I love the line in Spider-Man (the Toby Maguire films, not the emo-travesty, suckfest of the recently updated versions), “With great power comes great responsibility.” It’s an absolutely true line that everyone should take to heart. After all, we all wield some form of power in our lives and businesses. (Including the filmmakers of The Amazing Spiderman, who clearly abused their powers by letting these films see the light of day.)
As you have probably already figured out, the title of this post is a play on words from that great line. And while my version is probably considerably less important in the grand scheme of life, it’s no less true for any business looking to succeed online. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]As with all things businesses strive to do, doing social media with greatness is essential.[/inlinetweet]
Social media can be a chore for businesses just moving into that space. It requires a lot of man hours and has very little immediate payoff. But instead of looking at social media as a chore, just think of it as another way to reach your audience and solve their problems.
Not only does social media offer you the ability to have real-time engagement, directly interacting with your audience about their questions, concerns and issues, it also affords you the opportunity to provide the resource material for the very same through blogging.
Whether you’re solving potential customers’ problems with your own content or by sharing content from some other sources you are familiar with, your social platform provides a way for you to demonstrate and share knowledge that your audience may not be able to find anywhere else.
Where do you start?
Research the top influencers on your social channels and do a bit of reconstruction. See if you can figure out what it is they are doing that has got them the success they have. Look for something there that you can duplicate and for any lessons you can apply to your social efforts. Figure out what works so you can build up your own sphere of influence.
You’re not trying to be the best “me too” guy out there; you have to put your own touch on everything you’re doing. Basically, you’re looking for the principles that you can apply. Your goal is to work yourself into proactive social greatness, rather than reactive afterthought-ness.
Invest wisely in building relationships and providing valuable help wherever you can. And when it comes to socializing your own content, follow the 80/20 rule: Self promotion should only be 20% of your network posts. The remaining 80% should be engagement, sharing other content and answering questions.
While posting links to your blog posts is easy, proper network building and socialization is not. It’s all about providing value and knowing the limits of the value of your own content. It may be great, but that’s not all your audience is interested in. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]You have a responsibility to your audience be great at social media.[/inlinetweet] There is no excuse for sucking at it. Just like there is no excuse for sucking at making Spider-Man movies!