Discipline and Social Media

Discipline.

Now, there’s a word that brings all sorts of negative connotations to mind.  Especially for those of us who don’t take too well to it.  (You know who you are.)

But, like most things in life that are good for us, it’s necessary.

On the other hand, the problem with “social media” is the word “social.”

Since it has connotations of being friendly and going along with everyone, it has an unsavory reputation with small and mid-sized businesses.

It misleads them.  They believe anything “social” lacks the rigor that they normally apply to business situations.

Social media is alright for our personal lives.

You know, small groups of friends and relatives, scheduling school reunions, selfies, and pictures of cute cats.

Discipline, while uncomfortable, is good for us in business, while social, despite being agreeable, is not.

Here’s our challenge…

We need both of them!

Our approach to social media must be in a controlled manner and requires constant practice.

A friend commented recently on my eight step program for developing a social media program by saying, “That at least it’s got four less steps than Alcoholics Anonymous has in theirs!”  (We won’t go into why my friend was familiar with their program.)

Programs, whether eight, twelve, or whatever number of steps, are associated with correcting personal problems that we’d rather not talk about in public.  Ergo, it must be good for us.

Meanwhile, watch out for that social stuff!  It could be fun and enjoyable to say nothing of helping our businesses grow.  We’d better stay away from it!  (I also suspect that many are intimidated by the supposedly highly complicated technology behind social media.  I’ll talk more about this fallacy later in another article.)

What discipline and social media both require, again like most things in life, is commitment.  (Another word!)

In other words, set aside some time each day to work in an organized and methodical manner on your social media program.

Establish metrics because how else will you know if you’re making progress?  (There’s nothing like numbers to instill some discipline into a problem.)

Let me recap that for you.

Establish a plan, set aside some time each day to work on it, and measure your progress.

It’s that simple!

I guarantee you that you will see positive results!

That’s enough for now!

In future articles, I’ll drill down into the details behind some of these ideas.

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have.  I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

Remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me.  Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.

I can also be reached at conpsweeney@someddi.com.

My Twitter handle is @conpsweeney.

Stay well!