How to Turn a Social Media Setback into a Comeback

Every now and then I will post infographics with a uniquely positive spin on failure. I know they are designed to be empowering, and to help people stay inspired and determined despite the roadblocks they encounter. But in my own way, I take the concept of failure very seriously, and have always viewed it as a potential stepping stone to success. As I have said many times:

Believe in your idea. Test your idea. Fail. Fail again. And then impact billions of lives for the better.

Speaking about his company, billionaire Elon Musk famously remarked that "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." He has a clear definition of failure's role in the growth of his business. But how would a setback be defined in a larger, social media context? If you tweet, +1, like, pin, and operate in the social space, then you have your own sense of what a setback would look like, digitally speaking. 

Many years ago, I participated in a 12-day, social media campaign where every person was to raise money for their favorite charity. Everyone raised a substantial amount of money...except me. It was not my finest hour in terms of fundraising. Yes, I was slightly embarrassed, and yes it was a significant setback. But rather than disappear from sight for a while (which was briefly an option), I decided to do a few things that eventually allowed me to bounce back strong. Here are three tips:

Learn From Your Mistakes - I made a decision to rely completely on social media for my fundraising, and to just send people a private message about giving to charity once I saw them online. However, I mysteriously abandoned email, which in many cases, is more effective than social media at fundraising, and even selling. It just depends. But as I looked back on my particular campaign, it was huge error to not use social media and email, allowing one to complement the other. I have never made that mistake again.

Re-Brand Yourself - Things don't have to go in a single direction for you. You can go down different paths and entertain new opportunities. So if you have branded yourself as a "writer and brand strategist", there is no reason why you can't learn new skills and expand your description to say "writer, brand strategist, author, business traveler, and conference presenter". So I added, subtracted, and tweaked my personal brand in a number of ways. It took a serious setback, but I made the necessary shift. Anyone can re-brand with great results. Even you. As a friend once said to me: "when things don't go right, you might have to go left." 

Make New Connections - Sometimes we might get comfortable in our bubble, figuring we don't have to connect with new people. But of course you do. View new connections as growth. If you follow 1000 people a day across social media, for example, isn't that like going to a conference and passing out 1000 business cards - mostly (or completely) to people you don't know? Yes it is. As someone who has done this, I can tell you that it is the perfect metaphor. Everyone isn't excited about this kind of approach though (which is ok). But I believe that you can never have too many people who will genuinely and enthusiastically advocate on your behalf and champion your work, especially when you have a setback and need a shot of confidence. The right people don't always come to you. So consistently be proactive about locating them. 

A spectacular failure taught me a valuable lesson about email, helped me to redefine my brand, and forced me to be bolder and smarter when building connections. That made all the difference. So don't be afraid to fail. Fail forward, and then after months or years of hard work that no one will ever see, thrive accordingly. Michael Jordan said it best:

Here is some of my recent work on LinkedIn, Huffington Post, and Smedio:

• 4 Ways Travel Enhances Your Personal Brand and Informs Your Worldview
• My Conversation With Simon Sinek (VIDEO)
• Success and Social Media: Heather Geronemus

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Sean Gardner is a global best-selling author, keynote speaker, digital consultant and business creative who is based in Seattle, WA. He currently conducts workshops and social media training for small business, nonprofits, celebrities and multinational corporations. You can Tweet, Friend, Pin, or Instagram him, and/or circle him on Google Plus.

Also...you can purchase Sean's international best-seller, The Road to Social Media Success, which the Huffington Post says should be #1 on every marketer's reading list in 2015. It has some of his interviews with experts, and his own observations on a wide range of topics.

So if you're trying to understand social, some its major players, and its impact, this is the book for you.

Inspire, inform and elevate social media. Always!