Jay Baer
Jay Baer (Born 1969) is coauthor of, "The Now Revolution: 7 Shifts to Make Your Business Faster, Smarter and More Social.” (coauthored by Amber Naslund). The book discusses the impact of the social web and how businesses need to “adapt to the new era of instantaneous business.” Jay Baer is a social media strategist, author, speaker and President of Convince & Convert. Founder of five companies, he’s worked with over 700 brands (including Nike, Cold Stone Creamery, Sony, ExactTarget, and ConocoPhillips) since 1994, including 25 of the Fortune 1000. His Convince & Convert blog is ranked among the world’s top marketing resources, and was named #3 social media blog in the world by Social Media Examiner.
Biography
Baer was born in 1969 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He grew up in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He was a phi beta kappa graduate of the University of Arizona (class of 1991) with a major in political science and a minor in communications. He attended as a Flinn Scholar, a prestigious leadership and academic scholarship given to 20 Arizona high school seniors each year.
In his early career, Jay was a political campaign manager on congressional, gubernatorial and state-wide initiative campaigns. He also worked in public relations, and as a marketing manager for Waste Management, Inc.
He began his online marketing career in 1994, as Vice President at Internet Direct, Arizona's first Internet Service Provider, and a pioneering Web hosting company. Internet Direct was eventually sold to Mindspring.
After Internet Direct, Jay was the co-founder of azfamily.com, a pioneering local content website powered by KTVK 3-TV, KASW-WB61, PHOENIX Magazine, and KEZ Radio. A division of MAC America (a family-owned media conglomerate), azfamily.com was Arizona's second-largest content website, and a major designer and developer of corporate websites. azfamily.com and all MAC America assets were sold to BELO Corporation in 1999.
In 2000, he spent a short period working as a Vice President at visitalk.com, a free VOIP calling and video calling service that functioned similarly to today's SKYPE.
Later in 2000, he founded the digital agency (Mighty Interactive, providing Web strategy, search marketing, email marketing, usability, and online advertising solutions to corporate clients. Mighty Interactive was named Arizona's top digital marketing firm for five consecutive years by Ranking Arizona, and won many national and international awards for online marketing excellence. The firm was merged with marketing agency Off Madison Ave in 2005.
In 2008, Baer founded social media strategy consultancy Convince & Convert, working with corporate and agency clients nationally.
Baer now speaks at a lot of conferences and private events, mostly talking about the intersection of the web, communication, and business culture.
Jay currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife, two children, and assorted mammals and reptiles.