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Make Things Happen

Going Beyond Social Media ReachAugust 31

We’re a little too focused on collecting humans like marbles.

Our fans. Followers. Subscribers. Impressions.

Once upon a time, numbers like gross circulation mattered a bit more, because the available channels and paths for information were somewhat limited. So by putting yourself visibly in one of them, chances were pretty good that you’d actually be seen, and command a fair bit of someone’s attention, at least for a few moments.

Now? Not nearly. Clicking “follow” or “like” is a fleeting, non-commital moment. And just as easily, that attention is off and elsewhere. (How many pages have you liked – whether sincere or just out of support for a friend – and never revisited?). It’s the equivalent of someone picking up the flyer and tossing it in the next trash can. Veneered attention is so easy to give out, because it doesn’t take our time, our effort, or even our brainpower. We simply need to click. And move on.

Is that really the only way you want to define success?

What That Number Does Tell You

What the larger network size represents – has always represented – is potential.

The number of your fans

3-Stage GoalsAugust 30

How many times have you set a goal…and just missed it?

For a lot of us, “just missing it” is tantamount to failure. For recovering perfectionists like myself, it’s all too easy to see success in terms of black and white, and the goals that get us there as pass/fail tests.

How do we change that?

Expand your definition of success

As I said to Elizabeth Sosnow in the comments here a few weeks back, it’s often more helpful to measure the distance we’ve traveled than the distance we’ve yet to go. The first is real accomplishment; the second still unknown.

That “miles traveled” measure can be enormously helpful when we’ve lost sight of a big goal, or feel overwhelmed by the time or distance it’ll take to get there. But it can be even more helpful when we build it in from the get-go.

Set three stages

As goo

Contextual LazinessAugust 27

Today’s post is a guest post from our friend and tack-minded cohort Matt Ridings, Founder of MSR Consulting, and a thought leader on integrating social media into the realm of Relationship Marketing. He blogs over at Techguerilla, and you can find him on Twitter at @techguerilla

I recently had the pleasure of finally meeting Jeff Pulver in person. While here he gave a brief talk to the group of people present in which he made the statement that “sometimes, ROI can mean Return On Inspiration, or Return on Innovation”. As soon as I heard it I started dreading what was going to come next.

Like clockwork I started seeing tweets about that statement. By far it was the thing most commented on. People loved that remark. It resonates with that part of us that thing all businesses are selfish and if we’d just care a little more the world would be a better place. It certainly resonates with me.

I then prepared myself for the fact that I was going to be approached by several people who knew that I have argued vigorously against tha