Spotlight on Social Media
Great Expectations!
We hear amazing things about the internet. The Kardashians get a million dollars for a single social media post. A housewife builds a multi-million dollar business from her kitchen table on Facebook. An average joe or jane posts a single video of his puppy and becomes a media sensation. Music careers have been launched from You Tube videos. The urban legends go on and on. Some are made up of more truth than others, but most of us wonder where to find our piece of the pie.
Social media success can have a lot in common with playing the lottery. You keep buying tickets with your posts without ever winning a penny for your pocket. Yet you probably know of someone who is raking in the big bucks from a Facebook page, Instagram feed or they got their great new job from Linked In. How does that happen?
Understand Your Goals
I've got news for you. You are not a Kardashian and in spite of what might seem like a good gig on the surface, you probably don't want to be. Their rise to fame began back in the 90's and it hasn't all been million dollar Facebook posts. They are not sitting at their kitchen table posting a few pictures on Instagram. They've worked long and hard, capitalizing on anything and everything they could get their hands on. They've become an entire industry unto themselves and there is no telling how many people work hard everyday to make sure that a post by Kim Kardashian is worth a million dollars. More power to them.
There's a lot of things average folks can do on social media, but the most important thing is to set your goals. Do you want to sell a product, grow your sphere of influence, get a new job, raise brand awareness or get a million likes on your video. These are all achievable things, even the million likes, if you define your goals, make a plan and pursue it and pursue it and pursue it.
Be realistic
The urban legends don't tell you the whole story. I saw a great documentary about a social media celebrity who got paid to go to an island and pet cats. I want that job, but I know I don't want to do all the things that go along with it. I've gone to seminars on how to become a social media influencer and I very quickly got a headache. If that's what you want to do, more power to you, but be aware that you can't pursue a career or build a business while working on becoming a social media celebrity, because it's a full time job.
However, if you set your goals and pursue them, you may find that along the way you become a social media influencer. You might discover you can supplement your income by endorsing products, teaching classes online or any number of other things, but that should be a result of your success at your own business, not the focus of your efforts.
There's no quick and easy way to win on the internet and those who tell you otherwise are trying to con you. if you'd like to have more success with your social media, then let's talk. Let's see what you have and where you want to go. If I can help, I'd love to have that opportunity, but I'm also happy to help launch you on your own plan. Most of the steps you need to take with social media are actually pretty simple and anyone could do them - the hard part is doing them.