goals Archives | Ian M Rountree

Notes From #tweetdiner – Social Media Fatigue

March 26, 2011 by Ian 5 Comments

Tonight, Nic Wirtz and I cohosted #tweetdiner (it was my second run at this – last time, @MyAgenda and I took the reins) – thanks to Earth Hour crossing the continent just as we began, it was a small, tightly-knit crowd in the chat. Made for a lot of depth which, ironically, was a bonus to the subject.

As with any twitter chat, I’ve missed things – that’s what the transcript is for (read it all, no tl;dr allowed)

The questions were fairly simple;

What are the signs that you’re suffering from social media fatigue?

Some diversity in answers here; I mentioned an increase in effort, Nic feels he gets crabby when he’s fatigued with something.

Also, finding that the time it takes to realize that arguments you’re making are pointless, or finding that more often what you say is not advancing the conversation can be a clear sign of fatigue. When we have high energy, natural optimism often helps us continue to persevere in difficult discussions.

@MyAgenda – “For me is knowing that I’m spreading myself thin and not being productive up to my standards (is a sign of fatigue)”

What steps can we take to overcome or avoid social media fatigue?

Some suggestions include;

Take regular breaks, and schedule time for yourself.
Set goals – have a purpose behind your work.
Vary your activities. Spending all your time on one platform is tiring.
Set expectations, and let people know when you’re not available.

From a comment by Daniel Hewitt came: Taking a break can work in the short-term but what if that is not enough?

Daniel mentioned he goes into “Airplane Mode” – a reference to turning off his connections. Occasionally this does mean missing some things – big events, scheduled things. However, the corollary for this is that perceived consistency (in broadcast) is often just as good as real consistency.

For example; one could schedule a number of blog posts, tweets, and other push messages for the sake of taking a few hours – or even a few days – away from the keyboard.

Do you have a long-term plan for your social media usage?

SMSJoe – What’s long term in socmed, 6 months?

Joe’s point is that so many goals set in social media are blinds. They appear to be long-term, but can’t be sustained; they’re “build a house” tasks, not “run a household” jobs. So how do we set goals? Joe mentioned that some metrics-based goals are useful for building upon, but relying exclusively on statistical goals is weakening.

Personal note; having been working with online communities for twelve years, this is the first year I set myself any goals as far as actual involvement and activities go. Oddly, having the goals (even if some of them have already proved wrong) has led to less struggling and grasping for ideas.

final note; watching the numbers is a zombifying experience, and an incredibly easy trap to fall into regarding goal setting.

What one thing would improve your social media experience?

This one got crickets. I think it’s hard for people to nail down “that one thing” with social media. which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Quick-fire round!

We ran out of time, so I tossed these out at the end – if you have any comments about the last two questions, please leave them here.

Do you find it’s difficult to promote yourself consistently, rather than just puttering?

(and)

Which app do you find you spend the most time on? Is it a web version of a platform, or a mgmt app?

Blog-only Bonus Round!

For those reading here: How often do you take what you’ve learned in chats and create an action plan because of them?

The Things to Come

January 3, 2011 by Ian 2 Comments

I’ve been on blogging vacation since early December – I needed to be. 2010 was a massively different year than I expected it to be. Very little of it went to plan – and I’ve come to realize that’s partly because there was very little planning over the course of the year. That goes for work, my home life – and even for this blog.

In the last year, I’ve recognised a tendency towards reactivity, rather than pro-activity in the way I do things – and I’m not convinced that’s a good thing.

Much of 2011 will be written in advance, and to a plan. I spent the last week of December, in the quiet after the rush of the holidays, planning out a number of things I wanted to discuss on this blog, and setting a number of benchmarks for some of the projects I’m working on. So, in the spirit of disclosure and specificity, here’s what to expect during the coming year:

I’ve got a list of 12 themes – one per month – exploring both challenges and opportunities I’ve run up against over the past two years.
I’ll be making at least 3 posts per week, for the entire year, Video Saturdays and non-scheduled posts not counted.
I’ll be contributing no less than 1 guest post per month to projects not my own – it may be more, depending on how the year goes. I’d like it to be more.

There are more, of course – plans lacking detail are never a good idea. However, I don’t want to bore you with the details, and it’d spoil some of the fun.

So – the annual question becomes – while I’ve got some plans… What do you want to see here? How can I help you do better work in 2011?

Image by Gabriel S. Delgado C.

Why People Can't Use Social Media For Business

February 18, 2010 by Ian 8 Comments

It’s possible that social media as a whole could be the best thing that ever happened for entrepreneurs, but you can’t make use of it because you don’t know how. You’re not alone, though – just about everyone telling you they can use social networks to grow your business on your behalf is probably just winging it.

There’s a massive divide between how people act when doing something for their business and what they’ll do in a personal stream. It’s the difference between doing a job yourself, working on the same job in a team, or doing a piece of work for a client – there’s a motivation gap, an interest gap and, unexpectedly for most people, an understanding gap.

We all know what works best for us. In theory. But even for entrepreneurs, the person we are and what works in our personal lives doesn’t always translate even into hobbies-turned-jobs.

We all know we shouldn’t turn hobbies into jobs. Social media and networking is no different.

I’m fairly good at making connections, but the method by which I do this in my private life is nothing like the method I’d have to use if I were working as a Director of Community or some other like job. And the work I’d be doing in that role is nothing like the work I’d have to do as an independent social media consultant for varied clients.

The difference isn’t in the work itself, it’s in the target.

People don’t scale the way technology does, this is pretty well established by now. So what possibility is there that your sincerity, gusto and pluck will translate well from your personal brand to a global brand? Slim to none, that’s what. Part of the problem is that you’re no longer representing yourself. You’re trying to represent a complex ideal subscribed to by dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands of people all by yourself. Behaving like a human is a nice thought, and necessary, but following the practices a normal person does is impractical and overly time consuming.

Is there a better way?

If there is, I haven’t found it yet. In my promotion of The Dowager Shadow, I’m trying some fairly faceless promotional techniques, everything from Twitter to a Facebook page and some other advertising soon, but so far it feels like diminished returns after only two weeks of concerted tracking. Much of this comes from the book itself being a part of myself, my life, how I conceive of my world. Making the jump from a labour of love to a business is a big deal, and it’s not something every labour of love needs, deserves, or can stand the strain of.

Have you considered, in your zeal to self-promote, that perhaps there simply is no ROI in social media for your situation?