“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?”
-Quote from movie “What A Girl Wants”

I am guilty of trying to “MacGyver” feelings, thoughts and situations to make them work for me, when they were clearly not coming to me naturally. Social Media participation was once something that I tried to do, and emulated those around me. At first it was a “fake it til you make it” attempt. I saw value in MySpace, Facebook, blogging, Twitter but didn’t understand what that could do for not only the radio station I worked with, but for my own personal branding.

Fast Forward Years Later
I now help people find their Socialality and go with their je nais se quoi. There are even Social Media examples that I look at and think, I would have never recommended that, but see the success it is creating for the practitioner; and how they are getting the results that make sense for them, and their industry. I also cop to being judgmental about other people’s use of Social Media. I have completely done a 180 on this. You can not judge your insides with someone else’s outsides.  We all have personal goals with specific audiences that we are trying to attract or reach. I wrote a blog post called “Run Your Own Race”and spoke of my journey in detail.

For most people one of the hardest parts about using social media consistently is determining what, and more importantly, when to post. If you are a casual, “just having fun” social media user than do it however you want … if you are using social media to achieve business or personal goals here are a couple take home ideas:

There in not a one-size-fits-all process, and on paper, it probably looks more like a tree where each answer forms the branch of the next question. There really is no right, or wrong way to use social media, IF it is helping you accomplish YOUR productivity goals!

SO … What Are You Trying To Accomplish?
-What are your goals? *Put these in writing* written goals = success.
-Clarify and target, over and over again.
-What are you trying to make happen with your efforts?
-Who are you trying to reach?

More often than not, Social Media goals and planning will mirror your unique marketing goals. Are you trying to generate web traffic, interactions, sales or maybe you just want to brand in a way that will entertain, educate or inform?  Also, think about how much time it will require vs. how much time you have to dedicate to using any of these Social Networking platforms?

When you determine goals, you manage your own expectations and the focus of how you will use social media.

These days when people tell me how to fit it in, I just assume that think I mind standing out!

How are you trailblazing in your industry? What are you doing to pursue success for you or your brand and how is this working out for your productivity goals?