I am currently in my seventh year of working in the digital marketing/social media marketing space with small businesses, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, artists, authors and more. I have advised and participated in social media efforts for a gubernatorial election, a large public school district, a silicone valley tech start up, nonprofits both large and small and many, many, many small businesses and individuals looking to leverage social media. And honestly, I can say without a doubt it has been awesome, exciting and exhilarating. I love my work. I have passion for what I do. I’ve found that this is a necessity.
Passion keeps you afloat
One of the most important things I’ve learned is that running a business requires passion. It is always best to love what you do in order to be excited enough to carry on when the going gets tough. Because the valleys sometimes outweigh the peaks as a small business owner, not having passion will sink you. This leads to one of the most important principles that I believe make successful, effective social media marketing efforts online. It’s having–you got it–passion. The social web (which is every part of the web that is covered with social – almost everywhere right?) is filled with passionate people: people who love what they are doing, their hobbies and their interests–whatever they may be. Yes, the social web is also full of people who are not in love with the things that fill their time, but I think those people are often looking to identify that passion I’m talking about, so they can share it with the world.
How do you develop the best social media campaign?
To tap your specific target audience, you first need to love your own work, your own cause, your own efforts and be fully invested in joining a community of people who will eventually be led to love what you do as well. Joining in, becoming part of their community and building a passion-filled presence will help lead them to you and your product, service or cause. This is the first building block to a successful social media marketing program. It is also often missed, as even passion-filled people who love their work and their job lose that when jumping online. For example, a common mistake is focusing entirely on the sale and getting the message out. Unfortunately, this does not lead to success on social. Social media is meant to be a dialogue, and this is often what organizations of all sizes miss.
What are you passionate about?
So I ask you–do you love your work or what you are working towards? Are you excited about it? Does it tap your own passions? Do you bring that to your social media channel(s) everyday? If not, stop and assess where you are and consider what you are doing, why you are doing it and if you are successful. Chances are, you need some adjustments on this first building block. If you have passion and it shows online, then you are ready to rock and roll towards the next steps of building your plan. If not, start soul-searching and figure it out, because the social web will want to hear about your passions as soon as you’re excited enough to share them. So tell me now. What’s your passion, and are you fulfilling it? What do you need to work on? Comment below and share your social links if you would like me to take a look. Let’s build it together! – Photo Credit – Niklas Wikström
