- Image by MumbleyJoe via Flickr
Take a minute to ask yourself a question – are you a shadow or a beacon? Are you merely following the crowd and what they think is right, or are you following your own path and leading the way? If the answer to the question is the former, then you’re a social shadow – always following, never questioning. You need to change this now if you want to be more than just a shadow.
Like so many others, you’re trying to get to grips with social media, social networking, social marketing – in fact, you’re probably all socialed out.
Everyone telling you which social tool you should use to expand your brand – Digg this, Stumble that, and don’t forget to Twitter while you’re at it. While it’s true that you need to Socialize to make these applications work for you, it’s only true if you’re using them effectively.
Social shadows, always reacting to the social media/network scene as opposed to being pro-active, aren’t using this online social scene effectively. The result? You and/or your business is always the perennial “almost man” – you know, the movie co-star that never gets the girl or the audience’s love. Yes, you’ll get the sympathy vote – but who wants that? Wouldn’t you rather have the leading love interest in your arms?
Now take that and transfer it to your business. Your love interest is your customer – your co-star vying for their love is your competitor. Just like you need to have the best scenes in a movie to be the star, so you need the best impressions of your company to be the star of your field. You know that social media can help you here – but only if you’re the leading man, and not standing in the shadows of the supporting cast.
Light Up Your Shadow.
Use social media and networking properly to promote your brand and business. This doesn’t mean adding hundreds of people just to try and be noticed – instead, offer worthy participation. Leave comments on blogs with tips on solutions to a question, or recommend sites other than yours for knowledge bases. Once people see you’re not out for yourself they’ll look to you for advice every time – guess what? That’s a new follower/customer you have.
Be an innovator. Come up with new ways to position yourself as the business to come to for your product. Grow your brand using social media as the tool instead of social media using you. Use a blog to offer your own personal and radical views that may or may not appeal to the mainstream – initially, at least. Instead of writing what you think people want to hear, write what you want to read.
Don’t worry about interest being small at first – after all, true pioneers are the ones that forge ahead offering real value and knowledge; all they need is time for everyone to catch up. And they will – contrary to popular belief last generation, this public loves change.
Ready to light up your beacon and lead the way?
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This is my favorite line in your entire post:
“Instead of writing what you think people want to hear, write what you want to read.”
Thanks for continued inspiration Danny. Great stuff!
Ken Burbary´s last blog post..2008 Twitter Reflections
Definitely the way to go in 2009. Great post Danny. I’m glad I read it on the first day of the year.
Ameen Aliyar´s last blog post..Why StumbleUpon is essential for traffic
Danny,
Man, you hit the nail on the head on this one! It’s easy to be a shadow and just restate what others say. It’s easy to stay on the safe path. Many have great innovative views just waiting to get out and be found, but they lack trust in their own abilities and knowledge. So, they stay in the shadow.
I’m a newbie to the blog posting world and I’m testing the writing and SM waters at the moment. But my topic list is calling me from the corner of my desk. I spent years trying to get others to break out and make a change, be proactive, innovate, and crush outdated paradigms. I’m not waiting any longer. Time has come to step into the light….
Who else is willing to join in?
Wow thats a great way of summing things up. Thanks for the inspiration, I’m glad I read this on the first day of the year too!
You are absolutely right. There are way too many people who are churning the same content. I cannot believe how many places I’ve read the same basic 5 increase your blog traffic tips.
The challenge is to move out of the shadow and add meaningful light. Imagine looking for a lost contact in a dimly lit room.
If you remain in the shadows, you’ll never find the contact. However, using the light does not ensure that you will find the contact.
To extend the metaphor, you won’t just wave the light around in a haphazard manner. Instead, you will bring addition information to bear upon the situation. You will search smart.
You will begin with the location of the contact wearer, and you will use your light intensely in that location. Then you will broaden the search. Only as a last resort would you shine the light in the far corners of the room.
Moving out of the shadows is a necessary but not sufficient step to achieve quality. Using the light properly takes much more work and knowledge. Here critical thinking skills and problem solving are key. And hard work.
Originality for its own sake is not necessarily an advisable strategy.
There’s a fine line between trendy radical and the guy on the bus wearing aluminum foil on his head. And if you can reliably predict the difference, you’ll be far smarter than the average person (company).
Sam Bradley´s last blog post..3 Goals for 2009: Media Relationships
@ Paul. The easiest thing to do is stay in the shadows, whatever the medium or situation is. It’s dark, no-one can see you and you can stay there indefinitely. Yet all of the good stuff’s happening in the sunlight around you – it’d definitely be a shame to miss out.
@ Sam. That’s a great analogy, and definitely the trick to standing out on your own two feet and not be lost in the hubbub. Your students must get some great views every day!
I agree that a blog should be a place to say something that you like to hear. I also like the idea of being pro-active.
However, being the top of everything is not necessary to get customers. A co-star may not get the girl, but the world is abundant enough, girls are everywhere.
The world is not about getting to the top or not at all, although one should aim for the star.
Although it is nice to be a thought leader, running a business doesn’t require that status. This seems to be overrated.
Interesting views, Hendry, and I agree that there are certainly plenty girls around for both leading roles and supporting ones.
You’re right, it’s not necessary to be a thought leader to run a business – but being a thought leader is definitely a pre-requisite to making that business work.
Allowing others to run the ship; looking at ways to work that your competitors don’t have; keeping clients interested after the results; these and more require thought leadership that doesn’t stick within the normal parameters of leadership.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your views, I appreciate it.
Danny: Thanks for this awesome post! No matter what level a person may currently be in their organization, the person can be a beacon rather than a shadow. Beacons are obviously needed at the helm of an organization, but that beacon needs lots of additional beacons along the shore at all levels to help steer the proverbial organizational boat in the right direction for achieving the best outcomes. These additional beacons will produce the next leader beacon in the same or other organizations.
Keep up the great work, and I look forward to hearing more great things from you in 2009!
You didn’t mention about thought leadership in your post, but I am glad we are on the same page.
But I disagree on some points. No, I’m not opposed to over delivering or walking the extra miles to deliver great content and services, making sure that my content really is unique and good, etc. In fact, I think that is the way to go to survive in the long run in several marketing channels like social news sites or search engines.
Just that, this thought leadership thing is only good to attract people, not necessary for business, although certainly with proper nurturing that would lead to business.
In brick and mortar business, for instance in my town, we have like 10 shoe stores. None of them really that unique but all of them have been around for years – and making very good living too.
My point is, my business may stock shoes, just like what other stores have, and in a physical store, it is location that matters. Online, it is about how you reach your audience.
Not all people are going to buy shoes from A – even though A is the market leader – with the cheapest deal, everything. In fact, if all people start to buy shoes online, 10 online shoe stores will not be enough. There should be at least 10,000 shoe stores around the world to satisfy everyone’s needs. And most of them are just plain boring, but people would still buy.
There’s enough business for everyone, as long as they satisfy a demand and are able to reach customers cost effectively – with positive ROI.
Seth Godin, without doubt, is the thought leader in marketing. But, if suddenly everyone goes to him for consulting, he will not have the time. However, if someone reads all his books and put some of those tips to work, they may as well get consulting jobs even though they are just a tiny shadow of Seth Godin.
I hope that makes sense. There are a lot of marketing consultants out there who don’t really have unique ideas but I bet there are still millions of clients who don’t know Seth Godin either. So there really are opportunities for everyone.
So is though leadership important? Yes! Compulsory? No.
P.S. I’ve subscribed to your feed since late December last year, so expect me to come back often. Your blog posts stimulate my thoughts so I should be the one who thank you.
Hendry Lee´s last blog post..How to Turn Your Ideas into Remarkable Blog Posts