In September, I ran my second half marathon with my friend, Kyla. As we trained for the race, it became clear that Kyla was a bit faster than me. And, on race day, she decided to run ahead of me about half-way through the race.
Although it was incredibly lonely to run the last seven miles by myself, I knew it was the right thing to do for Kyla, and for me. She had to run her own race, and so did I. And, in the end, we both accomplished personal records.
In life, and in business, it’s way too easy to worry about keeping up with the infamous Jones’. You know the ones…they have the fancy car, the perfect house and the incredibly gorgeous children. In business, the Jones’ are the ones who seem to have endless amounts of success, seemingly without any effort.
Social media has made it so much easier to keep up with the Jones’. Now, we can see people’s social media efforts in full display. We see how the business down the street uses Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn and we constantly read stories about how businesses are using the latest tool, network or gadget.
Social media is the shiny new toy that everyone wants to play with and it’s very easy to get caught up with what others are doing. We think that every business needs a Facebook page, even when they don’t. We believe every business should use social media, even if it’s not a fit. Although social media is a fantastic tool for business, it isn’t right for everyone. Or at least, it might not be the first weapon in your marketing arsenal.
Before you set out on your own race to social media success, here are three things you need to do to consider to make sure your social media efforts make sense for your business:
1. Determine your goal. With social media, or any marketing tactic for that matter, setting goals is essential to making the most of your efforts. What are you trying to accomplish – Engage your customers? Offer support? Funnel traffic to your site? You have to answer these questions before you do anything else.
2. Build a plan. Running a half marathon is not something you can do without a training plan. Likewise, your social media efforts will be fruitless without developing a strategy to support your efforts. Once you have determined what you want to accomplish, it’s imperative to put a plan in place to back it up.
3. Set your own pace. Once you have a plan in place, you can set the pace for implementing your efforts. Businesses that use social media for customer support will want to invest heavily in staff time and resources to ensure the customers needs are met. Conversely, if you are using social media to drive traffic or increase sales, you’ll take a completely different approach. Bottom line is that your plan will dictate how you engage and how often.
If you spend too much time sprinting to keep up with the guy next to you, chances are, you won’t cross the finish line of achieving success for you and your business. See why it’s so important to run your own race and chose the social media strategy that’s right for you?
What do you think? Have you seen other businesses flounder by trying to keep up with everyone around them?
Laura Click
Love it , I was just rewarding myself to some fun and watching Grey’s Anatomy. I learned watching Christine and Meredith need to realize they process their fear differently.
Lesson for me reading your post is it is the same thing. We each process either our fear or our business or our social media in ways that serves us and our needs.
So, yes do not let anyone push you in how you do any of it. (Still learn from others successes though ;))
Excellent point, Michele. I think so many people are afraid of not fitting in. However, that’s precisely what we should be doing. Thanks for sharing!
Laura, Thanks for reminding us all to follow our own path to success. It’s never a one-size-fits-all proposition, yet many try to follow others, sometimes right off a cliff. Your post releases the pressure to do what everyone else is doing, opting to do what makes the most sense for your business. Well said!
Thanks for the kind words, Shannon! Your comment makes me think of the old adage our parents used to say – if your friends all jumped off a cliff, would you? This is along those same lines. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!