There is a wonderful, wonderful candy store near where I live. They are really famous for two goodies – chocolate covered oreos and chocolate covered strawberries, but everything they make is to die for.
I go into this store maybe 3 times a year (if I went more, I’d be exploding from too much weight). I always lust after the boxes – especially the boxes of their chocolate covered, nutty, marshmallowy loaves. It’s gluttonous and the boxes are kind of expensive, so usually – usually – I end up settling for these little sample-sizes they have. Two pieces per package, or maybe a bag of mini-oreos. But once, I went in and decided that I was really going to treat myself. I passed right by the usual sample varieties and got myself a box.
This story does not have a happy ending, though. When I got home, I saw that when they said “loaf,” they meant loaf. It was a 12″ long, 4 inch wide candy bar, essentially. And after picking off a piece or two, I realized it was way too much. I didn’t want it. I had been much happier with the variety that the smaller bite-sized chunks had given me.
I worry that you might be headed that way with your plans for the online world.
What is the giant candy loaf of Social Media?
In the world of social media, it seems like a lot of people are aiming to be the next big thing. It seems very achievable because as we’ve talked about before, on the surface, being a Social Media wunderkind seems kind of easy. You just tweet a lot and blog consistently, right? And what do you get? Tons of followers. Tons of fans. Tons of blog comments. Tons of connections. It seems like a world of sweetness and wonder only matched by a giant chocolate nutty marshmallowy loaf.
But there’s a catch. Being the next big thing means doing a lot more than what meets the eye. It’s hard to take little bite-sized chunks out of something that big. You can’t make as many deep connections, maybe, or maybe your handful of emails that you could respond to right away have multiplied into an army of emails that are driving you nuts and making you feel bad.
Pretty quickly, your great big dream can turn into something that is just making you feel kind of sick. You can get burnt out. You can get tired of the whole darned thing. And then what?
Make sure you can live with what you’re dreaming of
One thing you can say about something like a mini-oreo or a single piece of candy – you can eat it. You know you can. In fact, you can even luxuriate in the experience. You want to make it last. And yet, when you’re done, you feel content. You’re satisfied. You’re not really needing 75 more pieces of the same thing.
In the world of Social Media, there are things you can do that are just like that. You can build your community carefully and luxuriate in the experience of getting to know lots and lots of special people. You can refine your writing so that you are creating blog posts you’re really proud of. You can work on answering questions in LinkedIn so that you can really make an impact there. Each of these things can be really rewarding. They can also keep you plenty busy.
Do you really need to be the next big thing?
What do you think?
Image by Zsuzsanna Kilian. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/nkzs
The first sign that someone has no clue what it takes to be in business is underestimating the cost of client service or customer support. Yeah, you can SAY you are going to provide only email support or support on a forum, but there is still a cost. The bigger and faster you want to grow, the more crushing the cost of service will be for your organization. This always seems to take folks who think “this is so easy” by surprise.
The exponential growth of customer support to revenue is that giant loaf. The first few bites are refreshing, but after the first few hundred questions that are all just remediating people on your product, even the most delicious wears pretty thin.
interesting tie there. In that instance, if you end up not liking the loaf, you can probably kiss goodbye everything else about your business. Pretty important to weigh business decisions as carefully as possible!
Yes, yes, yes! This is a wonderful blog! I’m going to share it on my FB page tomorrow. Thanks again, Margie! Less is more.
Thanks, Mary 🙂
Dear Margie –
Now write a post about what the LAST big thing was.
I haven’t figured that one out yet.
I think that depends on who you are and what you believe the last thing was. It probably parallels what your own goals are, if I had to wager.
After a year of using both Facebook and Twitter to promote [advertise? my art & my art website]. I conclude that Twitter is about people needing their ego’s to be massaged to the point of one sided ecstasy….all me, me,me. Never any: feedback, acknowledgement,thanks or reciprocal exchange i.e. dialogue. So I have quit using it.
My fans on FB have sent the hits on my website exponential.
Sorry to hear that your experience on Twitter was so bad. I’m a huge proponent of hitting your replies page if you don’t have time for a whole lot of other stuff. Promote people much more than you promote yourself, and say thank you as often as you can. However, in Twitter world, for every person that believes such things, there is another who does not.
If you ever decide to give Twitter a try again, contact me @margieclayman and I can introduce you to tons of people who “get it.”
Best of luck!
Oh, Margie is so right! You have been commingling with the wrong people. 😉 I assure you there are plenty of folks who would be right up your alley. Like Margie, I’d be glad to steer you around a bit, if you should change your mind one day.
Good luck. 🙂
Margie, I adore your posts, and this one was no exception. But if you think back, what I usually love are your marvelous metaphors.
This one doesn’t work for me. Oh, the post does! Your point is well taken, and I agree. I am being purely gluttonous here. More shame to me! But seriously, if I were facing a 12″ long, 4″ wide chocolate bar with marshmallow and nuts?
I’d go sugar crazy, mad happy, nutty, and choco-ly deliriously happy. Sorry, kid. I’m not as wise as you, nor as measured. If I’d seen that thing, I don’t know if it would have lasted 48 hours! Can’t help it. It is what it is.
But your intent is clear and I do agree! <licking my lips, wiping my face with my sleeve, and digging the nut kernels out of my teeth. Oh, and I can't forget that melting, mellow, soft and chewy marshmallow!) I'm weak. You are strong. You are my hero, Margie Clayman!
This is my take on this.
I think it is important to have a working knowledge of multiple platforms in case the business trends shift in the way the usage of the internet is concerned. Do you have to be everywhere and do everything? Only if you want to end up in a straight jacket or burned out IMHO. I find that learning how to do a few things and do them well will serve you better in the long run. For me I totally get Twitter. I couldn’t live without it. Of course I get social media, social networking, and social bookmarking anyway. I just pick and choose carefully which sites and platforms to take a bite out of and if I want more out of them.
Great post Margie I love how you used chocolate in your metaphor 😀