Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose: How to win the Social Media game

This Friday, the last season of Friday Night Lights will begin. I was a late-comer to the show. A friend of mine told me for two years that it was one of the best-written television shows she had ever seen, but still stuck with baggage about how the high school football team got so much more attention than the speech and debate team, I insisted the show wasn’t for me. Well, we all make mistakes.

If you watch the show or if you watched the movie the show is based on, you know that the rallying cry for the football team is “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.”

As I was thinking about that statement, I realized that it applies to Social Media as well. But what does “clear eyes” mean in the online world? What does a full heart mean online? I have some ideas.

Clear Eyes

1. Go into the Social Media world with clear expectations – have a plan, have a back-up plan, and have a plan in case both of those plans need to change. By the way, Ilana Rabinowitz has a great post up today at SocialMediaExplorer.com about how to break the rule of making a plan while still finding success.

2. Your objective should always be in front of you. If you need to make a certain amount of money, keep that always in front of you. If you want to drive a certain amount of traffic to your company website, keep that clear in your head.

3. Do not let others sway you from your objectives and goals. Be clear in your head and heart about what you want to achieve.

4. Be clear about your expectations of other people. Also be clear about how you will handle unmet expectations.

5. Always have a clear vision of your future, even if it’s just for the next week. How many blog posts do you want to write? Where do you want to spend your time? How can you get to that goal of yours?

6. Maintain a clear concept of who you are and how you want to be perceived. You can control both of those things to a large extent.

7. Be clear about the impact of your words, and determine how you will clarify for others what impact their words had on you.

8. Don’t let things like “twelebrity” status get in your way. Stay on your path, keep it clear in your mind and heart.

Are your eyes clear? Is everything sorted in your head?

Full Heart

A full heart is at the core of any engagement strategy, which is why I have this post as part of the engagement series. How can a full heart help you win the Social Media game?

1. Let your heart be full of  confidence in yourself and in the relationships that you forge. Doubt drains.

2. Let your heart be full of satisfaction with your own efforts – when you have that, no one can sway you.

3. Let your heart be open to new people, and take them as they are. Let these new relationships fill your heart with joy (and maybe a smidgeon of frustration)

4. Bring passion to your game. Chris Brogan wrote a lovely tribute to Gary Vaynerchuk today, and the post, along with all of the comments, speak to Gary’s passion. What are you passionate about in the online space?

5. Fill your heart by helping others. Few things are more rewarding than helping others in the online space. It’s often extremely easy to do, and you can end up as a hero. Every day.

You can’t lose

The bottom line in Social Media is that if you keep your eyes clear and your heart full, you can’t lose. This doesn’t mean that you will achieve success in five minutes. This doesn’t mean that every day will seem like a victory. In fact, some days may feel like you’re moving backwards. But if you stick with it, persevere, endure, and fight, you can’t really lose. The only way you can avoid winning the game is to leave it.

Stay on the field.

Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.

This is post #32 in The Engagement Series. I hope you enjoyed it!