It’s easy to get diverted.

There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment. Gaza, politics, cost of living crisis, challenges in business and personal lives for everyone…and these things seem to constantly make us call in to question if we are doing the right thing with our lives and our activities to be successful in our chosen field of endeavour.

In sales, in social media, in business and in life, there is no “easy” button. There is only hard work, focus and determination if you want the rewards.

Social media is a great example of this. I can be pretty confident that most people would say that (if everything else is equal) having a big network is better than having a small one. Being known by your network is better than being unknown. That having a profile that makes you look like an expert is better than having one that doesn’t and that publishing content regularly so your network doesn’t forget who you are is a good thing.

All of this is within your power to do.

We all know this. Despite this universal truth though, people still seem to look for “cheat codes”… I do this because the algorithm likes it, or I have included these key words, or I’ve got all my friends to like this post. Forget it. These things have, at best, a minimal benefit (and most times make no measurable difference whatsoever).

What you can’t do (particularly in the world of social) is to know for certain what will work and what won’t in terms of your posts, your messaging, you profile…because what you like may not be what I like. What you can do though is test and refine. We have done enough of this to have a reasonable idea of the starting point but every case can be different.

What we have learnt along the way is that the cornerstones of success on social are always the same:

?- Great profile

?- Large engaged network (in the right place)

?- Publishing regular insightful/entertaining content?

?- Having conversations

Being successful like this is certain to provide value (which takes a little time) but along the way creates some lucky “quick wins” (luck is never a good strategy but it’s nice when you happen to be in the right place at the right time).

The key thing, always, though is to keep an eye on the prize - a constant stream of conversations with people who might be interesting prospects to you. This strategy never fails…as long as you don’t get diverted by the promise of easy riches “an AI tool that automatically connects to people” or an agency with a “done for you service.”

My Co-Founder Timothy "Tim" Hughes 提姆·休斯 L.ISP often says “keep your head down and stay in your swim lane”…and this is great advice. You need to remember i) why you are doing this, ii) that there are no shortcuts, and iii) you are better, more interesting and more likeable than you think you are.

What you need to do is simple, doing it…is not.