I’m not a marathon runner but I’ve done a handful of running, cycling and multi-sport races with varying degrees of “success.” For my first Tri-Relay, I was just glad to finish. For my second Century ride, my goal was to finish faster and wake up the next day in less pain! No matter what the sport, coaches and trainers can agree on one thing: Winners train. More importantly, winners increase their training slowly to minimize the risk of injury, fatigue, or even total burn-out.
The same is true with social media. Start out slowly and build on your success. Many businesses and service professionals try to launch Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social channels all at once only to discover these hard truths:
- Gaining traction takes time. Nothing happens overnight. Nothing.
- Like a house plant, social channels need love, attention and nurturing or they die
- It’s harder than it looks. Zappos makes it look easy but buying shoes couldn’t be more different from buying a $1M software solution, 5 pieces of heavy machinery, or a 100-person employee benefits plan.
- The channel itself is not the solution; content still reigns supreme.
Last week I presented at the Valley Industrial Association on a topic near and dear to my heart: Driving B2B Sales Through LinkedIn. Much like training for a sport, leveraging LinkedIn is an ongoing process. You begin slowly and build upon your success. If you’re in sales or a rainmaker role, start by optimizing your profile on industry key words to ensure you are easily found by target prospects.
As you work on your profile, make an effort to get connected to peers, colleagues, former managers, direct reports, vendors… anyone who might someday be in a position to open a door for you. And then engage. Contribute to the online conversation in a meaningful way. Having a robust profile is just the ante; to achieve results you have to take action.
After I finished my presentation, a woman approached me and said, “You’ve inspired me to give LinkedIn another try.” Aside from being a huge compliment, her comment underscores this important lesson: Once you start, you must never stop. You can dial it up or dial it down but resist the temptation to abandon ship. Like training for a marathon, social networking and social media success comes with persistence and patience. Set goals, budget the necessary time, and don’t lose sight of the finish line.