Well, do ya? Punk?
Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “Man, my Google Analytics graph looks like it’s trying to dig a hole to China. Maybe I should give up.”
Maybe you’re saying to yourself, “I’m just tired of tweeting as if I’m alone in the universe. It’s so depressing. I don’t get it. This isn’t worth my time.”
Maybe you’re wondering if this whole Social Media experience is just a reflection of how dumb you are, or how inept you are, or how unattractive you are as a person. After all, look at all of those successful people. It all seems to be effortless for them.
Yep, you need a slap in the face. Are you ready for it? Lean in, a little closer. OK, here it comes.
We. Have. All. Been. There.
Here are a few things I can tell you.
The people for whom it all looks effortless – they’re like ducks. They might look nice and serene floating around on the pond, but their legs are paddling madly under the water. And guess what? This’ll really knock you silly. The more effortless it looks, the more effort it takes.
Social Media is maddening. It’s maddening because it’s all about people, and people are unpredictable, weird, silly, aggravating, and all kinds of other things. Nobody can really predict what an entire population will do about anything. Do you think you’re the only one who gets mad amounts of traffic for posts that you think are your worst? No way. Not by a long shot.
It all takes so much more time than you think it will. I know, you came into this thinking that it would be a matter of minutes a day. Maybe an hour. It’s not. It’s hours, and the hours pile up into days, the days into weeks, and so on. And sometimes, like maybe right now, you just aren’t sure if it’s all worth it.
It’s worth it. You’re worth it. So now what?
Let’s figure this out together.
We’re going to figure out this game. Over the next several months, we’re going to talk about Twitter and how you can defy the overwhelming chorus of crickets that greets you. We’re going to talk about your blog and why no one seems to care about what you’re saying. We’re going to analyze how you can build your blog into your Twitter account and how you can bring your Twitter crowd to your blog. We’re going to look at what you’re doing and see what’s working and what’s not.
This is not going to just be me babbling at you via my blog posts, so don’t think you’re going to get off easy. I need to learn a lot too. Maybe you have that darned corner piece of the puzzle that I’ve been looking for. Maybe you have that “Q” that will work really well with the “U” I’ve had since we started the game.
No more Debbie Downer or Dirk von Depressing
We’re going to work together as a team, and we’re going to strengthen each other as we go. But do you know what will be our kryptonite?
Those thoughts I threw out at the top of this post.
It’s entirely possible that you are not yet as successful as Darren Rouse. It could be, and I don’t want to shock you here, that you haven’t made a fortune on Facebook yet.
So what?
It ain’t over till it’s over, and we’re far from that point, now aren’t we?
I’m looking forward to embarking on this journey with you. I hope you are looking forward to embarking on this journey with me.
You are ready, aren’t ya? Punk?