“I tried Social Media, doesn’t really work”…
I’ve heard that said quite a few times by quite a few people – they’ve heard that Social Media is the new “big thing” in marketing your business, and as such have pushed themselves into spending a few hours on it, before dismissing it as a waste of time because they didn’t see results.
Typically, however, the people who claim social media does not work are often those who try to extract value from it without putting any in themselves.
It’s a little twee, so bear with me through this cheesy analogy; but Social Media is a bit like a bank account. If you don’t deposit money into your account, then you can’t exactly expect the ATM to start spewing £50 notes when you visit it.
What we’re talking about here, is “social capital”. I like to think of social media as a place where people exchange “value” – in that what I tweet, blog, post on Facebook etc may hold some value to someone, somewhere. Value, of course, means different things to different people – for some, they may find value in the information I post on this blog; it may give them food for thought, insight or tips into the subject which I write about. For others, they may find comedic value in some of the random comments I publish on Twitter; whereby others might see a measurable value in terms of visitors to their website when I share their link or comment with my own followers etc.
If you seek to provide value to those with whom you engage through social media, then you’ll find that it’s much easier to call on those same people when you’re in need of something.
Relationships don’t happen overnight, nor does the accumulation of your “social capital”. You can’t burst onto the social media “scene” and expect people to start bending over backwards to help you – you need to put a little bit in first.
This is where most people get it wrong, they rush up to that Social Media ATM without first depositing anything in their account. Work on providing value and building up your social capital, and you’ll soon find it easier to withdraw when needed.
Here’s me putting in my deposit.
Excellent post makes perfect sense to me from where i am sitting.
As with so many things in life you only get out of it what you put in. Put time and effort into developing those relationships and things will happen. Create a profile and leave it there to fester and what do you expect?
Keep up the good work
Great article Mike, now where is my cash card and does my social capital account give interest?
This is really milking the analogy, but actually what you’ll find happens once you’ve built up a strong enough profile is that it’ll start taking care of itself without you needing to constantly work on it.
Stef Thomas (www.noredbraces.co.uk) is a great example of this – he openly states that he only spends a few minutes here and there on the 4Networking.biz website, however his profile is so strong that he has an enduring presence without needing to constantly work on it.
So, back to your comment, in a way your “social capital” account does give interest