Thursday, August 30, 2012

3 Tweaks Needed For Social Media Success


There’s no shortage of information on how to be successful with Social Media. You’ll find two excellent ways to do this, four awesome reasons to do that, and many more how-to posts. Most of these offer valuable information on how to use social media to achieve the results you’re looking for. The question becomes: do you really want to be successful with Social Media? I mean, really??

1. Change starts with advice from the experts.

Social Media has been around long enough now for people to be known as professionals, or experts. (yes, I know all the elitists are now leaving and discrediting this post). Social Media experts would be considered people who have experienced success and failure, learned what it takes to be successful, and are able to clearly share those lessons with others. Here at Shift Digital, we try to educate our readers based on our own experience, with tons of advice and lots of how-to’s. But with every post we wonder: will this information make a difference? I mean really make a difference? If it is read only by people who are bloated with knowledge, with no resulting action, the answer is no.

It’s time fo a social media metanoia, a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. It’s time that we stop reading all the blogs, books and watching all the videos. Stop saying we agree with everyone…and start putting to use all the info and advice and we’ve been given. It’s time to hustle.

2. Change doesn’t happen by acknowledging the word of experts; it happens in the response to their advice.

This is a simple message, but it means the difference between success and failure. You have to put to action the things you hear that are true, wise and good for your end goals. If you have no response, you will not move forward. In other words, you will fail.

I read lots of blogs, some of my favorites are Spin Sucks, Danny BrownAmeena Falchetto, and The Content Cocktail. In each community, we spend a lot of time commenting back and forth on the content. While I think there is great value in being a part of those communities, I often wonder what we are doing with that knowledge other than wielding it to our peers. Are you doing anything with the knowledge you gain from the experts? More than always commenting, it is time to make a change and to act on the knowledge you’ve been given.

What’s important here is the response to what you learn. You will be truly successful, and have a true digital community, when you act on what you’ve heard and been shown.

3. Change happens when you take action.

You will be successful with Social Media when you hear wisdom and put it to practice, instead of just stockpiling it. Yes, you might fail. But that’s where learning happens, and your response to that failure will determine whether you will ultimately be successful or not. When failure happens, be transparent. Clean up the mess, adjust, and try again.

On the flip side, there is danger in just being a “do-er”, and trying to follow all the ever-changing rules of Social Media. Just being a do-er makes you robotic and unhuman. But acting smart, discerning what is right for you, and being relational will lead you to Social Media Success. And if you are not up for the relational part, you are missing the point and will undoubtedly fail.

At this point you’ve gained enough knowledge to know the value of Social Media. At the end of the day it is up to you to either keep getting fat with knowledge, or put what you know in to action and be successful.




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