Don’t search for mavens. Be one.
The lovely Nicole Fende asked me to write about how to find and leverage the mavens in the online world. If you’ve been reading blogs for awhile, whether here or elsewhere, you know that conversations about the “mavens,” “a-listers,” “superstars,” whatever you want to call them, often get heated.
After reading all of these posts, all of the comments they get…after writing some of my own posts and reading those comments, I’ve come to the conclusion that what is most important in the online world is working on becoming a maven yourself, however you define that term.
Understand that I am well aware of how omnipresent people with a huge number of followers and subscribers are in this world. I know that it seems impossible to get traction when there are people who have hundreds of thousands of people retweeting their every word. But as I spend more time in the world of Social Media, I’m beginning to see that that whole facet of this world isn’t what matters. The number of followers doesn’t matter. The number of subscribers doesn’t matter. Even the number of comments you get doesn’t matter. They’re nice benchmarks, but there’s a lot more to strive for. And that objective – that point where you will feel successful – that is what really matters.
This is not an anti-“A-Lister” post
When I use a phrase like A-Lister, I have a pretty specific list of people in mind, and it’s based on their sheer volume of presence in the online world. A-lister to me does not necessarily bespeak a level of quality so much as a level of size, although it’s hard to have the latter without the former. I think of Chris Brogan, Liz Strauss, Brian Clark, Darren Rowse, Jeremiah Owyang, Jason Falls, Ann Handley, Jay Baer, and Brian Solis when I use this term. Their sheer volume is amazing. They can tweet almost anything and it will be retweeted. A lot. Of course their quality is high, but there are a lot of high quality content creators out there who don’t have the kind of pull these folks have.
I have been pretty fortunate in getting help from a lot of these folks. To answer Nicole’s question, I found them by looking at who people were talking about. I read their books. I visited their blog sites to see for myself what they were saying that was so great. Chris Brogan tweeted out a post of mine when I had only been blogging for a couple of months. The comments and followers that resulted in the next couple of hours were more than I had had in total for my Social Media career. Ann Handley I had seen through watching many MarketingProfs webinars, and I was astounded at how approachable she was…how willing to help a newbie like me. Jay Baer, believe it or not, was one of the first people to reply to me on Twitter.
I didn’t look for these people with the goal of bumping up my own online reputation. I looked for them because they were well-respected and I wanted to learn from them, and these folks, for all of the foibles that get highlighted online, have taught a lot of people a lot of things. I showed these people respect and a desire to learn. I did not approach them with a request to tweet out a post of mine or to let me into their inner circles. I was just me, talking to just them.
Teachers can teach you to walk, but they can’t walk for you
All of that being said, the success I have experienced online, whatever that may be, has in large part been because I have worked my butt off. I set goals for myself and worked hard to achieve them using the advice that the folks above and many, many others had given me. I have not worked to be the next Brian Clark or the next Liz Strauss. I have worked my butt off to be the first Margie Clayman. I have worked hard to be a positive influence on those who engage with me. I have worked hard to learn enough so that I could pass on my knowledge to others. I have acted in ways that I would want to see people I respect act.
If I want to define success for me in the online world, it would be where I already am.
What will you do?
I have no doubt that people will say that so long as there are people who are defined based on their influence in the online world, it’s impossible for people with smaller or more niche followings to find online success.
With all due respect, that’s a load of crap excuse.
Always remember that when a person who has a lot of followers tweets out one of your posts, the people visiting your site are responding to that person they saw the tweet from. You’re new to them, and it’s YOUR quality that will encourage them to come back or to never return. You could write a post on a huge site, but if it’s not enticing and well-written, you won’t find an increase in your blog traffic. It will be just the same.
If you want to be a maven in your own eyes, you need to pull the weight. You need to do the work. You can’t complain every time someone does something you don’t like. You need to do what you want other people to do, and set the example you want to get out there.
So my very long-winded answer to Nicole’s simple question – don’t worry about searching for or leveraging the mavens. They will see you as a peer, as a respected peer, if you put your nose to the grindstone and put out high quality work. That’s all there is to it.
Isn’t it?
Image by Benjamin Earwicker. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/bjearwicke
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I love this, Margie. I think there is far too much emphasis put on the “A-Lister” and trying to get their attention. I find the whole term to be kind of silly – my very first exposure to social media was at an in-person event (not online) and the very first person I ever met in the “social media biz” was an “A-lister” from your list (doesn’t matter who), and when we met, I didn’t know him from a hole in the ground. He was just some guy who knew a few things about the Internet. We became good friends before I even knew who he was to the online world. My point is – they are just normal, hard working people with jobs and families and everything else. They are not superheroes (well, most of them aren’t ;-).
Many people seem to put these A listers up on pedestals, and guru-ize them. Yes, they are smart, successful and talented. Yes, we can learn a lot from them. But every one of us has the opportunity to be those things too. Just because someone has a book or two and a popular blog and lots of followers doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t achieve that with our own audience, in our own way.
And yes, getting the attention of these people is nice. A retweet can create a huge spike in traffic. But it’s fleeting. Sure you’ll get a big rise in numbers on your post, a bunch of retweets and maybe a few new followers. But the next day you’ll be back to your old pattern again.
There’s no overnight success. Anyone on that list will tell you that. It’s hard work, bringing it every single day. You can’t let up. And you can’t rely on someone else to do it for you.
So well said, Susan. I really don’t have anything to add! But I really appreciate you putting so much time into your comment, and I appreciate you being so brilliant as well!
Thank you!
I’ve been like a kid waiting for Christmas morning to see this post! Margie you did not disappoint.
It seems like everywhere you turn people are telling you how to force feed so-called relationships to get what you want. That’s not me. I’ve focused on getting to know people and start real conversations. While my online business has grown, I thought I wasn’t implementing best practices (shoot me now, I just used corporate speak). In reality I was, I was using my own best practices.
Its easy to get sucked into the illusion that there is a formula to instant success. The right tweet, blog post or A-Lister shout out. You’ve just reminded me that there is only one formula for success. Hard work, executed on good days and bad.
That’s all there is to it, Nicole!
Of course, that’s a lot easier said than done. And that’s where I think we get back to the entitlement issue. People think they *can* leverage someone who is “better off” so that they can get to their destination faster. That might work for the rare person who is just disgustingly lucky, but for most of us – no way.
And no, I don’t think I’ll shoot you for using corporate speak. This time 🙂
Nose to the grindstone. High quality work. Work your butt off. That is all:) Cheers! Kaarina And of course, love your post as always Margie!
Thanks so much, Kaarina. Glad you liked it! 🙂
Wow…you said it all and you said it well. As with everything in life, the outcome lies within us and so, indeed, we need to become our own mavens…we can glean information…that is appropriate and great. But, at the end of the proverbial day, it is up to each one of us as to how we put ourselves out there. I would love to hear your thoughts on influence and Klout at some future time. Thank you for yet another great post.
Hi Claudia – I just wrote about that recently, in fact. Search my site for “Online footprint” 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, as always!
I agree 100%. This is also what I say to those who ask me how to get started in social media, but most importantly how to be successful.
I have done the same steps that you outline above. I think the most beneficial tip, that has been successful for me, has been to find key people in the industry, start following and engaging with them and always look to see who they talk to. Commenting on their blog posts helps them get to know you and form a relationship with you. If you do that, then when you start a blog they’ll want to visit because they’ll know you and be eager to receive your updates!
There definitely needs to be a sense of quid pro quo, but the catch is that you can’t visit someone’s blog just because you want them to visit yours. You have to be genuine about it because people can literally smell when you’re trying to game the system.
Scary, huh?
I’d agree that A-listers should be based on relevance to you and your needs, as opposed to generality. Mention the names of the folks you have here to anyone outside a certain social media bubble, and you’ll get glazed eyes and “Who?” many times over.
The danger of putting people on pedestals is that when they fall (which many are doing now, going by conversations across the web), the gullible – for want of a better phrase – will still idolize folks that are leading them down a questionable path.
It’s why the only people who I want to be “idolized, loved, mavenized, A-listed” by, whatever you want to call it, are my wife and son. They’re why I do what I do. Yes, I love my friends and family, but the most important people are my wife and son.
If I’ve done all right by them, everything else is a bonus.
Well said, Danny, of course.
I am a big proponent online and offline of setting your own objectives and then trying to reach them. If you want to be a certain way and you have reasons for traveling that path, don’t let people disuade you.
My greatest hope online is that I can be viewed as a friend/acquaintance who is reliable and kind and a resource for the online world. That’s it. I am not looking out for being idolized. I mean, well, okay, that might be nice…but oh, the pressure! 🙂
I can put a word in with Simon Cowell for you..? 😉
Think you nailed this one Margie. When asked who else, what other blogger style I wish I had I said, mine. Sure I’d rather be a smarter, wittier, more bionic version of me, one that bought Apple stock 10 years ago.. but still me. Had lunch with Adam Toporek this week, talking about lists, gurus, interests and I was like, I could poll my offline friends and I’d be shocked if even 25% had heard of some of these names. IDK I think we forget that others don’t follow the keynote circles, that it’s all relative. I can’t agree enough on doing the work, that you have to walk the talk yourself. FWIW.
[…] somehow “not real.” Check it out. You’ll love what she has to say. Here’s a special Margie bonus post where she tries to talk a little sense into all of us that hold grudges against the a-list bloggers […]
[…] community building and finding influencers. Our chat made me think about a great post I read from Margie Clayman aptly titled “Don’t search for mavens. Be one.” As marketers and brand advocates […]
[…] community building and finding influencers. Our chat made me think about a great post I read from Margie Clayman aptly titled “Don’t search for mavens. Be one.” As marketers and brand advocates […]
[…] community building and finding influencers. Our chat made me think about a great post I read from Margie Clayman aptly titled “Don’t search for mavens. Be one.” As marketers and brand advocates […]
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