Where do I WANT to go?
NOT
Where am I going?
I’m remembering the quote I often tell students: “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
Back on July 1, I started to think about “managing” my online presence, i.e., putting some routine in place primarily to help me select where I wanted to make my Web contributions. So I wrote “How do you manage your Online Social Media presence?”
In essence, I was thinking aloud. What I accomplished — and, unfortunately, all I accomplished with that post — was to ask myself to set aside time in the morning to Go Online.
But I didn’t give myself a road map. Hence, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”
Road Map — by the numbers.
1) Step one on the road must be taking time to clarify Objectives. So I thought I’d imagine the possibilities:
a) Casual: Whenever . . . of course that’s not me. It’s really OK if that label describes you, someone who spends as little or as much time as happens to be there: checking out your Facebook page, email, Twitter account, etc. I.E., WHENEVER . . . [been there, done that]
b) Experimenter: We’re ALL experimenting here, and that is a good thing. But there’s a danger — lost opportunity and value when you never really “move off the dime.” Get out there and BUILD, don’t just keep trying new things. [been there, done that]
c) Reader: One of the greatest benefits of Twitter for me personally are all of the website references with Great Stuff. I could read and read and read. How many of us bookmark and bookmark and bookmark . . . and don’t even get to read? [been there, done that]
d) Novice Participant: Read some blogs that strike a chord and add your voice once or twice a week. Join some groups and occasionally check to see what group members are asking and answering. [been there, done that]
e) Active Contributor & Engager: This is who I WANT to be. And we all know that Today is the First Day of the Rest of Our Lives.
So what does an ACE [Active Contributor & Engager] do?
Here’s my new plan . . . and a new Number One since the Objective has been taken care of:
1) Make a list of WEEKLY goals {I believe I can hold to that) and check off my accomplishments EVERY Sunday night.
2) Prioritize those goals to make certain that the ones on the top of the list are done for sure.
3) Because my original intention, way back when I first posted on April 23, was To Become an A-List Blogger — and that continues to be my Long Term Goal — Blogging will be my top priority. One of my students got around to reading my blog last week — and liked it. He asked how often I write. My immediate answer to myself was NOT ENOUGH. So Priority Number One for me is to make certain FROM NOW ON to have 3-4 posts (or more) Every Week!
4) Next, because I really believe that Twitter will become all that its creators are envisioning, my goal will be 3-5 Tweets Every Single Day! I will continue to follow my own advice on What to Tweet.
5) Facebook is a HUGE priority, especially since my partner Les Ross and I are building our Social Media/Internet Marketing consulting business Performance Social Media, which recently set up a Fan Page. We’ll be including the opportunity for small and large companies to find social media interns through us, so I’ll be monitoring and updating both my Facebook Profile and my Facebook Page EVERY Day. That means NEW content on the Facebook page at least four days a week.
6) I may be running out of time for Daily Tasks, but I thinking checking in and updating LinkedIn is essential. So besides that commitment, I plan to contribute to at least two LinkedIn Group Discussions every week.
7) Finally, my new Road Map will highly suggest that I check out at least one New social media tool, strategy or app every week; by checking out, I do mean more than reading about it.
Good luck . . . to me . . . and everyone else out there who may want to follow my Road Map.
Let me know what you think?
Do these suggestions help you?
Do you have any others to suggest?
In the meantime, I’ll see you all “Out There.”
And, Jay [my student who asked about my blog], how’s this for a new post?
Next post: What I read Saturday instead of watching cartoons
Professor,
I asked you in class “So how can I get people to read my blogs” The first step on my road map is actually getting a vehicle. Currently, my computer is crazy and I no-longer bother to attempt to turn it on so my only “vehicle” is using the computer at work or my internship. Which is a horrible idea because I can’t fully give my efforts to blogging and other social media tools.
1. Get a vehicle (computer)! This way I’m not restricted in any way by time or work. Like the other post I read about multi-tasking, it’s not very effective to produce great results.
2. The idea of a weekly goals list I will strongly take into consideration. I’m a person who loves making lists but not the best at following through. So my weekly goals list should be one that I can reach, I will start off small — like updating my tweet and reading someone else’s at least once a day.
3. For my blog, I need to consider what my goals are. Where do I want to go with it? What do I want to get from it? What kind of presences do i want to make? I think that what I struggle with the most, I have this amazing tool but how do I want to use it. Right now my blog is random. seriously, random is the best way to describe it.
So over the next couple of weeks I want to find focus for my blog. I do currently read other bloggers but my goal is to get more involved. I’ll do so by commenting on at least 3 blogs a week which is the number of people who are following my blog. I should give them the respect of commenting on their comments if they’re following mine.
So back to the question I asked “how can i get people to read my blog?” I have to be more invested myself before expecting others to like it too.
Here’s my blog if anyone interest in checking it out. I’m open to any advice and tips.
http://hellocaroll.blogspot.com/
This makes a lot of sense. Like they say, “Ya gotta have a plan,” and “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” and you address each of these. So often people draw up exquisite plans and then just put them away. Not that they should be hard and fast rules, but they should be organically integrated into the way you operate. Thanks!
Professor,
I really liked the saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there” because I believe that no matter where you go, there will always be opportunities available to take advantage of. I have always been a fan of exploring and trying new things and being able to venture into new experiences, is always a great way to learn about yourself and life in general.
I also understand the fact of responsibilities and how it is important to set priorities straight and focus on the tasks at hand. I believe setting responsibilities only create more goals and make you want to do much more.
Great post professor, Thank you again. Ray
Setting up weekly goals, and then evaluating them at the weeks end is a great idea. I especially like the part about prioritizing goals. When I first opened up my twitter account last semester, I was unsure how I was going to squeeze in the time to tweet. The first thing I noticed is that the number of followers I had would reduce if I allowed too much time to lapse, and increase if I often shared interesting links. Losing followers would defeat the purpose of my social networking, so needless to say that was no bueno!
Keeping up with social media is a task in itself, especially with the many social media sites that exist. At the same time, although it can be difficult to find time to log on, it is VERY important, especially when in you are in the Marketing field. I applaud your effort to be organized, and set time aside to maintain these sites.
Throughout the years, many people start their mornings off with a newspaper and a cup of coffee. Others turn on the news to get caught up on events. If you would ask these people if they felt it was a task, I am sure they would so no, but more a routine. Since newspapers have one foot out the door, and television can be very unreliable, I think its a matter of time before we ALL make social media part of our routine.
I have been getting the best news updates from my twitter account lately, and I am so glad that your class has given me a better understanding of how these sites work, and why they are so important. Now, I just need a road map myself. Perhaps if i too set weekly goals, I can make social media a part of my routine.
My goals for this week include:
1) Editing my Facebook account, because I am sure there are “things” I need to edit š
2) Post 4 interesting things on twitter, because I need to make up for not posting anything last week..
3) Sign up for 3 new social networking sites. All I have is Twitter and Facebook, and as of Monday blip.tv
4) Work on starting a blog, only after making sure I am blogging material š
Great post! See you in class tomorrow!!
Love the post Professor. I agree completely about setting up a system in which you are able to organize all your thoughts and then prioritize them. With such a busy world happening all around us, its easy to get distracted from your original goals. They get put off and put off until they end up never getting accomplished and your dream was a lost cause.
The most important thing to me when making lists is to cross off the tasks I have completed. It gives a sense of accomplishment when you see a list with completed tasks. It serves no purpose to make a list then never get around to actually going through with it. Discipline is key and always keep your goal in mind. If I do not do it now, I never will get it done.
This is very inspiring. I, too have a road map but my priority right now is to finish school. After that, I’m going to list all the thing I want to accomplished most especially going to a culinary school and go from there.
I really like this blog. Extra credit or non-extra credit I will definitely read it.
Great tips and very nicely written! Social networking will soon become the most effective way of building your professional career and creating a personal brand. However, one will have to invest time in learning the effectiveness of these sites and ways to use them properly.
By the way, I am new to LinkedIn too and have found this resource quite useful. It is a new book called “How to REALLY use LinkedIn” by networking expert Jan Vermeiren. Check it out, you can find a free lite version at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com/
I definitely agree that creating a road map helps guide us through all the content “out there.” What I have tried to do, as was suggested by another social media blogger, is to set aside some time for everything social media related when I wake up and right before I go to bed. So far it has worked pretty well for me, although I do tend to miss going on-line right before I go to bed, but mostly every morning I wake up first thing I do is turn on my computer to see what is happening in the world of my on-line presence.
Interesting topic. I also told myself to build a roadmap and tried sticking with the routine, because the planning gives me so much more structure in life. In the past I would just get by day to day without caring about my plans and I ended up procrastinating, evne though I still do sometimes right now, and not being able to accomplish many of the things I set out to do.
And, Shari, I probably have to do the opposite of what you do, which is to try not to get on the web as much and not to interact with people online too much because I find myself doing that most of the day during my free time.
Hey, Jay, thanks for “tuning in” to this post since your comment was actually the inspiration for it!
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I checked out Techcrunch pitch site. Looks cool. Reminds me of American Idol for startups.
In answering this awesome post professor (this is Jay) I would like to say that I have been doing the same thing. I really think the idea of creating a roadmap and following it will give us both a plan that we can stick to. I know for myself I am sporadically checking different sites from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn and then get sidetracked to read an article link from a tweet. It can be confusing and at times I find myself way off track.
I will dedicate myself to this raodmap idea in hopes that it will give me some type of structure to how I can become an “active contributor and engager.” The one thing that I will also do is the last step, try new social media tools and apps. I think that is a great idea and there are so much things out there to tap into. I’ve recently stumbled upon a site connected with TechCrunch called the Elevator Pitch. You should check it out. Good luck.
Check it out: http://pitches.techcrunch.com/