish as possible, you’re now going to drop in your line to a variety of smaller ponds. Be patient. In time, if you continue to hustle, you’ll grow your presence and improve your skills to the point where the fish—really, really big fish—will be jumping straight into your hands. Some revenue ponds to consider include the following. advertising A lot has been made of the fact that magazines and newspapers are being crippled because companies are pulling their ads to save money during this recession.
