About

Social Media Explorer is the online home and blog of Social Media Explorer LLC, which is my consulting company. I’ve been called all sorts of things by folks around the social media, public relations, marketing and communications industries. I shy away from self-aggrandizement, but you’ll find some quotes about me from others below.

I see myself as a social media educator, a social media strategist and a public relations professional. I help companies understand the social web and show them how engaging consumers online can help their business. I’m also a writer, both of blogs and other materials, and try to spend much of my spare time doing that.

If I have a unique perspective it would be the result of having lead a national advertising agency’s Interactive and social media efforts, working with Fortune 100 brands as a social media strategist and serving as an independent consultant in the social media industry. I have advised major, regional and niche brands including Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Knob Creek bourbons, NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, Humana, Gary C. Johnson Law Offices, Purely Products, SHPS, Sun Tan City, Mighty Dog, Louisville Slugger, Bionic Gloves, The National Center for Family Literacy and WeSeed.com.

My work has resulted in social media executions deemed “innovative” and industry firsts, particularly in the spirits industry. One project I was involved in won a 2009 Sammy Award, the main honors given to work in social media. Paul Gillin, Tamar Weinberg and Kyle Lacy have written about my work in books, which is really flattering.

Perhaps the most fun I have is speaking and conducting seminars for conferences, groups and even private corporate events. I’ve spoken in three countries and on two continents, unless you count my late night soliloquies at the hotel bar in Cancun on vacation.

SocialMediaExplorer.com, the blog, gets a fair amount of recognition, of which I’m very grateful. The most notable of which is probably listing in the top 20 or so (it changes daily sometimes) of the Advertising Age Power 150 Blogs. For a few weeks in 2009, I was actually ranked No. 1. (Not sure why.)

I maintain a handful of professional affiliations and memberships, including serving as president and co-founder of the Social Media Club Louisville. I am also a member of the Public Relations Society of America, International Association of Business Communicators and Greater Louisville Inc., (the Louisville Chamber of Commerce).

All that and I’m originally from a little town called Pikeville in Eastern Kentucky. I live in Louisville, Ky., with my wife, Nancy, and my children, Grant and Katie, who are unquestionably the real reason I was put here.

Quotes About Jason

“Jason Falls is a god among men.” – Chris Brogan

“I respect Jason for being someone who’s not afraid to tell it like it is.” – Peter Kim

“Jason is one of the best and brightest. He is one of the few who understands social media and measurement.” – Katie Paine

“Words that come to mind when I think about Jason Falls: cutting edge, real world experience, knows what he’s talking about!” – Emanuel Rosen

Mr. Falls spoke to the North Network of our Confluence Networking Association in Indianapolis. The make-up of the North Network is largely businesses that touch some aspect of technology, social media, and online business. We asked Jason to speak specifically on the future of social media. Our constituency was educated beyond expectation, and we look forward to booking more events with Jason Falls in the future. His educational style is very informative, rich in relative content, and engaging.” – Brett Healey

“Clients who are looking to be told what they want to hear should look elsewhere; those who truly want to leverage the power of community and social media to transform their business should be talking to Jason. He’s insightful, creative and fun – but goes after his work like a bulldog and delivers results.” – Greg Matthews, Humana Innovation Center

(More to come)

Disclosures and Relationships

One blanket statement I’ll make and try to adhere to. Yes, I put advertisements and serve as an affiliate (meaning I get a small commission on what you might buy through the links from my site) for several programs. I promise to always fully disclose who those are (assume ads on my site and Amazon links are) and also to always offer you the ability to click through and purchase without paying me the commission. This way you can choose whether I profit or not. Fair?

I also want everyone to know and understand I do not allow advertising on my site for which I don’t personally use or endorse the product or service. Postrank.com, for instance, once advertised on my site. I use them. I love them. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t accept their advertising. It’s important for me to know you’re getting contextual offers for stuff that you might find useful on this site. I’m not going to offer you junk here.

Besides that:

• I am chief evangelist and a stakeholder in Backupify.com, a backup service for your Web 2.o data, files and content.
• I am on the social media Advisory board for Network Solutions.
• I am president and co-founder of the Social Media Club Louisville. I’ll occasionally share their events and boot camp information on my blog. I do not profit financially from Social Media Club Louisville.
• I am a paid strategic consultant for Compendium Blogware, for which I participate in surveys, studies, webinars and more on corporate blogging. I do not use Compendium for SME or any other personal project, but love their software and have gladly recommended it to clients. I would do so even if I weren’t a partner. Their software is an extremely smart choice for business blogging.
  
• I am an affiliate of Michael Stelzner’s WhitePaperSource.com programs, which include some of the best online learning opportunities for those in the marketing, communications and social media industries. I proudly put my name and efforts behind what Michael does because he does it right and does it well. And he’s been a bit of a mentor to me as well. He’s good peeps.
• When I speak at events, I’m often given the opportunity to have an affiliate portal for sign-ups on my site. When I do and someone signs up, I get a commission on the sale. I’m often given discount codes to share with my peeps as well, so we all benefit a little.
  
• I use Blue Sky Factory for my email marketing platform. I love them. I pimp them readily, but do not profit from doing so. I consider them a partner of my consultancy and recommend them to people a lot.
  
• I sometimes use Amazon Affiliate links to point to books I’ve reviewed.
• I am an affiliate for Chris Pearson’s DIY Themes site for the Thesis theme. (Because the theme is awesome and Chris is a friend and Louisville native.)
• I am an affiliate for Prfessor.com because they allow you to profit from what you know. I think that’s cool.
  
• My site is hosted by Media Temple. I am also an affiliate for their product.
• I was leader of the Social Media for Business Track at Blog World & New Media Expo for 2009. I am an affiliate of their sales portal.
• For conferences and events at which I speak, if there is an affiliate program, I will normally use those sign up mechanisms on my site. I will disclose those arrangements when blogging about them.
• I have Google ads in my RSS feed. It gets me about a cheeseburger a month. I like cheeseburgers.
• I get free trial accounts from a handful of software platforms to review. The ones I like, I share. The ones I don’t I provide feedback for and thank them for the opportunity to contribute.
• ShutterStock has given me a free trial account to use their images in posts with appropriate credit.
• New authors send me books to review for free. If I feel as if they might be good buys for you, I blog about them. If I don’t, I may Tweet about them on Twitter. I normally pass the books on to others to read.
• I am an unabashed fan of the city of Louisville and state of Kentucky. If you have a connection to either, I may inadvertently play favorites. Sorry. Them’s my peeps.