Stop worrying about how you can use social sites and tools to draw attention to yourself.
Stop trying to come up with a cool new term, and start focusing on how these concepts can impact others.
Stop worrying about how much you GET from social media, and concentrate on how much you can GIVE AWAY.
Stop navel-gazing. There are much more interesting people than you.
Stop worrying who has the brightest bulb. Your light grows brighter when you shine it on others.
Stop feeling like your efforts aren’t succeeding because someone else has more links/followers/comments than you do.
Stop focusing on metrics, start focusing on people.
Stop thinking that YOUR way is always the RIGHT way (looking for mirror on this one).
Stop thinking ‘What’s in it for me?’ and start thinking about what’s in it for everyone else.
Stop promoting. Start teaching.
Stop thinking you are an ‘expert’. You can always learn more than you know.
Stop taking others for granted. When someone follows you or comments on your blog or subscribes to your feed, THANK them.
Stop trying to control how interactions happen and focus on facilitating them.
Stop thinking it’s about you. It’s about everyone else.
Pic via Flickr user cavepixel
Tags:The Viral Garden, Marketing
22 comments:
Hi Mack!
Wow...
I think I just felt the entire social media landscape re-boot itself! :-)
Thank you for shining your light so brightly...I know we all benefit from it!
I'm most grateful and honored we finally connected in NY. Hope to re-connect at some point soon, for sure.
Have a great week! :-)
Right on Mack. I want to print this up and hang it on the doors of some people I know. Great post.
Lately my BS Meter had pegged. This post was my release valve.
And guys, thanks for commenting!
Awesome.
Great post! Just what I needed this morning :)
Hi Mack,
Thank you for the reality check....
To keeping it real :-)
Dead on correct!!!
But how else will businesses be able to measure the ROI of their investment in a 3rd-party Twitter account, or gauge the impact of their "viral" marketing videos dropped surreptitiously on YouTube at different times of the day (to see if launch time has any impact on being Stumbled Upon)?
Honestly, using social media solely for positive, empowering and potentially life-altering ventures seems short-sighted when compared to the tantalizing opportunities inherent in befriending a corporation's Facebook page, or subscribing to a company's intranet RSS feed, so you never miss another HD video about rebranding thought leadership.
Tsk tsk...
Great post. Very insightful. Sometimes we all need to stop and think about our interactions and impact on others. Thanks for the wake-up call!
Zen and the art of social media. Thank you, Mack.
Nice one.
Yes, you get it! Now we need to use this insight like a rolled up news paper and smack some people on the head like the bad puppies who come inside to piddle on the carpet.
sign me up!
Best post I've read for a long time. It does not concentrate on what the new 'social system' can do for us, but rather on how we can be here for each other - metrics, profits should follow not other way. Mack you've nailed it, THANKS!!!!!!
Thanks for the comments, guys! I think the idea of creating value for yourself by first creating value for others really comes to light on social sites such as Twitter. Personally, I get the most value from Twitter as a personal and professional tool when I am using it to put the spotlight on other people and sharing content with my followers that I find value in.
@Thomas Clifford, what a lovely (and typically Thomas) comment.
This was nice, Mack. I will spend a little lazy Sunday evening time letting it sink in.
Mack,
I was thinking about Tim Russert today and all that he gave those around him. Later today I browsed my Twitter followers & was disturbed to see that I had way too many I hadn't followed back, so I took a couple of hours to view their profile, blog, site, etc. As I explored their diverse personalities and backgrounds I found that I've been missing out on some very smart and interesting people. That led me to thoughts much like your post here. Thanks for verbalizing what we all need to remember. I feel a song coming on, "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."
Amen to that.
Especially in light of the GigaOM post I read this weekend about how social networking isn't financially worth what everyone projected it to be. Perhaps the markets will start to realize that perhaps social networking is about users looking for a place to connect that are free of The Sell, and more about what you're talking about.
Thank you, you rock.
read this after chris brogan pointed to it on Twitter yesterday. What a find! We all need to be reminded from time to time that it's not all about us. since i'm relatively new to the scene, keeping this in mind is a great place for me to start from.
thanks!
"Perhaps the markets will start to realize that perhaps social networking is about users looking for a place to connect that are free of The Sell, and more about what you're talking about."
Andrea social networks and sites can definitely be monetized by companies.
But that monetization needs to come INdirectly as a result of engaging customers and using these tools as WE do, and for the same reasons. This is what so many companies are having trouble wrapping their heads around. They want the money up front. Many see taking the time to make 'connections' and establish 'relationships' as a waste of time. Give me the money now!!!
Some companies, such as Dell, have been playing with these tools long enough that they are beginning to get a foothold on how to use them properly, as communication channels, not monetization channels.
The money can come, but it has to be as a byproduct of something else. That 'something else' is what companies are struggling with right now.
coming from the myspace world.. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN!!! I started there and just by being a nice person and talking to people about everyday things and helping them with what you can you get places... its all about being SOCIAL... its crazy how much my life has changed because of it! i was in miami about a year ago broke and in college and now im moving for the 3 time to another state and still moving foward with my busines s and future just by being SOCIAL and the same applies to SOCIAL NETWORKS AND MEDIA!
btw ur in NY? Im moving near there in about a month!
Thank you for the beautiful sentiments. I get really tired of some of the self-serving and complaining on plurk and twitter. You're the first person I've seen so effectively expressing pro-social values for these networks. Thanks a bunch!
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