Last time I posted about my journey into social media, I shared three lessons I learned during the first six months. This time, I’ll add four more critical lessons to the mix. To recap, when I first started, I was in preparation mode. I set up the first Great Supervision Series course online while learning about social media. I had no choice — I knew that I couldn’t succeed without it. Unless you count the little I did on Facebook and LinkedIn, I had no experience with social media. After fretting for a time, I made the decision to just do it. Well, ignorance is bliss. I thought to myself, “How hard can this be?”
Then, my imagination took flight.
“I’ll just do a couple of articles, people won’t be able to resist signing up and I’ll earn ‘kazoodles’ within the first six months and retire!”
Okay, maybe a bit extreme.
I continued, “I’ll just take a course and follow the script for success that they provide!”
So, I started my education through an online course (funny, right?) called Social Media for Business Certificate through Lern. This course was exactly what I needed as I was introduced to cool tools like Pocket, HootSuite, and Bloglovin‘. After 48 hours of education, I was ready! Or so I thought…
Lesson #1: Nothing is as easy as it seems, and it takes more time than you expect.
Little did I know, establishing a social presence online is highly involved. It’s a forever job. Now, I admire people who do it for a living and are easily able to adapt their skills and knowledge to a variety of situations. I have never been afraid to ask others for advice, so it’s natural that I now count on social media professionals to guide me through my journey.
Lesson #2: You can’t do it alone. Invest in your education and hire a coach; it saves time and money in the end while keeping you sane. A coach focuses your energy on what to do and when, so you look after those tasks only you can do. Coaches also motivate and hold you accountable.
To be honest, even with incredible support, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. In fact, it has been more like a bubbling brook leading to a waterfall ending in deep waters. Social media communication has challenged me to learn a new skill set and it has wreaked havoc on my self-confidence. Recently, I realized that I’ve been spending much more time doing the work than an expert would. Have I been frustrated? Yes. Have I been discouraged? Yes. Have I wanted to throw in the towel? Yes! Am I stubborn and need to succeed? YES. As a result, two years into my social media journey, I’ve hired digital communications professionals to help navigate the waters. You’ll meet two of them next week.
Lesson #3: Don’t be in a hurry to get things done. There is value in the journey.
Last month, I was travelling with a new business owner and we were talking about the role social media plays in business success. I started spouting off what I’d learned and how she could make adjustments to what she is doing to have a greater impact. My first thought was, “Wow, did I just share something meaningful about communicating on social media?” Then I wondered, “Can I help others with what I have learned?”
Maybe my knowledge and experience can make a difference for organizations trying to get it right.
So, here we are today. I’m about to share a behind-the-scenes look at how the new era of Naslund Consulting will come to be.
Lesson #4: Don’t fear creative innovation. Embrace it.
Like I mentioned last time, after 15 years I am changing the look and feel of Naslund Consulting. From the website to Facebook Groups, everything is getting a refresh. Step-by-step, you can find out about what’s being added and subtracted. Here’s how.
Starting Monday, October 2 till Tuesday, October 31, 2017, every day my team will make one change to our online presence. The change could happen on our website, Facebook or LinkedIn. (If you haven’t taken a look at these for awhile, now is an ideal time to do so!) During this time frame, each day at Noon, we’ll post a hint in this blog post about what change took place that day and why. From there, you’ll be able to discover what we’ve changed. We won’t stop there, though. After all, we want to have some fun with this too! So, from October 2 – October 31, 2017, we’re running a 30 Day Social Media Challenge. If you or a member of your organization keeps track of each change we make to our online presence during the Challenge, your organization will be entered to win your choice of either:
a) 1 FREE registration for any of the upcoming 2017 – 2018 Great Supervision Classroom Trainings listed on our website on the day the contest closes.
b) 1 FREE registration for Great Supervision Online 1: Building Confident Supervisors.
Here’s where you will go to enter to win and keep track of all of the changes: 30 Day Social Media Challenge. You will be able to edit your answers as often as you’d like during the Challenge. The winner will be determined via random draw on Thursday, November 2.
If you have any questions about the Challenge or about my journey thus far, please don’t hesitate to ask. Otherwise, stay tuned — next week I’ll let you in on the communication and organization trials and triumphs I experienced while setting up my online team.
With gratitude and warm wishes,
Karin