Don’t
wait for your ship to come in. Swim out
to it.
Success
doesn’t pull up to the shore and drop the gangplank, nor does it send the
tenders out to you. If you want to
succeed, you must brave the scary seas. You
are the stranded seafarer on the isolated island of personal dreams surrounded
by the open seas of possibilities. The
ships of opportunity steam past continuously, some near enough to smell the
galley’s fixings and others barely imaginings on the blue horizon. They won’t stop for you, they won’t be
looking for you, and they certainly aren’t going to wait for you. If you want to sail away to some exotic port
of success, you have to wait for the right ship then swim out to it.
That’s
all we’re talking about here—swimming out to claim your success. But not every boat is within swimming
distance and most aren’t even going to the port you want to go to. So you can’t chase them all, but you also
can’t be afraid to tread water after the right one. If you’re armed with the basics—the knowledge
of how to swim in the SMM waters—then you’ll have a better chance of catching
the ship of your dreams.
Learning
the basics of the SMM and toning the muscles to swim in those deep waters is,
to me, the most difficult and painful step of the entire process. Some might argue that the actual act of
swimming after the ships is, but that’s simply an exercise in technique and
tenacity. If you present yourself as an
amateur, don’t understand how to effectively use each tool in the SMM toolbox,
or fail to make lasting connections then you will die exhausted in the rip current
just beyond the island’s surf.
So
let us imagine ourselves on that island eating coconuts and preparing for our
own rescue. Looking out at those ships,
we would probably start by deciding which is going our way. Next we’d start learning the basic swim
strokes and then figure out which we could do.
Finally, we’d get out in the surf and practice those strokes until we
were strong enough to swim out to our ship.
Which ship is your ship? What do you want to achieve? What is your
measure of success? How do you get
there? What are the steps required to
reach your goals?—My goal is to sell
50,000 books in 2014 by promoting my writing on numerous social media platforms.
Learn the basic strokes. What is your
market? Who are your customers? How do you want to present yourself to the
world? Define who you and your company
are. Research your market. Define your business succinctly. Write your ‘elevator pitch’.—I’m a genre-hopping novelist that will
appeal to readers who enjoy a variety of literature’s great selections. I have a unique voice that comes from reading
anything with words (or sometimes just pictures) and from an exciting life which
could be written into its own novel. So
who do you read?
Choose your strokes. What
are you expecting out of the SMM? Decide
which platforms will help you best. Which
platforms will you enjoy, which can you simply tolerate, and which do you
despise? Research the platforms your
competitors are using. Learn what makes
them successful with each platform.
Think about how you can be successful in those platforms and develop
plans on how to succeed with others.—I will
use my website, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and YouTube. John Green used the SMM effectively for his
fourth solo novel, The Fault in Our Stars, to reach #1 status and sell 150,000 copies—BEFORE HE WAS DONE WRITING
IT! I don’t expect to be that successful
(yet), but I will learn from SMM stars like John and emulate what I can of
their success.
Practice those strokes. Secure your
domain name. Build your website (or
consider hiring somebody to build it for you).
Start writing blogs. Take
professional and interesting pictures of you or your products. Get accounts to every social media platform
you plan to use. Develop your profiles
with each.—You can find me at
mjHangge.net, @mjHangge_author, facebook.com/Mj Hangge Author, and several
other locations in the SMM.
This
step still isn’t about connecting with consumers. I know you’re getting impatient, but allow me
a bit more leniency as I tell you my thoughts on these steps. Don’t make the mistake of rushing into building
connections until you’ve got something to keep the lines open and
interesting. There’s only one chance for
a first impression so don’t waste it by having a half-written bio or an
unprofessional website. Ensure you look
like a professional. Check your spelling
and grammar. Read every word out
loud. Check your links. See if you
are still interested by the descriptions of your products. Beta test each site with your family,
friends, coworkers, employees, select customers, or anybody else that could
improve your business reputation. Work
to perfect your profiles and then release them as a tidal wave rather than as a
meandering brook.
Since
this step is so important and I don’t want to rush through it so I’ll be
delving much deeper into it through the next few weeks. I’ll help explain how to define your goals, better
describe (sell) yourself, how to choose between the many platforms like Twitter
and Facebook, and how to use each of them.
MjH
After that fateful three-hour SMM tour, who would
you rather be stuck on the island with?
Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Thurston Howell III, Mrs. Howell,
Ginger, or Mary Ann? Though I always
loved me some Mary Ann, I’d have to vote Lovey off the island last in hopes she
might help finance my dreams. Besides,
I’ve already got a Kansas dream girl of my own.
MjH
HOMEWORK
Write out your goals
Write out how the SMM
can help you achieve those goals
Research which social
media platforms your competitors are using
Research how your
competitors are succeeding in the SMM
Research how your
competitors are failing in the SMM
Define how you will
represent yourself on social media
Write out your
‘elevator pitch’
Take professional
appearing pictures of you, your company, and your products
Write your social media
profiles
Look up John Green
(@realjohngreen) to read about his SMM success
Buy Penalty of Pride by mjHangge (okay, not
really a SMM assignment, but I could use the help achieving my own dreams and
you might actually enjoy it)
RESOURCES
Choosing Your Social Media Marketing Ship by mjHangge—next week’s blog post on mjHangge.net
Crafting an Elevator Pitch at www.mindtools.com/pages/article/elevator-pitch.htm
DEFINITIONS
Beta Test is
an external test of a product in normal operating conditions after it has been
internally tested (Alpha Test). The
importance of a beta test is that it will illuminate errors or defects in an
isolated environment which will protect the company and product from greater
issues.
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