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What is that deafening silence you hear? It’s probably what looks like the complete lack of results coming from the social media efforts you just launched. If you and your company have recently decided to plow into the world of Communitising you may be somewhat concerned by the complete absence of reciprocal energy flowing back your way.
There was no doubt a giant flurry of activity and excitement related to your entrance into the social media arena--studying the space, creating accounts, uploading logos, perhaps even revamping a website. Now that you are there, it may be dumbfounding how utterly under-appreciated you and your treasure trove of industry specific wisdom appears. But hang in there. The world of social media mimics the real word in ways that defy what you might commonly expect from any other sort of online media blitz. The thing to remember is that, like many things in life, developing a strong and beneficial social media presence takes time, patience, and continual attention.
Think of it like starting a garden. Everything you did up until the moment you started posting, blogging and tweeting was akin to all the prep that goes into planting a garden. You shop for seeds. You turn the soil. You add fertilizer. You plant everything. You put little markers down so you’ll know what springs up where. You water. And you wait. And you wait some more. Not to point out the obvious pun, but creating a potent web presence is very much like watching grass grow.
The most trying time comes immediately after you finish all the heavy lifting of starting the garden. You can’t see the seeds under the dirt germinating. You can’t see the little tendrils and sprouts. There is no window into the magic happening within each seed. You stare at the dirt and wonder if it just needs more water. It does. In fact, it needs a lot of water. So you have to keep at it. It will take days (weeks, really), but eventually many of the seeds will produce shoots emerging from the soil and you will gain confirmation that your garden has actually been growing this whole time.
There will be plenty to deal with as your social media plants start to mature. Plenty to measure, prune, and harvest. This garden can easily take a year or more to fully appreciate and quantify back into other parts of your business. For now, know that your instincts were dead on when you decided to plant in the first place.
Even if you feel like you are socializing in a vacuum, keep at it. Continue producing content related to your passion. Eventually it is this passionate content which will lead the community to you. The first days are the hardest days.
There was no doubt a giant flurry of activity and excitement related to your entrance into the social media arena--studying the space, creating accounts, uploading logos, perhaps even revamping a website. Now that you are there, it may be dumbfounding how utterly under-appreciated you and your treasure trove of industry specific wisdom appears. But hang in there. The world of social media mimics the real word in ways that defy what you might commonly expect from any other sort of online media blitz. The thing to remember is that, like many things in life, developing a strong and beneficial social media presence takes time, patience, and continual attention.
Think of it like starting a garden. Everything you did up until the moment you started posting, blogging and tweeting was akin to all the prep that goes into planting a garden. You shop for seeds. You turn the soil. You add fertilizer. You plant everything. You put little markers down so you’ll know what springs up where. You water. And you wait. And you wait some more. Not to point out the obvious pun, but creating a potent web presence is very much like watching grass grow.
The most trying time comes immediately after you finish all the heavy lifting of starting the garden. You can’t see the seeds under the dirt germinating. You can’t see the little tendrils and sprouts. There is no window into the magic happening within each seed. You stare at the dirt and wonder if it just needs more water. It does. In fact, it needs a lot of water. So you have to keep at it. It will take days (weeks, really), but eventually many of the seeds will produce shoots emerging from the soil and you will gain confirmation that your garden has actually been growing this whole time.
There will be plenty to deal with as your social media plants start to mature. Plenty to measure, prune, and harvest. This garden can easily take a year or more to fully appreciate and quantify back into other parts of your business. For now, know that your instincts were dead on when you decided to plant in the first place.
Even if you feel like you are socializing in a vacuum, keep at it. Continue producing content related to your passion. Eventually it is this passionate content which will lead the community to you. The first days are the hardest days.
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